News & Update: PSTN and EFM services End Of Life (EOL)

PSTN and EFM services End Of Life (EOL)

PSTN based services are coming to their End Of Life in particular your traditional analogue phone or PSTN line and the business ISDN version together with EFM Ethernet First Mile services.

BT Openreach has notified the industry of the “stop sale” and “stop service” dates for the old analogue telephone network aka your landline or PSTN phone as used for years by home users and the ISDN business variant along with the EFM PSTN based “Ethernet First Mile” network service used by branch offices.

 

What’s happening with EFM (branch office network service)

• From 31st August 2021 no new orders will be accepted for EFM
• From 31st August 2023 EFM services will be discontinued and un-supported (they will stop working)
• Speak to us here at Datanet about alternative IP based services such as SOGEA (read our SOGEA article here)

What’s happening with PSTN (traditional analogue phone line)

The stop Sale for PSTN is a longer and more far reaching programme as it impacts us all as home users as well as business.
• From 30th September 2023 no new orders will be accepted for PSTN or ISDN
• From 31st December 2025 PSTN and ISDN services will be discontinued and un-supported (they will stop working)
• Speak to us here at Datanet about alternative IP based services such as VoIP

We asked BT to explain, here is their answer (read it below or go to the article on BT here):

What’s happening?
We’re moving all our customers from the old analogue public switched telephone network (PSTN) to a fully digital network. We’ve already started. We plan to have moved everyone over before Openreach stop the PSTN (and ISDN) service in 2025. By then, every phone line in the UK will be digital, routing calls over IP (Internet Protocol) rather than the traditional PSTN.

When you say ‘everyone…’?
Yes, we mean everyone. Business and home. And it’s not just your phone services you need to think about. It’s everything else that currently uses the old phone network, all your non-voice services connected to PSTN or ISDN lines. Things like alarms, EPOS machines, door entry systems, CCTV, and faxes.

Sounds a bit drastic. Why are you doing it?
PSTN has been the backbone of the UK’s phone network for decades. But we’ve all seen the dramatic changes in technology over the past few years, especially recently. It’s all around us: smartphones, apps, the cloud, Zoom, Internet of Things, and so on. What you probably don’t notice so much is the infrastructure that makes everything work. The telephone lines strung across the streets, the web of copper cables buried beneath your feet, some of which have been down there since the 19th century. It’s now time to leap forward from PSTN to embrace the boundless possibilities of digital.

So IP is better than PSTN?
Yes. As an essentially 20th century technology, the PSTN network is increasingly out of kilter with the demands of modern communications. As people switch to mobile and internet communications, everyone demands much more than the traditional technologies were designed to deliver. Which is why we’re switching to IP.

Will we be better off with digital?
The move to all-digital isn’t just because the old phone system is, well, old. It’s because all-digital communications are so much better. Even at the most basic level, you’ll be able to make and take calls on any device, from wherever you are, from the same number. You’ll link your business applications and systems with video chat, calls and collaboration, so you’re closer to customers and colleagues alike. And with everything in the cloud, you’ll be able to access systems from anywhere, working from wherever you want. Factor in the lower costs that IP can bring and it makes sense to get your skates on and go digital as soon as you can. There’s no need to wait until the last moment.