As I have covered previously, and want to reiterate again, if you are running your business on any of these systems, then there is a 99% chance that the type of phones you have are PSTN/ISDN based on Openreach's legacy copper network ...
Don't lose your phone lines in December 2025. Act now!
Some of these may have been converted already to work on Internet-based lines (known as SIP Trunks), but not many of them, and that's if your IT or Telecoms provider is ahead of the game.
The systems in question are:
Avaya IP Office
Mitel
NEC
Panasonic
Samsung
Toshiba
Just as a reminder, It's the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and Digital ISDN2e and ISDN30e networks that will LOSE dial tone in December 2025.
Just for a minute, and putting to one side Aunty Doreen's single analogue (PSTN) home phone line, with no broadband and a corded phone in the corner of the room, the whole copper switch-off project has major consequences to businesses if they leave it to the last minute.
"First and foremost, Openreach effectively wants UK PLC to move to Internet Protocol (IP)!"
This means that you will increasingly see two newer terminologies for Telephony ... SIP and VoIP rolling out to businesses. You will need a robust and stable Internet connection to have success in having crystal clear phone calls as you currently do.
If your connection is flaky at best or drops out due to poor or faulty connections, now is the time to have that seen to or you will be transported back in time, where calls sound like a Dalek or like you are underwater and worse is the drop-outs due to the rubbish internet connection.
Both the technologies are one and the same. However, the difference is in the presentation to you as a business. With VoIP, the handset on your desk will have access to a direct (virtual) line as will each subsequent subscription. If you have 20 subscriptions, you will have 20 simultaneous calls on incoming/outgoing lines.
The average cost (per monthly licence subscription) in the UK is currently around £17.50 (+VAT), so 20 licences per month is £350.00 (+VAT). The Central controller (giving the full functionality of the system) is HOSTED in a data centre and not on-site, as with a telephone system (any of the aforementioned), So, VoIP is also known as a hosted system.
The confusion will come with another version of hosted telephony which uses SIP Trunks. This model uses different pricing structures and can be significantly better value, depending on your business requirements!
Taking 20 users again, if only 30% of them ever make or receive a call, that is all you have to subscribe to (although all users will still have a handset on their desk). i.e. you only pay the subscription for a concurrent call. You may only have to have eight licences at the average cost of £17.50, now a total monthly subscription of £140.00 per month.
This is a very basic overview of VoIP and SIP.
Until next time ...
PRITESH GANATRA
Would you like to know more?
If anything I've written in this blog post resonates with you and you'd like to discover more about the copper switch-off and how it's going to affect your phone system, it may be a great idea to give me a call on 01604 926100 or take a look at my website which you can find by clicking here.
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