So you may be asking yourself, “What is SIP Trunking?” Quite simply, it is your business phone lines delivered from your Internet connection. In fact, it is more than likely that you are already using business phone lines that you think are conventional “copper” or “analog” phone lines but they are not. If you go into your phone closet and see a device 
that has phone ports on the back or looks like this…
You already have SIP Trunks delivered through a Spectrum (Time Warner) phone modem…
Spectrum provided this phone modem to connect to your “old phone system” so that you can make and receive calls as you have always done… But did you know that there is a better way of getting SIP Trunks? Did you know that by moving to a True SIP Trunk solution you can increase the productivity of your employees and lower your phone bill?
Sound too good to be true? Here is why: let me start with lowering your phone bill… So if you were to take a quick look at your phone bill, you will find that you are paying anywhere from $30 – $50 for each phone line that your business is using. This includes all of the lines that appear on your business phone as well as fax and alarm lines. This portion of your bill is more than you pay for your Internet connection.
DS1 provides SIP Trunks through Spectrum Business Services for as low as $15 per month. So, based on our above figure of $30-$50 per phone line you can be saving up to $35 per month for each phone line. If you have a small office with only 4 phone lines, that is $140 a month!!
Now to my first point, increasing the productivity of your employees… so how can SIP Trunks increase their productivity? SIP trunks come 
with many useful features that conventional business copper lines do not have.
1st – DID phone numbers.. a DID phone number is a “Direct Inward Dial” phone number that can be handed out to your employees to be reached directly. These numbers can bypass the Auto Attendant and be programmed to ring an employees phone directly, there by taking less of a load off other employees such as receptionists or co workers who will answer every call that comes into an “old phone system”, screen the call, transfer the call or take a hand written message…. ugh!! Plus, DID numbers are cheap.. they will only cost you .50 per month for each DID private number. Another option for utilizing DID Private numbers is advertising. Let’s say you rent a billboard for a special promotion your business was running. You could assign a specific phone number that correlates with that ad campaign. Then when new customers call that number they can be routed to your best salesperson to tell them about the promotion and close the sale!
2nd – The NEC SL1100 has many great features to take advantage of the SIP technology. One of these features is mobile extension. Each system comes with Q=4 mobile extensions. This awesome feature allows you to have your mobile phone ring at the same time your extension does. So if you happen to be walking out the door, you can answer on your mobile phone and jump in your car to catch that important meeting…or if you answer the call on your deskphone, simply hit the transfer button, hit “9” and your mobile number and pick up on your mobile phone and head out the door!! You cant do that with your “old phone system” or your old copper phone lines…
3rd – What if you are in the field and want your employees to transfer calls directly to your mobile phone? The SL1100 with SIP Trunks can do that as well. Simply hit the transfer button your business phone and enter the pre programmed key with your mobile number on it and that call is ringing on your IPhone or Android device… You cant do that with your “old phone system” or your old copper phone lines…
4th – Conference call bridge. Would you like to set up a conference call but are tired of following all of the steps to make it happen? The NEC SL1100 has the capability of adding 8 people into a conference. But here is where the power of SIP comes in… You can set up a private phone number to ring to your conference room and set up an automatic conference bridge to join all parties… So you hand your clients a phone number…704-555-1201, once they dial the number they will enter a password that you provide (1234) then they will hear ” you have entered the conference bridge”… no need to sign up for a conference bridge service when you already have it built in for “FREE” on your own phone system.. You cant do that with your “old phone system” or your old copper phone lines…
5th – Moving your business?? If you are outgrowing your office space, you are probably considering to relocate your business. If you are using SIP Trunks, NO Problem!! The SIP Trunks are mobile no matter where you relocate to. Just relocate all of your office equipment, plug in your phone system and start making and receiving calls! Now, if you have copper lines this can be a challenge. First, you need to see if your provider (let’s choose Spectrum for this example) has the service you need at the address you want to move to. Believe me, when I tell you, this can be a horrifying experience, we have seen Spectrum have service on one side of the street and no service on the other!! Hard to believe but true… We have also seen where Spectrum cannot offer to move the phone numbers to the new address so they will charge you for RCF paths. An RCF path is Remote Call Forward path that is usually around $18 per path! This allows you to not miss a call at your new location but could end up costing you $36 – $54 extra per month!! ugh!! You cant do that with your “old phone system” or your old copper phone lines…
6th – Remote employees… Do you have someone working from a home office, but you would like it to appear as if they are right down the hall? No problem, we can set up a private number on the phone system that is local (704-555-1201) and your employee could be located in California receiving a call with a Charlotte phone number…how cool is that? You cant do that with your “old phone system” or your old copper phone lines…
7th – Would you like to disguise your mobile telephone number to your customers? This is a simple process. Using SIP Trunks, you can dial into your NEC business phone system using your Iphone or Android device and automatically seize a phone line in your phone system. Here are the steps: 1) Dial into your phone system using a private number (DID). 2) Once the system answers, you will hear dialtone once connected. 3) Then simply dial your customer back and your customer will THINK you are dialing from the office, but in fact you are using your mobile phone! You cant do that with your “old phone system” or your old copper phone lines…