NBN Compatibility with Existing Phone Systems

Short answer YES with caveats, the various ways that the internet makes phonecalls

Absolute Phone and Data > NBN > NBN Compatibility with Existing Phone Systems

YES your phone system is compatible with NBN*

But it's also not, NBN supplies the country with internet not telephone lines. but that internet is replacing the telephone lines. so your new phone lines are being delivered by the internet

there are a few ways to do that and they all have various issues to contend with

ATA's, Gateway's and IAD's

These are stand alone devices that take an internet connection in and deliver a telephone connection out. they can vary in size delivering single phone lines and up. The largest i've seen is 8 ports but 16 would certainly be possible.

The limiting factor is processing power as converting analogue voice into packets of digital data is taxing and even more so if the conversion requires compression. it's a unique situation where better voice quality is actually easier to process. the only reason you would bother compressing audio is in situations where the bandwidth is limited, which it shouldn't be on NBN.

This is however where problems can begin, compressed audio will NOT run a FAX, EFTPOS or Security system. NBN and any tech, including ourselves, will quickly inform you that these technologies aren't compatible with NBN. they are not.

Direct VoIP Compatibility

This is by far the best case scenario but sadly one of the rarest due to policies from some RSP's

Some phone systems can directly register VoIP lines. ALL phone lines on NBN are VoIP. Voice over Internet Protocol. Some RSP's will not allow 3rd parties to directly register their VoIP services

The UPSIDE is that porting numbers away from these RSP's to the more user friendly VoIP carriers will often give you cheaper calls and better features due to the greater compatibility of direct registration.

 

Router Phone Outputs

By far the least flexible but most common NBN phone line is the FXS output from your router/modem or the NBNco router.

This method will give you generally 1-2 lines and requires your equipment to have a UPS. these lines are usually very simple and offer very little actual compatibility. especially on phonesystems.