[asterisk-users] Voip providers and sip origination and termination?

[Rich Adamson]

Christopher Corn wrote:
> can someone please explain the differnces to me???
>  
> I have an asterisk system im setting up for a small office (4 or 5 
> phones) and as im looking for a voip provider, i find that voip 
> providers generally have unlimited plans, and those that offer sip 
> origination and termination get charged for the minute, for their 
> outgoing and incoming calls.
>  
> is there a difference in the backend architecture here? if so, what? or 
> is this is just a difference in marketing terms and setup?
>  
> for example, http://www.broadvoice.com offers an unlimited plan in the 
> US for calls, though they never use the term sip origination and 
> termination. they say their systems also supports asterisk. 
>  
> yet 
> http://www.bandwidth.com/content/enterprise?page=voice_services_origination_termination&campaignId=701300000000JBJ 
> <http://www.bandwidth.com/content/enterprise?page=voice_services_origination_termination&campaignId=701300000000JBJ> calls 
> it sip origination and termination
>  
> any info is appreciated! thanks!

I'll take a stab at this...

There are some providers that allow you to originate calls to the 
US/World pstn network via their facilities, but do not provide any way 
for the US/World to call you from the pstn network. (eg, Origination 
only provider.)

There are many providers that do the above, but also will assign you a 
normal pstn telephone number allowing the US/World pstn users to call 
you (via sip, iax, etc). (eg, Origination and Termination provider.)

The back end differences for the providers essentially amounts to them 
having to purchase multiple T1's, obtain an allocation of pstn telephone 
numbers, and establish a dialplan to support calls from the pstn 
network. The architecture for origination-only verses origination plus 
termination is the same; the "implementation" is different for one 
verses the other.

For the most part, there are no providers that truly provide "unlimited 
service". The majority include words in fine print that impose some sort 
of limit on their so called unlimited service.  For example, some will 
say things like their unlimited service provides 2500 minutes of use; 
call volumes that exceed 2500 minutes will be billed at $0.02/minute. 
Got to read the fine print.

 From an architectural perspective, those providers that suggest they 
have unlimited service plans also impose a limit on how many 
simultaneous calls are allowed. The majority of these have a limit of 
one, two, or some very small number of simultaneous calls. There way of 
limiting usage since they don't really want you to use up more then 
their stated fine-print usage.

Those providers that sell their services based on a cost per minute (as 
opposed to unlimited plan) do not typically limit the number of 
simultaneous calls. They want you to use as many minutes as possible, so 
why would they try to limit the number of simultaneous calls?

To get the best deal possible (from any provider) you need to come up 
with a reasonably accurate estimate of the number of minutes of incoming 
and outgoing calls that "you" are going to make. Then, compare providers 
to see which ones cost the least in terms of your requirements. Keep in 
mind the higher your call volumes, the more competitive the providers 
are. In other words, if your needs suggest 1,000,000 minutes of use per 
month (incoming and outgoing), you should be able to find providers that 
will charge you something like $0.012 per minute. (Stated a little 
differently, the majority of service providers have other unpublished 
plans that are discounted based on your expected level of usage.)

Most providers are trying to pattern their plans based on how well the 
Cell providers have done in the past. You and I typically sign up for 
xxxx minutes of cell phone usage, but don't actually use all of those 
minutes. What's our "real" cost per minute in this case? And, how often 
do we make useless cell phone calls because we have "free" minutes left?