Today, 30th September 2019, marks the end for traditional telephony in Australia. After a few false-starts and delays, today Telstra is officially starting to decommission ISDN services.

Shutdown of the ISDN (integrated services digital network) means the full disconnection of these services. This doesn’t only impact the phone lines, it also includes any phone numbers that haven’t yet been transitioned to Business VoIP. That means that any businesses caught out will face a situation where they not only are disconnected from making outbound calls until they find a replacement solution, but will also lose their phone numbers and their inbound calls – an unparalleled risk to Australian businesses that could cause significant impacts to revenue and customer relations for those caught out.

What is ISDN?

The ISDN has been the fixed line telephony option for businesses for decades, offering offices multiple simultaneous calls over a single connection. With the rise of SIP and Business VoIP services, organisations have instead been able to gain access to their phone services over the top (OTT) of existing internet and network connections – gaining flexibility and redundancy, while also being able to lower costs.

As a pioneer of converged voice and data solutions in Australia, Over the Wire has been at the forefront of this trend for well over a decade, having seen the writing on the wall for ISDN for quite some time. With the rise of OTT voice services, sales of traditional on-premises phone systems have plummeted in favour of cloud hosted PBX phone systems. These offer centralisation of the system for all branches for seamless collaboration, high-availability for ultimate usability from anywhere, and ease of access to reports and dashboards to help provide additional insights previously out of reach for most businesses. 

The enormous benefits to functionality and pricing made the mass exodus from ISDN (even before the shutdown was announced) no surprise to those in the industry. Even still, many companies still haven’t made the change, which is putting their business at risk.

Protecting your business

Preparation is key to surviving the ISDN shutdown, with a guide available to help businesses navigate the challenge. First and foremost, it is important to understand your risk exposure. The ISDN Shutdown Survival Guide will help you start planning, with Over the Wire available to help design and implement the best transition for you to keep your business connected. Speak to our expert team today and make sure your business is prepared.

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With the shutdown of ISDN services to commence at the end of September 2019, the death of traditional telephony is just around the corner. The roll-out of NBN, while incomplete, has been the catalyst for Telstra to pull support for the legacy fixed-line technology, and the flood of change requests has well and truly commenced.

Number Porting

A major change for organisations shifting from ISDN phone services to business VoIP is the requirement to convert their existing phone numbers to be virtually hosted. This is achieved by porting these numbers to a new VoIP provider to ensure they aren’t lost when ISDN services are disconnected.

Delays in porting numbers are already noticeable and substantial, with average porting timeframes doubled in the past 6 months when transferring away from Telstra, and increased over 50% from Optus and other carriers. These delays are impacting all number porting, not just transitions from ISDN, and is only expected to get worse as fixed-line telephony shutdown becomes a reality.

Handling the delays:

• Planning ahead is paramount. With complex number porting often taking as long as three months to finalise, getting ports underway early is the best way to ensure you don’t miss any calls. Over the Wire customers get access to our powerful self-service Customer Portal and easy-to-use number porting tool, and of course our friendly staff are always happy to help simplify the process for you.
• While waiting for number ports to be completed, a redirection to temporary numbers can help to keep services flowing and give you the ability to take advantage of your new VoIP setup sooner. Ask our sales team if you qualify for free temporary numbers to help make your transition to Over the Wire even smoother than ever.

Fibre Service Provisioning

In addition to the delays in number porting, the extra demand for high speed fibre internet and private network services has also caused longer than usual provisioning timeframes for these services. Whether as a necessity due to copper-based connections no longer being serviceable, or businesses taking advantage of great new pricing for additional bandwidth options to support over-the-top voice services, the spike in requests has been noticeable. While typical lead times for fibre services is between 4 – 8 weeks, the current trend is generally between 8 – 14 weeks.

Handling the delays:

• Again, planning ahead is an important factor. If moving office or in the path of a disconnection be sure to have your request in early to stay connected.
• If you’re in a pinch for time, we’ve got your back. Our Private Mobile Data options are a great way to bridge the gap and have you up-and-running fast – just see what Credo Financial had to say when we helped them relocate with just 2 weeks notice!

Be ready for the ISDN shutdown

If you’d like to know more about the ISDN shutdown and how you can make sure your business is prepared, check out or ISDN Shutdown Survival Guide, an ebook designed specifically to help Australian businesses navigate the minefield being caused the Telstra’s ISDN shutdown. Or let us know if you’d like help from one of our sales consultants to guide you through the process.

