Digital voice, a new way to communicate
Digital voice or voip as it’s commonly known is going to be the way everyone uses their phones in the near future. Already adopted by The Netherlands and soon to be in place in France, Germany and Japan, the UK is not the first to schedule the decommissioning of their PSTN phone network. With a deadline set, and backed by the UK government, the old copper wire based analogue phone system will no longer exist after the end of 2025.
If you haven’t heard about the big BT switch off and don’t know what it’s all about you are not alone. A recent survey showed that 91% of UK adults were unaware that their phone lines would become digital in the near future. It will affect everyone who wants to keep a landline and wants to keep their home phone number. Instead of plugging a phone into your BT wall socket, the new digital phones will use your broadband connection.
The majority of UK homes now have broadband access and there are ambitious plans to make gigabit capable full fibre connections available to 85% of the country. In addition to the major work being undertaken by Openreach to achieve this , many homes and businesses are able to get full fibre connections from independent providers in their area who are installing their own fibre optic cables. Full fibre connections will give crystal clear call quality and smooth, uninterrupted video calls. You can check for full fibre availability from Openreach here.
Changing to digital voice is an easy process for most people. Instead of your phone plugging into a BT wall socket, it will need to be connected to your router. If you have a traditional analogue phone an adapter will be needed between the phone and your router to convert the voice signal to digital for transmission over the internet. You will also have the option to upgrade to a voip phone which will connect directly to your router. Some will even connect via WIFi adding flexibility and choice for the phones location. There are DECT phones with multiple wireless handsets and mobile apps to use on your smartphone.
Flexibility and choice are really the key words when talking about digital voice services. Once you convert to digital you will be able to choose from numerous service providers who offer different call plans, packages and features. You can keep your home phone number and use it not only on your home phone but also on you smartphone, tablet or Pc. which means you can use it from any location where you have an internet connection. As a house hold you will be able to make and receive multiple calls at the same time.
In conclusion, the change to digital voice is a good thing for all of us, it will give us a high quality, reliable phone network and with healthy competition between providers everyone should be able to find a service that suits them at the right price.Click here to take a look at our call plans and features and if you have any questions feel free to contact us for help and advice, we also have an FAQ section here.