At a meeting this week, I asked if everyone understood about the ISDN switch off and why businesses should be moving to IP Voice? Someone replied, "I still don't know?". "OK, I'll explain...", and I launched in to an animated explanation involving very clever diagrams and signaling explanations....to which the response was, "no...no...I meant, ISDN stands for 'I Still Don't Know'!"
It then occurred to me that the ISDN switch off is comparable to the recent Digital TV revolution and the Digital Radio changes that are currently being implemented. Digital UK had a £201m budget for its marketing effort to persuade people to switch to digital TV. I can only imagine that Digital Radio UK will be spending a similar amount by the time that we are all enjoying crystal clear DAB radio.
However, we in telecoms will not get £201m from the BBC licence fee to pay for a UK-wide marketing campaign, so we all have to play our part in educating our partners and customers.
BT is switching off the old ISDN service in 2025, so what are you going to use...IP Voice!
And what is IP Voice, I hear you ask?
IP Voice aka SIP, or 'Service Improvement Product', or 'Super Internet Phones' or 'Superior IP Phone calls' (no that is not what SIP actually stands for and I can send you a coma-inducing document to explain the differences between Integrated Services Digital Network and Session Initiation Protocol) basically means you can make quality calls, along with sending & receiving data, over your IP (internet) system for a fraction of the cost and with a whole host of other real business benefits including flexibility and assured service.
And like DAB radio, which is available now alongside the old analogue radio, IP Voice is available for you to take advantage of right now, so there no need to wait until ISDN gets switched off in order for your business to benefit from the technology.
2 Circles would be delighted to help you understand the differences and the changes that are going to improve your business communications resulting from the ISDN switch off, we have a short video that might help and feel free to give us a call on 03456 200200.
The day when the FM radio signal will be switched off is drawing nearer, the Government indicated, after the UK reached a “tipping point” in the conversion to Digital radio. Ed Vaizey, the culture minister, said that a doubling in the size of local digital transmitters, along with increased penetration of digital radio in cars, meant that the Government’s criteria for “digital switchover” would be met in two years. Although the minister said it was too early to put a precise date on “digital switchover”, a move which it is feared could disenfranchise some listeners who may not be able to access a digital signal, Mr Vaizey called for radio manufacturers to stop producing analogue-only sets. Mr Vaizey said: “By the end of 2016, the Government criteria for a switchover decision will have been met.
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