SIP TRUNKING CHECKLIST

Transcription

1 SIP TRUNKING CHECKLIST

2 ... Contents Why SIP? SIP Trunking Checklist Question 1: What are my simultaneous call needs? Question 2: How much of my bandwidth will SIP trunks use? Question 3: Will I have to upgrade my internet service? Question 4: Will I have to change Internet carriers? Question 5: Will I need backup lines? Question 6: What extra equipment will I need? Question 7: What about fax and alarm systems? Question 8: How does SIP trunk pricing work? Question 9: What if I m stuck in a carrier contract? Question 10: Questions to SIP Trunking providers

3 Why SIP? The telephone network as we know it today, is going away. AT&T has asked the Federal government to shut it off no later than Should you be alarmed? Are you still going to be able to make phone calls? Of course you will The Times, They Are A Changing SIP (Session Initiated Protocol) Trunking is replacing the old telephone network. It transports voice on a data circuit. And as a bonus, it will improve efficiency and save you money. But not every SIP Trunking service is the same. There are major differences in how providers package and price their offerings. We ve put together this checklist to make sure you re asking the right questions to get the very best SIP Trunking solution for your needs. SIP Trunking Checklist Question 1: What are my simultaneous call needs? You need to make sure that you have calculated the capacity needed so you don t get busy signals, but you don t want to buy more than you need either. Do you do lots of conference calling? Do you experience peak calling periods? Do you have a department that has heavy phone call volume? Count your existing lines (both incoming and outgoing) and note how many times during a week that they are all being used. When Considering SIP Trunking, it s the perfect time to re-assess your call capacity needs Page 3

4 Question 2: How much of my bandwidth will SIP trunks use? The geeky answer is... it depends on the compression algorithm that you use. G.711 Uncompressed voice for domestic phone calls: 80K per call G.729 For international calling or wherever bandwidth needs to be conserved. 20K per call G.722 High definition voice for the ultimate in voice quality (requires G.722-capable phones): 80K per call. Use this information along with the quantity of call paths that you calculated in the first question, and you ll know your voice bandwidth needs. While voice doesn t consume a huge amount of bandwidth, it is still necessary to calculate your requirements. Question 3: Will I have to upgrade my internet service? That depends. If your bandwidth meets or exceeds your Internet needs now, then you may not need to increase your bandwidth. If the network is taxed with your current usage, a bandwidth upgrade will be required. Voice traffic does require additional bandwidth but not a lot more as we learned in question #2. Also consider that many businesses are moving many of their applications to the cloud. Each of these apps consumes data bandwidth. List all of your hosted/web-based applications such as hosted , CRM, Salesforce, Google Docs, Office 360, etc. In re-examining your needs, you might discover that you can improve internet performance at the same time as moving to SIP Trunking. Page 4

5 Question 4: Will I have to change Internet carriers? That depends as well. It s important to check the type of internet connection you have. Some are fast but lack Quality of Service (QoS) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) otherwise known as guarantees. Lack of these capabilities will results in low quality phone calls. While regular data can wait, voice must happen in real-time. Find out if your provider delivers business class circuits with QoS and SLA s. If they don t, you will want to consider changing providers. Voice is a mission critical application, so your Internet connection must be business class. Question 5: Will I need backup lines? In the past, many businesses had backup analog lines on their PBX. The problem was when there was a failure, the analog backup lines rarely provided any real backup. Explore options to improve the reliability of both your voice and data communications. Most businesses have not had a backup data circuit. Today is different. While you can certainly run voice and data on the same circuit, it might be wise to consider a secondary circuit. That way you ll have two paths for voice and for data. Add a device to manage those two circuits and voila, we ve just established a redundant voice/data network. Page 5

6 Question 6: What extra equipment will I need? You will need a piece of hardware called a gateway that converts SIP to analog or PRI so that it is These devices are not expensive and they can allow compatible with your system. you to take advantage of the new SIP trunks without having The nice thing is that these devices are not expensive to replace your current phone and they can allow you to take advantage of SIP system. trunks without having to replace your current phone system. And when you are ready to move to a new PBX (or a hosted PBX for that matter) the technology will already be in place. Question 7: What about fax and alarm systems? Even in 2013, there are two devices that depend on outdated analog lines: Your fax and alarm. Fax simply does not work reliably on VoIP. Your choice is to keep an analog line for fax, or better yet convert to e-fax where you send and receive faxes electronically from employee s desktops. Traditional fax machines and alarm systems may still require an analog line. Alarm systems have traditionally used analog lines too. However, most alarm companies now support other methods of connection. Contact your alarm company to learn more. Or combine the fax and alarm on the same analog line and save money that way. Page 6

7 Question 8: How does SIP trunk pricing work? Do you need toll free numbers? How about international calling? Do you need DID s (a dedicated phone number for each user)? Do you want your SIP trunks configured to be a backup PBX in case your system fails? These features, combined with the number of simultaneous calls you need (remember question #1?), determines your monthly price. Begin enjoying the advantages of lower pricing and more features. In most cases, you will be getting more functionality while paying less than you are today. Question 9: What if I m stuck in a carrier contract? That would be a sad thing. Check if your existing analog and PRI circuits are under a contract with your current carrier. If not, you are free to move into the benefits of SIP pricing and versatility immediately. If you re under a contract, you can still save money by maintaining your existing lines but augmenting them with SIP trunks. You can use the new SIP trunks for your outbound calling. This way you can still reduce your monthly calling costs today until your contract has expired. Then you are free to convert fully to VoIP technology. Find out whether you are free to finally move into the benefits of SIP pricing and versatility. Page 7

8 Question 10: Questions to SIP Trunking providers Do they visit your site to install and maintain their service or do they only have remote phone support? Do they have a good local service reputation? How long have they been in business? Do they require a contract? What are their guarantees? Saving money is the primary reason for going to SIP Trunking, however the cheapest vendor is never the best quality provider. Spend the time to find a quality provider who s been in business for a long time and has a good reputation. Page 8

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