Have you been considering switching your company’s phone system to VoIP? VoIP sends your calls via a cloud-based fibre optic internet network rather than via BT’s traditional copper wire and electricity network that has been the backbone of the UK’s phone network pretty much since phones were invented!
There are a huge number of advantages to switching over to VoIP. Not least, the cost savings you’ll see if you switch to a Planet Telecom system. Most companies who make the leap to Planet Telecom VoIP see an immediate saving of around 75% on their business call costs. And it’s not unusual to see your bill slashed by a massive 90%.
There’s also the incredible flexibility that a VoIP system brings you. Because you’re not tied to a physical switchboard and the whole setup is cloud-based, you can configure your company’s telecoms in any way that you want. More to the point, as your company changes and grows you can reconfigure your system to match, with both your mobiles and landlines connected in the way that best suits your company’s structure and way of working.
But even if you weren’t currently thinking about changing to VoIP, you’re going to have to make the move very soon in any case.
BT Openreach is ditching its old PSTN infrastructure
BT has pledged to migrate every single one of its lines to VoIP by 2025, completely shutting down its traditional PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) operations. That’s just 72 months from now, so the clock is ticking quietly away.
Needless to say, this is a massive commitment for Openreach to manage successfully, with 16 million lines needing to be converted to IP — that works out at a staggering (220,000 a month! There are 1.2 million ISDN30 circuits out there still dependent on the old technology so, as yet, it’s somewhat unclear how businesses with traditional switchboards will be affected.
You can avoid any uncertainty in the coming months, however, by making the switch voluntarily right now and setting up your Planet Telecom cloud-based VoIP system today. Your new VoIP handsets — there’s a huge range of models to choose from — simply plug straight into an internet ethernet port (anywhere in the world!) and you can add on a whole range of virtual switchboard services to tap into. These include call queuing, call tracking and recording, and automatic time-of-day redirection.
Or choose a SIP VoIP solution
If you don’t feel ready to jump to a fully digital VoIP system, there’s a half-way house solution that some Planet Telecom customers are choosing. This is called SIP, or Session Initiation Protocol.
SIP ‘trunks’ let you connect your current PBX system to the digital network, so you keep your current traditional handsets. It’s a lot less flexible than a cloud-based VoIP system but you’ll still see very impressive savings on the cost of your company’s calls.
Find out more about VoIP
If you’d like to talk to one of Planet Telecom’ VoIP experts about how the forthcoming changes to the BT/Openreach network could impact your business, or discuss how switching to a Planet Telecom VoIP system right now could make a massive difference to your company’s calling costs and operational flexibility give us a call on 0800 088 6886.
