New businesses today have abandoned the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in favor of voice over IP (VoIP). With VoIP, software converts analog speech into digital packets that are sent as data over the internet.
VoIP telephony has several advantages over the older generation of voice over copper wires.
- Cost-efficiency: VoIP services are less expensive than traditional phone lines. They’re just network connections, which means long-distance and international calls are no more expensive than calls across the street. While you can use desktop phones for VoIP calls, you don’t have to — that’s another savings. And VoIP services include features like caller ID, call waiting, and voicemail that traditional providers may charge for separately. Some VoIP providers offer features that old-school providers can’t, such as speech transcription.
- Scalability: It’s easy to add or remove VoIP lines — all it takes is a few clicks on a configuration console. That’s a big benefit for seasonal businesses, whose usage varies over the course of a year, while growing businesses can start small and expand as they grow.
- Resilience: In the event of a power outage or natural disaster at your primary place of business, you can easily redirect numbers to other locations or mobile devices.
- Flexibility: People with VoIP lines aren’t tied to a single location or a particular phone. They can take calls wherever they are, and on just about any networked device — laptop, smartphone, or dedicated IP phone. That’s a benefit for everyone in the organization who makes or receives calls. It’s especially useful for businesses with remote workers or multiple locations.
- Integration: In many cases, businesses can integrate VoIP lines with other business applications to improve workflow and enhance customer experience.
- Voice quality: Twenty years ago, VoIP calls often had lower voice quality than phone connections. Today’s VoIP services provide voice quality that’s as good as or better than traditional phone lines, provided there’s a good internet connection.
That last bullet raises an important point. While VoIP has many advantages, it relies on a company’s internet connection. Businesses looking to implement VoIP need to make sure they have a robust, stable, and speedy connection to get the best performance from their VoIP system.
For robust VoIP, choose SIP trunking
One of the most popular ways to get VoIP services is via SIP trunking. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) an international standard for voice communication over data networks. Trunks used to be physical links — copper wire installed by phone companies from their central offices to customer premises. Nowadays the term also refers to virtual lines of communication.
With SIP trunking, organizations can make calls over the internet to anyone with a phone number. Thanks to all of the advantages of VoIP communication enumerated above, SIP trunks are replacing physical phone lines virtually everywhere.
Zentrunk tops other SIP trunking services
Zentrunk, Plivo’s SIP trunking service, provides global coverage for outbound and inbound voice calls, working with your current cloud or on-premises communications infrastructure. Whether you’re looking to increase the capacity of your current telecom stack, increase coverage and phone number inventory, or extend your on-premises infrastructure to the cloud, Zentrunk can get you started.
Plivo’s SIP trunking service provides:
- Interoperability: Zentrunk is designed to work seamlessly with any IP-based communications system, including PBX systems, cloud communication platforms, and session border controllers (SBC).
- Elastic SIP trunking: Zentrunk can scale automatically based on demand. This elastic scaling means you don’t have to worry about exceeding any maximum number of concurrent calls, as the system adjusts in real time to your needs.
- Reliability: Plivo has seven internet points of presence (PoP) around the world to ensure minimal network latency in call handling and maximum voice quality.
- Easy setup and management: You set up and manage Zentrunk through the user-friendly Plivo console or via Zentrunk APIs.
- Comprehensive documentation: Our documentation includes a quickstart guide and interconnection guides to assist with the setup and configuration of your trunks.
- Transparent pricing: Plivo offers straightforward, pay-as-you-go pricing with no long-term commitments or hidden charges.
- Security: All communication is encrypted using Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP) to ensure the safety and privacy of your calls.
- Global reach: Zentrunk provides call connectivity to users in 190+ countries.
- 24/7 support: Plivo offers available around-the-clock technical support to ensure any issues are addressed promptly and your communication system remains up and running.
- Customer service: Plivo support team helps customers resolve carrier-related issues by working directly with the more than 1,600 carriers in our Premium Communications Network.
