SIP.US offers service for calling to international destinations, but primarily provides domestic calling to the US and Canada. For this reason, the default settings on SIP trunks only allow calls to the US 48 and Canada. This article explains what settings are required on your SIP.US account to place calls to Alaska, Hawaii, and international destinations. Additionally, this article covers basic troubleshooting if your account is correctly set up, but you are unable to reach a destination.
Setting Up Account for International Calling
There are three things you need to configure on your account to make international calls:
1. Positive Account Balance - The account requires funds on the account balance, as any call placed to an international destination, as well as Alaska and Hawaii, gets billed at a per-minute rate and charged to the balance once the call is completed. SIP.US recommends setting up automatic payments and balance notifications to prevent a call freeze from a negative balance. Read this article on Setting Up Auto Replenish and Low Balance Notifications for detailed instructions.
2. Set Term Rate Plan – The Term Rate Plan will need to match the destination you plan to call. By default, all SIP trunks allow calls to US 48 and (most of) Canada. This should not be confused with the Rate Plan, which defines your billing plan such as channel capacity and prepaid minutes.
You can check the current Term Rate Plan for all SIP trunks on an account via the customer portal by hovering over the "SIP Trunking” menu tab and choosing the “International Calling” submenu option. This page displays the SIP trunk name, the Term Rate Plan, and the Maximum Call Cost assigned as shown in the image below.
You will next need to determine what type of Term Rate Plan you require to place your call. There are four primary Term Rate Plans (detailed below). Once you determine which Term Rate Plan you require, you can open a Support ticket request and our team will update the setting on your SIP trunk.
US 48 and Canada
This is the default SIP trunk Term Rate Plan for SIP.US and includes the mainland US and most of Canada.
US 50 and Canada
The Term Rate Plan “US 50 and Canada” will need to be enabled on your SIP trunk by our Support team.
Includes:
- 907 (Alaska)
- 808 (Hawaii)
- 867 (Northwest Territories)
International Default Worldwide
The Term Rate Plan “International Default Worldwide” will need to be enabled on your SIP trunk by our Support team.
Includes:
- 787 or 939 (Puerto Rico)
- 52 (Mexico)
- 649, 242, 441, 876, 345...etc. (various Caribbean islands)
- Any other countries (excluding blacklisted countries)
Blacklisted International Countries
We blacklist calls to certain countries where fraud is prevalent (e.g. Pakistan, Cuba, Egypt). Refer to this article on Blacklisted Countries for the full list.
The blacklist can be removed from your account, however, we will require you to sign a document saying you will accept all charges for international calls on your account whether they are fraudulent or legitimate. Open a ticket at support@sip.us to begin that process.
3. Maximum Call Cost Threshold – The last account setting required to set up international calling pertains to the costs of the calls you intend to place. Note the “Maximum Call Cost” setting on the “International Calling” page. The default value is $0.30 per minute.
Further down on the International Calling page you may click on the link text “View International Rates” to expand a table containing rate breakdowns for calls to all of the different country options.
If the rate to the destination you intend to call exceeds the Maximum Call Cost set on your SIP trunk, you will need to open a Support ticket and request the necessary adjustment. The Maximum Call Cost must exceed the defined rate of the destination you intend to call by one cent (1¢).
Setting Up International Outbound Calling in Your Phone System
Once you have verified that the account is fully set up to allow for international calls to a destination, you then need to ensure your phone system is set up to dial properly to the location.
You will need to check the requirements for your specific phone system. We also recommend checking our Device Configuration Guides for help with common SIP devices and referring to this article on Setting Up Outbound Calling for more information on outbound calling on the SIP.US platform.
A summary of what we require in your dialing patterns:
- It is a requirement that you prepend a 1 (for the U.S. country code) for domestic and North American calls in the following format: 1NPANXXXXXX.
- Dialing to international locations does not require a 011. These digits must be stripped so that the dialed international number begins with the country code once the call reaches SIP.US.
Troubleshooting calls to international destinations
If you experience issues reaching international destinations and all of the previous requirements are correct, there are a few possibilities for why your calls are not getting through.
Some basic considerations:
- Are you dialing the number correctly? Some countries require special dialing patterns when calling internationally, or there is an error in the dialing pattern.
- Are you dialing a known working number?
- Is the receiving party/carrier accepting international calls?
When to contact Support:
- Calls are not ringing or reaching the destination (calling party is able to confirm the destination is correct).
- Calls do not ring to the correct destination.
- Calls drop.
- Call quality is poor.
- There is missing audio.
Please open a support ticket with support@sip.us if you need assistance with troubleshooting issues with international calls. Our Support team will need at least three call examples from the past 24 hours to diagnose and troubleshoot your issue.