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Your Director Is in Another Country: The Remote Session Tools That Replaced ISDN, and the One You Might Pay For

Leah Brannigan · November 4, 2026 · 8 min read

A client books you for a directed session and says they'll send a link. Not long ago that meant an ISDN line, a codec box and a phone bill. Now it means a browser tab or one piece of software, and in the UK the old copper network has a closing date. Here's what the main remote session tools do, which side of the call pays, and how to be ready before anyone says "rolling".

This is a reference piece, not an advert. Every price and spec below is quoted from the maker's own page, read on November 4, 2026. Prices change, and some are shown before tax, so check the page on the day you buy.

For a generation of voice actors, being directed live from home meant ISDN: a digital phone line, a codec in the rack and a monthly bill. In the UK that era now has an end date. Openreach, which runs most of the country's phone lines, plans to retire its copper PSTN and ISDN networks on January 31, 2027, a date pushed back from the end of 2025, DatacenterDynamics reported on October 30. Openreach raised rental prices for legacy ISDN services in October, with more rises due from February 2027.

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