Even though many of us now rely heavily on the internet and communicate by email or instant messaging, the phone is still an essential tool for businesses. In the past linking your business to the phone network has meant using an ISDN line, which is pricey and also limits you to the number of concurrent connections you can have.
Trunk Calls
Things are changing, though, and there is now the option of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) trunking, which connects your business to the phone system via a cheaper and more flexible internet link.
This uses the same VoIP technology that is set to completely replace conventional PSTN telephone systems by 2025. It offers secure and reliable connections, and thanks to the ability to constantly find the most efficient route for a particular call should deliver cost savings too.
Because SIP trunking uses an internet connection, it’s much more flexible. It’s easier to add extra capacity as you business grows, and since this can be done quickly there is no need to have extra capacity standing idle to cope with seasonal peaks in demand.
SIP trunking is ideal for call centres, but it can also be an advantage for pretty much any business that needs to have multiple phone lines available. If you have multiple sites, SIP trunking allows you to have the share the same phone system too.
What Do You Need to Use SIP?
In order to use SIP trunking and take advantage of wholesale VoIP termination rates from somewhere like https://www.idtexpress.com/blog/2018/04/07/wholesale-voip-termination-rates-why-voip-is-booming/, you need first of all to have a reliable internet connection. With the widespread availability of fibre this shouldn’t be a problem.
You also need a PABX system that is SIP compatible. This may be a problem for some older systems, but many companies take the opportunity to look at switching to a cloud-based PABX system at the same time as moving to SIP trunking. This can deliver further cost saving and add even more flexibility.
You do of course need to take steps to ensure that you have enough internet bandwidth to cope with your voice traffic. This might mean deploying traffic management technology to ensure that the bandwidth on a single connection is fairly distributed or – if you anticipate a high volume of traffic – getting a separate connection just to handle voice calls.
