PRI

Two Services Over One Connection

Does your call center or company need direct inward dials (DIDs)? Or do you require a PRI voice T1 to maximize your phone system’s feature functionality? Every company has different needs. Simplify your business with a PRI. As your business grows, so will your technology needs. As you’re considering upgrades, it’s important to be aware of all the options available and choose the solutions that can grow with your business and help keep things running productively and seamlessly. On the telecommunications front, that solution might be PRI.

Primary Rate Interface (PRI), is a voice service that is a great solution for a small to mid-size business with approximately 10 or more employees. Instead of needing a separate phone line to for each phone number, this allows unlimited phone numbers and up to 23 simultaneous phone calls per PRI.

How does it work?

A Single Primary Rate Interface (PRI) circuit, is extended from Telephone Exchange (Central Office), which contains 23 multiplexed channels. The IP phones, fax machines, analog phones and Wi-Fi phones can all use the PBX to connect with the PRI line and make up to 23 simultaneous calls. This line is an end-to-end digital circuit. It is a voice-only T1 circuit, utilizing ISDN technology and can pass important call information, such as caller ID and Dialed Number Information Service (DNIS).
If a business needs more call capacity, they can add additional PRI’s and increase their capacity by increments of 23 simultaneous calls per PRI. The company’s PRI provider will in essence “bond” these PRI lines together, creating one contiguous group of phone lines.

Each individual channel or “trunks” can hold a single call but it is not associated with a phone number (DID). When someone calls one of your business’ phone numbers, the phone company reads the number dialed and knows it’s associated with your company’s PRI. It sends the call to the first open channel on your PRI, (which could be a different channel every time). When the call hits your phone system, your system will see the phone number that was originally dialed (DNIS information), and route the call to the handset that has been programmed to receive calls for that number.

This way of routing calls is completely different than how calls are routed with analog lines. With analog lines, each line has a phone number stuck to it and is hard wired in your phone system to only ring a particular phone/group of phones.

What’s in it for you?

Improve efficiency. With DIDs, you can designate specific numbers for tracking advertising campaigns, customer service, etc. This technology allows businesses to give clients telephone numbers that can be routed back to the employees instead of having to dial the extension number first.

Reduce costs. A business can have hundreds or even thousands of phone numbers but they do not have to pay for a phone line for each number.

Available Features with Select Providers

• Automatic incoming call failover
• 2-B Channel Transfer: allows all trunks to be released when an incoming call in transferred outside of your location.
• Trunk Utilization Reporting
• Outbound caller ID pass-through