Average price of a SIP trunk?

My CIO tasked to figure this out. He said it would be a good learning opportunity. I was working on my CCNA voice before I got this job, but have since been so busy with M$ I have no time for it.

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networker050184

Your best bet is to call around to some providers and get some prices.

shodown

way too many factors to be considered

You location
whats available in you area
Number porting

Also

be weary of "ME TOO" sip trunking providers (pretty much all the Tier 1 providers, it seems like only sprint has gotten there head out there a55 regarding sip). Stick with a dedicated all we do is SIP provider for right now unless they can't meet your needs.

200-800 a month. Just in case you were wondering.

it_consultant

4_lom wrote: »

My CIO tasked to figure this out. He said it would be a good learning opportunity. I was working on my CCNA voice before I got this job, but have since been so busy with M$ I have no time for it.

Keep in mind that no ISP or telephone company is currently certified to deliver a SIP trunk to the major phone vendors. What they call a SIP trunk is probably a virtualized PRI sent over fiber which is broken off by an Ad Tran or something. Since most people associate a PRI solely with a T1 and they are not the wiser.

networker050184

Are you saying there are no ISPs out there handing pure SIP trunks to customers? Thats certainly not the case and has not been for quite some years.

MickQ

*cough* vodafone.

it_consultant

networker050184 wrote: »

Are you saying there are no ISPs out there handing pure SIP trunks to customers? Thats certainly not the case and has not been for quite some years.

No, they are not certified by Avaya, Cisco, Shoretel, etc provide a SIP trunk directly from ISP to the phone switch. In practice the phone switches will work fine with essentially any UDP SIP trunk regardless of the source. It is entirely common to see the copper over ethernet broken into an ad tran at the customer site where the ad tran delivers PRI(s) signalling to the phone switch. Some ISPs will even call this a "SIP trunk" because until it hits the Ad Tran it might actually be a SIP trunk - still it is common to channelize 1/3 of the COE into a PRI instead of a 'real' SIP trunk - once it is delivered into the switch it is commonly a PRI. Mostly this is an exercise in making sure you can deliver fax lines without pulling a separate POTS line - plus, even though this sounds uber complex, it is extremely reliable. Especially if the provider is carving out a certain part of the line specifically for PRI(s), you avoid lots of voice quality issues.

networker050184

I've never seen PRIs being delivered called SIP trunks. I have seen and worked on plenty of SIP trunks handed directly to customers though.

Where are you getting the information that no provider is 'certified' to deliver this? I'm not saying you are wrong, but I've been working for providers doing this for years and never heard that at all. I can guarantee you Cisco and Avaya will support this set up for their customers.

it_consultant

networker050184 wrote: »

I've never seen PRIs being delivered called SIP trunks. I have seen and worked on plenty of SIP trunks handed directly to customers though.

Where are you getting the information that no provider is 'certified' to deliver this? I'm not saying you are wrong, but I've been working for providers doing this for years and never heard that at all. I can guarantee you Cisco and Avaya will support this set up for their customers.

Oh I have, I have one in mind right now. In their case they really were delivering a SIP trunk to the customer, but it was then converted to a PRI by an ad tran and then plugged into the phone switch. They built their signal in such a way that QOS wise the call quality was fine. It was hard as hell to get faxes to work just right on it.

My info could is a little old because it has been one or two years since I implemented phone systems - I did a quick search for Avaya (my phone switch of choice) certified SIP providers and found a few who claimed a SIP certification with Avaya IP office. Mainly my issue has been with SIP providers who deliver a trunk to a customer on a comcast cable modem or something. Thats when I break into my song and dance and try to convince them to at least get guaranteed bandwidth to the provider's datacenter. That is a situation where Avaya will not support your poor voice quality trouble tickets. When it comes right down to it, no matter how the call is delivered, in the Denver area it is going to cost you $10-$15 a line.

Currently I run a call center with about 60 agents. TW Telecom delivers fiber directly to our building. We installed a Cisco 3900 series router as a voice gateway which breaks out the PRI signalling on the fiber and delivers that into our Cisco phone system. If TW Telecom started hocking SIP trunks to us, since they can guarantee their bandwidth from their metaswitch to our CPE I would be perfectly comfortable terminating the SIP trunk directly into the phone switch.

shodown

I've terminated several SIP trunks (possibly over 50) and they were nothing more than Ethernet hand off's plugged into a router that I setup as a CUBE. I have saw the IPflex circuits where they combine the services and they hand you a PRI off your MPLS connection as well.

Lizano

it_consultant wrote: »

Oh I have, I have one in mind right now. In their case they really were delivering a SIP trunk to the customer, but it was then converted to a PRI by an ad tran and then plugged into the phone switch. They built their signal in such a way that QOS wise the call quality was fine. It was hard as hell to get faxes to work just right on it.

The company I work for sells that and calls it "SIP Trunk with PRI Handoff". Not sure what other people are calling it.

Lizano

phoeneous wrote: »

For the cpe, I assume it would be transparent provided that the interface is sip capable? I have a ton of 2911's with VWIC3-4MFT-T1/E1 installed, which I assume can do sip.

By transparent I mean moving from pri to sip.

I've seen it with Adtran's, you receive a SIP trunk on one interface, and on the other you are handing out a PRI to the customer's PBX. So to the Customer, that is transparent, all they do is hook up their PBX to the Adtran's PRI.

it_consultant

Lizano wrote: »

I've seen it with Adtran's, you receive a SIP trunk on one interface, and on the other you are handing out a PRI to the customer's PBX. So to the Customer, that is transparent, all they do is hook up their PBX to the Adtran's PRI.

And...you configure your switch's trunk lines as PRIs as opposed to SIP. This is important for a lot of people who don't have SIP capable phone switches, or the SIP capability is spotty. You would surprised at how many Avaya partner switches are still out there. As I alluded to before, while it sounds overly complex, it is really reliable.

chmod

Check Dow Networks this guys are awesome their prices are the cheapest i have found so far and i have worked with many providers. You can get a sip trun for 240 USD with great quality just check their website they are a very reliable company.

Node Man

(i did not read the entire thread)

Adtran 904's have an 10/100 ethernet port besides their 2 T1 ports. That would provide you with 24 Pots lines if you were interested. Something to consider.

Legacy User

Like shodown said it comes down to your needs. In NJ/NY area a sip trunk is $30 - $40 per trunk depending on the features long distance, caller id, etc.