FAQ

SIP trunks will dramatically reduce your calling costs by routing your calls over an IP network as opposed to the traditional public telephone network which uses analog or ISDN lines. There are also several other advantages. For example, your telephone numbers move when you do, and you can answer a London call in Belfast.

With the correct configuration you can expect quality equivalent or better than that of an ISDN line.

We have had no core outages since 2011. The only threats to availability are in the network connection between your premises and our data center. Either a line fault on your ADSL or a core network fault can cause an interruption of service. These risks also apply to traditional telephone trunks, so the SIP service has reliability comparable with traditional phone lines. It is also necessary that your PBX and ADSL router have power, so without backup power, an electricity outage will imply a phone outage at the same time.

Yes, calls to 999 and 112 will connect you to the emergency services. However this is subject to your phone and internet equipment having power. Your interconnection connection must be switched on and working. If this is not the case, you will need to use a mobile or analog phone to call.

While there are many providers in the UK, Voiceflex leads the way for business customers with PBXs using multiple trunks. We have tested extensively with PBX manufacturers and can provide a smooth transition from ISDN to SIP.

You need a SIP enabled device (PBX or handset) and a broadband internet connection, such as ADSL. We recommend the use of our Business Connect broadband product, which includes both the connection and the router.

Yes, old numbers can be ported so that you can receive incoming calls via SIP.

One way audio is normally caused by issues arising from NAT, which defaults to blocking all inbound connections from the internet. This is normal and isn't an issue for most applications. SIP, however, uses a large range of ports which it selects randomly. Leaving such a large range of ports open is a security risk, so other techniques are required. Voiceflex can help with NAT Traversal issues across a wide range of firewalls.

Voice quality is affected by several factors. The most important of these are packet loss, latency, and jitter. These are properties of the network between your device and us. If you are using our Business Connect service to connect, we are able to monitor and control these parameters, and you should contact us immediately if you experience degradation in voice quality. If you are not using Business Connect, we are unable to do anything about your connection and you should contact your ISP for assistance. Please note however that most ISPs will not see high latency or jitter as faults since these factors do not affect internet usage, and they do not treat voice differently to internet usage.

If you are having trouble connecting, or experiencing bad call quality, you can accelerate your support request by supplying our support team with a network trace. This should only be attempted by users with technical knowledge. It can be done with the free Wireshark program. Install the software on the computer on which your PBX server or soft-phone is installed, or alternatively on a computer which shares a hub with your PBX. Read the user-manual and familiarise yourself with the privacy implications before using this software. Run a trace on port 5060 (connections problems) or all ports (quality problems) while attempting a call. Save the trace in PCAP format and attach this to an email to the support team.

FTTC uses a copper line from the green cabinet to a premise. SoGEA utilises new technology but without voice services. FTTP is a full fibre broadband connection.

A leased line and Ethernet are essentially the same. Dedicated business internet access using a superfast Ethernet cable is also known as leased line, Ethernet or Dedicated Internet Access.

DTMF can be sent in one of many ways. By default, we support and expect DTMF using RFC-2833. It is possible that your system uses a different convention. To resolve this, review the documentation for your PBX, where you should find details of the method used to send DTMF. If it is configurable on your PBX, please set it to use RFC-2833. If not, please contact our support team and let us know which method your PBX supports and we will configure our system to recognise that method for your SIP trunk.