02 May 2017 The ISDN Switch Off & The Alternatives
Two Years ago, BT announced that it will phase out ISDN by 2025 – but what does this mean for your business?
During this phase-out BT have also advised that their investment in this technology will reduce and eventually become obsolete, which will mean that it will become less stable over time.
Eight years seems like a long way off – so why even worry about it today?
Good question! 8 years is a long time, but considering there are millions of customers that will need to first understand and then migrate to an alternative solution, couple this with the diminishing investment hence less reliability, maybe now is the perfect time to update.
What Are The Alternatives For My Business?
It’s OK making an announcement that ISDN won’t be available to your business but we still need to make and receive calls, have on-hold music, use an IVR platform or even have the calls that take place recorded for compliance reasons. Don’t panic! There are alternatives available and they can actually be more resilient, cheaper and feature rich.
Below we detail what the new options are –
Fully Hosted VoIP System
The world has seen a massive switch to the Cloud, particularly over the last 3 to 4 years as consumers and businesses alike move with the times, and this has been no different for telephony. An increasing number of businesses are putting their phone systems into the Cloud, using data rather than a piece of copper to make calls over and having their phone system hosted by a third party like One Connectivity.
This is an amazing solution for a lot of businesses. Our rule of thumb would be that you must have fibre broadband or an assured product available and have no more than 30 to 40 seats. However, it is just a rule of thumb and it would need to be assessed on an individual company basis – a service which we can help you with.
SIP and The Hybrid Phone System
This is one for the small or larger business that has a current phone system on-site and enjoy the comfort of having a physical box that can be maintained normally by the company, like One Connectivity, who have supplied based on an in-depth analysis of your needs, arranged for full installation and will maintain the system for its life.
SIP trunking is a powerful, scalable and highly flexible solution that helps businesses to streamline their communication costs and resources. Its key feature is the removal of the physical aspect of the phone lines – reducing the restrictions around call capacity and location.
By using virtual phone lines rather than physical wires it is a cheaper and more scalable solution than traditional ISDN. From free call-forwarding to remote workers – either to their smartphone or PC, to the more simple features such as hunt groups and group mailboxes – it can do it all. So much so that every month more features are being developed to meet growing customer demand, and being an internet-based product the opportunity for development is endless and cost-effective.
Our Partnership with Ericsson LG & Pragma Distribution
I am sure that that is enough information for a Tuesday afternoon! So look out later this week for an introduction into our partnership with Ericsson LG through Pragma Distribution and why we chose the Ericsson system over the others in the marketplace.
For more information on how we can tailor any of the above to your business please call 0115 896 8860 or e-mail hello@oneconnectivity.co.uk