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Lumen voice end of sale: August 1, 2026

IPComms vs Lumen: The SIP Trunking Alternative

Lumen (CenturyLink) has stopped selling SIP trunking, Voice Complete and hosted Teams and Zoom voice. Existing service runs to term, then rolls to month-to-month with nothing to renew into. IPComms has sold SIP trunking to US and Canadian businesses since 2002, publishes every rate, charges $0 per channel, and ports your Lumen numbers for you.

$0
Per channel (Lumen billed per concurrent-call path)
$0.009
Per minute, published, no quote needed
2002
Selling SIP trunking, and still are
0
Contracts, so you never get stranded again

Why Lumen SIP Customers Are Moving to IPComms

Lumen is a strong fiber and networking company that has decided voice is not its business. That decision, not call quality, is why its trunking customers are shopping.

A Platform in Run-Off

Lumen said it "will continue to support our existing commitments," and it will. But a product with no new sales gets no new investment. Adds, changes and new locations become hard, and at term your service converts to month-to-month with no rate protection.

Paying for Capacity, Not Calls

Lumen priced trunks per concurrent-call path on a term contract, so you sized for your busiest hour and paid for it every month. IPComms charges per minute and per number, with $0 per channel and no set call limit. Stop worrying about SIP trunk capacity. We have you covered.

No Migration Plan From Lumen

Lumen published no end-of-life date and no migration program. IPComms runs the move for you: we submit the ports, coordinate dates with Lumen, provision E911 per number, and keep both trunks live until the last number has moved.

IPComms vs Lumen: Feature-by-Feature

SIP trunking capabilities, pricing model and service, as they stand after Lumen's August 2026 end of sale.

Feature IPComms Lumen
Accepting new SIP trunking customers Yes, since 2002 No. End of sale Aug 1, 2026
Contract renewals Month-to-month, nothing to renew No renewals; rolls to month-to-month at term
Signup Process Self-service, minutes Account team (no longer quoting voice)
Published Pricing Full pricing online Never published; per-trunk term quotes
Inbound Rate (US) $0.009/min Bundled into trunk and plan fees
Outbound Rate (US) $0.010/min Bundled into trunk and plan fees
Local DID Numbers $1.50/mo Per-number monthly fee, quote-based
Channel / concurrent-call fees $0 per channel, no set limit Priced per concurrent-call path
Contracts Required No contracts Multi-year terms were standard
Time to First Call Minutes Weeks (provisioning intervals)
Number Porting Handled for you, $5 per number Port-out on request; you manage it
E911 with dispatchable location Included, 933 test calls Included on existing service
STIR/SHAKEN Included Included
Encryption TLS 1.3 + SRTP TLS + SRTP (platform dependent)
Redundancy East + West PoPs, DNS SRV failover Sonus / Broadsoft platforms in run-off
PBX Compatibility Any SIP PBX or device Any SIP PBX (certified list)
Phone Support All customers, US-based Enterprise tiers
Voice roadmap Only business we are in Exited voice; investing in fiber and AI networking

Lumen column reflects publicly reported end-of-sale notices to channel partners (July 2026) and Lumen's historical per-trunk contract model. Lumen has not published customer-level pricing; confirm your own contract terms with your account team.

Usage Pricing vs Per-Path Contracts

A 10-line office with normal call volume, priced two ways.

IPComms

Published

Example: 10 DIDs, 5,000 outbound min, 3,000 inbound min

10 Local DIDs$15.00
5,000 outbound min @ $0.010$50.00
3,000 inbound min @ $0.009$27.00
Channel fees (any number of concurrent calls)$0.00
Monthly Total$92.00

Month-to-month. Port in, test, and pay only for what you use.

Lumen

No new quotes

Same office on a legacy per-path trunk contract

10 DIDsPer-number fee
Concurrent-call paths (sized for peak)Per path, per month
UsageBundled or metered
TermMulti-year, then month-to-month
Monthly TotalYour contract

Since Aug 1, 2026 Lumen is not writing new voice contracts, so this is the last price you will see from them.

Which Path Is Right for You?

Move to IPComms now if you:

  • Have a Lumen or CenturyLink voice contract ending in the next 12 months
  • Run a SIP-capable PBX (Asterisk, FreePBX, 3CX, Avaya, Cisco, Mitel, Grandstream)
  • Are paying per concurrent-call path for capacity you rarely use
  • Need to add a location, trunk or toll-free number Lumen can no longer sell you
  • Want the port, E911 and cutover handled by the new carrier

Staying on Lumen for now makes sense if you:

  • Are mid-term with early-termination fees that outweigh the savings (port at term instead)
  • Buy Lumen fiber, wavelengths or SD-WAN, which are unaffected and worth keeping
  • Run a contact center on Lumen toll-free and need a 6 to 12 month plan before moving
  • Have not yet confirmed in writing which of your circuits are on the end-of-sale list

Switching From Lumen in Three Steps

Keep your numbers and your PBX. Change only the carrier. Full detail in the Lumen migration guide.

1

Sign Up & Point Your PBX

Create your IPComms account and add a second trunk on your PBX with our credentials or IP authentication. Under 10 minutes; Lumen keeps working.

2

Test and Register E911

Make real inbound and outbound test calls, set dispatchable addresses per number, and confirm with a 933 test call before any production number moves.

3

Port Your Numbers

We submit the port to Lumen with a firm date, toll-free by RespOrg transfer. Numbers arrive on the IPComms trunk on port day, then Lumen is closed out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions from Lumen and CenturyLink SIP trunking customers.

Lumen told channel partners that SIP trunking, Voice Complete and hosted voice for Microsoft Teams and Zoom became ineligible for new sales and renewals on August 1, 2026. Existing contracts are honored and roll to month-to-month at term. No end-of-life date has been published, so service continues, but there is no Lumen voice product to renew into.

IPComms publishes everything: $0.009/min inbound, $0.010/min outbound, $1.50/mo per local number, and $0 per channel with no set concurrent-call limit. Lumen priced SIP trunking per concurrent-call path inside a term contract and never published rates, so most customers paid for capacity they only used a few hours a month. Moving to usage-based pricing typically lowers the bill for offices with normal call patterns.

Yes. Local numbers port to IPComms in about 7 to 14 business days and toll-free numbers move by RespOrg transfer. We submit the port request to Lumen and coordinate the date; the number simply starts arriving on your IPComms trunk on port day. Do not disconnect Lumen first, because a disconnected number cannot be ported.

No. Your PBX talks to Lumen over SIP today; it can talk to IPComms the same way by registration or IP authentication. Asterisk, FreePBX, 3CX, Avaya, Cisco, Mitel, Grandstream and Yeastar all work unchanged. Only a PRI-only PBX needs a gateway, and Lumen SIP customers already have SIP-capable equipment.

Twelve months before the contract term ends for multi-site or contact-center deployments, and at least 90 days out for a single site. The technical cutover takes an afternoon; the calendar is driven by porting and E911 re-registration. Once a Lumen contract lapses to month-to-month you lose rate protection, so the goal is to port before term, not after.

For the SIP trunking and PSTN connectivity layer, yes: IPComms SIP trunks connect to any SIP PBX and to Microsoft Teams via a certified SBC (Direct Routing). If you used Lumen for hosted seats rather than trunks, our Hosted PBX product covers extensions, voicemail, IVR and ring groups with the same per-minute calling rates.

Compare Other Providers

Ready to Replace Your Lumen SIP Trunk?

$0 per channel, $0.009/min US and Canada calling, local numbers from $1.50/mo, and a team that ports your Lumen numbers and stays on the line until the last one moves. No contracts.