How New SIP Trunks Extend Old Phone Systems

Got an old phone system you can't afford to replace just yet?

How can you take advantage of VoIP savings when upgrading your existing phone system appears to be such a complicated and expensive task?

I've run into many cases where a business has an existing PBX or Key System that they don't want to replace or perhaps they are not ready to upgrade. Changing voice or data network services can often be a challenge. Most people just want these types of things to be functional and to WORK. They want to place and receive calls reliably. They want their Internet to be fast and UP. Who doesn't? However with a knowledgeable telecom consultant, the transition from legacy, to latest-and-greatest can be much easier to deal with.

Carriers can now provide SIP trunking and Internet access over a single T1 with minimal expense. By replacing an existing Voice T1/PRI (or Integrated Access T1 ~aka~ dynamic/flex T1/PRI) with an entirely SIP enabled voice system, the total average monthly spend can be greatly reduced. Businesses can also have remote users added to the new system, as well as 'out of rate center' users because the technology is VoIP- portability of phone numbers becomes far more accessible. This feature also helps reduce internal communication costs while providing one bill across the entire enterprise.

In some cases it makes sense to have SIP trunking as a business continuity plan. If you must retain your existing TDM based phone system, SIP provides an inexpensive fail-safe option. Technologies now exist that allow you to have redundant SIP network access over traditional wireline Internet and in tandem with 4G wireless broadband. With it's failover/failback capability, the SIP connection automatically switches to a secondary wireless connection when your primary service is interrupted. Once service is restored, the connection will automatically failback to the primary connection- keeping your business online with minimal interruption.

In summary of two main solutions:

1. Individual/stand-alone SIP trunks over your existing bandwidth (aka "BYOB" Bring Your Own Bandwidth). This is the preferred option if you have a dedicated IT person or staff, and want to provide your own management from equipment to network, etc.

2. Or the carrier-managed option, which is more of a complete turn-key solution including everything needed to get up and running: SIP Trunks, IP phones, IAD (Integrated Access Device), QoS (Quality of Service) management, and of course Internet bandwidth.

With SIP trunking, you can continue to use your existing phone system, while taking the first step to achieving future unification of all your voice and data systems across all your business locations.