[Asterisk-biz] Re: Asterisk-Biz Digest, Vol 10, Issue 11

[David Josephson]

Ed Kenny writes

> That's correct. I know how to route a call but not terminate a call.
> There was an earlier post here suggesting VOIP termination via Asterisk
> was easy. I'm not sure I believe that. If $0.006 is really available
> from viable third party services then my choice of whether to build or
> outsource is in the air.

> So specifically for this forum are the questions of who are the viable,
> low cost VOIP terminators?
> And, has anyone else here successfully built there own termination
> service with Asterisk? 

There isn't likely to be a fixed answer, as it is a moving target. At the big end of the pipe, carriers charge each other between 0.002 and 0.015 a minute for terminating calls. The competitive CLECs I know will give you as many SIP or TDM channels as you can keep filled 8 hours a day, or 250K min/mo per T1.

http://www.voip-info.org/tiki-index.php?page=Cheapest+ATAs+and+Service shows low cost VOIP terminators. All of those listed (on the "low cost" page) seem to have QoS issues. I'm happy with the quality of the one 0.0075/min service, but their outgoing caller ID shows their business office number, not mine, and what good is that? 

>From a business point of view, it's more an actuarial or gambling proposition -- what combination of QOS, TOS, legalese, marketing and rates will result in a profit  after rollout. 

As to your last question, Asterisk is just part of the puzzle. A successful termination service will be built with some TDM, some Asterisk, some SER and some other bits and pieces too. Maybe a step-by-step exchange thrown in for seasoning.