Meeting with AT&T going to SIP

[VictorYourITGroup]

Hi Everyone,
I had a meeting with a client and AT&T about upgrading Internet and switching over to a 3CX system.
Client has about 65 phones. We are moving off Avaya system, connecting to PRI over Fiber.

1. I asked the sales person about cost for "phones lines" which they now call "concurrent calls" on a sip based phone system. I also asked why other providers do not limit the channels or charge by channels.
Q: Am I misunderstanding that the accounts from Vitelity, for example, I am paying by minutes or unlimited based on the plan? The number of channels/concurrent calls I am limited to is based on my version of 3CX or whatever phone system you use.

2. The sales person asked if we were going on premise or hosted for the pbx. He told me there is a difference between the connection to the provider base upon if it was a cloud hosted system or on premise system. I asked for clarification and he just said it is not the same and that the connection to the provider would be different. Anybody have any insight on this?
Maybe they are talking about their cloud hosted solution?

Thanks for any feedback or insight you can provide.
Victor
(Cross posting on PBXinaflash forums)

 

[leejor]

A PRI is not SIP. A PRI is 23+D per T1 (North America). A SIP trunks is really only limited by bandwidth and your allotment.. You'd still need a gateway to connect with 3CX if it is actually a PRI. As far as how they charge for calls...Most VoIP providers charge for all calls, local, national, and international. Does AT&T charge for locals calls? Many PSTN (type) providers charge a flat rate unless it is long distance, and even than many don't. So how you are billed, may be different from VoIP.

 

[VictorYourITGroup]

Hi Leejor,
I meant to say we are moving off the PRI used by the Avaya system to a 3CX system using new SIP Trunks. Sorry for the confusion.
The VoIP providers I am using charge a flat rate or per minute rate for the calls but do not limit the channels. The channels are limited by the level of 3CX that we sell.
AT&T seems to charge for the channels, which would be a flat rate. I was curious if this is industry standard or it is just AT&T maintaining their old ways? And is there some advantage to this type of configuration?
I have some other VoIP providers charging by channels.
Thanks for the feedback,
Victor

 

[cobaltit]

Providers charge how they want to charge. Some charge by channels, some by minutes. For AT&T they are just maintaining the status quo

 

[KeithTX]

CenturyLink (Level3) also charges per concurrent call.

 

[VictorYourITGroup]

Thanks CobaltIT and Keith.
I appreciate the feedback.

 

[BrenttG]

beware Integra/electric lightwave, their idea of a sip trunk when a client ordered one, was showing up with a gateway, and installing 4 analog lines, and plugging them into a gateway box, and calling it a sip trunk... We had them removing it 5 minutes later, and saved the technician a return trip.