By doing so, carriers can offer differentiated services to customers, providing reduced toll charges for long-distance calls.
Carriers can also reduce equipment costs by converging voice and data traffic.
For example, with the appropriate routing configurations within end offices, exchange carriers can detour their Internet traffic to the packet network via Cisco 7200 and Cisco 7500 serving as edge gateways. The TDM trunks, which carry the actual voice from the end offices, terminate at the Cisco 7200 and Cisco 7500. In the first example, the Cisco 7200 and Cisco 7500 provide MF signaling functions toward the TDM trunks and route the call over the IP network using H.323 protocol. It then sends the same to the Cisco 7200 and Cisco 7500, where the calls are routed over the IP network using H.323 protocol. The TDM trunks, which carry the actual voice from the end offices, terminate at the Cisco 7200 and Cisco 7500.