VoIP - PRI or SIP?

Be careful when choosing a VoIP provider. Be sure to do your research. Figure out what type of trunk you want. There are many different VoIP solutions to choose from. I would recommend having a VoIP professional come to your office and give you a rate comparison. He should take your current telecom solution and compared it to a few different VoIP solutions related to the proper trunk provider.

PRI is definitely the most reliable, but not always the cheapest.

In larger organizations a combination of these two services could be used to reduce costs. For example, if you are a business with 99 employees and only need 33 telephone lines. If you went with a PRI only solution, you would have to buy two full PRIs (46 lines). PRIs only come in 23 line increments. That would be a waste of money spent on an unnecessary 12 additional phone lines. Instead of purchasing the extra PRI, purchase a SIP trunk and buy 12 lines if you need 12 and add more as your business grows on the fly.

PRI

Short for Primary Rate Interface a type of ISDN service designed for larger organizations. PRI includes 23 B-channels and one D-Channel.

Recommended PRI Providers are:

Logix Communications – Offers Data & Voice

Cbeyond – Offers Data, Voice and Mobile communications

SIP

SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol and is the de-facto signaling standard for real time communications including Voice-over-IP (VoIP). SIP is an open standard which allows the carrier voice network to interoperate seamlessly with customer premise equipment. The logical voice channel established between them is a SIP Trunk.

Two recommended SIP Providers are:

Teliax – If you have 800 numbers that you must keep. Teliax will port the number and has the cost effective rates.

VoicePulse – If you do not have 800 numbers, VoicePulse is the way to go.

What must you know about VoIP?

VoIP (Voice over IP) use is growing.  It’s now a popular alternative to the big telecom companies.

It sounds too good to be true, right?  There are a few things you need to know about VoIP.  Like everything, there are positives and negative things to consider.

The positive things to consider are:

• VoIP Simplifies Your Infrastructure – One bill for both Voice and Data services. No more long-distance or the need for an 800 number.
• Businesses Are Able To Customize VoIP to Their Preference – VoIP PBX Systems allow you to customize where you want calls to go, if they’d like to receive voicemails as emails, automatically transfer calls to mobile phones, between departments or even offices!, and more at one low cost for the system. You choose the features you want.
• VoIP Saves You Money – Switching from normal telecom service to Voice over IP brings a significant cost savings. You’re only paying for one infrastructure (your network) not two. (Note: that we don’t say VoIP will save you money.  In some cases your bills may stay the same. But in most cases you will see a savings. Call us for a free rate comparison.)
• Porting Your Phone Number – With most VoIP providers you’re able to keep your existing phone number. Port over process normally takes 30 days. (during this time period we normally forward the phone number to a new temporary phone number chosen by the client)
• Open Source PBX Systems Available - Most VoIP PBX systems are open source. This means new applications are easily developed and integrated with most other open source solutions.  VoIP systems and easily integrated with other open source solutions.

The negative things to consider are:

• If Your Network Goes Down, So Does VoIP – Since it’s dependent on your network connections, you can lose your phones if there’s a big crash.  This is VoIP’s biggest vulnerability. (Most VoIP carries have remedied with by adding a feature to forward the phone number to a cell phone if for some reason you’re network goes down.)
• E911 – You’re responsible for updating your address and filling it with the city your business is located in. If not, when you call 911, they will not know where you are. We feel this is very important to communicate to our customers. (Form is easy to fill out, customers must manage this registration)
• Open Source PBX Systems Available – Support for open source solutions are none existent or usually at a higher rate.

In the last few years, Voice over IP has evolved fast enough to compete with the telecom companies. Work is being done on a daily bases by the developers to improve the services. More providers are opening their doors for business.

Is VoIP expensive?

VoIP solutions are so much more cost effective than an old PBX analog phone service. Most calls are local calls because your call does not transfer from your data connection to an analog phone system until it is reaches the phone carriers switch room.

Using your Internet connection for both data traffic and voice calls allows consumers to get rid of one monthly payment. In addition, VoIP plans do not charge a per-minute fee for long distance. For International calling, the monetary savings to the consumer from switching to VoIP technology are enormous.

How does VoIP work?

The way VoIP works is the end user uses a data connection (Cable, DSL, T1), a router and VoIP Phone System instead of a standard telephone line. The router sends the telephone calls over the Internet connection. The VoIP PBX System converts the analog signal into a digital format, which are further broken down into packets, before sending it over the Internet. Very similar to the way data is transmitted to and from the computer. These packets are sent through a Trunk (some trunk examples are SIP, IAX, PRI) to their final destination, your VoIP provider. It then goes through a VoIP gateway where the packets are reconverted into the original analog format utilizing a PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), thereby routing the call to the number the caller has dialed blending old school technology and hi tech delivery in a seamless and instantaneous way.

Voice Over IP telephony works by packet switching instead of old circuit switching. When talking to someone, analog voice is changed into digital packets which are routed through your data connection along with your computer. Your conversations are held over your data service provider.

What is VoIP?

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is simply the transmission of voice traffic over IP-based networks.

Very simply, it’s a way to use Internet lines (cable, DSL, T1) to make phone calls.  Voice over IP phone systems give you the same features such as redial, caller ID, call forwarding, and 3-way calling; basically anything you had on your old phone comes include with these systems. Digitizing phone communications with these new VoIP Systems also add many new features like voicemail to email, automatic call forwarding, IVR (Interactive Voice Response), live transfers and many more.