You are ready to ditch the physical phone lines with all of their service calls, mechanical glitches, and costs. Now, you have started to consider which SIP trunking provider is the best for your needs. Did you know that if you rush into the decision, your choice in SIP trunking provider could end up hurting your business? It can, and we want to help you understand how this might happen in order to help you avoid such a dilemma.
They Don’t All Use a Tier 1 Network
First things first, take a look at the list of SIP trunking providers you have gathered and cross out any that are not committed to tier 1 network connections. Ask the provider about the tier level of any of their carriers if you cannot easily find this information on their site (which itself is a red warning flag).
If they are using anything less than tier 1, it is a trap and you can end up with unreliable connections, poor voice quality, lots of down time or even loss of dial tone. All of these issues hurt the bottom line.
They Are Not Transparent About the Monthly Costs
SIP pricing can be vague and easy to misunderstand. If a SIP trunking provider seems to be unclear with the precise out of pocket cost to you each month, remove them from your list of candidates, too. You should have monthly fees for each channel and some fees for porting regulatory issues, and e911 services. You probably want an unlimited SIP trunk subscription so you don’t pay per minute as well. If there are no solid answers to your questions, don’t use that service.
Without transparency around pricing, you face serious sticker shock at the end of your first month or service term. It can also mean hefty fees for canceling and more. So, be clear about all of the fees or be at risk for a financial hit.
They Don’t Let You Sample Their Service
It is not difficult for any SIP provider to give you a chance to test drive their system and customer service through your existing gear. If there is no way you can do this, it is a bad sign and a clear indicator that you must seek a different firm to meet your needs.
You don’t want to pay for a system to find that it has poor audio, an awkward interface or fully automated customer service that doesn’t resolve your issues.
At SIP.US you can find some of the best SIP services and options along with dedicated customer service.
