What you need to know about the switch to VoIP

One of the biggest concerns our customers have at the moment apart from the plethora of security concerns and scaremongering taking place in the world, is the news that BT are switching off all PSTN and ISDN services by 2025.

What exactly is happening?

ISDN is a digital line that many businesses have run their phone systems over that guarantees a clear line and 2 simultaneous calls on each circuit. Whilst the industry has broadly been accepting of the fact that the technology required in local cabinets is very much legacy these days, the decision to switch off PSTN lines as well was for many an unpleasant surprise.

PSTN lines are the analogue lines we all have at home, running on copper lines and giving everyone their own personal telephone number. For many this is their lifeline for communicating with friends and family and would be considered to be an essential, albeit old fashioned, way of communicating with the world.

What is VoIP?

VoIP (Voice over IP) allows a digital phone to be plugged into your internet line and to be used exactly like the old phones used to work. You have your own telephone number so people can call you, and you can make calls from that number. As long as your internet line is working then you can communicate with the outside world. VoIP has been proven to work on even slow internet lines.

How do I know which is the best VoIP deal for me?

You will probably be receiving almost daily marketing mails from various companies offering the best VoIP deals, the cheapest packages and a compelling reason for you to use them rather than the next marketing company’s mail about to hit your mailbox in 10 minutes. There are literally 100’s of suppliers, all of them offering exactly the same thing, so don’t think you’re missing out on anything if you are worried about who to choose. Often the choice for business of the right VoIP provider comes down to a combination of reputation and price.

Should I opt for the Teams integration?

You may also have heard about a VoIP / Microsoft Teams integration and be wondering if that might be suitable for you. Whilst this is a nice idea in principle, we wouldn’t recommend it for most people. If you go down this route Teams will act as your phone system and it provides a number of useful capabilities like queues, auto attendants, music on hold – the basics. However the PBX capabilities within Teams are actually pretty limited.

It is also expensive – you will need a bottomless pit of money to purchase the Teams licenses you will need in order to get a phone number in Teams! I also don’t like advising customers to move their entire business to a single supplier, especially a notorious price increaser such as Microsoft. This year has seen record price rises for Office365, and whilst Microsoft is driven by returns for its shareholders, it will not be looking at reducing pricing any time soon.

What other options are there?

Other providers such as 3CX are very good and easy to set up with their comprehensive online help, however their technical support is expensive. There are some very good open source solutions such as Sangoma’s FreePBX and is proven to work reliably (with over 2 million installations worldwide) and can offer a huge range of features, but require a little more specialist knowledge to set up. The basic FreePBX system is very functional, and if you want to add on any commercial modules you can purchase them with affordable 25 year licenses that give a huge range of functionality to the system. Softphone solutions are the future whereby users will install an app on their mobile phone and will be an extension on the phone system wherever they roam. The Sangoma Connect add on for FreePBX is perfect for this. The 3CX softphone is equally good and offers video calling.

Work out exactly what it is that you need

The future is VoIP communication – that much is clear. My advice would be not to go with the cheapest solution, but to sit down with your IT provider and work out exactly what you want from a phone system. You may find you don’t need the latest CRM integration, or Teams integration, or expensive desktop phones.

You will probably end up with the same solution we have with many of our customers – the ability to make and receive calls, a simple ring group and voicemail. If all your meetings are done over Zoom or Teams then whilst a phone system is still important, it will increasingly become less business critical as communication moves to other formats. Don’t over complicate it and find an IT partner that will provide an impartial view of what is on the market. Give us a call.