First the good news: Britain is heading full-speed towards a world-class digitally interconnected future where all telecommunications and data transactions take place over reliable high speed fibre optics.
Now the bad news: your existing call-handling, automated key-holder alerts, fire alarms and remote back-office support services will probably stop working as a result.
That’s because the UK’s existing analogue legacy phone network will be switched off by January 31, 2027, and replaced with a fully digital network that uses Internet protocol (IP) technology across a fibre-based service.
That means every phone line in the country will become digital, routing calls over IP rather than the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). Therefore, any remaining critical services that aren’t switched to the new network will be lost.
The digital switch-off will affect everyone and everything.
It’s not just phone services that will be impacted either. Everything that currently uses the old phone network will be affected, including non-voice services connected to PSTN or ISDN lines such as lifts, building entry systems, fire and door alarms, burglar alarms, CCTV, and a range of other services.
Critical services
The ability to continue providing essential services is critical, particularly for vulnerable pupils, as are the key communications systems and infrastructure needed to support it. Any interruption to that service can be hugely costly and disruptive for all concerned.
Many schools, colleges and universities have already implemented fully digital, broadband-based alternatives to switchboards and call-handling processes and are benefitting from a shift to all-IP telecoms, with its clever automatic call-forwarding to home workers, call hunt groups, and rich recording and networking functionality. In many cases, this has resulted in improved pupil care, outcomes and satisfaction, and connectivity, while also significantly reducing operating costs and time.
All these productivity gains are made possible by digital technology’s ability to process, package and distribute data packets – of which voice is simply just one type – and transmit them around the world on fibre optic cables.
Running an organisation is not just about the shiny front-end, though. What about those legacy support services, often running quiet and unremarked in the background? The key-holder alerts? The IT back-ups and failovers? The fire- and burglar-alarm systems? Many educational establishments have taken full advantage of automated data management and update of pupil records; SMS appointment alerts; overnight back-ups, automated ordering of consumables or even automatic top-ups for the web-enabled vending machine. Most of these are purely internal, software-driven functions.
Yet there are still large amounts of equipment that remain connected to soon-to-be-retired telecoms infrastructure. These can range from vending machines to fire alarms and emergency call-lines in lifts. Worse still, many headteachers and education managers may be unaware of the need to switch over these devices, particularly if the costs associated with renting the line and maintaining the equipment are covered by on-going contracts.
For many organisations, devices such as automated burglar alarms, emergency call-lines in lifts, remotely monitored process fail-safes or even credit card payment systems are services they simply buy on recurring monthly terms from specialist third-party providers. Specialists who install special, dedicated telephone lines to ensure their call handlers or data centres are automatically contacted the moment the customer needs their services. This wasn’t a problem when we had a copper telephone network for those services to quietly run on. But now all these lines are going to have to transition from copper to fibre. And that is not just a matter of unplugging one piece of kit and plugging in another. The difference between copper and fibre alarm lines is not trivial. It is – quite literally – as fundamental as the difference between fail-safe and non-fail-safe.
The old familiar legacy copper network provides “always on”, fail-safe functionality. The system runs on its own 48Volt DC power supply, regularly pulsing a “chirrup” up the line to check continuity of signal. It is this pulse which provides the familiar dial-tone, reassuring the user that there is a working line to the exchange equipment. But once the copper line is retired, the 48Volt equipment will no longer work.
Implications of switch-off
By contrast, IP is an innately non-fail-safe alternative. The fibre line is entirely passive until it is “lit” by equipment at the business end. To light the line requires a modem and a power source.
So, we are moving from a system which powers itself remotely to a system that has to be powered from the user’s end. Which has two major implications:
- First, is your alarm or process provider equipped to update your kit ahead of the copper switch-off?
- Second, what happens if there is a mains power failure?
Beyond that, the logistical implications for the organisation itself are obvious. Is there even power available to the equipment? Will it need to be re-sited? Does it need to be wired into the emergency circuits? Will it need battery back-up or a dedicated 5G modem?
And so to the bad news: when the Fit To Switch team from sister publication Comms Business raised the issue with the trade associations who represent two of the most obvious “at risk” service sectors – lift suppliers and fire alarm companies – their responses yielded only referrals to articles and supplier sales presentations made at last year’s industry conferences.
There was no specific guidance for their members. There was no directory of members whose systems are tested, ripe and ready for the non-copper future.
BT argues that the old PSTN copper infrastructure is well past its sell-by date and costing a fortune to maintain. Everything from streaming TV to sending emails to making voice calls is already faster and easier over high-speed optical fibre cables anyway. So, PSTN is already being quietly retired in some parts of the country. It is due to be phased out completely across the UK by the end of 2025. And, as so often with business services, the devil is in the detail.
That is why it is vital for organisations to start planning for the switchover today. Everything connected to your phone lines needs to be comprehensively audited and reviewed to identify affected services and, thus, order timely technology upgrades.
Rather than being a negative, however, the switch-off represents a prime opportunity for the education sector to undergo a digital transformation that will drive the delivery of improved outcomes and experiences, as well as seamless communication and collaboration among teaching professionals and staff.
- To find out if your organisation is affected, complete the Fit to Switch survey at https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7545193/Fit-To-Switch-survey-Business-users
- For more information about Fit to Switch and the PSTN switch-off, visit www.fittoswitch.co.uk
