The Four Advantages of SIP Trunking
You may have heard that it’s time to abandon ISDN in favor of something called SIP trunking, but found yourself wondering why ISDN is out and what SIP trunking actually is.
You’re not the only one, so let’s explain: in short, rather than have the Internet and a phone line next to each other (ISDN), you’re getting rid of the phone line and putting your phones onto the Web (SIP trunking). If you think about it for a minute you’ll realize what a huge deal this is and how it can revolutionize communications if implemented. Setting up SIP trunking is easy, though not always cheap, so let’s take a minute to go over some of the advantages of switching over.
- Scalability
First of all you will no longer be bound by a set amount of connections to either telephone lines or the Internet. Where ISDN basically meant adding more physical cables (and all the trouble associated with installing those) every time you added workstations with Web access and a phone line, now all you need to do is set the right permissions in a central control system. The only limitation is the available bandwidth, a problem that is easily solved with a single call to your ISP. The sky is the limit when using SIP trunking and you’re planning for growth when you adopt it.
- Pervasive, more efficient communications
As you are no longer bound by actual phone lines, you and your staff can work anywhere and you’ll never miss a call again. Calls are easily routed to a neighbor’s workstation or even to the right person, but in a different place. Callers won’t have to wait as long either as their call is patched through again and again but will go straight where it needs to go quickly and imperceptibly. It offers customers a better experience and makes life easier for you in several respects.
- Reliability
SIP trunking also means greater reliability of communications: though phone lines rarely drop out, when they’re occupied, they’re occupied and your customers are getting a busy tone. With SIP trunking this won’t happen anymore, even though it’s on the slightly less reliable Internet rather than a hard land line. You are, however, guaranteed almost 100 percent availability as the Web makes it easier to set up back-up systems than ISDN, ensuring that even when things go dark you’re still available and ready to do business.
- Economy
Having SIP trunking installed over ISDN is not always going to be cheap, though costs may vary according to your situation, but if your motto is “spend a buck to make a buck” you are set: you are guaranteed a generous return on investment. Changing over can save you anywhere between 40 to 60 percent, depending on how much use you’re making of your ISDN connection and the subscription you have, besides all the other benefits.
