Switching to VoIP? Why Your Old Phone Recordings Probably Will Not Work

The UK's old telephone network, the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), is being permanently switched off on 31 January 2027. If your business still relies on traditional phone lines, you are running out of time to migrate to a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) system.

But here is something a lot of businesses overlook during the migration: your existing phone recordings probably will not work on your new system.

Why the Rush?

The PSTN has been the backbone of UK telephony since the 1980s. It is being replaced because the old copper network is expensive to maintain and the infrastructure is reaching end of life.

Here is the timeline: - September 2023: Stop-sell of new PSTN lines began - October 2026: Legacy PSTN line prices set to double - 31 January 2027: Hard switch-off date

Over two-thirds of UK landlines have already been upgraded. But that still leaves hundreds of thousands of business lines that need migrating. If yours is one of them, now is the time to act.

Why Your Old Recordings Will Not Work

Here is the problem most people do not think about until it is too late.

Old PBX phone systems stored recordings in proprietary formats, or played them from dedicated on-hold music boxes connected to analogue lines. When you move to a cloud VoIP platform like 3CX, Microsoft Teams, Gamma Horizon, or RingCentral, those old recordings cannot just be transferred across.

Cloud phone systems need digital audio files uploaded in very specific formats. And every platform has different requirements:

**3CX** needs WAV files, PCM encoded, at 8 kHz, 16-bit, mono.

**Gamma Horizon** is fussier. It needs WAV files encoded in u-Law format at 8 kHz, 8-bit, mono. Standard WAV files will not upload.

**Microsoft Teams** accepts WAV, MP3, or WMA, but everything must be under 5 MB and in mono.

**Cisco Webex Calling** has the tightest limit of all, just 2 MB per file.

Even if you could convert your old recordings to the right format, the quality would suffer. Recordings made on old analogue systems sound noticeably worse when re-encoded for digital platforms.

What You Need to Record for Your New Phone System

If you are setting up a new VoIP system, here is the minimum set of recordings you will need for your auto attendant, phone tree, and voice menu:

**Welcome greeting** - The first thing callers hear. Include your business name and either menu options or a brief message.

**Menu options** - Your phone tree prompts. "For sales, press 1. For support, press 2." Keep it simple and put the most popular option first.

**On-hold message** - What plays while callers wait. Use this to share useful information rather than leaving callers in silence.

**Out-of-hours greeting** - For calls that come in after you have closed. Include your opening hours and an alternative contact method.

**Voicemail greeting** - For when nobody can take the call. Tell callers what information to leave and when to expect a callback.

**Queue announcement** - If your system has call queues, callers need to know their position and that they have not been forgotten.

Larger businesses with multiple departments will also need department-specific greetings, transfer messages, and possibly seasonal or holiday closure messages.

Make the Migration an Opportunity

Here is the silver lining. If you have to replace your recordings anyway, this is the perfect time to upgrade to something properly professional.

Think about it: your old auto attendant was probably recorded years ago, maybe by a member of staff on a mobile phone. Your on-hold message might have been the default music that came with the old phone system. Your virtual receptionist greeting might mention services you do not even offer any more.

A VoIP migration is a fresh start. New phone system, new recordings, new first impression for every caller.

Getting the Format Right

The single biggest frustration businesses have during VoIP migration is uploading audio files that get rejected because they are in the wrong format.

Lucy delivers every recording in the exact format your platform needs. Just tell her which phone system you are moving to, and she will export the files in the right encoding, sample rate, and bit depth. No conversion headaches, no upload errors, no guesswork.

If you are not sure which VoIP platform you are moving to yet, that is fine. Lucy can deliver files in multiple formats so you are covered whatever you end up choosing.