Finding a business class VOIP SIP trunk provider

[Daikoku]

Hi,

I'm currently trialling 3cx to replace our old PBX system.
I'm located in south-west Florida and we currently have Verizon FIOS internet service and 3 Verizon PSTN phone lines.
I want to keep the PSTN lines as a backup and just ordered a Patton as the VOIP gateway for these.
In addition to that I'd like to transition to VOIP SIP trunks but as a financial service provider am very concerned about reliability as this is my top criteria since we can't afford phone downtime.

I've been looking at a couple different trunk providers like Nextiva, Broadvox, Nexvortex but without testing each of those individually for a couple weeks I really have no idea about their reliability and quality.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a SIP trunk provider that offers quality service in my region that will just work and I won't have to worry about dropped calls, outages, etc.?

Also, what are my other options for quality VOIP service, e.g. is it worth it looking into T1 lines to a telco provider or what are my other options?

Thanks!

 

[KerryG]

I think you answered your own question there. If you need absolutely reliable connections that just work and won't give you problems, then go with a voice T1 from a major carrier. The moment you go to SIP trunks you add a dozen points of failure to the equation.

 

[Daikoku]

Kerry, thanks for your reply.
I called a couple carriers yesterday for quotes and they were all in the $400-$800 range + 3 month install time. Right now I only need a max of 7 simultaneous calls, so that would be a lot more than we would pay by simply adding 4 more PSTN lines, plus we might move in a different office soon as we are expanding, so the install time is not really acceptable.

Are there any other options that offer high reliability?

Thanks,

Tom

 

[kylejoe1]

Good topic.

NexVortex was fine when we tested, although we did not stress test. But when I did test, no one could tell it was coming over the Internet. We too are evaulating 3CX, we want to wait till v10 with the Call Center Edition/module.

Anyway, I'd recommend only doing outbound calls on the SIP then slowly migrate over for incoming. Do a couple DID's, get all the bugs/QOS figured out. NexVortex allows for month to month so you can cancel it it does not work out.

 

[willow]

I have had some major companies use Bandwidth.com for their service with over 48 trunks coming in. for only a few sip trunk channels they would be just fine. SIP trunks really relies on your internet connection and its reliability as well as that of the provider you choose.

 

[nevets429]

We've used Junction Networks for five years without an issue on a 3cx competitor before and now on 3cx for about a year. Our 800# goes in through them and we have local numbers in five different regions that our 800# doesn't work, also through them. Our main local# is still on a PRI trunk going through a Patton, but probably 50% of our inbound comes in through them and 98% of our outbound goes through them. Only problem we've had at all is two Carribean countries that won't accept calls from VOIP providers or cellphones here in the states don't work through them but that was expected. We run about six simultaneous calls through them pretty consistently during business hours.

They do offer a failover to PSTN but we do not use that as our customers have our alternate numbers. In the last three years that we've had a new carrier on our PRI it's been down about three times a year for several hours at a time and each time I forward that number into one of our Junction numbers. Our lines are checked automatically every five minutes 24x7x365 as we are an emergency call center and disaster recovery center for alarm/security companies. I've never seen any down time from them.

 

[smb1]

If your requirements are for highly reliable voice service, you may end up spending just as much for redundant SIP trunks, internet connections and ancillary hardware as you would for a T1 option.

If you can find a SIP trunk provider who can offer a private network connection from the exchange/central office to their voice network you can eliminate a lot of the unknowns in voice quality and reliability.

In any event, having multiple call routes is a wise thing to pursue.

 

[sigma1]

Business class is often misused. If for business class you mean highly reliable and high quality then you need to go with a carrier that has several locations for redundancy. I would consider BroadVox, Global Crossing, Qwest, Level(3). The NexVorte* suggestion is NOT a business class carrier. They had 2 outages in less than a month recently and their own numbers couldn't be reached for support. Business class to us means a company with a decent number of employees capable of providing support around the clock. Just my opinion...

 

[Daikoku]

Thanks for all your responses.
I'm testing OnSIP right now and so far the call quality has been great (can't say much about their long term reliability though).

@sigma1
I've read some pretty bad reviews about BroadVox, not sure if they are true?
I also called Global Crossing today and am waiting for a quote on their SIP trunking services.

While the consensus seems to be that you really need a T1 to have truly reliable service, the long turn-up times are a non starter for me and it would be cheaper to simply order some more PSTN lines since we only need a few simultaneous calls at this time.

 

[sigma1]

The global crossing promo is $12.00 per month per channel plus $0.01/min, please feel free to tell them if they come up with anything higher (and you can tell them I shared the pricing with you, name in the signature).

I agree with you on the T1 statement. The individual that suggested that and I had a discussion over that over dinner and he is more familiar with businesses that have low quality broadband and therefore challenged service. We run all of our 17 locations on SIP trunks without any problem. Please ensure that you have good QoS in place as it will greatly help you on the upload side.

 

[Daikoku]

@sigma1
I just talked to Global Crossing and you are correct that they do have that promo but their minimum commit for that is $2500/month. We're not anywhere close to this at the moment (we have maybe about 5000 minutes/month). Also, their minimum commit out of the promo is $500/month in long distance calling

 

[sigma1]

Sounds odd. We signed up people with 6 channels... Let me ask our Sales VP and I will get back to you

 

[Daikoku]

thanks, appreciate it.

Also, just talked to Qwest and they require a T1 to deliver and don't do it over general internet. They said ~450/month for T1 on 3 year term, $1000 NRC for to enable SIP and ~$14/month per SIP channel

 

[sigma1]

Have you tried Vitelity?

 

[Daikoku]

I have not. Would you recommend them over OnSip?

 

[sigma1]

We have had great luck wit them. They own a state of the art Data Center in Denver and I went there to inspect myself.