How to Prepare For the 2025 PSTN Switch-Off

From December 2025 onwards, we will all be using digital telephony (VoIP), due to the PTSN switch-off. Many businesses have already successfully made the move to digital, making themselves ready for the future and enjoying the benefits of a cloud-based phone system.
Making the move over to a digital phone system sounds intimidating at first, but by doing the steps below, you can properly prepare yourself for the switch-off in 2025.
 
Get the Correct Connectivity
Digital telephony (VoIP) requires a reliable, strong internet connection to deliver clear voice calls, seamless video conferencing, and real-time collaboration tools. Your connectivity must not only meet today’s needs but also be future-ready.

Switching to digital telephony is an ideal time to assess your internet connectivity. Ask yourself, is it robust enough? Can it effortlessly support current applications? What about latency? Could other applications disrupt your voice services?
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How Elite PC Systems can help:
Our team can evaluate your internet connection to determine if it meets the requirements for digital telephony. If it doesn’t, we offer consultation to help you upgrade your internet connection to meet these requirements effectively.
 
Check for Other Devices that Use Your Voice Line
Before transitioning over to digital telephony, it’s important to identify any other devices utilising your voice line. Both individuals and businesses use phone lines for purposes beyond making calls.

These devices may include alarms, door entry systems, payment terminals, and more, that can be reliant on your old PSTN phone lines. Swapping to digital telephony will affect how these devices operate, which is why it is important that you keep track of everything connected to your PSTN and ISDN lines.

How Elite PC Systems can help:
Our services are designed to help you mitigate the impact of upgrading to digital telephony. We will help move all your other devices connected to your voice line, or if this is not possible, find and install alternative devices into your digital telephony system.

Educate Yourself in Digital Telephony
The more you educate yourself about digital telephony, the greater your potential to maximise its benefits. Although learning a new system might seem overwhelming initially, digital telephony offers numerous opportunities and benefits that analogue systems cannot match.

How Elite PC Systems can help:
Elite PC Systems is here to facilitate your transition to digital telephony by providing training, installation, and setup for your new system.
 
Understand How You or Your Business Currently Use Your Hardware
When transitioning to digital telephony, it is important to take a thoughtful approach to your business’s existing hardware. Instead of hastily replacing your current handsets with equivalent IP models, use this opportunity to evaluate how you or your business utilises your current hardware.
Consider whether a one-to-one replacement of all your equipment is necessary. For instance, if you have a flexible work routine, engage in hot-desking, or work from home, a traditional desk phone may not align with your business needs. In such cases, an IP headset and a softphone client could be a more suitable choice. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. A hybrid approach that combines headsets and handsets may be the optimal solution for you or your business.

How Elite PC Systems can help
We provide a variety of IP devices got you to choose from during your upgrade. If you’re uncertain about your hardware needs, our team is prepared to provide consultation.
 
Utilise the Opportunity for Change
Transitioning to digital telephony is not simply replicating your current processes digitally. It is an opportunity to explore new ways of working and revolutionise your communication methods.
Cloud-based systems, in particular, offer an array of features beyond what you might be accustomed to. They seamlessly integrate with mobile devices and apps. For businesses, they provide in-depth insights into customer and employee behaviour, it invites a new perspective on your business, potentially introducing flexible and remote working, allowing you to work from any device, location, and at any time. 
 
Digital telephony systems free your communications from the boundaries of an office. Your phone numbers are no longer tied to a location, ensuring you never miss a call. Collaborating with anyone, anywhere becomes effortless, thanks to the flexibility of the cloud. Digital telephony offers total scalability, so you will always be prepared for the future. 

If you have any questions or concerns about the PSTN switch-off, please call us at 01244 34466 and we will happily consult you through the process, or if you want to make the swap to digital telephony now, we can assist you.

Read our blog post from last week to get more information on the PSTN switch-off, next week our blog post will be debunking 10 myths surrounding digital telephony.