Understanding SIP Trunking in VoIP Planning
Understanding what SIP trunks is requires a little bit of perspective. Here is a snapshot of what has come before it:
A vice president, say, dials a different number with an analog system to connect to an outside call. The call goes from the vice president’s phone to a PBX. The PBX then sends the call to the extension broadcasts it to the IP network. This IP network has internet access and since the call originated in the PSTN system, the IP address can be found in the “local area code” or LA area code. When a consumer calls this number, the VoIP software program on the computer translates the IP address into the appropriate sip (state) and voiP (phone number) combinations.
SIP is not about session initiation protocol, though. The term refers to how SIP works and what it is used for. Session initiation protocol is often confused with SIP trunking since they are both about the same thing. However, there is a difference between them.
With session initiation protocol, the caller dials a telephone number and enters a PIN (personal identification number). After dialing the number, the session is over after the call is placed and the caller leaves the phone. With SIP, a client machine connects to the internet and a user connects to a server and uses the appropriate session initiation protocol to communicate with an IP-based resource. This is how people understand that they are talking to each other through SIP rather than by traditional phone lines.
There are two components of SIP, session initiation protocol and sip trunking. In order to understand the difference, you must have a basic understanding of how businesses use telecommunication networks. In short, businesses use the internet and their computers to make business contacts and to transact information within their company. This requires a good amount of bandwidth and fast connections and, because many employees work off-site from home or from temporary jobs, businesses need to be able to keep telecommunications costs low and improve their level of productivity.
To do this, companies must establish a connection to the company’s telephony network and then use their computers to access this network. Businesses also make use of their phones to make local, long-distance and international calls and these services require consistent access to telephone lines. This is the reason why businesses often have a dedicated fax line and a separate phone line for business communications. Each service has a specific purpose and, as your business begins to grow, you will need to learn how sip trunking interconnects can help your business communications. This is also why it is important to understand sip trunking when you consider VOIP options for your business communications.
There are several benefits to understanding sip trunking interconnections and when used with the correct business communications software, it can make the process much more manageable. One of the biggest benefits is that it provides a flexible and cost effective means of meeting the demands of your business communications needs. Because the number of communication protocols has increased dramatically, businesses have had to find ways to communicate with each other and with their customers more efficiently. Using a business phone, fax machine and the internet to make these communications is expensive and difficult, but using sip trunks makes it possible to reduce costs while maintaining excellent voice and data transmission over these types of communication systems.
When you understand how the VoIP system works and what features it offers, you will find that it can simplify many business communications processes. This includes the need for understanding sip trunking and the need for proper implementation of this technology within your business VoIP plan. This is why it is very important to consider sip trunking integration into your VoIP business plan as part of your overall strategy.