How to Add Public Address Capabilities to a VoIP Telephone System using a VoIP PA System

There used to be a time when key telephone systems and PBX telephone equipment had a built in paging port to connect to a building’s public address (PA) system. Now with “progress,” VoIP phone systems no longer have a paging port. So if you still want the ability to page people, you’ll need some additional IP paging accessories. We will give you details on what you need here.

An IP paging gateway is an interface between a VoIP telephone system and an analog PA amplifier system. It has capabilities to connect to the phone system via an Ethernet connection just like a VoIP phone. It also has an audio output that can be fed into a PA amplifier, which then broadcasts the messages over a building’s wired PA system. You can use this if you have an existing wired system that works well already.

If you you have a VoIP telephone system and don’t have an existing wired PA system in place, then you don’t need an IP Paging Gateway. Instead you can use IP Horns or Speakers. These look like simple speakers, but they are essentially a one-way VoIP phone. They connect to your IP network just like a phone does via an Ethernet connection. They also get assigned a phone number just like an IP phone.

With IP horns and speakers, the VoIP system is able to address each speaker individually. You are essentially moving the amplifier from a central unit out to the speaker itself, therefore the need for a central amplifier unit with conventional speakers is eliminated. This makes the system highly scalable, and adding another speaker is easy to do as long as you can get a network connection to it.

You can also set up speaker groups so when you make a page it goes to that group only. It could be a group called “All” that goes to all speakers, or you could set up smaller groups. These groups are set up in your VoIP telephone system.

You may need a license from your phone system provider to use a third-party device like an IP speaker, so check with your phone system provider. However some VoIP speakers have built in amplifiers that can drive analog speakers connected to it, so that would reduce the number of SIP licenses you would have to get from your phone provider.

Of course there are some benefits to IP paging over traditional telephone paging systems. The biggest is that you don’t need to maintain separate voice and data networks. That is if you don’t already have a built in paging system in your building. If you do it may not make sense to get rid of it. You could use an IP Paging Gateway along with IP speakers and horns to supplement your current system for areas that don’t already have coverage.

One of the nicest features of using IP horns and speakers is that you are not limited to paging within a building, but you can page even in different cities as long as there is an Internet connection between them.

If you don’t have a wired system in place already and don’t want to run wires to speakers, we have a wireless PA system you could quickly install. The downside is that it cannot connect to your phone system. It uses 2-way radio frequencies so you would transmit to it using either a base station intercom or a handheld 2-way radio. You simply place the wireless PA receivers wherever you need them and apply power to them.

If you need to alert a team or group of people about an emergency or other announcement, a PA system is still the best way to do that. And even though new VoIP telephone systems don’t have that capability, as you can see there are still plenty of ways to add it.