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Telecom Business Review | Tuesday, October 11, 2022
SIP is the technology that creates, modifies, and terminates sessions with one or more parties in an IP network, whether a two-way or a multi-party conference call.
FREMONT, CA: Business owners constantly seek to cut costs and reprioritize their spending. With all the services they are tasked with managing (merchant services, shipping services, payroll services, etc.), it’s understandable they haven’t mastered the knowledge of each industry. Maybe they’ve heard of SIP trunking, and maybe a friend saves money by using it with his business, but they’d like to know more about how it works before contacting providers.
Below is a high-level outline of SIP trunking and how it works:
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What Is SIP Trunk?
Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP, is how they achieve a voice-over IP (VoIP) call. It’s an application layer protocol for establishing real-time audio and/or video sessions between two endpoints (phones). In short, SIP is the technology that creates, modifies, and terminates sessions with one or more parties in an IP network, whether a two-way or a multi-party conference call.
How Does SIP Trunking Operate?
A SIP trunk is the practical version of an analog phone line. A SIP provider can link one, two, or twenty channels to their PBX through SIP trunks, allowing them to make local, long-distance, and international calls over the Internet. If they have an on-premises PBX in their office, a SIP trunk provider can connect to them and enable them to make outbound calls on their existing system without restrictions on the number of concurrent calls.
Here is a diagram to show how SIP trunks work:
What is a SIP Provider?
The term “SIP provider” has its origins in “SIP trunking,” which is a service that permits businesses to link their in-house IP PBX systems to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). When assessing SIP providers, they should:
- Check for scalability and if they can add and remove SIP Trunks based on their growing requirements.
- Know what the failover system enables in case of power or network outages at their location.
- See if the provider provides number porting for any existing phone numbers they may already have.
How Much Does SIP Trunking Cost?
The cost of SIP trunking can differ based on their business needs, but businesses typically await to pay a setup charge of $0-$150 and a monthly fee of $25-$50 per trunk.
Many SIP trunking providers give plans that provide unlimited inbound, outbound, local, and long-distance calls on a per-channel/call basis. Each channel provides the capacity to make or receive a single call. Once they have filled all their channels, they cannot make or receive additional calls. Additional channels can often be added for more capacity by contacting their provider. This SIP trunking service allows businesses to easily budget their telecom spending.
How Many Can Concurrent Calls Be Made with SIP Trunking? What About Bandwidth?
The limitation is according to Internet bandwidth capacity. Each non-compressed call uses around 85-100 kbps of bandwidth. In most Internet connections, their upload speed is typically slower, so when determining the number of calls their connection will support, they should use their upload speed. If, for example, their upload speed on their Internet connection is 4Mbps, then the maximum suggested the number of calls can be 40 (4,000,000/100,000).
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