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What is SIP Trunking?



What is SIP Calling?

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SIP (Session Initiation Protocol(link takes you to an external page)) trunking refers to phone calls that are routed over the Internet rather than traditional phone lines. SIP calling, therefore, refers to the act of placing calls via a SIP trunk. Because SIP calls take place across the Internet, they tend to be cheaper and more efficient than calls placed through traditional phone systems.

Physical connections to a phone company are eliminated with the use of a SIP trunk. Using SIP trunks, a SIP provider can connect multiple channels to your private branch exchange (PBX(link takes you to an external page)) system, allowing you to instantly provision global voice connectivity for your Voice-over-IP (VoIP) infrastructure.


Provision global voice connectivity with SIP trunking

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SIP trunking allows you to extend VoIP beyond your organization's firewall and bypasses the need for an IP-PSTN(link takes you to an external page) gateway by carrying many signals at once to connect nodes in a communications system.

While typically used for voice calls, SIP trunks can also carry instant messages, multimedia conferences, user presence information, E-911(link takes you to an external page) emergency calls, and other SIP-based, real-time communications services.

The basis of SIP trunking is the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), usually pronounced 'sip', not 'ess-eye-pee'. SIP is an application layer protocol for setting up real-time sessions of audio or video between two endpoints, and is leveraged to produce a VoIP call. You can learn more about SIP and how to leverage SIP for your business.

The "trunk" in SIP trunking derives from circuit-switched telecommunications and refers to a dedicated physical line that connects switching equipment. A SIP trunk accomplishes a similar task as its circuit-switched predecessor but works over a virtual connection on the Internet.


What are the benefits of SIP trunking?

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  • Scalability : SIP trunks allow you to scale down or up and increase capacity whenever you want since SIP trunking uses a virtual connection.
  • Flexibility : With SIP you can set up and manage unlimited non-geographic and geographic numbers.
  • Cost Savings : SIP trunks are more cost-effective than paying line rental costs for ISDN(link takes you to an external page) .
  • Disaster Recovery : SIP trunks allow you to redirect calls instantly in the event of any disaster.
  • Streamlined Multi-Site Telephony : SIP trunking can help rationalize your telephony and the number of PBXs across multiple sites.

How does Twilio's Elastic SIP Trunking work?

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Place outbound calls with Twilio's Elastic SIP Trunk.

Twilio's Elastic SIP Trunking(link takes you to an external page) grants you the freedom to manage your SIP connectivity however you like. Check out some video tutorials to get started with trunking termination(link takes you to an external page) (placing outbound calls), trunking origination(link takes you to an external page) (receiving incoming calls), and international trunking(link takes you to an external page).


How can you use Twilio's Elastic SIP Trunking?

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With Twilio and SIP trunking, you can instantly provision global voice connectivity for your VoIP infrastructure. Whatever your current company's scale and needs, Twilio offers a SIP trunking service that's right for you.

With Twilio's Elastic SIP Trunking, you can instantly provision a SIP network worldwide. Connect to a SIP URI that's local to your company, and we'll do the rest. Check out some of the possible SIP Trunking setups(link takes you to an external page) and our SIP Trunking Overview(link takes you to an external page) to see how you can leverage SIP trunking for your business. We can't wait to help you build and scale!

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