Can a SIP Telephone System Benefit Your Business?

 

 

SIP, or Session Initiation Protocol, is the technology used as part of a VoIP, or voice over internet protocol, telephone system.

SIP provides the feature of routing telephone calls from a company’s private branch exchange (PBX) within a VoIP telephone system, over to the public switched telephone network (PSTN.)

PSTN’s form the majority of the telephone systems in the world and they use circuitry, while VoIP uses computer to computer technology. However, SIP is the technological magic that makes communication with anyone, anywhere, simple as well as offering high performance in voice and video calls with high definition (HD) quality.

SIP reduces call costs, offers improved levels of service compared to circuit based telephony and is simple to use and manage. What more could you want?

These systems are easy to set up, so if you don’t have an internet or technology expert in your staff, it really doesn’t matter. You can have separate phone numbers programmed in to the base unit and also use separate headsets, so it offers added flexibility.

You only need to be online for the system to work, normal phones can be used with an analogue telephone adaptor (A.T.A.) and the VoIP telephone system sends a voice message in the form of analogue data and converts it to digital signals in packets using the internet protocol.

With a VoIP system, there is no difference in performance, providing there is a decent internet connection. If the call is being made to a PSTN phone, the signal will return to analogue – voice – so that the call can proceed normally.

A software SIP phone utilises your computer microphones and speakers, or a headset, to make and receive calls while a hardware phone is pre-programmed, looks like a normal phone and functions in pretty much the same way. These phones are not connected to the public switched telephone network, but to a data network. The phones have their own mini hub so that they can connect with the IT system in the business premises. This means that only one network is required for both IT and telephony. There are a large number of products on the market that work with Windows, Android and Apple systems. This can instantly reduce overheads.

Other benefits are that a SIP proxy server may also be used and it effectively acts as a server and a request tool from clients and routes calls appropriately and efficiently.

The intercom feature offered with many SIP phones can still be used when the internet SIP server is down, while incoming calls can be rejected if they are not from a recognised source via a SIP source address filter (SSAF) function. So, anything that isn’t permitted and from a recognised server will be unsuccessful. This is a wonderfully useful and time saving feature.

For an efficient, high performance, cost effective system, SIP should be on your list of acquisitions. It is growing in popularity and SIP is gaining on ISDN’s market share. Some suppliers are even offering a lifetime guarantee, and many other incentives for making the switch, so why wait? Embrace the attributes of SIP today and reap the rewards.

If you’re looking for SIP telephone systems in Birmingham, contact Midland Networks today on 0800 849 8585.