[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The days of ISDN are numbered – BT has stated that they intend to stop providing ISDN lines to businesses. But, there is no need to panic, just yet… BT have given ISDN an end of life date as 2025!
For many years now, BT has always invested heavily in ISDN digital lines for business telephone systems. With their recent announcement all that is about to change, because they have come to realise that ISDN is old technology and Voice over IP is the future.
2025 seems like a long way off at the moment, but whilst in theory you may have 9 years before you need to change your ISDN lines, you will start to see some major changes in the next few years. So when you are thinking about a new telephone system for your business, it’s a good idea to ask your provider whether or not the proposed system supports Voice over IP.
What is ISDN ?
ISDN is a digital service that delivers broadcast-quality voice and continuous, reliable data transmission. ISDN usually comes in two varieties – ISDN2 where you have 2 voice channels, or ISDN30 where you have 30 channels. Multiple lines can be combined to give you the number of channels, or simultaneous calls that you need. The lines have to be physically installed at the premises and usually come with minimum terms of 1, 3 or 5 years.
The replacement – IP Telephony
IP telephony transmits telephone calls over the Internet as opposed to the circuit-switched telephony used by the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network. 
Voice over IP is much more flexible as its delivered over an internet connection. You can have as many channels as your internet connection can handle, and you can increase or decreaseas your business requirements change. Voice over IP comes in many forms, such as a Hosted Voice cloud based solutions and SIP trunking.
SIP Trunks
SIP trunks are designed to become the new type of telephone line for business users which will superceed ISDN. SIP trunking is a type of voice over IP technology, delivered over an internet connection. The underlying technology has been around for over 10 years now and more and more businesses are starting to realise the benefit.
SIP trunking operates very similar to an ISDN30 line, but unlike ISDN30 where you are limited to 30 simultaneous calls per line, there are no limitations with the number of channels you have on SIP trunking. Whats even better is that you have the flexibility to increase or decrease the number of simultaneous calls you can make as your business requirements change.
ISDN was always limited to the premises it was installed into, if you were to move premises, then you would have to have a new ISDN line. If the new premises was served by a different telephone exchange you would also be forced to change numbers. SIP trunking turns this on its head – you can move anywhere in the country and provided you have an internet connection you keep the same SIP trunk with the same numbers no matter where you go.
The cost of SIP trunking is vastly cheaper than ISDN too, both line rental and call charges are usually far cheaper because physical lines don’t have to be installed or maintained anymore.
There is absolutely no reason why you cant change from ISDN to SIP trunking now, its easy to move your existing numbers over to the new technology. Not only will you get better flexibility, but as a business you’ll be able to cut costs straightaway too!
To find out more about new IP enabled phone systems, please contact your account manager at Trio Telecom on 01727 221303. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]