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What you really want to answer is: why wouldn’t I want the best of both worlds? Some companies may have already invested in an on-premise IP PBX after realizing the exorbitant costs of a traditional PSTN. However, they may not have completely weaned themselves off of their landline as much as they hoped. Therefore, the next logical move for their business would be to connect their PBX to the Internet via SIP.

Here’s another scenario: you’re a growing company that already took the opportunity to put in your own IP PBX. But now, you’re starting to attract customers that are still using a traditional landline, and you have no idea how to help them reach you (at least, not without considering the dreaded costs of going back to PSTN).

Both cases still carry a risk of spending more money and can make the savings from an IP PBX seem too little. (If you’re starting to feel this way, try using our savings calculator so you can be sure.) The good news is that an IP PBX is really all you need to use SIP Trunking while still avoiding the higher cost of the old landline.

Knowing what you need is important if you intend to use SIP Trunking to merge both your current IP PBX and your connections to PSTN lines. The best answer is really to look at the IP PBX itself.

Is your bandwidth good enough?

This probably the first (and most practical) question to ask. Most people still think that poor quality of a call or a conference is the fault of the VoIP system. But in reality, your bandwidth has a big part to play in the quality of your calls (just like any other internet-based function). You could invest in the best IP PBX with state-of-the-art SIP Trunking, but if your bandwidth doesn’t cut it, you’re losing out on your investment. Run speed tests (like the one on our site) and try to pinpoint what’s really using your conection. Maybe put some policies in place to keep it under control and to ensure there is ample bandwidth for your VoIP service.

Do you need additional security measures for SIP Trunking?

Plenty of providers will always tell you that they’ve got top-notch security. That’s why you have to listen carefully to each one. The different ways that vendors protect you with their solutions may be effective; but that doesn’t mean that their methods are compatible with the way you run things. Some of them might even incur additional costs to PSI Trunking that you might not know about, so pay very close attention to your security needs as well as your communication ones.

What’s your plan for handling inbound calls?

It sounds like an innocent question, but think twice before answering. Remember, the strength of SIP Trunking lies in its capacity to keep you open to PSTN calls in addition to calls from a VoIP network. There’s little point in that if you don’t have a solid structure for incoming calls. The technology can direct and convert these calls with ease, but managing them is still up to you. How can you make it so that customers always get the assistance they’re calling for? How many times are they being re-routed before they are connected to the right person or department? Make sure technology isn’t just easy for your business but also easy for the people it serves.