Landline telephony IP - questions and answers
Hello everyone
In mid-March, I informed the media together with our head of technology Heinz Herren about the planned replacement of TDM telephony (conventional technology for telephony: analog standard) at the end of 2017. This has led to many questions. I would like to answer your questions for the private customer market here:
A few facts first:
Swisscom will definitely support conventional landline telephony by the end of 2017. Anyone who only wants a landline telephone connection today can order this offer until the end of 2017.
Swisscom has decided that all customers who order a Vivo Casa will be switched to IP landline telephony. We will only offer new product offerings together with the new IP fixed-line telephony. Exciting offers await you in 2014!
Landline telephony IP from Swisscom is not internet telephony like Skype is, for example. Although we use the IP protocol, calls within Switzerland run over Swisscom’s own network. If a customer from another provider receives a call, the call will be forwarded via the usual channels.
The router is the central element for all our services (voice, Internet and TV). Therefore, the router must always be on in order for the services to be used. We are working on being able to offer other devices in addition to the new Internet box in the future.
Router and energy consumption: Since 2012, the customer’s power consumption has been improved by 50% in all new TV boxes thanks to a low power mode and in the latest generation of routers, which has been available from Swisscom since the end of 2013, various power saving settings have been integrated that make it possible Allow users to permanently or temporarily switch off unneeded functions, such as WLAN and network functions (NAS). And for someone who just wants to make phone calls, there will be an extremely small, energy-saving solution, for example. Calculations show that by replacing conventional technology with IP-based landline telephony, the overall energy balance is positive.
Do you need an internet subscription to be able to make phone calls after 2017? No. This means that the customer has a broadband connection, but only the IP fixed-line telephony service is activated. Since no internet service is activated, you don’t have to pay anything for it.
The advantage of landline telephony IP is, among other things, significantly improved voice quality when a conversation is conducted between two telephony IP connections and the end devices are IP capable. We will be offering several new IP-enabled devices in the near future. At the same time, we are working with other manufacturers to find solutions so that third-party devices are also supported.
Restrictions today: Today there are certain services such as alarm systems or lift telephones that rely on TDM telephony. Since the switch to fixed-line telephony IP is a global trend, the manufacturers of such solutions are working on replacement solutions that are IP-capable.
Schindler already has more than a thousand lift systems in operation that run via GSM/SIM cards (machine-to-machine). OTIS Switzerland is in the pilot phase. Several alarm system manufacturers already offer IP-capable alarm systems.
Owners of such services should therefore contact their solution seller (supplier) and ask for an IP-enabled version.
Existing landline telephones: All telephones that support frequency tone dialing can continue to be used by connecting them to the router. These devices do not achieve improved voice quality. ISDN telephones are no longer supported and therefore cannot be used.
Customers with an ISDN-Anschluss also receive landline telephony IP and can continue to receive multiple numbers and voice channels with the Multiline option. To do this, they are migrated from an ISDN Anschluss to an analogue Anschluss. Therefore, in many of these cases, the house installation needs to be adapted because ISDN uses special cabling. In this case, Swisscom requires the use of a technician.
Can multiple telephone sockets be used in the house? If a so-called BBR (broadband ready) installation already exists: Yes. If not, the house installation can be adapted at the customer’s request and for a fee. However, we recommend switching to our new, cordless IP landline telephones, which can then be connected directly to the new Internet box, for example.
Further information can be found here:
http://www.swisscom.ch/de/privatkunden/festnetz/telefonie-ip.html
We will update the page regularly.
Guido