The Great ISDN Switch Off…are you ready??

Why Are BT Phasing Out ISDN and PSTN?

The short answer is that they are old fashioned legacy technologies with associated maintenance costs and drawbacks. PSTN is the traditional telephone line network which carries analogue voice data over copper lines. This technology (although vastly improved upon over the years) is basically the same in principle and design as the early telephone networks of the late 1800’s.

The BT ISDN switch off marks the next evolution of telecommunications technology

ISDN was introduced in the 1980’s,  allowing both voice and data services to be delivered simultaneously. For the technology and services at the time, it served its purpose very well and continued to do so for many years.

Now we’re well into the 21st century, technology has moved on and old telephone solutions are lagging behind the alternatives in an increasingly fast paced digital world.

How To Prepare For The BT ISDN Switch Off

Although the BT ISDN end of life of 2025 has not been widely advertised yet, businesses will be unable to buy systems that use ISDN and PSTN after 2020. If you currently have a traditional ISDN/PSTN based system, now is a good point to look into the alternative. Although there is plenty of time until 2025 rolls around, it’s best to plan ahead and you may actually find you want to migrate sooner rather than later after finding out all of the benefits the replacement ‘IP’ based systems have to offer.

If you’re in the position where you haven’t got a business telephone system yet, you are in the perfect place to start afresh with an IP based telephone solution. This way you can negate any needless expenditure on technology and hardware with a limited shelf life and future proof your small/growing business. BT phasing out ISDN will have no negative effect on you in this case and you may in fact gain a competitive advantage over your other businesses.

IP Technology – Life After The Great BT ISDN Switch Off

IP (Internet Protocol) telephony has been around for a while and many businesses have already benefited from the technology. Eventually all phone lines will be superseded by IP technology, which is vastly superior to what we have used in the past. Here’s a quick overview of the main business benefits for using hosted VoIP:

• It’s very affordable/cost effective
  There’s no need for masses of onsite equipment, you only pay for as many users as you need and calls are made through internet lines.
• Easy setup & maintenance
  Because there is so little on site equipment, setting up and maintaining the system is a much simpler job than with a traditional telephone system.
• Freedom
  The flexible nature of the technology allows you to easily add and remove users as you need. Physical location doesn’t matter, anywhere you’ve got an internet connection, you can have a number.

Please read our What Are The Advantages of VoIP? page as this has more info on the benefits of VoIP for business. Also, be sure you don’t miss out on our very special VoIP Phone System offer, which currently comes with a free handset and a host of other benefits!  Call 0203 393 0000 now for details.

As you can see, the great ISDN switch off is as much an opportunity as it is a problem, it just depends on your perspective.

One things for sure though, BT ISDN end of life is around the corner and hopefully after speaking to us you will be more prepared for it.