TECHNICAL
which wouldn’t have previously had the budget for an office phone system.
WightFibre covers this by providing battery back-up for vulnerable customers free of charge (and for a charge for other customers) meaning that these devices will continue to work for up to an hour in the case of a power cut. In the domestic healthcare setting, versions of “red buttons” are already available with several hours’ worth of battery back-up for themselves (and the router) built in. In the business environment the system can be provided with its own dedicated, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or plugged into a pre-existing UPS that powers the existing network in case of outage. For many, especially in business, there will be an upfront conversion or upgrade cost. In most cases the costs are small and are typically related to business size and turnover (and therefore its ability to meet them). For businesses leasing and paying maintenance charges on legacy analogue equipment, the savings could more than pay for these costs. In Conclusion Like the broadcast TV analogue to digital switchover, the switch off of traditional analogue phone lines is a step forward in reducing the dependency on a legacy technology that has served us well for over a hundred years. It presents a great opportunity to switch over to better, feature-rich and future- proof digital services with very few drawbacks. For those with an investment in analogue equipment that still needs to be kept operational, there are affordable solutions to connecting it to an IP network whilst making available many of flexible benefits of a VoIP system.
WightFibre provides analogue-to-digital converters as standard with all new residential full-fibre installs, already built into our routers. Not only do you get broadband that just works, you also get the latest VoIP telephone system without needing to change handsets.
Many of the issues affecting home systems still apply and can be solved in much the same way. For example, legacy analogue devices such as alarm systems and even fax machines for businesses can be connected to affordable analogue to IP modules, as can card machines and EPoS terminals. A word of warning though, very old alarm systems and card machines cannot be converted and you would be wise to upgrade these rather than try to convert them. If you really don’t want to change our your phone system, you can convert the outgoing phone lines in your system to use VoIP by using a convertor and continue to use your existing analogue phone system. This is advisable only as a temporary measure and such systems lack flexibility. New cloud-based phone systems are so cost effective it would almost certainly cost less to move over. Of course, to take full advantage of VoIP it is also an ideal time to buy new IP phone handsetsto maximise benefits and ease of use. Is it all too good to be true? Often when offered a huge set of new features with low conversion costs and the potential for ongoing savings, it’s natural to ask if it’s all too good to be true, or perhaps “what’s the catch?” In technology terms, there is almost no catch. The only downside is in case of a power cut. The old analogue system is powered from the exchange, whereas the new digital network, relying extensively on full-fibre, is not. This means that anything critical, such as alarm systems and emergency “red buttons” or even making a 999 call won’t work if the power is cut if they are simply plugged into an IP converter module; so power for themselves and critical parts of the network - including the router that connects them to the broadband connection - is required. However, it should also be noted that most cordless analogue phones are reliant on mains power to work, and so would not have continued to work during a local power outage to a home or place of business using the old analogue system.
The Switch Over in the Business
What are the implications for the analogue switch off in a business? The answer is very similar to the home. A major difference is there is likely to be a much greater investment in legacy equipment that needs to be taken into account such as analogue phone systems, fax machines (if you still have one) as well as a much broader array of other equipment including alarms, sensors, EPoS systems, card machines and so on. For many companies, the switch off provides a great opportunity to switch over to a much more flexible cloud-based VoIP phone system. The advantages of this are huge including: n No need to own or lease a physical system n No more maintenance costs for an ageing physical phone system n Great features without the need for physical add-on modules including n Easy to program Interactive Voice Response and Menus (IVR) n Caller groups n Automatic call routing n Call recording n Automatic Spam call filtering n On hold music (though not sure this is an advantage!) n Easily distributable across multiple premises n Perhaps the “killer app” in these new days of home working is that employees working from home can have an office extension and even be part of a call group in their own home. n Mobile smart phones can serve as a handset so the “office” extension is even available on the move. The reduction in up front and large ongoing costs brings these features within reach even for very small companies
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May 2025 Volume 47 No.2
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