Will the PRI Ever Die?

If you’re like any medium sized organization, you have a voice infrastructure that is likely fed by a group of digital trunks to the nearest central office, commonly referred to as a PRI (Primary Rate Interface) or “Voice T1”. PRIs have been in existence for years, and years… but what will eventually replace this aging technology? First it becomes a question of “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” Even with the advent of the PRI, many small organizations and SMBs still rely on simple analog lines, which have been around since… the 1900s? Simply put, PRIs multiplex 23 channels of 64kbps voice (B channels) and one D channel for signalling. Organizations typically incorporate multiple PRIs for added redundancy and circuit availability. However, when will the telecommunications industry utilize higher-capacity circuits? Obviously, this would mean installing new equipment at both the CO and end-user side of the network, which would incur additional cost. Telecom providers and their respective COs are still functioning on (somewhat) antiquated equipment. To be fair, this is very expensive antiquated equipment that offers rock-solid stability. Until the big “ma-bells” of the industry begin to make significant investments, our upstream trunking options for most organizations will remain somewhat limited. Until providers install next-generation switches that offer multiple ways to trunk (traditional PRI or IP), we’ll be seeing our friend, the PRI, for a long time.