Is your business prepared for the ISDN switch off? Here’s why you should be actioning changes now.
As you are no doubt aware, the upcoming ISDN switch off is likely to have an impact on your business. Many businesses still rely on ISDN functionality for a variety of essential business activities.
With many businesses looking to make the change over to VoIP or cloud hosted solutions, it’s important to understand the implications now and act upon them in order to futureproof your business.
We advise that you action change now, as many businesses across the country will be requiring upgrade to VoIP or similar, causing a serious backlog in installation that will have a negative impact on your business if the change has not taken place by the ISDN shutdown deadline. It also means that you avoid any last-minute changes catching your business unaware.
As a reminder, what is changing in the big switch off?
To put it simply, telephone lines with a telephone number which aren’t already VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) or running over the internet will no longer be supported by the UK networks from the year 2025 onwards. This can affect various aspects of your business as below:
Telephone call lines
If you have ISDN lines at present, you need a plan to migrate to VoIP for your phone calls now. As most businesses will be in the same position as you, we would advise to start the process of changeover today to avoid delays. Demand will be high, so getting in early is imperative to avoid your business functions being affected.
Fax lines
Although fax has become a slightly outdated form of communication, there are still businesses that use its technology. If you need to continue to use fax, we suggest that you look at an online service or ‘fax-to-email’ service. We can help to guide you on this.
Alarm lines
Some premises have an on-site alarm system using a phone line to dial out. If this is the case, this will also need to change. Many alarm systems can be converted to WiFi or a hard-wired internet solution. Complete Voice & Data can provide SIM cards if needed for this use.
Credit card machines
Some businesses use a credit card machine that connects to a physical telephone line. Again, this can be converted to an internet-controlled system and can be arranged with your payment processing provider. Payment is vital, particularly for consumer facing businesses, so ensure that you sort this now to avoid any disruption.
Broadband lines
Many broadband connections are provided on the back of a physical phone line. All broadband connections can be migrated to newer versions of broadband, which remove the phone number from the underlying line and include it in the broadband rental price as part of a new broadband service. These are known as SoGEA and SoTAP instead of FTTC and ADSL2+.
Lift lines
If your property has a lift, you may have a telephone line connected to the lift for health and safety reasons. We would recommend considering using a Wi-Fi controller or a GSM type connection, which can be arranged through speaking to your lift service provider.
If you have any queries with regards to this or the ISDN shutdown in general, please do not hesitate to contact Complete Voice & Data or call 0333 772 9544.