• The UK's 100 year old traditional landline (PSTN) network will shut down by 2025.
  • Small businesses will need to switch to digital phone lines (VoIP) or risk losing their phone numbers, a lifeline to any small business.
  • bOnline is the leading VoIP provider seamlessly transitioning 100s of small businesses daily to 21st century digital phone systems.

VoIP, or Voice Over Internet Protocol, has experienced an unprecedented amount of investment in recent years. With the UK announcement of a 2025 PSTN shutdown, small businesses will have no option but to transition to a digital phone system. This decision comes as no surprise, as a global shift towards digital makes the old traditional networks still used by 6M small businesses redundant and too costly to maintain.

With this new norm in the industry, small business owners will require a new generation of digital phone providers who are proficient in seamlessly transitioning them to digital solutions with excellent onboarding, training and support. bOnline is UK's most awarded VoIP provider in the UK that is bridging the gap between small businesses and state-of-the-art digital phones.

A Necessary Change

An important question to ask is: why are UK landlines being shut down by 2025? Grappling with the context of the decision is vital to understanding why. Small businesses have been witness to a technological revolution in the past decade. Even recently, communication tools like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, have been introduced as everyday applications within the business setting.

Existing for more than 100 years, landlines have become a somewhat obsolete form of business communication. More than this, they require extensive resources and infrastructure to maintain. This infrastructure, however, was never designed to meet all the needs of the contemporary world. As a result, it makes more sense to invest in digital forms of communication.

Anthony Karibian, CEO, bOnline states, "6 million small businesses in the UK have to move to VoIP over the next three years or risk losing their landline numbers, because of BT shutting down legacy phone lines and investing in full fibre." This illustrates the importance of not only large scale companies making the change, but small businesses too.

The benefit of this change is that traditional landlines relying on analogue technology will be swapped for digital technology. This means that offices, and homes, will be using VoIP instead. Consumers will now be able to make phone calls from various devices. This is as a result of VoIP converting audio into data packets that are then transferred over networks, through routers.

bOnline Ltd
bOnline Ltd bOnline Ltd

Bridging the Gap

bOnline warns that small businesses have largely been left behind in the VoIP revolution. The company aims to change this. The issue is that smaller businesses do not have the capital and means to have a dedicated IT department. As a result, bOnline is ensuring that the smallest businesses have the most up-to-date telecom technology.

bOnline is the UK's most awarded VoIP provider for small businesses designed for small business owners rather than for IT departments. The company aims to make VoIP accessible to small businesses, enabling them to digitise their operations within minutes. The company has previously been awarded Comms Council UK's 2021 Best VoiP Provider for small businesses, amongst other accolades.

VoIP, or digital telephony, is the digital solution to the BT shutdown. It is imperative to consider how this transition will affect small businesses. Anthony Karibian, CEO of bOnline says that, "VoIP will help small businesses level up with enterprises that have already been using digital phone systems for decades. VoIP is cheaper, more reliable and clearer than legacy phone lines. VoIP also enables a small business to work remotely, get call analytics, sound professional and get a host of other benefits at a fraction of the cost of a traditional phone," and goes on to say that, "it can transform how a small business operates - and companies like bOnline can now make it happen effortlessly with hours."

A point of separation for bOnline and other VoIP providers is that the company offers not only VoIP phone systems, but also full-fibre and broadband. This allows small businesses to have access to a variety of services at a price point that is affordable. Moreover, the company dedicates time for personal onboarding to ensure the transition is seamless.

The company offers smart options for entrepreneurs, startups, and established small businesses alike. Consumers can choose to customise benefits for landlines on their mobile phone. With options like a digital receptionist and business hours for mobile phones, consumers can set work boundaries and still remain professional. Similarly, there are options for conference calls, caller menus, and team member presences - all designed to meet the needs of a small business.

BOnline describe themselves as the most trusted UK VoIP provider, with good reason: The firm has 7,800 reviews on Trustpilot with an average rating of 4.6/5.

Final Thoughts

With the digital revolution in full swing, and the looming threat of the UK BT landline shutdown, Britain's small businesses need to act swiftly and transition to VoIP solutions. The move from analogue landlines to digital networks will ensure that technology is able to match the growing needs of business in the 21st Century.

VoIP providers, like bOnline (and others like Enreach and Ring Central) have been tasked with the challenge of transitioning 6m small businesses to digital phone networks (VoIP). Perhaps the most interesting point of differentiation with bOnline is that it is working exclusively with UK small businesses with a VoIP solution that was designed specifically to fit the needs of small business owners rather than IT gurus and IT departments. That makes bOnlines solution powerful but easy to use for a small business owner.