Switching provider to avoid PSTN Switch Off disruption

If you’re an SME looking at switching provider for the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) Switch Off, it’s time to get serious. The PSTN won’t be with us for much longer, and the longer you leave it the less time you’ll have to make the right decisions.

Since September 2023, there’s been a national stop sell of PSTN-reliant products and services. It’s already too late to buy new analogue-based products or modify existing services that rely on ISDN or PSTN. And that’s not a bad thing, because Openreach will turn off old analogue PSTN and ISDN services by December 2025.

The time for you to act is now.

This is the modern world

If you approach PSTN Switch Off in the right way, your business is going to reap some big benefits.

You’ll enjoy enhanced connectivity, greater flexibility, lower call costs, improved online security and better service reliability. But you need have a plan in place, otherwise you’ll just have to take whatever your current service provider can offer you – when they have the engineer resource to offer it.

Be proactive, do not be led

Make a start. Take control. Check your existing systems and work out how your business will be impacted. Focus on three key areas of your business, namely: phones, internet connection and SAEL services. Single Analogue Exchange Line services, manage things like smoke alarms, CCTV systems and payment devices. We cover the full list here; take a look at our comprehensive breakdown of all the devices and systems that could be affected.

Once you know the full extent of what you’re dealing with, you can begin to build out a plan for the future.

Contact manufacturers or service providers to see whether existing systems need to be replaced or can be reconfigured. Some providers are already helping businesses through the transition. Organisations that face a more complicated transformation will need help from the right telecommunications specialists.

Consider your future needs

As your business grows and you embrace new technology, your infrastructure should expand along with you. Think about the systems and services to migrate towards, the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and contracts you enter into, and the partnerships you build.

Just because the technology you choose is flexible, does not mean that your contracts will allow you to take full advantage of that flexibility.

Switch provider to a partner who gets it

There are many specialist service providers perfectly positioned to help your organisation, and also a rising tide of new agents looking to exploit the PSTN opportunity.

Ask questions of your potential providers, but also listen to the questions they ask you. Make sure they understand your situation. And, above all else, get impartial advice and use those independent review websites.

December 2025 is accelerating towards us, but that doesn’t mean you should panic. It means you should focus and act.