Swisscom has for the past four years been migrating customers using traditional fixed-line telephony to Internet Protocol (IP). Around three-quarters of Swisscom customers (1.6 million) are already reaping the benefits of this technology. The first four regions in Switzerland will be fully converted to IP from the start of 2018.
Today's customer needs can no longer be met by the current analogue fixed-line telephony network that has been in existence for over 100 years. Customers now want a filter to block advertising calls, the name of the caller to be displayed on the telephone during incoming calls, and the blocking of individual numbers. This is why Swisscom is migrating customers to IP technology and is thus using just one transmission technology for telephony, Internet and TV services. IP is a proven technology that is used around the world
Swisscom started the changeover four years ago and has converted the telephony systems of over 1.6 million customers to date, with up to 40,000 more being added to this figure every month. Beat Döös, Head of All IP Transformation, has great confidence in the technology: “I am very satisfied how the changeover is proceeding." Practically all of our residential customers will be using IP-based products by the end of 2017. We will inform every customer affected by the changeover in good time. “We advise our business customers to undergo migration in 2017 and expect the majority to have done this by the end of the year."
Valora is just one of our major customers already using IP technology. Last autumn, Valora migrated its approximately 1,000 locations to IP within the space of three weeks. “Thanks to the new IP product, we are more flexible and can quickly set up new locations for our customers,” said Mathias Timeus, Project Manager Infrastructure Services, Valora Schweiz AG.
Swisscom has already carried out the changeover in isolated areas. Work will begin on the gradual full migration of customer lines to IP in the larger regions of Switzerland as of the start of 2018. Once the migration has been completed successfully, the decommissioning the old network infrastructure can start. This has already begun in the four major regions of Solothurn/Biel/Jura, Schaffhausen/Winterthur/Frauenfeld, Balsthal/Olten/areas in Aargau/Oberaargau as well as Rapperswil/Jona/Glarus. Further regions are currently being planned and will be announced in good time. Every customer whose line has not yet been changed over will be contacted by Swisscom and provided with comprehensive support. Business customers are recommended to change to IP technology by the end of 2017, as this will ensure the better availability of resources provided by partner companies and those offering special applications (lift telephones, alarm systems, etc.).
Thanks to the release of Swisscom Line basic and the fail-safe system option in June, the safeguards in place in the event of a power or network outage will be two-fold. Firstly, a battery will ensure that the router for the fixed line connection continues to function even in the event of a power outage. Secondly, the fail-safe system option via mobile telephony ensures that telephone calls can be rerouted via the mobile network should the fixed network suffer an outage. This guarantees that contact can also be maintained in the event of an emergency. This solution has been developed in particular for analogue emergency telephone systems. Using this solution, customers can continue using their analogue emergency call systems easily via IP technology.
More detailed information on All IP from Swisscom is available at www.swisscom.ch/ip
More detailed information on the new fail-safe system option offering is available at: www.swisscom.ch/fail-safe
Switching to IP: customer advice and support available here