The demand for VoIP is growing internationally, creating significant opportunities for those companies wanting to break into this innovative and profitable market; however, one of the things these interested parties need to know how to do is to purchase wholesale SIP termination. Thanks to a recent VoIP Innovations (News - Alert) white paper, we can explore this topic in more detail.

The white paper, featured in a recent company blog, explores the strategies and processes involved in purchasing wholesale SIP termination. This exploration is important, as this step can be both time-consuming and a little risky for the wholesale VoIP provider. While no one path is the right approach for all users, there are certain things that can be done to improve the odds of making the right choice. Let’s explore VoIP Innovations’ RATA process and see what value it contributes.

RATA – or Researching, Analyzing, Testing and Accountability – is really just a simple outline that helps you to reduce the time you spend selecting the wholesale termination carrier, as well as the risk involved in the process.

Researching

The first step, research, is where you could win or lose the battle; if you do it the wrong way, you waste time and could risk your reputation. Research allows you to weed out the imposters from the real players and determine the right balance between quality and cost. VoIP Innovations avoids the “Two Men and a Switch” by researching every potential carrier. They visit the carrier’s website and their social media sites, will read their blog, search for rewards and news and search Google (News - Alert) to find forum posts about the company. If the carrier comes out shinning in the end of this process, they will be contacted for additional information. This information includes billing strategies, digit rate decks, billing increments, the existence of a least cost routing system and the number of carriers they fail before sending a 503.

Analyzing

If all information received is satisfactory at this point, it’s time to move into the analyze phase. This includes requesting a rate deck from the carrier so that engineers can run an analysis on the rate deck and compare it to VoIP Innovations’ most recent CDRs (call detail records). From this analysis, they can determine how well the deck would perform within the company’s LCR management system. An unfavorable result will spur the request for another rate deck and termination target rates to analyze again.

Testing

Once a satisfactory analysis is complete, it’s time to test. At this stage, you’re looking to see whether interoperability, or interop, is possible between the two switches. The carrier should also provide an interop form to complete, which will gather specific switching info. If an interconnection is established, testing is possible. Live traffic is the best test to conduct this, as issues at this point will be felt by customers and it’s a situation you want to try and avoid.

Accountability

Finally, it’s time for accountability. There are too many providers for wholesale SIP termination to let the ball drop when it comes to performance. If a provider is not delivering on expectations, it’s time to apply the RATA process again and replace them with a better provider. Sure, issues will come up, but how does the provider communicate and respond?

Avoid the pitfalls that are inherent in a sloppy evaluation process to select the right wholesale SIP termination provider and implement a RATA process in your own environment. The result is better quality and higher profit margins – the ultimate goal of any wholesale VoIP provider.

To learn more about all of VoIP Innovations’ offerings, visit www.voipinnovations.com.