Starting in the VoIP world
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What do I need to know and watch out for when starting to look at the VoIP world instead of normal PSTN/ISDN PBX systems.
We are setting up a new store in May and will need a phone system. Normally the PBX would be a BCM 50 or similar, two lines/channels then 3-4 internal extensions.
So what would I need if it was either Hosted VoIP PBX or on prem PBX??
Guessing a box (bought or rented) some phones and SIP Trunks?
Trying to see what the costs are as ISDN is set to rise more and more as BT want people off them lol.,
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Yup. Not much different than the old world, just on converged (IP) networking. Connections to the public phone system, your PBX and phones to talk on.
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Think something confusing me a bit is the SIP Trunks/Incoming Numbers/Channels.
Lets say I want the store to have a single number but out of the 5 extensions inside 3 can be "on" a call at one time.
Do I need 3 SIP Trunks GEO numbers and merge them to a single number or can I buy SIP trunks with a single incoming number and have multi "channels"??*Been a very long time since I even looked at VoIP stuff
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@hobbit666 said in Starting in the VoIP world:
Think something confusing me a bit is the SIP Trunks/Incoming Numbers/Channels.
Lets say I want the store to have a single number but out of the 5 extensions inside 3 can be "on" a call at one time.
Do I need 3 SIP Trunks GEO numbers and merge them to a single number or can I buy SIP trunks with a single incoming number and have multi "channels"??*Been a very long time since I even looked at VoIP stuff
Trunks are really a way for telcos to conform you to the old way of buying phone service. Just buy DID's and pay for the minutes. I think simwood at least is a good provider where you are.
With metered service you can have as many active calls as you want, and you only pay for what you use.
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@hobbit666 said in Starting in the VoIP world:
Think something confusing me a bit is the SIP Trunks/Incoming Numbers/Channels.
Lets say I want the store to have a single number but out of the 5 extensions inside 3 can be "on" a call at one time.
Do I need 3 SIP Trunks GEO numbers and merge them to a single number or can I buy SIP trunks with a single incoming number and have multi "channels"??*Been a very long time since I even looked at VoIP stuff
You need one SIP trunk and in your PBX config, you tell it 3 max calls allowed.
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@bigbear said in Starting in the VoIP world:
@hobbit666 said in Starting in the VoIP world:
Think something confusing me a bit is the SIP Trunks/Incoming Numbers/Channels.
Lets say I want the store to have a single number but out of the 5 extensions inside 3 can be "on" a call at one time.
Do I need 3 SIP Trunks GEO numbers and merge them to a single number or can I buy SIP trunks with a single incoming number and have multi "channels"??*Been a very long time since I even looked at VoIP stuff
Trunks are really a way for telcos to conform you to the old way of buying phone service. Just buy DID's and pay for the minutes. I think simwood at least is a good provider where you are.
With metered service you can have as many active calls as you want, and you only pay for what you use.
You still need a trunk. But SIP trunks are not tied to a DID or a fixed amount of concurrent calls, unlike POTS and PRI.
POTS trunk = 1 DID and 1 concurrent call (yeah, yeah, old school 3 way calling gimmick makes 2)
PRI trunk = 0+ DID and 23 concurrent calls.
SIP trunk = 0+ DID and 1+ concurrent calls (sane soft limits generally imposed by providers for toll fraud).Some VoIP providers sell SIP with limits like POTS because people are stupid and have no idea what they are buying.
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@hobbit666 said in Starting in the VoIP world:
What do I need to know and watch out for when starting to look at the VoIP world instead of normal PSTN/ISDN PBX systems.
We are setting up a new store in May and will need a phone system. Normally the PBX would be a BCM 50 or similar, two lines/channels then 3-4 internal extensions.
So what would I need if it was either Hosted VoIP PBX or on prem PBX??
Guessing a box (bought or rented) some phones and SIP Trunks?Trying to see what the costs are as ISDN is set to rise more and more as BT want people off them lol.,
In your case, with lots of small locations, the simplest ting to do is simply created a PBX on some infrastructure (owned or rented) and then turn up the new shop. As time and funds permit, you can continue adding existing locations.
The added benefit is that as old sites come online, your calling charges will go down, not only because of the generally lower cost of SIP versus ISDN/BRI but because you can start leveraging extension dialing. So inter-store calling is no longer even hitting the PSTN.
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Looking forward to reading and learning on this thread, as eventually the "replace our aging AltiGen PBX and T1" project will come to the front burner.
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@JaredBusch said in Starting in the VoIP world:
You need one SIP trunk and in your PBX config, you tell it 3 max calls allowed.
So if I just bought a trunk form someone like this:-
http://www.voipon.co.uk/uk-voip-geographic-numbers-p-268.html
That's £35 for the year I could have several calls on this at once? Or do I need to find a SIP provider that will give me a trunk with lots of capacity to speak? -
@JaredBusch said in Starting in the VoIP world:
In your case, with lots of small locations, the simplest ting to do is simply created a PBX on some infrastructure (owned or rented) and then turn up the new shop. As time and funds permit, you can continue adding existing locations.
I would but management would prefer to see a "Managed" service
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@hobbit666 said in Starting in the VoIP world:
@JaredBusch said in Starting in the VoIP world:
In your case, with lots of small locations, the simplest ting to do is simply created a PBX on some infrastructure (owned or rented) and then turn up the new shop. As time and funds permit, you can continue adding existing locations.
