The days of ISDN are numbered

The days of ISDN are numbered - BT has stated that they intend to stop providing ISDN lines to businesses.

But, there's 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.

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.

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 decrease as your business requirements change. For example, in November you might only need 10 channels, but as business picks up for Christmas you may need to increase to 30, then in January as things quieten down again you may wish to decrease down to 8. Voice over IP quickly lets you do this time and time again.

2025 seems like a long way off at the moment, but whilst in theory you may have 10 years before you need to change your ISDN lines, I think you will start to see some major changes in the next few years. BT have already been contacting their wholesale partners and have started to promote Voice Over IP services and this will start to filter down to resellers and consultants soon.

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. The technology is here to stay and it will become the primary means of making telephone calls as BT begins to change its focus away from ISDN.