Migrating from traditional telephone lines- Pro’s & Con’s

BT has announced they will be phasing out and switching off their ISDN and PSTN ‘traditional’ services.  It’s about 5 years off BUT there are some compelling reasons and cost savings that might make you want to move to SIP well in advance, compared to staying on traditional telephone lines.

A Bit of history:

ISDN was introduced by BT in 1986, since then connectivity has advanced greatly. Investments and nationwide roll out of fibre broadband and new Ethernet products provide a much better alternative. In fact, BT have not installed any new ISDN lines in central London since 2014 which goes to show that many businesses have already moved on.

What are the alternatives ?

Investments in the UK communications network has made the new fibre infrastructure widely available and affordable to small & medium businesses. This means IP based solution such as VoIP and SIP are now great alternatives to replace the old fixed line technology.

What is SIP?

‘Session initiation protocol’ is a virtual phone line which is carried over your internet connection removing the need for an ISDN or PSTN phone line. In the past, SIP lines used to have reliability problems due to slow underlying broadband connections. These issues have now been fixed as a result of connectivity improvements and Service Level Agreements offered by providers such as us.

What is VoIP ?

‘Voice over internet Protocol’ is a cloud-based telephony solution.  This moves your entire phone system online, so all your calls are sent over your internet connection. This digital based phone system offers a wide range of additional features such as call recording, voicemails via email, call queuing, being able to access the system on multiple devices such as a mobile, tablet and desktop and much more!

Top 5 Benefits of SIP and VoIP

1. Huge savings – Up to a 80% reduction in costs compared to traditional telephone lines due to cheaper calls and no more expensive line rental.
2. Flexibility – Move and operate anywhere in the UK and simply plug back into the network with no need to change numbers.
3. Faster installation – No more waiting for an engineer to install physical lines at your location means you get connected faster.
4. Higher resiliency – Multiple lines can be installed providing an automatic backup and failover, so you’re always connected.
5. Advanced features – Increased control, integration and analytics provides a huge range of new and advanced features.

At Solutions 4 IT, we provide our own packages for cloud based phone lines with all of the advantages above, click here to learn more.

Speak to your account manager, call us on 0121 289 4477 or email sales@solutions4it.co.uk and ask for more information on AlphaXchange.