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A point of presence (POP) is a physical location where communication devices connect. POPs allow for telephone calls, internet connections, and wireless communication. They use routers, servers, and switches to convert signals and route them to their destination. Even small communities have multiple POPs.
A point of presence, often referred to as a POP, is the physical location where two or more types of communication devices establish a connection. A traditional example of a point of presence is found with the local telephone switch, which acts as a connection facility between local telephone lines and long distance services. In recent years, the term has been applied to connection points between users and the Internet, as well as between users and wireless devices.
In all its incarnations, the point of presence provides the necessary link that makes communication functions possible. With a local telephone switch, POP allows end users to initiate a telephone call, with the signal being routed through the local telephone switch and hopping over the long distance link to that local telephone switch. Thanks to the POP, the signal is able to reach its destination, where a return signal confirms the successful connection and allows voice communication.
With the advent of the Internet, the point of presence became switches and routers that allowed users to connect to the World Wide Web. Using existing digital telephone technology, this connection could be created in much the same way as a normal phone call. The difference was in the type of data that was converted and transferred via POP. Over time, improvements in technology made it possible for a POP to handle increasingly large volumes of data, leading to the development of today’s high-speed communication capabilities.
Along the way, the concept of the wireless point of presence was born. Early wireless methods allowed cell phone users to be able to communicate with facilities that could translate a satellite or radio signal into a form that could be understood by an ordinary telephone switch. This allowed cell phone users to call people on landlines and vice versa. The same general principle has expanded in recent years to allow for innovations such as the Voice over Internet protocol, which effectively converts a standard audio transmission into a data stream, then converts the stream back into a digital telephone signal at a point of presence near the point of of cessation.
The typical configuration for any type of point of presence will include a combination of routers, servers, frame relays, digital and analog aggregators, and several types of telephone switches, including wireless equipment. This combination allows all types of electronic signals to be received at the POP, converted to the correct format, then routed to the termination point. To achieve this, even the smallest communities are likely to have dozens if not hundreds of POPs, allowing users to enjoy everything from efficient local telephone service to international wireless voice and data exchanges.
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