[Asterisk-Users] Level(3) SIP termination services

[Bruce Ferrell]

Kudos John on an excellent set of questions! Not to mention the pointer 
to isp-clec.

Thanks!

John Todd wrote:
> [crossposted to isp-clec and asterisk-users]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's not such a great price at 11 million minutes, in my opinion.
> 
> Did you ask them if they would speak to Asterisk via SIP?   We have on 
> this list (asterisk-users) made some short lists of retail providers of 
> minutes (see archives,) but it would be interesting to see what 
> wholesale providers will warrant Asterisk use with their SIP gateways as 
> "acceptable".
> 
> Questions for y'all to ask when you start fishing:
> 
>   - do you need dedicated interconnect with the network of the 
> termination provider?  In our example of L3, do you need to buy a fast 
> ethernet of IP bandwidth from Level3, or will they take the traffic 
> across a peer or other transit customer's link (in other words: the 
> Internet.)
> 
>   - what codecs are supported?  Some providers insist on G.711, which 
> strikes me as underhanded at worst and significantly short-sighted, at 
> best.  If they support Asterisk (yay!) do they allow iLBC, GSM, and Speex?
> 
>   - how are CDR's transmitted back to the customer?  Daily?  Live? 
> Monthly (agh!)?   Via the Internet, or on tape/cd?
> 
>   - are media streams restricted to a single (or very few) IP addresses, 
> or will they take media streams from "anywhere"?  Again, many providers 
> seem to want to break SIP's model of peer-to-peer media transmission, 
> even when it's possible, for various "business" reasons.
> 
>   - are there any geographic considerations for sending traffic?  Are 
> there any area code/prefix sets which cost more?
> 
>  - are there any topological considerations for sending traffic?  If 
> traffic shifts between appearing on the East Coast, and then fails over 
> (as an example) to coming in through a West Cost network perspective, 
> does that change any SLAs or pricing?
> 
>  - if the provider offers multiple rates to North American destinations, 
> how often does that rate table update?  How is that rate table provided?
> 
>  - in what format does the provider offer international rate updates? 
> How often?
> 
>  - does the provider offer private or public ENUM lookup for 
> destinations locally served, if they provide DID's to their larger 
> customer base?  what is the provider's plan for ENUM rollout once NANP 
> is fully ENUM capable?
> 
> 
> As you speak with providers, so long as there is no NDA, please share 
> your experiences with the list.  The medium-sized call-centric shops and 
> call centers would benefit greatly from hearing the possible competitive 
> alternatives that might be connected to Asterisk systems.
> 
> This again brings up the topic of asterisk-biz mailing list, if there is 
> any traffic.  However, I doubt there will be much traffic since it seems 
> the people who do many minutes keep their mouths shut, at least on this 
> list.
> 
> JT
> 
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