SIP Trunking for Hotels and Hospitality
Hotels are Uniquely Positioned to Benefit from SIP
Trapped by Technology
The telephony needs of hotels are rather unique. Despite the fact that many customers are using cell phones these days, easy access to hotel services through the in-room phone and dialing between rooms are expected by guests and important to their satisfaction.
Many hotels have made a significant investment in legacy phone systems and integrated technologies. Since the majority of these aging phone systems are TDM-based, hotels are forced to pay a large phone bill each month for many analog lines, or a T1/PRI circuit which has a relatively low amount of usage. New phone systems with IP technology might resolve the issue by routing calls over the internet, rather than traditional telephone lines, but many hoteliers are reluctant to do a forklift upgrade of their existing analog phone system due to the high costs of the equipment and handsets. In addition, there is often existing technology which integrates in-room phone usage with hotel the check-in/check-out billing system and other services.
The SIP Solution
With SIP Trunking and a digital or analog converter box, hotels can completely leave in place their existing infrastructure and simply ‘unplug’ the telephone trunk lines away from the carrier and into the gateway box. The gateway box then converts the calls to VoIP (voice over internet protocol) running over the SIP protocol, passing them through a single Ethernet data jack and out the existing Internet connection.
Dramatic Cost Savings With Low Initial Investment
There is a small initial investment required to move to SIP, but it is dwarfed by the possible savings. A gateway box is required. A gateway box is simply a router or proxy server that routes between networks. Gateways range from several hundred dollars for a multi-analog line box to $1000 for a Digital SIP-to-T1 device.
Depending on the protocol used,each call consumes between 32 and 85 kilobyte per second. For some, there may be an investment required in improving the overall Internet bandwidth to the facility.
These investments are small compared to the overall savings, which can be 40-50% of the monthly telecom bill.
Here is how SIP cuts telephony costs:
- Ditch the PRIs – SIP trunking eliminates the need for Primary Rate Interface or PRI lines. PRI lines are how calls were traditionally delivered to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The are no needed when SIP trunking is utilized. The cost of a SIP channel is much less than that of a PRI line, so savings are substantial and immediate.
- Nationwide Long Distance Included – SIP calling typically includes local calls and long distance charges to the 48 contiguous US states and can be accompanied by attractive international long distance rates. This helps the hotel save money on its own business calls as well as reducing down costs for customers.
- Pricing Based on the Number of Calls, Not the Number of Phones – Legacy systems require one phone line for every extension, requiring payment for lines that are infrequently used. SIP trunking changes the equation by requiring just one channel for every simultaneous call. This is perfect for businesses like hotels that have more phones than employees.
- Buy Only What You Need – Unlike PRI lines which are sold in increments of 23, SIP trunks can be purchased one at a time and more can be easily added when additional capacity is needed. This means that SIP clients don’t pay for more than they need and don’t have to anticipate future demand.
Why Hotels Choose SIP.US
Hotels are turning to SIP.US as their trunking provider because we make it easy. We offer enterprise class SIP that operates on your own broadband Internet connection. Our SIP service is prepaid with no-contract rate of $24.95 per month per unlimited channel. We allow users to add channels or cancel anytime. Customers enjoy a predictable monthly bill.
Our Tier-1 network ensures reliability, while our powerful self-service SIP control panel makes administration a breeze. SIP.US works with all major analog and digital T1 gateway boxes, making deployment quite simple. We’ll even assist in porting over all of the numbers away from the current phone carrier. Unlike some providers that require clients to purchase broadband internet connectivity from them, we allow our clients to choose the internet service provider that gives them the best service for the lowest cost.
SIP.US provides Call Data Records (CDRs) which are useful in understanding your guest and employee communications needs. All of your CDRs are available in our easy-to-use Control Panel and are offered in near real-time.
The Bottom Line
For now, at least, offering a phone in every room is a necessary cost of doing business for hotels. However, SIP.US can help minimize the cost, while providing reliable service for a very low transition cost. In fact, we’re so sure that you’ll be impressed with our service, we offer free trial accounts which include 60 minutes of outbound calling to anywhere in the lower 48 United States. It’s easy to get started and you can start making calls immediately.
We invite you to start your free trial today and begin enjoying the cost saving and improved staff productivity with SIP.
Customer Feedback
Here is what our customers have to say about working with SIP.US:
“We were able to get our systems up and running with SIP.US in a matter of minutes using the simple online interface.”
– Matt Harrison, Elevate Audio Visual
“It’s easy to be low cost, but it’s a lot harder to be low cost AND good! In my opinion, SIP.US should be on anyone’s short list of primary providers.”
– Michael Dodds, Doddstech
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