The post Threat of ISDN shutdown already causing delays across the industry appeared first on Over the Wire.

Since the ramp-up of the NBN roll-out, disconnection has been looming over ISDN services – the main phone lines still used by the majority of Australian businesses. With the cease of sale having come into full effect in June 2018, it might come as a surprise to many businesses that they only have a short time left before the disconnection of services commences. Originally slated to commence in June 2019, Telstra have quietly extended this to 30 September 2019, but this only buys businesses an extra 3 months to transition off the technology.

What services are being killed off, and why?

ISDN is a digital network technology that carries voice and data services over the public switched telephone network. This method requires a physical connection per location, dedicated to telephony traffic. With the rise of Voice over IP solutions telephony traffic can move to more versatile data network connections, enabling versatility and redundancy not available through traditional telephony.

Spurred on by the continued roll-out of the NBN, Telstra ceased sale of ISDN2, ISDN2 Enhanced, ISDN10/20/30, DDS Fastway, Megalink and Frame Relay products from 30th June 2018, with a final disconnection date expected by 2022 which is when the products will no longer exist. The disconnection of ISDN timeline is as follows:

• 31st January 2018 – New ISDN services became unavailable for customers who did not already have ISDN in place.
• 30th June 2018 – Full cease sale on new or additional ISDN services came into effect for all customers. No new ISDN services are available.
• 30th September 2019 – Disconnection will commence for existing ISDN connections
• By 2022 – All ISDN connections will be disconnected and the full network will be decommissioned.

How to survive the ISDN Shutdown

Preparation is key to surviving the ISDN shutdown without having your phones cut off. We’ve compiled an ISDN Shutdown Survival Guide to help businesses stay ahead.

This guide includes how to find out if your phone line is ISDN, an overview of the ISDN shutdown, what’s after ISDN, and how to deploy an IP telephony solution for your business.

To find out more, download the Survival Guide or reach out to a member of the Over the Wire team today.

The post The Death of Traditional Telephony Is Just Around The Corner appeared first on Over the Wire.

It might seem a long way off, but the eventual shut down of the Australian ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) will be here sooner than you think. By 2022 Telstra will discontinue supporting its ISDN products due to the supporting technologies and platforms nearing the end of their lifetime.

As the NBN continues to roll out across the country, what should businesses be doing in preparation for the switch?

What services will be switched off?

ISDN is a digital network technology that carries voice and data services over the public switched telephone network.

Telstra will cease the sale of ISDN2, ISDN2 Enhanced, ISDN10/20/30, DDS Fastway, Megalink and Frame Relay products by 30th June 2018, with a final disconnection date expected by 2022 which is when the products will no longer exist.

• 31st January 2018 – New ISDN service unavailable for customers who do not already have ISDN in place.
• 30th June 2018 – Full cease sale on new or additional ISDN services for all customers. No new services will be available.
• June 2019 30th September 2019 – Disconnection will commence for existing ISDN connections (commencement date pushed back in February 2019)
• By 2022 – All ISDN connections will be disconnected and full network will be decommissioned.

While businesses using these products can expect plenty of early warning leading up to the exit, the clock is definitely ticking for companies relying on ISDN to find an alternative solution.

Thankfully, a solution exists and it’s cheaper and more efficient than ISDN. SIP, or Session Initiated Protocol is the future of business voice.

How to make the move from ISDN to IP Voice

A SIP Trunk is the digital equivalent of a traditional phone line. A SIP Trunk needs to connect to a PBX – a device that provides the brains behind the phone system that enables multiple users to share lines. You will need to decide whether to host your PBX in the cloud or at your premises. Getting the assistance of a SIP provider will help simplify this process.

Here are some resources to help you get started

The ISDN Switch Off – 4 Things You Need To Do	The ISDN Shutdown Survival Guide
This quick read explains the four key things that your business should be doing to prepare for the ISDN switch off.	This in-depth guide explains everything you need to know about the ISDN shutdown and your replacement options.
Download	Download

With the imminent cessation of ISDN, switching to sophisticated SIP technology should be a business priority.

At Over the Wire, our solutions unite voice, data and security through a single, end-to-end service provider. We can help organisations of any size achieve a higher level of productivity.

To find out more, reach out to a member of the Over the Wire team today.

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