How Many SIP Trunks Does Your Company Need?

Traditional telephony has since long become a concept of the past; people frown upon companies who are yet to ditch PTSN for Internet-based calling. SIP trunking acts as a way for companies to use their internet connections to place calls in lieu of phone lines. SIP stands for session initiation protocol which is an IETF standard used to initiate user sessions of interactive multimedia. A trunk is a link or a line that has the ability to carry multiple signals simultaneously, thereby establishing connections between important nodes or switching servers present within a communication system.

Compared to traditional phone companies, SIP providers (companies that provide SIP trunking) offer services at far cheaper rates. Some of the other advantages of SIP trunking are:

• Increased reliability
• Swift and seamless scalability.

In the modern world, many companies have already found the ideal VoIP phone service for their business which allows them to talk via IP phones. SIP trunking makes use of VoIP to add flexibility by providing shared lines.

The advantages of SIP trunking can only be harnessed if a company has:

• A private branch exchange or a PBX that is connected to all the end users of the network.
• An internet telephony service provider or an ITSP
• A gateway that functions as the interface between the ITSP and the PBX.

One of the major benefits of SIP trunking is that it combines data, video, and voice in a single line, thereby eradicating the need for separate physical conduits for every mode. By using SIP trunking, a user can:

• Make and receive long distance calls.
• Make and receive local calls.
• Make calls in case of an emergency (911 etc.)
• Access the directory assistance.
• Send emails or texts.
• Access and search the World Wide Web.
• Make use of mobile and fixed telephone sets.

After a company has chosen one of the best VoIP service for its communication needs, one important question that may arise can be related to the number of SIP trunks that need to be incorporated. There is no one fits all answer to the aforementioned question and to find the right number, you need to analyze the size, needs, and type of your organization. In this article, we intend to help companies in their bid to choose the perfect amount of SIP trunks:

The small to medium-sized business owner

If you own a small or medium-sized business, it’s highly probable that you want to look for a phone system that is known for its flexibility (like Vonage) to help grow as your business prospers. In such scenarios, the budget is always a huge concern, and the growth (especially if you are in the early stages) is never completely predictable. It’s possible that you become the market leader within a few months and have to hire tens of new employees and it’s also possible that you only manage to sustain for years to come. A lot of SMBs (small to medium-sized companies) like to offer virtual work contracts to their employees which allow them to hire people from various locations. Moreover, based on the business’ nature, some companies possess meager IT knowledge and also might not even have any dedicated communication support available on-premise.

One of the best SIP trunking advantages is its flexibility and that’s precisely why SMBs can’t go wrong with it. With primary rate interfaces or PRIs, you get 23 channels of the standard circuit which are often too many for a SMB (not enough employees). However, if you go down the SIP trunk alley, you can only buy 4 to 5 trunks depending on the number of employees you have. Not only does this ensure that you pay a smaller amount of cash the first time, but it also helps you in scaling upwards as the company grows. If however, the company doesn’t grow as anticipated, you won’t have wasted any money. Moreover, with SIP trunk you also get unmatched support for remote workers which is impossible with PRIs because of the hardware requirements.

The medium to large business owner

If you think that your company isn’t a SMB anymore, then 4 to 5 SIP trunks won’t do the job for you; in fact, the number can very well go in hundreds. Most big companies have a trustworthy VoIP system already set up but getting the right amount of SIP trunks is also important. Especially if you are a multinational company with employees moving around the globe on a regular basis, you need the flexibility to keep moving as fast as your business; which entails that you can’t wait too long for adding new features and locations.

Even though budget is a smaller concern compared to SMBs, it’s still something that companies consider simply because of the huge amount of phone lines required. When we are talking about multiplication with hundreds or thousands, even the smallest savings can be tangible. By making use of SIP trunking, a lot of expenditures are reduced and telecommunication is turned into an ongoing expense which is beneficial for companies that like to budget and forecast. Not to mention the bringing down of the total hardware ownership cost via SIP trunking which has since long been a key metric for enterprises.

More than flexibility and savings, reliability is important for big customers. The expectations are normally very high and SIP trunking ensures that they are always met. As the deployment of all the features occurs through the cloud, companies get great reliability. Backups and disaster recovery also become easily possible because in cases of catastrophes, the unaffected places still remain functional because the trunking features are present in the cloud.

Final Word

In the modern world, communication needs to be cheap, effective, efficient, seamless and independent of location. SIP trunking harnesses the power of voice over IP to give companies the flexibility, reliability, and savings that they desire. So if you are looking to get a new VoIP connection set up for your business, make sure you figure out exactly how many SIP trunks you need.