Is There An Alternative To Losing My Landline?

By Emma Lewis, bOnline

By the end of 2025, all UK landline services will have been permanently switched off. It will affect UK businesses and residential households alike, and there’s no escaping it.

If you’re particularly attached to your landline or have had it a long time, you might feel concerned about the change or unsure what the alternative is. Small business owners like sole traders, freelancers and start-ups may also worry about how their business will be affected, and how their customers will contact them. After all, just relying on a mobile phone to run your business may not look very professional, not to mention worries about bad signal.

Why Are Traditional Phone Services Being Shut Down?

The UK copper phone network (the infrastructure that makes landlines work) is well over 100 years old. It no longer meets modern communication needs and has effectively become obsolete.

With broadband technology also moving at pace, broadband connections rely more and more on fibre optic networks. These networks not only provide faster, more reliable internet, but are easier to maintain too. While landlines are being wound down, full fibre coverage is being rolled out at the same time. By the end of next year, full fibre coverage is expected to reach around 85% of the country.

What’s The Alternative To a Landline?

Although the landline switch off may seem a little daunting, it’s unavoidable. So now is the perfect time to start looking at alternatives – the main one being a VoIP digital phone service.

VoIP works by converting your voice into digital “packets”. These packets are then sent over the internet between computers and other internet-connected devices. In fact, it’s the same technology you may have come across before in things like WhatsApp and Skype.

VoIP phone systems are great because you can access them on the go through your smartphone, tablet or computer. All you need is 4G, 5G or Wifi. They also come packed with features that could not only help you run your business more efficiently but save you money too. For example these features include video calling, call divert, voicemail, access to call analytics data, hold music and much more.

Basically you never have to worry about literally hanging by the telephone or missing an important call again. You can even choose any number you want

When you sign up to a VoIP digital phone service, you will be given a virtual phone number. This can be anything you like (as long as it’s not already taken!) or if you sign up with bOnline you can keep your existing number if you’d prefer.

You can even get a phone number for an area where your business isn’t actually based! For example, you might choose an 020 London number, even if your business is somewhere else entirely. And yes, it’s completely legal and allowed.

Is Your Business Ready For The Landline Switch-Off?

There’s no avoiding the landline switch-off, so we’ve put together a range of articles to help:

What Makes a Good VoIP Provider?
Switching To VoIP: What Small Business Owners Really Want To Know
Does a Small Business Need a Specialist VoIP Provider?