The Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) is a copper wire telephone network. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a digital platform that has been used since the 1980s to deliver voice, video, and other data.

There are two key alternatives to consider and you should get advice on which product suits you and your business.

• SoGEA, Single-order Generic Ethernet Access is the most widely available replacement product. It's referred to as a single order because you get everything you need in one package. Simply put, SoGEA is Fibre broadband without a landline. 
• FTTP, Fibre to the Premises, does away with traditional copper wires entirely. Every part of the journey from the exchange to your home or business is made from waterproof fibre optic cable, providing you with broadband capable of speeds of up to 1000 megabits per second (1Gbps). 

For advice on replacement products, including Voice replacement, please call us on 0344 770 6000

At Chess, we've been proactively helping customers move to alternative solutions for the last three years. We're not waiting for the switch-off to happen, we're contacting our remaining customers who still need to migrate, enrolling them in our Great British Switch Off migration programme.

We have a tried-and-tested migration process involving an audit of your account to ensure we have correctly identified all affected products and services. We will work with you to understand how the PSTN switch-off may impact existing services and allow time to make any required changes to services, which will ensure your business has full connectivity.

Please be assured that if you have products and services supplied by Chess affected by the Great British Switch Off, we will contact you over the next few months to enrol you in our GBSO migration programme. 

With the infrastructure change affecting every customer in the UK, we want to be ready and prepared to help you with any issues that might arise when the PSTN lines switch off. This gives us valuable time to consult and advise you on the best actions to protect your business. If you would like to have a quick chat with us, please get in touch with our specialist GBSO Team on 0330 159 8026.

Upgrading to a digital solution can enhance your broadband speeds, increase reliability and stability, and futureproof your business. With digital calls (cloud) connected through several data centres across multiple locations, an outage in one area won't affect your service, making it more reliable. This ensures that your business won't be affected by the switch-off in 2027, and you'll be ready for the future of telecommunications.

The migration will not automatically extend contracts where possible. However, we will review accounts on an individual basis when we contact you. We are upgrading you to full-fibre broadband at no additional cost. We will continue to charge you the same price you are currently paying. If there are any changes to your contract, we will discuss these with you during the review process.

Some examples of legacy services that use a PSTN line, such as alarm lines, fax machines, card machines, telecare alarms, and lift lines, may need to be compatible with the fully digital service. If you have any of these products or services and think they are attached to the PSTN line, please get in touch with your provider, who will discuss your options for converting them to digital.

Most routers will be fully compatible with digital services; however, when we review your account, if we identify that your router is not, we will provide you with a new router and contact you with a delivery date.

We will contact you to review your account before your migration takes place. If a new static IP is required, we will send this to you before the completion date to ensure you can update your equipment.

If you need to keep your landline number, you must port it to Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP).  Please let us know if you require us to keep your number as soon as possible.

You can use your standard telephone, but this will require changes to your setup. If you do want to continue using your phone, let us know, and we can send you an adapter to convert it to digital. You must remove the phone from the wall socket and plug it into the adapter via the router port.

Click here for a short demonstration video on connecting your phone to the router. 

Digital calls (cloud) are connected through several data centres across multiple locations, ensuring that an outage in one area won't affect your service. This redundancy makes digital calls more reliable than traditional ones.

You can contact our specialised GBSO Migration Team directly during business hours on 0330 159 8026, who will be happy to assist you with any queries you might have.

Alternatively, if you would like more information on what solutions are available to you, you can arrange a free consultation with one of our experts.