Client with UC540 wants to replace his PRI with Skype

[Thomas Gruendler]

I have a client that has a UC540 with a PRI w/23 channels of voice and 25 DIDs.  He is wanting to get rid of the PRI and go with a SIP provider (preferably skype) but wants to keep at least 9 of his DIDs and his main number which rolls over to 3 other numbers.  He really only needs 9 concurrent available channels for voice.  I cannot find anything on Skype's site or here about doing any of this or if anybody has done something like this with a different SIP provider that worked well?

[paolo bevilacqua]

Before going this route (changing certain for uncertain), check with telco if they can offer partial PRI, e.g 10 channels, and/or a discount as customer is willing to cease contract.

SIP is all good and great but as of today nothing works better than PRI for rock-solid service.

[Thomas Gruendler]

I know what he can get PRI wise, it is that just he wants options before he makes a decision.  The PRI provider is actually giving him a great deal so that is not the question.  The question is, with a SIP trunk, is everything still available such as DIDs, rollover, ect and has anybody set this up on the UC5xx successfully?

[paolo bevilacqua]

Everything is available, and plenty of people run SIP trunks on Cisco UC500, and other platforms. SIP can be a pain to configure sometime, but after it's done it works generally well.

The real question is if you want to depend on the Internet for telephony, that is often a business critical function.

[aapexisinc]

One thing that is NOT available with Skype SIP trunks is fax.  If your client is doing any faxing with his phone lines, then Skype is not a viable option.