1stel Expands VoIP Services with MetaSwitch

With the deployment of additional softswitches by MetaSwitch, a division of Data Connection Ltd., 1stel Inc., a CLEC based in Texas, is expanding its VoIP services. 1stel now has three Class 5 MetaSwitches serving subscribers across the state and plans to order another in April.

1stel’s services are primarily voice and data to small and medium-sized businesses,” says Doug Bowyer, president and CEO of 1stel. “Our biggest market is rural businesses, but we are interconnected in Dallas and Houston. The types of services we will do will be some hosted PBX, and some traditional dial tone, which can include local dialing or with long-distance, too.”

1stel is looking at potential strategies and vendors for hosted VoIP services. “One of the areas we are looking at seriously is with open-source software products,” says Bowyer. “We are looking at SER and a product called Asterisk.”

1stel immediately is interested in SIP trunking, “direct lines to our customers that allow them to bypass the PSTN. If we are picking them up as a PSTN customer, maybe we can drop sip trunks out that they can plug into their existing PBX,” explains Bowyer.

Many 1stel customers are using smaller PBXs and require about 512kbps of data, including voice. “Most think they want 512 or more,” says Bowyer. “We give them only bandwidth monitoring tools so can see what they use, and most surprising is how little they do use.”

The service is being deployed with Adtran Inc. integrated access devices at the customer premises. The Adtran boxes also provide POTS lines out, as well as Ethernet for customer data or in-house LAN VoIP, if they choose. “That is the bulk of the customer base at this point,” says Bowyer. “We also have previous Class 5 switches that are doing traditional PSTN, but moving forward is with the Metaswitch.”

Although 1stel is looking at hosted PBX as a service option, “What we are finding with the hosted PBX market is that it is slow to develop interest from our market,” says Bowyer, “It is a small portion of what we anticipate for the long term, but we think it is an option.”

In pure bandwidth for trunking, VoIP does not yet provide savings, Bowyer says, because VoIP calls using the G.711 codec take up 80kbps of data while PSTN calls are 64kbps. “We are anticipating savings long term,” he says, adding, “What we see, being an integrated provider, is that we can use the same pipes for both [voice and data ] using MPLS or some other quality-of-service mechanism.”

1stel may use such trunks to connect its switches in McAllen, Texas with its Dallas headquarters.

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