What Is A PRI line?
- There is only one line physically terminating on the customer PBX but still a PRI line can receive/send 30 calls simultaneously! A PRI line is end to end digital circuit. A PRI (Primary Rate Interface) line is a form of ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) line which is a telecommunication standard that enables traditional phone lines to carry voice, data and video traffic, among others.
- A PRI circuit consists of two pairs of copper lines terminating on a modem from a service provider premises to the customer premises. It uses multiplexing/de-multiplexing techniques to carry more than one channel in a single circuit. A T1-which carry 23/24 channels in the two pairs of copper lines.
- Each channel in a PRI line provides 64 Kbps for data transmission.
- A PRI line can connect to both Analog/Mixed EPABX systems and also the newer IP PBX systems.
- A PRI Card / Interface might be required to terminate the PRI circuit on the PBX.
- A PRI line can also be used to connect two PBX systems thereby providing 30 channels between them for interoperability.
Advantages Of PRI Lines
- If thirty separate analog trunks are taken instead of one PRI line, the cost of terminating all the thirty analog trunk lines becomes higher than terminating one PRI line.
- Terminating 30 analog trunks in a PBX also requires more free slots/cards than the one slot usually occupied by one or even two PRI trunk cards.
- PRI lines can be used for voice connectivity, data connectivity, video conferencing, faxing, and all the above can be done simultaneously too (on different channels).
- PRI lines are end-to-end digital lines and hence the clarity is much better than analog trunk lines.
- Since they are digital lines, PRI lines are more reliable and trouble shooting is also easier with them. They are mostly on a fiber core ring and hence there is some redundancy.
- It is harder to tap into digital lines and listen to the conversations.
- There are flexible billing options available with most of the PRI service providers. The billing can be centralized or distributed (department wise, etc).
- PRI lines take lesser time to establish calls then analog trunk lines.
- It is possible to offer both voice and data in the PRI line. Some service providers have dynamic offerings where data is transmitted in all the channels that are free (not occupied by voice) at that given point of time.
PRI Features
- Direct Inward Dialing - For each PRI line, the service provider would provide more numbers such as- 100-500 numbers which can be used by outsiders to call the extension directly, instead of having to go through the PBX Auto-attendant.
- Caller ID - Since all the extensions have their own number, this unique number will be displayed in the phones that they are calling to. Some call centre applications are based on the unique caller ID number for differentiation of services.
- Call Hunting - (Where the call lands in any channel that is free, instead of the called number specifically – For example, if there is one board number but a number of people are calling in at the same time and still a channel is allocated to them .With analog lines, if one number is busy, they need to call in another number manually) is possible by default with a PRI connection, but for the analog trunks this facility needs to be extended by the service provider and enabled on the PBX, involving additional cost at times.
