In the past, all business communications were hardwired. A ‘trunk’ referred to a physical line that connected a company’s network to its equipment. This is how calls were made. Now, with technologies like VoIP and SIP Trunking, wires aren’t as necessary. Unfortunately, this can prove confusing to businesses. For example, what is SIP Trunking? How does it differ from a SIP Session?
What is SIP Trunking?
As mentioned above, before VoIP, a trunk referred to a physical circuit. SIP Trunks are now virtual rather than physical. A SIP Trunk connects your Private Branch Exchange (PBX) to the internet. It is essentially a digital version of a traditional phone line.
What is a SIP Session?
A SIP Session denotes the quantity of concurrent calls that make up a SIP Trunk. If you think of a freeway, a SIP Session is the lane, and the SIP Trunk is the freeway itself. Each call can be thought of as a car. A SIP Session has the capacity to support a single outgoing or incoming call, but there can be many sessions within a single trunk.
Benefits of SIP
What are the benefits of communicating this way? Some of the most common benefits include:
- Lower costs: SIP Trunking reduces your monthly phone bill. In-network calls and long-distance calls are free due to calling over the internet.
- Less Maintenance: Since you don’t need physical lines, your maintenance is minimal. As long as your internet connection is reliable, SIP Trunking is a great option.
- Scalability: If you want to add or reduce lines, you can do so virtually. With a traditional phone system, it requires physical changes to your infrastructure.
- Dependability: SIP Trunks offer redundancy and reliability. Even if your internet goes down, you can easily forward calls to secondary phones.
If you have any questions regarding SIP Trunking, please contact Intuity today at (800) 811-1086. Please feel free to also follow us on Twitter.