Toshiba Phone System

Can someone help me understand how an IP-PBX works?

I understand that an IP-PBX has an RJ45 port to connect it to the Internet, and several RJ11 ports to connect to telephones. But if it is an IP-PBX, why does it have RJ11 ports for the telephones? Why doesn't an IP-PBX have RJ45 ports for IP phones? How would you connect an IP phone from Cisco, for example, to an IP-PBX?

Public Comments

1. an IP PBX does not need to have RJ11 jacks for the stations, it could provide CAT5 jacks for the stations... i think perhaps you are looking at a specific propriatary IP PBX that would need to be connected to proprietary phones one reason why a proprietary IP PBX manufacturer may choose to use RJ11 jacks for the stations is for backwards compatibility to the existing wiring structure, all that would need to be done to upgrade the system would be to swap out the old PBX with the new IP PBX and replace the stations - (unless the manufacturer designed the system to be compatible with older stations) when considering a move to IP, I would recommend looking into VoIP providers that offer hosted PBX, so that you would not need to concern yourself with added hardware costs, but if you are interested in having your own IP PBX on location for greater control, then you can build your own with various software packages and an old PC you have laying around... some further information can be found here, as well as a free hosted PBX provider http://nyphonejacks.blogspot.com/2010/08/free-hosted-pbxivr.html and here are some PC based PBX software that you can install onto your own system, some free, and some paid http://nyphonejacks.blogspot.com/2010/06/pc-based-pbxivr-systems.html and the importance of redundancy when building out a business VoIP network http://nyphonejacks.blogspot.com/2010/11/importance-of-redundancy.html
2. An IP PBX or also known as VOIP Phone System is consists of one or more SIP phones / VOIP phones, an IP PBX server and optionally includes a VOIP Gateway. The IP PBX server is similar to a proxy server: SIP clients, being either soft phones or hardware based phones, register with the IP PBX server, and when they wish to make a call they ask the IP PBX to establish the connection. The IP PBX has a directory of all phones/users and their corresponding SIP address and thus is able to connect an internal call or route an external call via either a VOIP gateway or a VOIP service provider.