What Is SIP Trunking? A Guide on Everything to Know

Did you know that small businesses that switch to VoIP can reduce the cost of the local calls by up to 40%, and save up to 90% on international calls?

Businesses are always trying to find the most cost-effective and efficient ways to run their company. A big part of your company is communication and this can be quite costly, however, you could save thousands with SIP trunks.

Keep reading our guide of SIP trunks for dummies, to learn more about SIP trunks, including what is SIP trunking, how it works, and how it can be beneficial for your business.

What Is SIP Trunking?

Firstly, what is a SIP trunk? Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) trunking allows you to run your business phone service over the internet. Phone services previously relied on traditional phone lines, but SIP trunking only require the internet.

Trunking means the backbone of phone lines, which are used by multiple users, that connect to a telephone network. 

SIP trunks rely on virtual phone lines to make and receive phone calls over the internet. You can do this even if they don’t use a SIP trunk service, as you just need their phone number.

The SIP service is offered by communication service providers that use the protocol to provision Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connectivity between a phone system and the public switched telephone network (PSTN).  

How Does a SIP Trunk Work?

SIP trunks utilize a packet switch network, in which voice calls are broken down into digital packets. These digital packets are then sent across a network to reach the final destination (i.e. the person you are calling). 

A SIP trunk is installed virtually over your business’s existing internet connection. You can add or remove as many phone lines as you want with SIP, which means you only pay for what you use and don’t need to worry about adding new phone lines. 

To setup SIP trunking, you need to have an internet connection, a SIP-compatible Private Branch Exchange (PBX) box, VoIP phone, or VoIP adapters if you’re using your existing traditional phones, and a network connection for your phones.

Once your SIP trunks are set up, you are good to go and continue making your important calls. You can even use SIP trunks to have multiple people on a conference call, and use video calls to contact people. 

What Are the Benefits of SIP Trunks?

There are many benefits of SIP trunks and more businesses are opting to switch to them. 

All businesses can benefit from installing SIP trunks into their offices. However, there are certain industries that can benefit a lot from SIP trunking, such as hotels, restaurants, and catering, local governments, and agencies and medical practices. Find out more info about how SIP trunks can help your business.

Reduce Your Costs

One obvious benefit of SIP trunks is that they can help your business save money. If your business experiences high monthly phone bills or have to pay extra charges for long-distance calls then SIP can save you money. 

With SIP trunks, you only pay for the phone lines you need, which can significantly reduce your costs. You also will lower the costs of maintenance, because you won’t need to contact support for poor phone connections. 

You’ll also save money because you’ll only be paying for your WiFi network, instead of paying for WiFi and your traditional phone line.

Increased Scalability

Another benefit of getting SIP trunks is that they offer excellent scalability opportunities. Due to the phones relying on virtual connections, it is easy to add new lines or modify your service. You can even easily change office locations and take your SIP trunks with you. Making SIP trunking ideal if you think your business has a big move coming.

More Reliable Communication

Another advantage of getting SIP trunks for your business is that they are more reliable than traditional phone lines. SIP trunking with VoIP can increase the reliability of services, to ensure you’re never disconnected from your customers or clients.

SIP trunking providers can easily reroute services to a redundant data line or forward the PBX to mobile devices. So if for any reason there’s a problem with your internet connection, then you won’t be offline for too long. Whereas, when traditional phone lines go down because of bad weather they can often take a long time to rectify. 

Easy to Setup

Another benefit of SIP trunking is that it is easy to setup. You don’t need to worry about the process taking days or weeks, as it can be set up very quickly. You are also able to transfer and use your old phone numbers, which means that as soon as your SIP trunks are set up, you can get back to work.

SIP trunk providers also make it easy to set up new lines or remove lines that you no longer need. You can manage your service and easily change anything you need. 

Less Maintenance

Traditional phone lines require maintenance and an IP infrastructure. However, another benefit of SIP trunking is that you don’t need to maintain your analog or infrastructure. This can save you time and money and ensure your business does what it does best.

Try Out SIP Trunking in Your Business

Now that you’ve learned more about what is SIP trunking, you should be able to make an informed decision about whether it is right for your business. If you make a lot of calls, especially international calls, then SIP trunks might be able to save your business a lot of money.

Be sure to check out some of our other articles about tech and find out how your business can benefit from the latest technology.