National telephone operators have been investing less in maintaining traditional PSTN networks and paying more attention – and money – to building out their mobile and Internet protocol (IP) networks. AT&T launched its Project Velocity IP in 2012 with the intention of expanding its wired broadband IP network to reach 75% of its customer locations in three years. In Europe, British Telecom and Deutsche Telekom both have their sights set on all-IP. DT’s website says, “The network of the future is an integrated, all-IP network.”
A common reason some businesses still cling to their PSTN lines even when they’ve switched to a VoIP (voice over IP) phone system is to have a failover option. Here we look at some other failover mechanisms that don’t require a PSTN line, as well as the key benefits to switching to all-IP.



