In 1988, the Yorkshire Mining Museum at Caphouse officially opened its doors, thanks to funding from both the West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire Metropolitan County Councils, along with support from Wakefield and Kirklees Metropolitan District Councils. With technical assistance from British Coal, the museum began its mission to preserve the region’s rich mining history. By 1995, it was granted national status, marking its importance as a historical and cultural landmark.
Time Communications first began working with the Museum in the early 2000s. Back then, we took over their ageing Ascom PBX system, eventually replacing it with a more modern Mitel PBX solution in the years that followed. As technology progressed, the museum, much like many other organisations, found itself at a crossroads – the shift towards Voice over IP (VoIP) was becoming increasingly necessary.
There were two key challenges pushing the Museum towards this technological upgrade:
1. Unreliable ISDN Lines: The museum’s remote location, surrounded by trees, led to frequent issues with their old ISDN telephone lines. Overhead cables were particularly susceptible to physical interference, especially in the spring and summer resulting in unreliable service.
2. The ISDN Network Closure: With BT announcing the shutdown of the ISDN copper network, it became clear that action was required to modernise the museum’s phone system and move towards a future-proof solution.
We spent many months in discussions with the Museum’s team, exploring the best options to help them transition to a cloud-based system that would not only ensure reliability but also reduce ongoing operational costs. Our focus was on delivering a solution that would stand the test of time, preparing them for a future where VoIP and Cloud Telephony would be the standard.
We thoroughly enjoyed working alongside the Museum on this project. Hearing their CEO, Lynn Dunning, express her satisfaction with the new system was truly rewarding for us.
If you’d like to delve deeper into the Museum’s telecommunications journey, including the challenges they faced and the solutions we provided, you can read the full case study by clicking here: FreePBX_National-Coal-Mining-Museum-Success-Story-A4
Should you have any questions about cloud-hosted telephony or wish to discuss any upcoming project, feel free to get in touch with us by clicking here. We’re always here to help!
September 2024
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