[asterisk-users] What are the various models of DID providers

[Gordon Henderson]

On Tue, 13 Jan 2009, randulo wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Inspired by a recent rant about one particular provider, I am getting
> very curious about something I've never mastered. I'd like someone to
> explain this here or at least post a link or two that can educate me
> and probably countless others who have no knowledge in this area. I'm
> sure there are several of you reading this that know all about the
> subject.
>
> What are the various business models of these providers, in particular
> where are they on the food chain of the DID or trunks they offer?
>
> For example, I have accounts with several well-known providers of SIP,
> IAX trunks, hosted pbx and DID. Each of these is located in a
> different area, and I would assume they have different peering and
> rates they pay to their upstreams. Without naming names, could someone
> tackle this? It might help people know what they are getting into when
> the open an account.
>
> What are the best *types* of companies for each category: asterisk
> testing and home use, small business, larger business, General
> Motors...

"What country are you in?" is always a good start. Remember VoIP is 
global, as are the members of this list.

For example, I'm in the UK and here we have a good selection of both 
inbound and outbound providers, although sometimes it's not obvious where 
they are in the food-chain. (Or who's food-chain they're part of!)

For me, I'm what I might view as a "middle man" in the food-chain, I want 
inbound and outbound providers who's own equipment connects directly to 
the PSTN, or as directly as possible. I don't want someone who I connect 
to via VoIP who then connects via VoIP to someone else who connects to the 
PSTN... (Although that's what I offer my customers... Hmm! However I like 
to think I offer more flexability, support and options than the top-level 
guys... Seems to work for me!)

So in the UK we have a small number of people in the same boat as me - 
connecting to inbound and outbound providers and selling-on these services 
either in the virtual form, or providing hardware and "trunks" (SIP and/or 
IAX) as required. My own value-add is to go one step further and provide 
the PBX (and Internet connectivity, if required) as well. Sort of one-stop 
shop.

There is also a plethora of providers aimed strictly at the residential 
market, and those who are trying to sell (expensive IMO) hosted solutions 
to the SME.

For me, inbound is more the issue than outbound, as I register numbers for 
inbound via the wholesalers who are then the only people who can route 
calls to that number to me, but I can send calls out via more than one 
operator (as long as they allow me to present outgoing CID from other 
operators) If an inbound operator fails, then all those numnbers are lost 
for the time being, so it pays to do a bit of research!

And that's what it boils down to - research. This could be by contacting 
the ITSPs directly, by word of mouth on various forums, etc. and so on. In 
the UK we have the ITSPA - http://www.itspa.org.uk/ and most of the main 
players are members, as well as some of the lesser ones, so it's a good 
place to start.

Gordon