thanks for the verbose explanation!<BR><BR><B><I>Rich Adamson <radamson@routers.com></I></B> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Christopher Corn wrote:<BR>> can someone please explain the differnces to me???<BR>> <BR>> I have an asterisk system im setting up for a small office (4 or 5 <BR>> phones) and as im looking for a voip provider, i find that voip <BR>> providers generally have unlimited plans, and those that offer sip <BR>> origination and termination get charged for the minute, for their <BR>> outgoing and incoming calls.<BR>> <BR>> is there a difference in the backend architecture here? if so, what? or <BR>> is this is just a difference in marketing terms and setup?<BR>> <BR>> for example, http://www.broadvoice.com offers an unlimited plan in the <BR>> US for calls, though they never use the term sip origination and <BR>> termination. they say
their systems also supports asterisk. <BR>> <BR>> yet <BR>> http://www.bandwidth.com/content/enterprise?page=voice_services_origination_termination&campaignId=701300000000JBJ <BR>> <HTTP: content enterprise?page="voice_services_origination_termination&campaignId=701300000000JBJ" www.bandwidth.com>calls <BR>> it sip origination and termination<BR>> <BR>> any info is appreciated! thanks!<BR><BR>I'll take a stab at this...<BR><BR>There are some providers that allow you to originate calls to the <BR>US/World pstn network via their facilities, but do not provide any way <BR>for the US/World to call you from the pstn network. (eg, Origination <BR>only provider.)<BR><BR>There are many providers that do the above, but also will assign you a <BR>normal pstn telephone number allowing the US/World pstn users to call <BR>you (via sip, iax, etc). (eg, Origination and Termination provider.)<BR><BR>The back end differences for the providers essentially
amounts to them <BR>having to purchase multiple T1's, obtain an allocation of pstn telephone <BR>numbers, and establish a dialplan to support calls from the pstn <BR>network. The architecture for origination-only verses origination plus <BR>termination is the same; the "implementation" is different for one <BR>verses the other.<BR><BR>For the most part, there are no providers that truly provide "unlimited <BR>service". The majority include words in fine print that impose some sort <BR>of limit on their so called unlimited service. For example, some will <BR>say things like their unlimited service provides 2500 minutes of use; <BR>call volumes that exceed 2500 minutes will be billed at $0.02/minute. <BR>Got to read the fine print.<BR><BR>From an architectural perspective, those providers that suggest they <BR>have unlimited service plans also impose a limit on how many <BR>simultaneous calls are allowed. The majority of these have a limit of <BR>one, two, or some very small
number of simultaneous calls. There way of <BR>limiting usage since they don't really want you to use up more then <BR>their stated fine-print usage.<BR><BR>Those providers that sell their services based on a cost per minute (as <BR>opposed to unlimited plan) do not typically limit the number of <BR>simultaneous calls. They want you to use as many minutes as possible, so <BR>why would they try to limit the number of simultaneous calls?<BR><BR>To get the best deal possible (from any provider) you need to come up <BR>with a reasonably accurate estimate of the number of minutes of incoming <BR>and outgoing calls that "you" are going to make. Then, compare providers <BR>to see which ones cost the least in terms of your requirements. Keep in <BR>mind the higher your call volumes, the more competitive the providers <BR>are. In other words, if your needs suggest 1,000,000 minutes of use per <BR>month (incoming and outgoing), you should be able to find providers that <BR>will
charge you something like $0.012 per minute. (Stated a little <BR>differently, the majority of service providers have other unpublished <BR>plans that are discounted based on your expected level of usage.)<BR><BR>Most providers are trying to pattern their plans based on how well the <BR>Cell providers have done in the past. You and I typically sign up for <BR>xxxx minutes of cell phone usage, but don't actually use all of those <BR>minutes. What's our "real" cost per minute in this case? And, how often <BR>do we make useless cell phone calls because we have "free" minutes left?<BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>--Bandwidth and Colocation provided by Easynews.com --<BR><BR>asterisk-users mailing list<BR>To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:<BR>http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>