Free SIP

Here are some of the cloud based SIP services you can get for free:

• SIP address
  A public SIP address for receiving calls from anyone worldwide.
• SIP IVR
  A SIP-based Voice Response (IVR) that can play messages such as  “For sales press one….” to callers. 
• SIP phone number
  A local phone numbers anywhere worldwide for receiving calls to any SIP device of your preference
• SIP trunk
  A SIP trunk is a connection between the traditional phone network and your SIP based phone system. 
• SIP forwarding
  Receive SIP calls or regular phone calls – and forward them to a SIP address of choice.

Here is how you can access these services for free – and how it all works.

If you sign up for a free account from Sonetel, you will instantly get a  SIP address, allowing you to receive free calls via SIP.

It will look something like this:

john123456@sip.sonetel.com

Incoming calls to your SIP address from anyone anywhere worldwide can be answered in many ways:

• In your browser
  You can answer calls in the free Web app.
• With any SIP phone
  Calls can connected for free to any SIP device of your preference that you register with the service. This can be both software or hardware based SIP phones.
• Forwarded to any number
  Incoming calls can also be forwarded to any mobile number or landline worldwide. This is not free, but costs like a local call.

If you run a business and invite your entire team to the service (which is also free) – they will all get their own personal SIP address.

You can read more about the option of having a free SIP address here.

You can create simple SIP Voice Response Services (IVR) with a few clicks – at zero cost

Services can be of these types:

• Menu
  Play a menu to callers. “For sales press one….” and take action dependent on their choices. Read more.
• Announcement
  Play a message and then forward the caller to some destination, such as a SIP address or phone number or team member. Read more.
• Voicemail
  Ask the caller to leave a message. Get the recorded messages delivered to an email address of your choice. Read more.

To create a SIP IVR now, follow these steps;

1. Sign up
   You sign up for free here
2. Create the SIP IVR
   Go here to create the IVR with a few clicks
3. Get the SIP address
   Each SIP IVR you create automatically gets a unique SIP address.
4. Send calls to the SIP address
   You can receive up to 1,000 calls per month for free and pay a low price for additional calls.

If you have a business website, you can get a SIP phone number for your business that remains free forever – in a city of choice anywhere worldwide.

The only requirement is that you also use a free customer chat function at your website. This will allow visitors to ask questions to your team – which can help you increase sales.

Follow these steps to get a free SIP phone number.

1. Sign up and select number
   Select a number that is free for website here, and sign up.
2. Install the free Business Messenger at your website
   You find the instructions here. Verify that it works. Your number will now be free.
3. Forward your number to a SIP address
   Set the call forwarding to the SIP address where you want incoming calls to go.

The number will remain free as long as you actively use the free Business Messenger at your website.

The phone numbers are real local phone numbers that appear and behave as normal local numbers.

Please note that the free number will play a message to callers saying that the call is connected by Sonetel. You can remove this message at any time by paying for the number. Read more.

A SIP trunk is like a pipeline for calls – across the Internet – between the classical telephone network and your SIP based phone system.

While it isn’t possible to get a SIP trunk that is free for making outbound calls, you can surely get one that is free for limited amounts of incoming calls.

Follow these steps.

1. Get a free account
   Sign up here for a free account for SIP trunking.
2. Get a free SIP phone number
   Get a number that is “Free for website”.
3. Add the customer chat function to a business website
   To keep the number free, install the free Sonetel Business Messenger at your business website.
4. Send calls across the SIP trunk
   Configure your new number to forward calls to the SIP address or IP address of your SIP server.

Free SIP forwarding allows you to forward incoming calls to a SIP address to another SIP address.

This is how it works.

1. Get the SIP address
   Sign up for a free account and then go the Advanced call settings to find your SIP address.
2. Forward calls to another SIP address
   Go to your incoming call settings, and configure that calls should be forwarded to a SIP address. Enter the destination SIP address of your choice.

Voila! You now have a new public SIP address that forwards incoming SIP calls for free to your other SIP address.

You can additionally add real phone numbers to the mix, and have them forwarded to your SIP address as well. Earlier in this article we also described how you could get a phone number for free.

Photo by Annie Spratt, Austin Distel, Vek Labs and Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash