Junction Networks (News - Alert) recently launched Inbound Bridge, an accessory service that ties in third-party providers of international and domestic direct inward dial (DID) numbers.

 

Junction Networks’ business customers can save money by using Inbound Bridge as it allows them to find the best per-minute price for inbound VoIP calling minutes in their chosen geographic regions. According to Junction Networks, these customers connect that to the onSIP PBX platform, which offers the best available price and flexibility in hosted PBX (News - Alert), auto attendant, voice mail and other voice services.

 

This new service helps companies that want local numbers and 800 numbers in foreign countries or specific domestic regions. These numbers are typically rented from other VoIP network providers. A large number of the providers deliver calls from one end point to the other and don’t implement the key function of the SIP VoIP signaling protocol that allows callers to navigate phone menus, transfer calls, put callers on hold and trigger other events.

 

The company points out that in the absence of this function, which is specified in the IETF’s RFC 3515, inbound callers are disconnected when they “press 1 for sales,” or attempt transferring to extension numbers for specific people.

 

By performing the missing SIP function, Inbound Bridge maintains the two-way SIP signaling required for interactivity after a call is already established. It can thus pass the entered touch-tone digits to the auto attendant and other PBX applications, and can also integrate onSIP with any network vendor having an open SIP implementation.

 

Rob Wolpov, president, Junction Networks believes this is a perfect opportunity for a company that wants a toll-free service from Europe or Asia, or have some other reason to use a third-party phone number provider. He explained in a statement that companies like to use their hosted solution, because it works very well.

 

“You have company extensions in one or more sites, and you like the price of that,” he added.

 

Junction Networks is charging $39.95 a month for core voice applications and an unlimited number of SIP extensions, with free calling between them.

 

Companies can get their toll-free origination from any provider that offers SIP delivery of inbound calls, and just have it go to Junction Networks through the Inbound Bridge. The company charges $1.95 a month per DID, and half a cent a minute to cover their cost of the Bridge. If companies can get their toll-free for one or one and a half cents a minute, they wind up paying two cents a minute for toll-free, as opposed to paying almost four cents a minute to Junction Networks.

 

Wolpov continued: “Go somewhere else to get your minutes and then come to us for the auto attendant, the ACD queue, the voice mail, all those sorts of applications.”

 

Junction Networks has already tested the Inbound Bridge with international DID provider Voxbone (News - Alert). In the coming months, the company intends to test and add other third-party DID providers.

 

Rodrigue Ullens (News - Alert), Voxbone CEO said that the company is happy to supply onSIP customers with this core value—locally dialed phone presence in more than 40 countries around the world.

 

Ullens noted that, with the intercontinental voice-only backbone, Junction Networks’ Inbound Bridge and onSIP platform allows enterprises to get the best value in DID numbers and international VoIP transport, plus all the convenience and flexibility of hosted IP PBX.