The 2025 Switch Off – does it actually affect you?

You may have seen the reports that BT will be closing down its analogue phone services and switching off ISDN lines. Called The Big 2025 Switch Off, the call is to “Act Now”. But how do you know if YOUR service will be discontinued? Nick Poyner, Managing Director of Rubix VT, explains.

It’s a massive event in the world of telecoms. In 2025, The Big Switch Off happens when BT Openreach yanks the analogue plug out of the socket, despatching millions of phones into a silent void.

Telecoms businesses have, unsurprisingly, been posting dire warnings of telephone Armageddon. Do you have an analogue line? Act Now! Are you on ISDN? Don’t wait!

Yet no-one is taking any notice.

It’s not that businesses don’t care about their telephony continuity. Of course, they do. For the most part, they simply don’t know whether their phone connection is analogue, digital, copper wire or a piece of string. Why would they?

Warnings of “PSTN” or “ISDN” switch offs are completely meaningless to huge numbers of business owners.

Those businesses who are tech-savvy will have switched to VOIP phones years ago. Those who remain on analogue are those business owners who have zero interest in cabling or connectivity methods. To be fair, it is hardly the most riveting of conversations.

The telecoms industry solution is to sell through fear (it works for the Life Insurance sector), posting lurid warnings about the Big Switch Off on LinkedIn and Facebook.

This method is about as effective as sticking posters all over Paris with this powerful message:

“Vous ne parlez pas français? Inscrivez-vous à nos cours de langue.”

Which translates to: “Can’t speak French? Sign up to our language classes.”

You may have spotted the problem. If you cannot read French, you can’t understand the poster. Your target market has no comprehension of what you are going on about and will simply ignore the poster.

Back to The Big Switch Off. Many businesses will soon find their phones and internet suddenly stop working. The key question is – will that be your business?

Who will be affected by the 2025 Switch Off?

If you are not sure if you have services due to be discontinued, these pointers may help…

1. When did you last change your phone system?

VOIP phones (i.e. phones that make calls via the internet) have been around for some time now. It was back in 1995 when a company called VocalTec found a way to make calls via PCs connected to the internet. But the internet wasn’t really ready for a mass migration of phone users. Most people simply didn’t have the bandwidth.

It took a while for VOIP phones to take off, with large-scale adoption only really accelerating after 2010.

If you have updated your business phones since 2010, then there is a good chance you are future proofed. If you haven’t touched anything for ten or more years, or you can’t actually remember the last time you looked at your phone services, then you may well still be on an analogue system.

2. Check your phone bill

Your telephone bill should offer clues as to whether you have up-to-date kit.

To check if you may be at risk form losing your services, skim through the bill and look for the incriminating words: ‘Analogue’ and ‘PSTN’. If you spot any of these words, you may be using a legacy phone system.

To make it more confusing, many broadband services and data lines are also being disconnected. Look out for these soon-to-be-axed terms: ISDN, ADSL, Max, 2+ and FTTC.

3. Is it plugged in?

If your phone is plugged straight into a phone socket similar to the one pictured, then the chances are you are still on analogue. Or it could be an ISDN connection. Either way, you may get switched off very soon.

4. Just ask!

If you are not sure, just email hello@rubixvt.com or call us (020
3740 4923). It’s what we are here for. We can instantly work out whether you are using a service that is about to become redundant. We can offer you options of how best to upgrade your phones and/or broadband – but there is no obligation and we promise there will be no hard sell from us.

Having to change your phone system may sound like a pain, but it is worth doing, big switch off or not. The latest telephony services can improve your productivity and ensure people who call you get a better customer experience. We can save you money too.

Why is it best to act now?

Analogue landlines offered only basic features and, unless you invested heavily in your own private exchange, the options were very limited. Cloud-based telephony opens up a whole world of possibilities.

• You can take, make and transfer calls on any device, including laptops and mobile phones.

• You can set up an auto-attendant, which gives the caller multiple options to ensure they go straight to the right department.

• You can easily manage incoming calls, ensuring the caller gets the best possible experience.

• Phones come with multiple useful features such as voicemail to email, call recording and music on hold.

If you haven’t changed your phones for a while, forget about The Big Switch Off. It’s just time to get switched on!

hello@rubixvt.com

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