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

[Gordon Henderson]

On Tue, 13 Jan 2009, Alex Balashov wrote:

> The interesting thing about the UK is that you folks did local loop
> deregulation right, unlike in the US, where it's vicious and toxic and
> is mostly a story about the bewildering multitude of ways in which the
> incumbents screw competitive CLECs.

For various values of "right" :)

Number porting is still a PITA.

> No, the results of the BT bifurcation isn't perfect, but having even an
> "officially" neutral LoopCo like OpenReach would go a long way in the US.

Yes. "officially" ... Some would think that in practice, it's not though.

However that's politics for you :)

Gordon


>
> Gordon Henderson wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
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>
> -- 
> Alex Balashov
> Evariste Systems
> Web    : http://www.evaristesys.com/
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