SIP trunks, in essence, replace analogue or ISDN lines, and are carried using a voice appropriate ADSL service on a standard Analogue line. The key benefit of SIP trunks over traditional lines is one of cost reduction. A single ADSL link can carry many calls, thus reducing line rental charges, as individual SIP trunks are considerably cheaper than individual lines or channels of ISDN.

SIP trunks can be deployed in new business start up situations, where they help keep initial costs down, or for mature businesses looking to deploy a more cost effective voice solution. SIP trunks are compatible with most main PBX brands and equipment, either directly or via SIP gateways which convert the IP voice stream into PBX compatible traffic.

Shimmer Telecom offers partners both the full range of SIP services, and more importantly the in-house expertise that will help you decide if SIP is the right way to go for your customers. As the technology is still relatively young, certainly compared to traditional telephony lines, many customers have fears about line and call quality. We will assist and advise you to ensure that only customers whose local exchange supports voice appropriate ADSL are recommended to commit to a fully SIP driven service.

As with any IP voice services SIP trunks offer customers with existing lines the opportunity to migrate their existing numbers (from traditional telephony) to the SIP service, which highlights the usefulness of an IP voice service to a company who is, for example, moving office to a location outside their current local exchange footprint. By ‘virtualising’ their numbers they can retain them wherever they move their business to. Additionally numbers from any geographic region can be added to a customer’s range, giving the appearance of local presence.

Overall tariffing and SIP charging has two elements, the rental element for the channel and the ADSL, and the call traffic element. There may also be additional set up and equipment charges when SIP is being deployed in an ‘existing PBX’ environment. In smaller business set ups, an appropriate router will be needed to manage the SIP trunks. Shimmer will ensure you are guided through the process with your customers to effect a smooth service installation or transition.