I need 7000 DID numbers in all 50 states going into one call center. I contacted several providers of T1 lines, who all told me that it was more than they could handle. Who can I contact to provide these at a cost of 50 cents per DID number per month or so?
I was referred to Level3 or Global Crossing as wholesale providers of DIDs, but it is impossible to actually reach a human at either of those places.
Also, how many T1 or PRI lines would be required to handle that many DID numbers?
The quantity of T1/PRI's will be dependent upon how many simultaneous calls that are expected. Each T1 will give you 24 simultaneous calls, while a PRI will provide you with 23. Some systems (with the support of the service provider) can bond subsequent PRI's to the first one, meaning that the first one is the only one limited to 23 channels. The subsequent ones are allowed to use all 24 for voice traffic. I wouldn't count on that.
It's important to know what kind of existing phone system you have and what capabilities it has for such a dramatic expansion.
I've made a few calls to some contacts that I have with lots of standby services available. I'll post back if anyone can assist, but I think it is going to be a lot more expensive than that. There is the added cost of the delivery of the circuits to the premises which in this case would reach well into the five-figure range.
The question is, what are the traffic requirements? Are all of these did's going to be pointed at a single switch or forwarded to a single number that is pointed at the switch? Can your switch support 7000 unique did numbers? Your local carrier should have an enterprise sales group who can handle this.
Arc -
As the guys said - it depends on your traffic. For a small location, 10-15 Analog trunks per 100 DID numbers was considered decent service. Or 1 T-1 per 200 Numbers.
As you got bigger you got to take advantage of the added benefit that larger systems offered. Now Traffic models and Erlangs and all that good stuff start to apply..
You have to decide what grade of service you wish to provide and then you size your trunk groups accordingly.
When I managed the Network for the Bank of New York we had two buildings that each had 5000 DID lines and one that had 2000 lines. The two larger buildings each had 8 T-1s for DIDs. The smaller had 3 or 4. I don't remember ever seeing an ATB (All Trunks Busy) on any of my DID Trunk Groups.
If you can give me a better idea of what your network layout would look like I might be able to dredge up some ideas for you.
Sam
Have you considered one or more National 800 numbers to handle all 50 states? Depending on what you are actually doing, it would be cheaper and easier to manage than so many DID’s.
My customer already has an 800 number, but wants local numbers all over the US. I found one outfit that was willing to provide several hundred DiDs but not several thousand. I need a carrier that can think big.
Are you looking at maybe a DID for each area code? If so, you are probably not going to be able to find a company that can do it. If was just a number from a state, then it would have to be a company that is ON NET in all 50 states to be able to send calls at next to nothing cost. I remember Time Warner had something to that effect. For example if you had two sites that were using Time Warner and both were ON NET, you could call each site for free.
I am looking for seven thousand (7000) DiD numbers. That far exceeds the number of area codes. My customer wants at least one number in each local calling area in the USA so anyone in the entire USA can call him by making a local call. I know a lot of ISPs have a setup like this, so it must be possible.
I have already heard back from a number of carriers who say they can do this. I was wondering if anyone has any experience in setting up such a large inward-bound network and what they could tell me.
I have few customers who is in Locksmith business and they have lots of DIDs but only from 5 Boroughs of NY city but not from different states. The only I can only think of AT&T, Verizon and maybe Sprint but not other carriers.
There was something called remote or expansion market numbers. I cant remember whey they call them.
Another option is VOIP. With this option you get a remote NPA and the call is transfered over a more cost effective medium (and yes VOIP is "safe" as long as you have a good carrier, 100% of the major call centers I work for use VOIP).
Why do you need more then one DID per NPA?
For this volume you should be paying .05 per DID, thats what I am paying with a major carrier.
One more thing, 7000 DIDs is not that much. Companies sometimes buy a entire NXX (0000-9999). What is a issue with your request is to have your 7000 DIDs is different NPAs, and hundreds per NPA.
I personally would go with a 800 number. Customers dont link assuming they are dealing with a local company only to find out they are not.
I appreciate all the advice. Which carrier is providing DIDs for 5 cents? The best price I have found is more than ten times that amount for a minimum of 5000 DIDs. They also charge a setup fee for each DID that is almost as much as the monthly cost.
Not having much luck finding low-cost DIDs. I know eFax and other businesses like AOL have a lot of DIDs and can't be paying much for them. I've heard that Global Crossing, Level 3 or AireSpring (sp?) can provide a lot of DIDs, but I haven't been able to contact a human there. If any of you has contacts at any of these big carriers, or at Verizon or ATT, I'd appreciate learning about them.
While I have an affiliation with Airespring, I would recommend a telecom broker to help you. There's a site, ShopForT1.com and while you have to fill out a form that's related to T1 service, the contact I know there could probably help you get in touch with the bigger carriers. His theory is that as a broker, if any of his clients have issues with a carrier, he'll stop selling their services, so he really pushes for customer satisfaction, even though he technically can't solve any issues directly. But it's probably easier to deal with a broker than directly with carriers.
buy one directory number in each location and use multiple call forwarding to an invisible 800 number.
I appreciate your suggestions. Any more suggestions on how to set up 7000 local numbers to go into a call center would be appreciated.
I think my client sells web sites to plumbers and then runs a call center for them. Each plumber is in business for himself and wants his own website and local phone number. When the homeowner calls the number on the web site, the call goes into a call center. The call center then gets the plumber on the other line or sets up an appointment for him.
Someone said we are trying to fool customers into thinking we are local plumbers when we are not. I don't see it that way. We are just handling calls for real local plumbers. Believe me I am not going out and fixing those leaking pipes myself.
Dont these "local" plumbers already have their own local number? Have them forward that number to an 800 number that goes to your call center. How are you gonna find a plumber in every city to justify having a local number there? I may be missing something here but your plumber explanation doesnt seem to make sense to me.
I am not telling my client how to run his business. He says he has 3000 local numbers already and gets over 12,000 calls a month. When I get more than that many calls for my services, I'll start telling him what to do and how to do it.
It would cost a local plumber about $50 to set up a local number and another $50 in monthly recurring costs. If my client cay buy numbers in bulk for 50 cents per month, he is saving someone a lot of money. Besides, I don't think he wants to advertise numbers and then have the call go directly to the plumber. There has to be a way for him to get paid for his time and expenses.
I am certainly not trying to tell anyone how to run a business. I fix telephones for a living and thats the extent of my expertise. Its just hard for me to think that one company can have that much influence on the plumbing industry to warrant a local number in every city. Even though I live in a larger city now, I spent most of my life in smaller communities. The plumbers there, or every other tradesman for that matter, if they had a guy call them up and tell them to let him handle all of their phone traffic would pretty much tell him to go pound sand.
You might get further with some 2nd and 3rd tier resellers of L3 like vitelity.
I did this exact scenario for one prominent company. We had over 9,000 DIDs coming into our switching gear, across 4 DS1s.
You need to call carriers in each of the regions that you want local numbers in, and have them give you however many numbers you need in each location, and then have them all point-to either a Toll-free, or a long-distance number you have coming into your switch.
They need to pass your switch DNIS, so you know what local number the person dialed, and then your switch can do direct it into the call-center based on that.
If you would tell us what switch gear the call-center has, we/I can provide much more detailed information.