SIP Connection lets Speako sit directly inside the call path of an enterprise phone system instead of receiving forwarded calls from a public Twilio number. This article explains who SIP Connection is for, how it differs from the standard Twilio-based setup, and what to expect during onboarding.
Note: SIP Connection is currently an enterprise-only feature, available by arrangement with the Speako team. If you're on a Starter, Advance, or Pro plan, your AI agent already runs over the standard Twilio path — you don't need anything from this article today.
Why SIP Connection Exists
Most Speako customers connect their existing business number to Speako using call forwarding. Calls land on your number, then forward to the Speako-provisioned Twilio number where the AI picks up. This works perfectly for restaurants, salons, clinics, and most small businesses.
But enterprise phone systems — IP PBX systems, contact-centre platforms, and on-premise telephony — can dial Speako directly over the internet using the SIP protocol, skipping the public phone network entirely on that leg of the call. This is what SIP Connection provides.
The advantages are:
- No forwarded call leg. The audio path is shorter, which typically improves call quality and reduces end-to-end latency.
- Direct PBX integration. Calls can be routed to Speako from any extension, queue, or auto-attendant in your existing phone system without forwarding the original number.
- Selective routing. You decide which inbound calls reach the AI and which stay inside your phone system. For example, route after-hours calls to the AI while keeping business-hours calls on your human team.
- Same business logic. Bookings, language switching, knowledge base, AI tools, transfers to a human — every Speako capability you've configured works identically on the SIP path.
How a SIP Call Reaches Your Agent
When SIP Connection is enabled for a location:
- Your phone system places a SIP call to Speako's enterprise SIP endpoint.
- Speako authenticates the call against credentials issued to your account.
- Speako matches the call to your location and loads its full configuration — voice, greetings, languages, knowledge, tools, business hours.
- The AI greets the caller in your primary language. From this point onwards the call behaves exactly like a Twilio-routed call — the same tools are available, the same bookings flow runs, the same transcripts are recorded.
- When the call ends, the recording, transcript, and any bookings made appear in your dashboard alongside Twilio calls. SIP and Twilio calls are not separated — they show in the same conversation list.
What's the Same
If you've already configured your AI agent, switching to SIP Connection requires no changes to:
- Your agent personality, greetings, and voice
- Your knowledge base entries
- Your AI tools — booking, modify, cancel, customer lookup, SMS links, transfer to human
- Your languages — primary and additional languages, the master switch, language detection
- Your business hours, services, team, tables, and booking rules
Everything you've set up under Sidebar → AI Frontdesk continues to apply.
What's Different
A few details are specific to the SIP path:
Call Recording
SIP calls are recorded inside Speako itself (rather than by the carrier) and uploaded to your dashboard the same way Twilio recordings are. The format is a dual-channel WAV: caller on the left channel, AI on the right, so you can listen to either side independently during QA.
Human Call Transfer
When the AI transfers a call to a human, the SIP path uses a SIP-native redirect rather than a carrier-level conference. The end result is the same — the caller is connected to your chosen human number — but the underlying mechanism is different. There is no functional difference for the caller or the person who answers.
No Speako-Owned Number
A SIP-only location does not have a Speako-provisioned phone number, so the Viewing Your AI Agent Phone Number section of the dashboard won't display a Twilio number for SIP-only locations. Your callers reach the AI through your existing enterprise phone system instead.
What Onboarding Looks Like
SIP Connection setup is hands-on and runs as a joint exercise between you and the Speako team. The high-level steps:
- Discovery. We confirm your enterprise phone system supports outbound SIP, how many concurrent calls you expect, and which extensions or queues should reach the AI.
- Credentialing. Speako issues authentication credentials to your account and configures a routing endpoint scoped to your tenant.
- PBX configuration. Your phone system administrator points the relevant extension, queue, or auto-attendant at the Speako SIP endpoint using the credentials we provide.
- Test call. We place a test call together end-to-end. The AI greets, performs a booking flow, transfers to a human number, and hangs up. We confirm audio quality on both directions.
- Cutover. Once the test passes, you switch live traffic to the SIP path on your schedule.
Typical onboarding takes one to two weeks, depending on your IT team's availability and how complex the routing inside your phone system is.
Limitations to Be Aware Of
- Concurrency. SIP Connection currently runs with a per-account concurrent-call limit agreed during onboarding. Talk to us if you expect bursty traffic so we can size capacity correctly.
- Outbound calls. SIP Connection covers inbound calls reaching the AI. Outbound calls placed by the AI (for transfers) currently use the standard outbound path and may bill differently.
- Geographic coverage. The SIP endpoint is hosted in a fixed region. Calls from very distant regions may see additional latency. We'll review your call origins during discovery and recommend the best path.
Is SIP Connection Right for You?
SIP Connection is the right fit if:
- You operate an IP PBX, contact-centre platform, or on-premise phone system you can configure
- You want the shortest possible audio path between your callers and the AI
- You want to route only some inbound calls to the AI (e.g., overflow, after-hours, specific menus)
- Your IT team can support the initial configuration and ongoing monitoring
If you mostly want to forward your existing number to the AI without changing your phone system, the standard Twilio call-forwarding path will be simpler and faster to launch — see Setting Up Call Forwarding.
Common Questions
Is SIP Connection available on my current plan? SIP Connection is offered as part of enterprise arrangements rather than standard self-serve plans. Contact us at [email protected] if you'd like to evaluate it.
Can I run SIP and Twilio side by side? Yes. Different locations within the same tenant can use different paths. For example, your flagship location can use SIP Connection while regional locations stay on Twilio call forwarding.
Will my callers see a different number? No. With SIP Connection, your callers continue dialling your existing business number. The hand-off to Speako happens inside your phone system, invisibly to the caller.
Does multi-language switching work over SIP? Yes. Every language capability described in Language Capabilities and Limitations applies on the SIP path identically.
Do I get the same transcripts and recordings? Yes. Recordings, transcripts, bookings, and call analytics all appear in your dashboard regardless of whether the call arrived over Twilio or SIP.