I would but management would prefer to see a "Managed" service
I can sell you one then
I promise to come in less than @Minion-Queen just because I need to convince the boss to fund a trip over. -
@hobbit666 said in Starting in the VoIP world:
@JaredBusch said in Starting in the VoIP world:
You need one SIP trunk and in your PBX config, you tell it 3 max calls allowed.
So if I just bought a trunk form someone like this:-
http://www.voipon.co.uk/uk-voip-geographic-numbers-p-268.html
That's £35 for the year I could have several calls on this at once? Or do I need to find a SIP provider that will give me a trunk with lots of capacity to speak?I would have to look into the details to know for certain. Generally you should have single low cost for the DID and simply pay per minute for usage.
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more choices https://www.3cx.com/partners/sip-trunks/uk/
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@JaredBusch said in Starting in the VoIP world:
@hobbit666 said in Starting in the VoIP world:
@JaredBusch said in Starting in the VoIP world:
In your case, with lots of small locations, the simplest ting to do is simply created a PBX on some infrastructure (owned or rented) and then turn up the new shop. As time and funds permit, you can continue adding existing locations.
I would but management would prefer to see a "Managed" service
I can sell you one then
I promise to come in less than @Minion-Queen just because I need to convince the boss to fund a trip over.Tee hee. Some of us are already over here.
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@JaredBusch said in Starting in the VoIP world:
Some VoIP providers sell SIP with limits like POTS because people are stupid and have no idea what they are buying.
My god it's a pain to find this i'm struging to find a supplier in the UK that says 1 SIP trunk allow x calls
lots say 1 trunk = 1 callAt least this one shows 2 in 100 out
https://www.sipgate.co.uk/trunking/?_ga=1.160668603.749701357.1489158455 -
@hobbit666 could be worse. You could have one of those physical DID handsets. You get those 50% of the time I hear.
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@JaredBusch said in Starting in the VoIP world:
@hobbit666 said in Starting in the VoIP world:
@JaredBusch said in Starting in the VoIP world:
In your case, with lots of small locations, the simplest ting to do is simply created a PBX on some infrastructure (owned or rented) and then turn up the new shop. As time and funds permit, you can continue adding existing locations.
I would but management would prefer to see a "Managed" service
I can sell you one then
I promise to come in less than @Minion-Queen just because I need to convince the boss to fund a trip over.Nice try.....Don't count on it
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@hobbit666 said in Starting in the VoIP world:
@JaredBusch said in Starting in the VoIP world:
Some VoIP providers sell SIP with limits like POTS because people are stupid and have no idea what they are buying.
My god it's a pain to find this i'm struging to find a supplier in the UK that says 1 SIP trunk allow x calls
lots say 1 trunk = 1 callAt least this one shows 2 in 100 out
https://www.sipgate.co.uk/trunking/?_ga=1.160668603.749701357.1489158455Good god man use twilio elastic trunks and a c@c virty. It'll be fine.
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@JaredBusch said in Starting in the VoIP world:
@bigbear said in Starting in the VoIP world:
@hobbit666 said in Starting in the VoIP world:
Think something confusing me a bit is the SIP Trunks/Incoming Numbers/Channels.
Lets say I want the store to have a single number but out of the 5 extensions inside 3 can be "on" a call at one time.
Do I need 3 SIP Trunks GEO numbers and merge them to a single number or can I buy SIP trunks with a single incoming number and have multi "channels"??*Been a very long time since I even looked at VoIP stuff
Trunks are really a way for telcos to conform you to the old way of buying phone service. Just buy DID's and pay for the minutes. I think simwood at least is a good provider where you are.
With metered service you can have as many active calls as you want, and you only pay for what you use.
You still need a trunk. But SIP trunks are not tied to a DID or a fixed amount of concurrent calls, unlike POTS and PRI.
POTS trunk = 1 DID and 1 concurrent call (yeah, yeah, old school 3 way calling gimmick makes 2)
PRI trunk = 0+ DID and 23 concurrent calls.
SIP trunk = 0+ DID and 1+ concurrent calls (sane soft limits generally imposed by providers for toll fraud).Some VoIP providers sell SIP with limits like POTS because people are stupid and have no idea what they are buying.
An example of this... nearly all PRI today are delivered via a single SIP trunk. It's SIP from end to end with an adapter put on at the client site to convert the single SIP trunk into a PRI with 23 digital lines in it. A single SIP trunk can deliver a theoretically unlimited number of "lines" or concurrencies. So you could, for example, have 100 PRIs delivered over one SIP trunk.
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@muzzo said in Starting in the VoIP world:
@hobbit666 said in Starting in the VoIP world:
@JaredBusch said in Starting in the VoIP world:
You need one SIP trunk and in your PBX config, you tell it 3 max calls allowed.
So if I just bought a trunk form someone like this:-
https://www.800comms.co.uk/
That's £35 for the year I could have several calls on this at once? Or do I need to find a SIP provider that will give me a trunk with lots of capacity to speak?Thanks for the link, i checked and i assume the cost is not to high, but i follow up the next company and buy sip trunk services from them.
There is Twilio and a Telnyx in the U.K. As well,
