What’s FXS?

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One of the new hot topics in communications today is VoIP, which stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. Basically, you can use the internet to make a phone call, which means you pay nothing but your access fee, whatever that is. To make a VoIP call, you need to use a device that acts as a gateway between your phone and the Internet. This gateway is commonly a computer, but can also be an FXS.

FXS stands for Foreign Exchange Station, and is the New Communication Age version of a telephone exchange. It’s not so obvious now that most calls are direct; in the old days, you called an operator and told him which number you wanted to be connected to; the operator will then dial the number and connect you to the intended chat partner. You may not realize it in the modern age, but phone calls still happen this way; today, however, the switchboard is automated.

An FXS is a physical device, a telephone interface, that provides battery power, a dial tone, and a ring tone. By necessity, it must connect to an FXO device. FXO stands for Foreign Exchange Office. In a conversation with the operator, you are logging into FXS and he or she is logging into FXO.

To make a call, you need to connect an FXS device to an FXO device. If you take an analog phone and dial, this happens automatically. If you make a VoIP call, the process happens automatically too, although it uses different software and features to do so.

Most of the VoIP methods are currently handled by software and this software includes FXS functionality. You log into your computer or mobile phone using software with integrated FXS and your call is routed to the destination of the conversation via an Internet-based FXO. In the brave new world of VoIP, we are using new technology to do the same thing.

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