SIP trunking is becoming very popular today as many companies and businesses have realized that you can save a lot on your monthly communication costs. Even though SIP is a simple calling protocol, there are things that you need to consider before making a switch. They are only four things that you need to consider. Let us have a look at them in detail.
1. Security. With SIP, you need to have extra security. Just because SIP is plain and simple, it does not require a genius or an IT guru to decipher a SIP call. If you do not incur extra security, anyone can use a packet capturing tool and will extract all your audio calls. But this should not be a problem if you have a Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol or (SRTP). You can also use Session Border Controller (SBC). The two are application firewalls that you can use when you have SIP.
2. Make SIP a Priority. Many businesses usually have a lot of traffic on their network when it comes to file sharing and media streaming. This means that if you prioritize SIP trunking without a plan, you will end up having delays in email sending, poor audio, and video buffering. If you want to avoid all these problems, you need to have a standard QoS. It is a feature found in any business-grade router and switch. This feature will ensure that all your calls receive priority when sharing the bandwidth. Your calls will be the first to get network and this will reduce on the call traffic.
3. Know Your Network. When you want to switch to SIP, you need to consider how many calls your business makes on a daily basis. Make sure to review your call logs and have a good understanding of the total number of calls. You also need to understand that SIP uses bandwidth and when you have poor bandwidth, your calls will have poor audio. You can even have dropped calls or busy signals. Make sure that you have enough bandwidth to support the number of calls that you make in your business.
4. Be Smart if You Fax Over SIP. It can be messy if you are using fax over IP especially when it comes to fax limitations. In a layman’s language, it means a fax message cannot be compressed into a packet the same way as a voice packet. Packeting with a smartphone can lead to poor audio quality even though you can still hear what the other person is saying. If faxing is a priority in your business, then you need to consider using a reliable Fax over IP (FoIP). You can use a Fax Station which will make your analog fax experience much better at no extra cost.
So next time when you are planning to switch to SIP, make sure to consider the above factors. Make sure you get a good vendor for your business who will be able to explain everything in detail.