Business Class VOIP termination

April 22, 2008 3:24 PM

Can anyone recommend business class VOIP termination that is not a fully hosted solution by the terminating company?

So I am pretty new to this area but boy have I learned a lot in the last month. Our small business (50 users, 3 sites) was previously going with a fully hosted VOIP solution but following a full cost analysis the price difference between this and hosting our own was huge which is leading us down the Switchvox route.

We are planning on initially maintaining our 7 inbound analog lines for origination, however the missing link is VOIP termination to the PSTN for our outbound calls. Unfortunately it is difficult to evaluate VOIP service providers since the heavyweight ones provide their own hosted VOIP solutions (and don't seem to offer wholesale termination without using their hardware) and the wholesale providers range from fly-by-nights to what I am sure are reliable companies - but it is hard to tell the difference. Posts to VOIP forums are peppered with sales reps giving glowing recommendations of their own companies.

Can anyone recommend one? How much influence does the service provider have on overall quality and is it possible to buy termination over a private network? Bonus if you are working with a Switchvox or Astrisk system. Bonus bonus for reliable international calling.

Thanks much!

posted by clarkie666 to Technology (6 answers total)

I installed les.net as an "interim" service for a small call centre deployment, while we waited for the T1 to come in. We went through about 5000 minutes and everything was fine. I just picked these guys because they were local to me, but the price was good and setup, billing, and account info were automated. I used Asterisk and terminated calls via SIP and IAX.

We were in the same position you are: only originating calls, not receiving them. That's a really good setup, because as far as you're concerned, the VOIP service is purely a commodity. If I were you, I would pick a couple of companies with setup and billing online. You can probably get a thousand or so minutes for $20, try them out, and see who you like. You can switch from company to company at a moment's notice, so your risk is basically zero.
posted by pocams at 5:29 PM on April 22, 2008

I second http://www.les.net

I've been using them for a couple years now (They terminate out of Winnepeg, Manitoba). I'm not too sure about US DID numbers, but if you're doing your own setup for inbound, you should really check out les.net. 0.015 per minute anywhere in canada/usa!
posted by br4k3r at 5:51 PM on April 22, 2008

Thirding Les.net. Adding voipjet.

At first glance, both look pretty fly-by-night, but voipjet has been a leader in IAX termination for years, and les.net has been a mom-n-pop ISP for almost 15 years. Either will reliably place calls onto the PTSN for you.
posted by toxic at 6:24 PM on April 22, 2008

ipcomms.net is one termination that I used and their service is very good. Most voip providers that provide service in the US are hacks. The quality of ipcomms.net solution is very good as well.
I am using asterisk for this connection with freepbx as a front end. I also have a trunk going to another asterisk box that does not have a front end application.
As far as international calling, I do plenty of it. I use my softclient when I am remote and if I do have any quality issues it's the network I am connected to.
posted by Derekwtp at 11:00 PM on April 22, 2008

You can view my setup at www.myprofessorvoip.com. I am always testing new setups.
posted by Derekwtp at 11:01 PM on April 22, 2008

Thanks for the links all.
posted by clarkie666 at 9:45 AM on April 23, 2008