ISDN/PSTN Network ‘End of Life’ Announced for 2025
In 2015, BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson announced that the group intend to migrate all customers on to the IP network and Switch off the ISDN network by 2025.
What does this mean for business with ISDN lines?
Essentially it means that if they haven’t already, all businesses will have to make the move to IP-telephony (VOIP) nothing will change in the short term, but you should start thinking about upgrading to VoIP telephony at some point in the next few years. BT sees the future of their network being a single IP core network that will replace legacy networks of ISDN and analogue platforms still used in some business.
With around 3 million lines currently on BT’s ISDN platforms, it will take years to migrate everyone away and onto the newer technology before the planned switching off ISDN in 2025 and some think that it is still ambitious to complete in this timescale.
What can a business do?
There are two options that businesses have;
- Use an On -Premise telephone system which many companies currently use and connect it to SIP trunks. This is still using VOIP technology it just means that the actual telephone system is located on the business own premises. This option can either be purchased outright by the business or financed.
- Hosted Telephony – Cloud-based telephone systems that are located in Data centers that share resources with other businesses. Hosted telephony is paid for per phone (seat) per month.
SIP lines are a lot cheaper than ISDN lines and offer more flexibility when it comes to location, numbering and inclusive minutes so It could be argued that you should be looking at this right now purely from a cost benefit perspective.
SIP lines and
Hosted telephony are delivered into your office using an Internet connection instead of using traditional phone lines, so as we all move towards either form of cloud based services whether it be an on premises telephone system or
Hosted telephony (cloud). It will give the business the opportunity to review their Internet connection speeds and quality of service and improve this whilst migrating the telephone calls over onto the VOIP network.
We recently moved one of our clients over from ISDN30 to SIP and they saved just over £2,000 per year in costs which is a good reason to look at this now.
If you currently have an ageing or limited telephone system you could even consider VoIP Telephony now, on the basis that the savings you would make in line rental and call costs would pay for any additional costs of an
On-premises telephone system to work with the much cheaper SIP trunks?
If you are interested in considering either solution further, a quick chat to understand what type of systems you are using right now and then a look at a copy of your current telephone bill, will give us some idea of what recommendations we can make to you and when you should be planning to make the move towards some form of VOIP services.
We work with some of UK’s leading VOIP providers for both SIP trunk and Hosted Telephony for further information or a chat please call us on 01582 945945.or please
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