Phone Line Switch Off 2025 - Is your business ready?
As many will know it has been a few years since BT has announced they will shut off their ISDN and PSTN phone line services in 2025. Originally BT said you would no longer be able to purchase a traditional PSTN or ISDN phone system from BT however the date to purchase ISDN was extended to 2023 - although this is only in specific areas of the U.K that you can still place orders!
The steps being made by BT have greatly impacted the inevitable process of ending analogue phone line use, helping move UK communications into an entirely online space.
How will this impact UK business?
Despite many businesses changing to VoIP and Cloud solutions, 42% of SMEs still use analogue lines to transmit data. That’s around 2.4 million businesses. While many bigger companies and national brands have already updated their data transmission systems, not all have made the switch. Roughly 33% of larger firms still operate on ISDN or PSTN. Essentially, there are still a lot of British companies reliant on fixed landlines for communication.
After the switch off, there will be no maintenance or recovery of phone lines, and any data sent will no longer be carried through ISDN and PSTNs. You could opt to switch to another supplier to maintain your current system, but with BT being the largest provider, we will likely see others follow their example soon.
Businesses will need to look for alternative methods of data transmission to maintain communication coverage.
Why Is This Happening?
The current copper wire ISDN and PSTN systems have seen changes and improvements since its creation in the 1800s, however, it is still effectively a service that relies on technology devised centuries ago. The costs of maintaining the system are incredibly high and increasing. This means prices keep going up for the end-user. ISDN and PSTN services are simply not optimised for modern business use. There are now also plenty of other methods of data transmission available that are cheaper, faster and more reliable.
What should you do?
Don't panic this is going to be a good move, with cost savings and improved modern tech advantages. Check your phone contract expiry and plan ahead. The best and most versatile option is a VoIP / Cloud telephone solution.
VoIP is a cloud based telephony system which moves your whole phone system online, so all your calls are sent over your internet connection. This digital cloud based phone system offers a wide range of additional features such as call recording, receiving voicemails via email, call queuing and unified communications – being able to access the system on multiple devices such as a mobile, tablet and desktop.
Unlike traditional phone solutions these contracts tend to have lower capital costs enabling you to get up and running budgeting costs out monthly. They are also easy to scale up and down with your business needs and offer exceptional benefits for customer call queuing and remote working.
For more information or a VoIP quote please contact us on 01452 238866 or email support@gogloscomms.co.uk for more information.