ISDN switch off

Okay so 2025 is a while away, three whole years to be exact. But did you know that if you still use any ISDN products, after September 2023 you wont be able to make any changes or additions to your solution? There are a whole heap of reasons why making the change from ISDN today is the right decision for your business, your colleagues and your customers, but I think this is the most important one that a lot of people aren’t necessarily aware of. Yes, by now people know that its being ripped out of the ground in 2025, but the nationwide stop-sell is happening in less than a year, meaning if you expect any sort of growth after September next year and need to make any changes or additions apart from cancelling, you can’t. If you still aren’t convinced by the September 2023 stop-sell, here’s some other reasons to move from ISDN today.

It’s no longer the 1980’s

There were some absolutely magnificent things about the 1980’s that will stand the test of time forever – Last Christmas by Wham, the launch of the mobile phone (even if it was the size and weight of a brick) and the arrival of hip hop. There are many others, however, that we needed to say goodbye to – the Ford Sierra, permed hair and shell suits for example!

ISDN is definitely in the latter camp. It’s served businesses well for the past 30+ years but just like mobile phones, technology has moved on and today there are much more cost-effective, high quality and feature-rich solutions for making and receiving business calls.

Like the moment when the world found out that Darth Vadar was Luke’s father, it’s now time to recognise the clues you’ve been ignoring – ISDN is holding your business back.

Feel the fear and do it anyway

Do you remember as a kid slowly picking at the edges of a sticky plaster covering up that knee scrape? Anything to prolong the inevitable pain of having hundreds of tiny hairs caught in the uplift. As an adult we all know that the best thing to do on these occasions is to rip off the plaster as quickly as you can.

Everyone fears change to some extent, but the sooner you face into it the quicker you can get on with the great things that follow, especially if that change is inevitable. The reality is that ISDN is being switched off, forever. It’s not an optional thing and therefore the businesses that rip of the sticky plaster quickly and replace it with newer, feature-rich and more cost-effective technology will be on the front foot for what comes next.

Embrace the new

If you’re anything like me you’re always looking for the next best thing. For example, I rarely wait for my two-year mobile contract to be over before I’m upgrading to the lastest iPhone. Not because it’s going to drastically change my life but because I know that the technology is more advanced, giving me new and better features that will make me love my phone even more. And that’s exactly what you’ll get by moving from ISDN to either SIP or VoIP; a whole new bunch of call features that will make your teams more productive, your business more professional and your customers happier as they’ll be getting a fantastic calling experience every time.

Don’t pay over the odds

In 1988 you could buy a music album on vinyl for £5; apply inflation rates over the last 33 years and it would cost you £11.65 today. That was for a physical item that could only be played on one device (a record player) and not easily transferred to different formats. Today, you can download a music album for an average of £7.32 which is fully transportable across different media and devices.

The same is true for ISDN. If you’re still using ISDN then it’s highly probably that you’ll be paying a lot more than you would do for a better service on either SIP or VoIP, especially as these services almost always have minutes included in the packages.

I don’t know any companies that want to give away cash for free but that’s pretty much what you’ll be doing for the next four years if you don’t investigate an ISDN alternative sooner. And if you’re still in contract for ISDN it’s still worth checking out whether the cost savings over the term are higher than the early termination fees.

It’s a whole new world

Okay, so we’ve already mentioned that the 2020’s are rather different to the 1980’s but the last 18 months has accelerated this change to a whole new level. If anything has proven to us that we need full flexibility with our communications, it’s Covid-19.

We’ve all lived through numerous lockdowns and had to get used to a juggling work with home life in a way we, or the generations before us, have never experienced before. And it’s opened up a whole new way to work – a hybrid approach that means that we can be productive whether we’re at home or in the office, or even on the train. A laptop with a headset, a mobile with a VoIP app or maybe Microsoft Teams means that we can answer and make business calls wherever we are, something that’s simply not possible with ISDN.

So, why wait?

And this is the big question! Why wait? Moving off ISDN has to happen, and I can’t think of a single reason not to do it as soon as possible. Maybe it’s not the most exciting thing on your agenda but it’s a quick and easy one to tick off and one that will make communicating and collaborating with your customers and colleagues much easier and more enjoyable.