VoIP and International Call Termination

September 16, 2009

This article focuses on some of the issues VoIP providers face when terminating to mobile operators in Europe as number portability takes hold.

Although there is only one strictly compliant way to terminate a call to a mobile operator in many countries, the current reality is that two variants exist, each with different commercial models and pricing.

The first method is via official interconnects – either TDM or VoIP based – with the destination mobile operator. This type of interconnect provides full, PSTN quality termination with full feature availability, including correct delivery of the “calling line identity” and support from roaming calls. The drawback, however, is that in many countries, the terminating provider must pay an officially regulated interconnection fee.

The second, unofficial method VoIP providers use to terminate calls to mobile operators is via SIM card-based, VoIP gateways. These gateways originate calls into the mobile network using a wireless connection, with special low rates offered for calls made to customers on the same network. As such, each channel in the VoIP gateway acts as an individual mobile phone making calls to other mobile phones on the network. Termination costs are lower, albeit with reduced feature functionality such as an incorrect or missing display of the caller’s number. Many thriving businesses provide call termination based on this method, and they all bill the calling carrier based on a defined set of codes that “belong” to the destination mobile operator. One could argue that whenever there is an ongoing difference between the cost of using service normally available in the country – for example, retail SIM cards – and an official interconnect rate, service providers make use of the difference; in many countries this has reached the point where there are two parallel services.

The Impact of Number Portability

Number portability is a growing reality in many parts of the world, with porting rates ranging from a small percentage in some markets, to almost 50 percent in countries with flexible porting and contract rules. When mobile subscribers port their numbers from one network to another, the original mobile network treats that call as “out of network” and either rejects the call, or connects it at a much higher rate – obviously an untenable answer for the SIM card operator in a highly competitive business.

So how does portability add to the complexity? Carriers charge each other based on a defined set of network codes, and ported numbers are exceptions to those codes, which are normally invisible to the carriers involved. So, a carrier buying Vodafone termination, for example, sends all calls matching the Vodafone network codes to the SIM card operator. That operator cannot connect the calls to numbers ported away from Vodafone, and either rejects the call because it is not “on-net” or it simply fails – resulting in lower quality and dissatisfied subscribers.

An Intelligent Routing Solution

One viable solution to this quandary is to route calls based on the knowledge of which mobile carrier “owns” the number at the time of the call. Most SIM card operators can actually carry a call to a number that has been ported into their network, even though the code range doesn’t match up as expected. This means a Vodafone supplier can terminate calls at the Vodafone rate to numbers ported in from Orange, for example. The trick is to be able to segregate the ported calls, and route them to the correct operator rather than to simply rely on the original code set.

With this type of routing intelligence, and a simple commercial agreement with the carrier, a provider can answer more calls, improve the customer experience and increase revenue at one stroke. With average rates of portability, a provider can increase its call-connect rate by over 20 percent, a very significant improvement in customer satisfaction and revenue. In addition, the performance is much more predictable over time, which helps with the commercial and operational management of these VoIP interconnects.

Source: http://www.ipbusinessmag.com/departments/article/id/479/voip-and-international-call-termination

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VoIP Phones - Benefits Of Using It

February 21, 2008

The newly discovered, but widely in use all over the world, voip services have become today one of the most famous telephonic communication device. Availing the VoIP communication facility, one requires either the normal analogue phones or a standard IP phone. As the entire process is called Internet telephony, voip phones differ from the normal telephones in the sense that its entire process does not include the wires. In fact, voip solution or Internet telephony uses Internet to make calls to anywhere in the world.

Globalisation has made the entire world today to appear a small village due to increased advancement in communication. Internet telephony, though, has been newly invented, but its abundant of benefits have made it immensely popular in Europe as well as other parts of the world. Using voip phones lets us avail the calling facility at cheap rate. As you are using Internet to make calls in it, you will have to pay very less what you pay for your monthly telephone bill.

For corporate house, companies, and even for people who use to make a lot of international calls, voip solutions is the best way. As the Internet telephony charges you the same rate whether you are calling any domestic location or any of your relative or business associate located somewhere in Africa or any Asian country. Thus, for people in regular need of making International calls, availing voip service is cheapest solution.

Even the installation of VoIP phones is very easy. Besides, as you avail it, you will also get several other features like caller id, voice mail, call waiting, etc. free of cost. The better sound quality is another advantage of having Internet telephony. Moreover, by using it you can even enjoy video conferencing, which is an important tool used in corporate sector.

Jack Triston is a renowned business writer who has years of experience in writing technical reviews, product descriptions and product feature analysis of technical gadgets and gizmos. He has won appreciation especially for enlightening people about the latest communication gizmos…the VoIP phones

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Business Solution - VOIP Gateway

The internet is a mine for business solutions; it helps make work more efficient and provides millions of possibilities. Telecommunications, one of the most important tools of business, has become affordable, or even cheap, with the introduction of the internet. One of the internet tools that can help in reducing telecommunication costs is a VoIP gateway. VoIP gateway, short for voice over internet protocol gateway, transmits telephony traffic over a data network by converting it into an internet protocol (IP). It also packetizes, compresses, and decompresses voice and fax; routes calls; and controls signaling.

Business and the internet

The advent of the internet has changed the way we do business. Although not without faults, the internet has made a lot of things easier, faster, and more efficient for everyone—especially for business. The internet has made information widely available, fast-tracked transactions, allowed a wider market reach, revolutionized advertising, and made worldwide telecommunications a lot easier. Before, the fax machine used to be king, when it came to international transactions. Because it maintained the same long distance and overseas rates, a high monthly telecom bill used to be the norm. Today however, a lot of international transactions are done over the internet, including telecommunications, fax, and even live conferencing. All these translated to reduced costs and various communication possibilities. One of the most useful telecommunications devices that make use of the internet is a VoIP gateway.

How VoIP gateway works

Incoming voice calls and faxes enter through a public switched telephone network (PSTN). The VoIP gateway converts these incoming signals and transmits them to an IP network. This allows users to make calls using the internet, through a VoIP service provider. In short, they route calls to the internet instead of a telephone line, and therefore reducing costs.

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