In this guide, you will be acquainted with bringing your own voice connectivity to Unifonic.

BYOC

Bring your own connectivity, also known as BYOC. It refers to a model where users or businesses are allowed to use their own voice network connectivity solutions when accessing Unifonic Voice services over the cloud. BYOC can offer flexibility and control to businesses. Instead of being tied to the voice network options provided by us, businesses can bring their own voice lines.

This approach allows businesses to maintain their existing voice networks, security measures, and compliance standards when integrating cloud services into their operations. However, it also puts more responsibility on the business to manage and maintain the connectivity aspects with their service provider.

BYOC is one aspect of a broader trend toward providing more flexibility and customization options, acknowledging that different businesses have varying requirements when it comes to voice connectivity. Typically, businesses may already possess a unified number, or a toll-free number which is used to communicate with their end users. In order to start using Unifonic services, a business might be interested to get started with their own voice connectivity instead of investing in more voice lines through Unifonic.

Buying from Unifonic vs BYOC

The bottom line is that although Unifonic provides phone numbers, or otherwise known as DIDs, businesses might feel more comfortable using their own existing phone numbers. Here, we list out some pros and cons so that you can decide what is best for your business.

Pre-requisites of BYOC

Here are a few questions that you must answer before you decide if you are eligible for BYOC:

• Do your business possess a SIP trunk connectivity with a service provider?
  A Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunk is a virtual communication channel that enables the transmission of voice, video, and other multimedia communications over the Internet. SIP is a signaling protocol used for initiating, maintaining, modifying, and terminating real-time sessions that involve video, voice, messaging, and other communications applications and services between two or more endpoints on IP networks.
  SIP trunks are commonly used in the context of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to connect a private branch exchange (PBX) to the Internet or a service provider's network. Instead of using traditional telephone lines (analog or digital), SIP trunks leverage the Internet to carry voice and multimedia communication.
  The reason why this is so important is because without having this in place, you essentially are no longer eligible for BYOC with Unifonic. When a business uses SIP trunks, it typically involves working with a SIP trunking service provider. This provider connects the business's PBX to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or other communication networks over the Internet using SIP. It is very common for businesses to already possess a SIP trunk. Do check with your internal IT teams to identify your SIP set-up today.
• Can you create a SIP interconnection from your business's on-premise device to a Unifonic point of presence over the internet?
  In order for Unifonic to access your SIP connectivity, we need to set-up an interconnection from our SIP devices to yours. This will allow us to configure calls and place them as and when you want us to, and also manage your incoming calls on behalf for your business.
• What services do you have running on your business SIP trunk now?
  In order to identify the number type, knowing what services your SIP trunk is provisioned with is so important. It could be a Unified Access Number 9200, a Direct Inward Dialing Line, a Toll-Free Number, or others.
• How many extensions do your business have on the SIP trunk?
  In order to place and manage calls through Unifonic, we need to understand how many extensions, or caller IDs, are provisioned on your bsuiness SIP trunk. This is so that we can efficiently plan your calls subsequently.
• How many channels do you have on the SIP trunk?
  Another crucial component of a SIP trunk is the total number of channels provisioned on it. Each channel is taken up by each active call, so the more channels your SIP trunk has, the more concurrent calls your business can be making. This is crucial as it can affect the speed of your outbound campaigns since your business might be limited to a small amount of concurrent which can take days to complete a large campaign.

BYOC trunk details

In order for Unifonic to start making and managing your calls with your business's connectivity, there are a few details that must be made known at the start.

Whitelisting Unifonic IP details and configuring the SIP interconnection at your PBX/on-premise equipment. This allows your business to send incoming calls to Unifonic, so that we can manage the answering of these calls. These details will be shared with you once a BYOC request has been raised.

In return, these are the details that Unifonic needs in return from you. Unifonic needs to whitelist your IP details and configure the SIP interconnection from our point of presence. This allows us to create SIP invites to your equipment, which is in turn connected to your service provider.

Unifonic Console Configurations

Currently, the BYOC process is still manual. Interested business will need to reach out to your account manager, or [email protected] to enquire further.

Once you have your trunk configured on both Unifonic, you would be able to view them on the Unifonic Console.

BYOC Call Architecture

Let's get technical! Here is how the call architecture will look like if you were making A2P calls through Unifonic to your end user, on the connectivity that you will bring to Unifonic:

BYOC A2P Calls

The line in blue is the SIP interconnection that we have to build with you.

The reverse is also true, and that is how Unifonic will handle your incoming calls too. This exact call architecture is also how your number masking calls will work:

BYOC Number Masking Calls

The line in blue is the SIP interconnection that we have to build with you.

Non-BYOC Call Architecture

To draw the comparison to how the call architecture looks like if you were to buy direct connectivity from Unifonic instead of bringing your own connectivity:

Unifonic A2P Calls without BYOC:

You simply just have to get started with API integration.

Unifonic Number Masking Calls without BYOC:

You simply just have to get started with API integration.

Costs and other considerations

Like every wise business owner, you have to consider the costs components before you can make a strategic decision as to whether BYOC makes sense for your business. Here are some key considerations that we suggest you make:

• How much are you paying for your existing numbers, SIP channels and SIP trunks?
  For a fixed monthly subscription fee, Unifonic can also lease DID numbers to you and optimize your SIP channels with instant scalability. This provides you the ability to reach the PSTN network with your devices. So the golden question is, do you save money at all by pursuing BYOC?
• Are you utilizing your existing SIP trunks for other business use?
  Are you fully utilizing your existing SIP trunks? A SIP trunk can do so much more than just making and receiving phone calls. If you are able to utilize your SIP trunks for other business use, then it is probably wise that you rely on BYOC to fully utilize the capabilities of your existing set-up.
• Are there any capability limits of our existing set-up?
  Many of our customers opt for BYOC as they feel that they have already invested in the infrastructure, so they should fully utilize it now. However, many of these customers later discovered that their existing set-up could not handle high concurrent calls on their PBX device, or on their SIP trunk. This typically results in more costs for upgrades.
• Do my internal teams know how to manage and troubleshoot voice?
  Many of our customers believe that they already possess the technical expertise to manage their own voice connectivity. However, they eventually require professional services to create the SIP interconnection between Unifonic and their PBX devices. Customers who BYOC will also need to troubleshoot their connectivity with their service providers on their own, your business needs to ensure that you have such capabilities in-house before opting for BYOC.

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Get started with bringing your voice connectivity to Unifonic today

Interested business will need to reach out to your account manager, or [email protected] to enquire further.