VoIP SIP trunks can save you thousands of dollars in call fees while giving your business a competitive edge. Learning what SIP trunks are and how they can help your business is essential in a changing, digital world. This article provides you with the basics in understanding SIP Trunk technology, why you should adopt it and how SIP Trunks can help your business.
First, what are VoIP SIP Trunks?
The IT World describes VoIP SIP trunks as “digital phone lines” that enable communication between two points. The same principle applies to traditional phone lines allowing voice calls between two points using copper cables. The difference is that a SIP Trunk enables the communication between two points through the internet.
SIP Trunks being “digital”, have the added advantage of enabling video calls through the internet while traditional copper phone lines cannot. The benefits of SIP Trunks become apparent when considering that no new copper phone lines need to be installed as the internet infrastructure already exists.
In Australia, legacy telephony is almost obsolete due to the NBN infrastructure’s roll-out. Both PSTN and ISDN connections are no longer available to order, while Telstra, Optus and the other major telco providers of the past remove the existing ones.
To summarise, SIP Trunks are equivalent to “digital phone lines”, but why the name?
What does the name “VoIP SIP Trunk” mean?
- SIP = Session Initiation Protocol (Computer language for communication)
- Trunk = A link connecting two points
Because IT people designed the SIP Trunking technology, the name leaves much to be desired. Due to sounding too technical, some business owners may be hesitant in adopting the technology.
To help, look past the IT Jargon and remember that SIP Trunks are “tools that enable you to call over the internet”.
How does a business use VoIP SIP Trunks?
Organisations use SIP Trunks to make phone calls through the internet instead of requiring a physical phone line. However, like copper phone lines, a SIP Trunk must connect via an existing phone system such as a PABX (Private Automatic Branch Exchange) or a UCP (Unified Communications Platform).
What’s a PABX or a UCP phone system?
Generally, a PABX and UCP is known in the business world as a “Phone System”, as that is what the technology does. However, having some understanding of the differences will help you choose the best solution for your business.
A PABX (Private Automatic Branch Exchange) is a private telephone network for any business or organisation, allowing them to make and receive calls. A typical PABX utilises specialised hardware and software to connect to a PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), enabling a business to call outside their private network.
A UCP (Unified Communications Platform) is a marketing term used to describe the unification and integration of different communication technologies, such as VoIP, Instant Messaging, audio, video conferencing and more. A UCP has more capabilities than a standard PABX while accomplishing the same goals.
How VoIP SIP Trunk digital communication works
SIP Trunks convert voice communication into “packets” of data sent through the internet when you make or receive calls.
Traditional phone systems such as a PABX rely on analogue technology that sends and receives “voice communication” as electrical singles through copper lines.
Sophisticated technology now exists that can translate between digital and analogue, allowing SIP Trunk Phones to communicate with analogue PABX systems.
What you should know about VoIP SIP Trunk Channels
A SIP Trunk channel is simply a single call line for a single phone call. If you need to make multiple simultaneous phone calls, you’ll need a SIP trunk channel for each of those concurrent phone calls.
The real advantage that SIP Trunks have over legacy phone systems is how SIP Trunks can quickly and cheaply scale up to have multiple channels. Legacy phone systems such as an analogue PABX system require additional physical wiring to be installed by technicians. While SIP Trunk channels being “virtual” can be scaled up or down quickly and cheaply if needed.
How VoIP SIP Trunks can help your business
Now we get to the significant bit of this article: how SIP Trunking can help your business. You are probably wondering why I didn’t start with it? Well, it’s because understanding SIP Trunk technology will help you make a more informed decision before deciding to go with whatever deal the telcos are offering. Understanding the technology will help you be free from the big telco monopolies, which means spending less for more.
When purchasing a phone system, the two classic questions to any business owner is, what can this do for me, and how much will it cost? But SIP Trunking offers something more than what the telcos are willing to tell you, which is freedom!
Here we will break it down.
A telco provider will offer their VoIP solution, which is a PABX in the cloud phone system. A PABX in the cloud generally offers you the below.
- Fixed local call rates
- Fixed international call rates
- Fixed-mobile call rates
- Fixed 1300 and 1800 number call rates
The catch is the telco controls all of the above and the prices in one package. You may negotiate some price variations here and there, but the telco prevents all the options in the end.
A SIP Trunk gives you freedom by enabling you to choose a SIP Trunk for each item. Meaning you can purchase a SIP Trunk for local calls from one telco and another SIP Trunk for mobile phone calls from another telco at better prices.
SIP Trunk technology gives your business freedom
SIP Trunk providers such as Belltone allow your business to own separate SIP Trunks for different purposes, saving you money. The technology will enable you to negotiate better prices with the telcos as your business now has other options on the market.
Pay for what you need
Say your business primarily makes calls to clients rather than receiving calls. Your SIP Trunk provider can offer you a deal where you have more SIP Trunks for making calls and fewer SIP Trunks for receiving calls. The advantage is that you can pay for different needs and scale up or down whenever you want without paying fees for services you don’t need.
With SIP Trunking, you can optimise to buy SIP Trunks for your business needs, whereas you had to pay for services you didn’t need in the past.
International call presence
SIP Trunks can save your business thousands of dollars in international call fees. Through your SIP Trunk provider, you can purchase a SIP Trunk in a foreign country connecting your business to the local phone exchange.
Great scalability
As SIP Trunks are digital, you can scale up or down whenever required, so you pay for the services you need.
How to get started?
If you are interested to learn more about how SIP Trunking can help your business, call Belltone Systems on
1300 997 279
to start transitioning to SIP Telephony today.