02 Jul Save money by axing ISDN Telephony
Are you still using ISDN…?
As opposed to PSTN, (Analogue Lines), that are classically used at home for your phone & broadband line, ISDN, (Integrated Services Digital Network), combines more than a few pairs of copper cables, allowing businesses to operate with multiple telephone calls at once. Following the pattern with all legacy forms of communication, ISDN is expensive and restrictive; often seeing businesses spend quite a few hundred pounds per quarter for telephone lines & calls alone.
ISDN is the still the principal of voice communications for most businesses, but the end-of-life is already in the horizon for this 30-year-old technology. BT have announced their intentions to ‘switch off’ all these services by 2025, and therefore drive forward the adoption of VoIP (Voice-over-IP) telephony by trades up and down the country.
IS NOW THE TIME?
There has not once been a better time to evaluate your communications by choosing to axe your use of ISDN whenever your contract permits. You can benefit from the instantaneous cost savings, while increasing your productivity by moving to VoIP technology.
Commissioning VoIP shouldn’t be a painful & costly experience – there are many different services and options available these days, with such a competitive marketplace ensuring costs are kept to a minimum. Switching from older methods of telephony doesn’t mean you have to leave your records behind; you can swiftly & easily port these crossways onto VoIP, enabling you to carry on making & receiving calls as you always have.
BUT, WHAT ABOUT MY INTERNET CONNECTIVITY?
Switching from ISDN to VoIP means that your calls will no longer be running fearful over those pairs of copper cables, but instead across your broadband connection. However, this does mean you’ll require a reasonably quick & steady internet connection to handle your volume of voice traffic, in addition to the data usage for visiting websites, sending/receiving emails and using cloud tools.
In some areas this isn’t an instant possibility – if your business suffers from sluggish ADSL speeds, and has yet to benefit from access to a fibre connection of some form, you may be anxious about the prospect of doing away with the steadiness of ISDN.
Nevertheless! In many cases we’ve seen the savings made from switching from ISDN to VOIP aid in the justification and backing of a dedicated fibre, (known as a Leased Line), connection. By upgrading to a Leased Line, you’ll benefit from a superfast fibre connection directly from your premises to the BT Exchange and achieve a much faster connection, which is stable and supported by the network operator on a contractual service level agreement.
As Leased Lines are run on an dispersed basis to each premises, you are not confined to the restrictions of the current Openreach fibre rollout plans – which sees fibre run only from the Exchange to the local cabinets, (with copper still being used between your building & the cabinet as before). Leased Lines, among numerous other connectivity options, are open to businesses wherever you may be located.
With the extra speed & data capacity brought with the installation of a Leased Line, any pain of switching to VoIP is eliminated. Your Leased Line would be more than suitable to carry your voice traffic over VoIP, meanwhile providing your team with a much quicker & dependable connection to the internet than ever before.
WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS?
There are numerous different facets to such a project… but, we’re here to help.
At Urban Network, we specialise in learning our clients’ business and best applying technology to their needs.
If you would appreciate a free brief discussion about your operational challenges & to explore the options for your business, please get in touch today – 020 7749 6899 or drop us a line hello@temp.urbannetwork.co.uk.