Making the Move: PSTN Switch-off Survival
Please Note: Since the below post was published on the 20th May 2024, BT Group has subsequently announced on the 30th May 2024 it has delayed the PSTN Switch Off of all copper-based data and phone lines across the UK until January 2027, 13 months later than originally planned.
Richard Payne – Business Development Manager for Fusion IT Management.
We continue to advocate for the upgrade to All-IP solutions and encourage you to leverage this additional time effectively, ensuring a smooth and efficient migration for your end customers.
The Public Switched Telephone Network (or PSTN) has been carrying landline calls in the UK for nearly a century. Most businesses and homeowners alike rely on physical connections that come into their premises for connectivity, be it for internet or telephony.
The entire network is due to be switched off in 2025 – leaving millions of people in a panic over how they’ll continue to make or receive voice calls. At Fusion IT, we’re prepared for what could be the largest upheaval to telecommunications in the UK for decades.
A Quick History Lesson
To understand this change, we need to contextualise it. Let’s revisit more recent changes to our telecommunications infrastructure. Buckle up.
Recent generations would be forgiven for thinking that their internet simply appears in their phone, or onto their laptop without much consideration for the infrastructure that makes it possible. For the majority of users, internet arrives into our homes along a physical medium, over either copper or fibre optic cables. Without getting too into the corporate history – this system is a remnant of the precursors of our existing telephone network.
Copper cables are great conductors and are still used in some places to transport phone calls across the country, from a caller’s property to a telephone exchange, then onward to the recipient. With the advent of the world-wide-web, phone lines eventually began carrying internet traffic in the form of “dial up” which required a modem. The problem arose in that time-forgotten cliché, that you couldn’t use the internet at the same time as a phone call. To get around this, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) was developed, with many phone providers marketing it as “broadband”, since it could carry both an analogue phone line as well as a digital internet connection. ADSL lines are still offered by some Internet Service Providers, but they are increasingly becoming replaced by Fibre. Up until now, even fibre is still considered a constituent part of the PSTN.
Understanding the Transition from PSTN to IP
What is PSTN?
PSTN stands for “Public switched telephone network” and is a general term for the UK’s communication infrastructure that was built in the 20th Century. From telegraph to telephone and eventually internet, all this traffic was at one point or in some capacity or another, served along the PSTN. Another term POTS, or “Plain Old Telephone System” is sometimes interchangeably used.
What is Dial-up?
Dial-up is a technology that allowed for the transmission of digital signals over an analog phone line via the use of a modem. Typically maxed-out at 56Kbps, dial-up is remembered by that handshake-tone, and the “get off the internet, I need to use the phone” conversation.
What is ADSL?
Introduced in 1995, an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line allowed for digital transmission at faster rates than previously offered by Dial-up or IDSN.
What is IP?
The Internet Protocol is another ruleset that governs how data is transferred. All LTE traffic, that is 3G/4G/5G, is transferred over IP – with each device on a network assigned an IP address, like a phone number in the days of ADSL/ Dial-up. The internet protocol can be considered platform agnostic, meaning that whether it’s over ethernet or USB-C, data can be transferred at the maximum common speed of the hardware. Traditional RJ45 ethernet, as found on Desktop PCs allows for 1000Mbps or “Gigabit” communication, whilst SFP fibre connections such as those in data-centre deployments enjoy 40Gbps and even 100Gbps connections.
What is VoIP?
Whilst “IP” refers to the Internet Protocol in general, “VoIP” by extension stands for “Voice Over Internet Protocol”. This term refers to a wide range of solutions including Microsoft Teams, Slack, Skype and Matrix.
Implications of the PSTN Switch-off for Businesses and Individuals
History lesson over, what does this all mean?
In short, BT’s changes to the UK’s telecomms infrastructure will drastically improve the quality of data transmission around the country. By migrating to IP technology, both the quality and reliability of connections will be improved – meaning fewer internet connection drops and better end-user support.
Some businesses are still using the old phone network, relying on legacy hardware PBX (private branch exchanges) to direct call traffic to individual phone systems. Upgrading to a new service such as a VoIP system (voice over internet protocol) may have seemed like an unnecessary step, however, inaction will result in the loss of all phone access.
It’s not just access to voice calls that will be lost – some businesses rely on PSTN or ISDN lines for EPOS machines and alarm systems, for example RedCare – all of which will cease to function once the switch is fully implemented. All fax machines in the UK will stop being able to send or receive mail, which isn’ a concern for most, however there are some businesses that rely on fax for the transmission of sensitive data. There is a misconception that faxes are secure; in one sense they are unencrypted and vulnerable to tapping – however attackers are less likely to target fax traffic owing to its classification as outdated hardware.
So, how should you prepare for the switch to full-IP?
Assessing Your Current Setup
Evaluating Your Telephone Network Infrastructure
Ultimately, once the deadline is reached, users that require a phone system will be required to migrate to VoIP.
The first step in your VoIP migration is to assess your current setup. There are solutions to patch an existing system to work with VoIP, a constituent part of which is trunking, however the support and reliability of these systems isn’t as strong as a dedicated VoIP system. If your business requires a telephone service, most users are best-served by fully migrating their existing wired phone system to softphones.
Creating a Switchover Strategy
It’s clear that any migration of this nature will require appropriate planning. That’s where Fusion IT can help. We’re specialists in VoIP services and can tell you exactly how long a VoIP migration will take. It’s important to remember that it’s increasingly difficult to maintain a legacy system – so making the switch to VoIP will be an investment in the future of your business.
Get Expert Advice!
With Fusion IT, we’ll assist in the creation of a full migration strategy with clear objectives and dates for the transition. We can help with sourcing replacement products that fit around your existing services, whilst ensuring your internet communications won’t suffer, come 2025.
Thanks,
Richard
