Changing from CenturyLink to Starlink?

[Matthaios]

Hello, I am moving my small business to a new office across the street. That is always a time to reassess the (USA-based) internet provider. That has been CenturyLink, with 3 individually paid SIP trunks and my assigned office phone number (which of course I must keep).

While CenturyLink (now Lumen) is officially supported for 3CX, the rep ominously mentioned that voice products would only be supported for existing customers in the future, so that I thought about indulging a slight intrigue about changing to Starlink. I see a few threads with potentially similar setups to mine. I currently have V20 and a Yealink T-43U SBC firmware installed phone. There are about 4 other Yealink phones that are all connected by office ethernet wiring, not Wifi.

However, what are the nuts and bolts of making this switch? Once I have Starlink internet running at the new physical location, how do I ensure the phone number is kept? Obviously, this is very important for my business. The existing arrangement of paying for individual SIP trunks always seemed old-fashioned. I believe each of the SIP trunks technically had some phone number attached, which we don't use (and never populated in 3CX). So when I change to Starlink internet plus my SBC Yealink phone, what happens to the functionality that CenturyLink was providing through their SIP trunks? Or do I need one more piece that I'm missing? All help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[KyriacosS_3CX]

Hello,

Regarding the phone number, any SIP Trunk provider should be able to advise you of how to port (move) your current number to them. The process is generally quite straight forward.

As for your phones, since you are using an SBC they should switch seamlessly to the new internet connection - you might want to check if you have a static IP on your current service and enabled Console Restrictions or any special whitelisting, to do the same for any new IP(s).

Regarding Starlink, perhaps some other users of this service can offer advise on it's suitability for running telephony over it.

 

[Matthaios]

Thanks, I had been conditioned to consider the SIP trunk provider and interner provider the same due to having them bundled, but I see that I can basically choose any internet (such as Starlink, possibly) and port my number to a SIP trunk provider.

So 3 things are needed: a sufficient basic internet service, the SIP trunk service (can be a different company), and the 3CX (cloud hosted, in my case). I will try porting my number to Twilio and see if that can work. Thanks.

 

[KyriacosS_3CX]

By the way - if you have someone you know using Starlink, use the 3CX mobile app or a browser connected to their network and make/receive some calls to evaluate call quality, as any satellite based internet connection will introduce some delays and jitter that you may or may not find acceptable.