What is happening?

In summary, the old, analogue national telephone network is being switched off, with a final deadline of 31 January 2027.

It has already been delayed a couple of times, due to issues with things like healthcare devices that use the phone network to communicate.

Indeed, we pulled together a load of info about it four years ago, to help make sure everyone was prepared for the switch off in December 2025.

It’s unlikely to be delayed again, in case you were wondering!

What is the analogue national telephone network?

In physical terms, it is the copper wires, switches and telephone exchanges that have provided ‘landline’ voice services for decades.

What is being switched off?

The three main things are:

  • Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
  • Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
  • Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)

The PSTN is the telephone network that, as far as premises are concerned, is based on (usually) copper wires running to each building, into a (usually) white faceplate on the wall, that a landline phone handset is plugged into. It also connects things like red telephone boxes, and emergency phones.

The ISDN, which confusingly has ‘digital’ in its name, when we’re talking about the analogue switch off, is also at the end of its life. It transmits digital data (including voice) over those copper wires, hence the ‘digital’, and hence the loss of it when the PSTN is decommissioned.

ADSL is another one with ‘digital’ in the name. Like ISDN, it runs over the copper wires. It is used primarily to provide basic broadband services.

Why is it being switched off?

The old network is becoming more and more difficult to maintain, and less and less able to support today’s communications. More and more of us use mobile phones and business phone systems for voice calls, not the PSTN.

It’s also not the right type of network anymore. As our data needs grow, fibre is increasingly the best technology to use.

What is the impact?

Once the switch happens, anything plugged into a telephone wall socket is likely to stop working. Existing phones and other devices may need a new router, an adapter, or to be replaced.

A few key points:

  • Home landlines: for most homes, the phone will still work but will need to be plugged into a broadband router; the wall socket will be redundant. The broadband service itself, as below, will need to be a newer digital type that supports voice.
  • Home broadband: if you use an older, standard broadband service, it will need to change to a newer one (more on this below). If you only use a landline, your provider can supply a “landline-only” service (a digital connection without a broadband package).
  • Business phone systems: some businesses use the PSTN for phones, or fax machines, or other services (see below).
  • Business broadband: just like home broadband, if you use ADSL, you’ll need to change (more info below).
  • Other services: the impact spreads beyond phones. Devices like burglar alarms, health and personal alarms, emergency lift phones, door entry systems, and fax machines may not be compatible and require upgrade to work with digital lines.
  • Power: while old analogue phones didn’t, digital phones require electricity: they won’t function during a power cut, for example, unless they have a battery backup.

It’s such a big deal, there’s a page on the UK government website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-transition-from-analogue-to-digital-landlines

Changes to broadband

A lot of the news and updates on this are about phone handsets, and phone calls, and the ‘landline’. In reality, that will not be as complicated as it seems, and (for home users at least) most of the work will be done by the providers. As above, phones need to be connected to the router, but the providers will usually supply it.

Businesses are a little different, needing to ‘fend for themselves’ a little more, but we’re here to help, and changing the phone system usually means better service and lower charges.

What does need to be considered is the change to the broadband, for both homes and businesses.

All connections will need to be digital, such as Fibre-to-the-Premise (FttP) or Single order Generic Ethernet Access (SoGEA), which is replacing Fibre-to-the-Cabinet  (FttC) and enables providers to deliver broadband without a phone line (with the name meaning that users get everything delivered through a ‘single order’).

This inevitably brings questions of cost, performance and, basically, what’s going to be best.

Here are some of the basics:

  • Each connection passes data in both directions; data passing ‘down’ from somewhere else (e.g., the internet) is referred to as ‘downstream’, and data passing ‘up’ from the local point (e.g., a home, or office premises) is referred to as ‘upstream’.
  • Some connectivity technologies are ‘symmetric’, meaning that the speed of the connection is the same in both directions (downstream and upstream); others are ‘asymmetric’, where the downstream speed is higher than the upstream.
  • The speed (or ‘bandwidth’) is measured in megabits per second (Mbps). The higher the Mbps, the faster the connection.
  • Budget and bandwidth requirement influence the choice of technology, but geographic location and the relative performance are also key factors. Some technologies have variable performance (i.e., the performance of the technology will vary from location to location) at a fixed charge, while others provide static performance at a variable charge (i.e., the charges for the connection will vary from location to location).
  • And there’s availability too: sadly, not every option is available everywhere.

Basic new equipment (i.e., a new router) may also be needed.

Types of connectivity

Connectivity is based on telecommunications company (or ‘telco’) infrastructure: wires (which may be metallic, like copper, or fibre-optic), or waves (e.g., radio or microwave) between two points making a connection.

Connectivity (including ‘broadband’) can make use of a range of different underpinning technologies.

ADSL

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is basically ‘traditional’ or ‘standard’ broadband, run over a phone (or PSTN) line.

It is available in different variants, and performance is up to approx. 20 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. It is a ‘rate adaptive’ technology, meaning that the performance is not always constant, and varies with distance and cable quality.

ADSL is affected by the analogue switch off.

FttC

Fibre-to-the-Cabinet, often referred to as ‘superfast broadband’, is a variation of DSL technology where fibre is used to connect the telephone exchange and the local street cabinet, with the final connection to the premises made with a standard telephone line.

There are two main variants, offering up to 40 Mbps downstream and 10 Mbps upstream, or up to 80 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream.

FttC is affected by the analogue switch off.

SoGEA

Single-order Generic Ethernet Access, the ‘replacement’ for ADSL and FttC. The performance is generally the same as FttC, and the copper wires are used (so it isn’t a ‘full fibre’ product), but the analogue aspect (including the ‘landline’) is removed.

SoGEA is not affected by the analogue switch off.

Cable

In this sense, ‘cable’ is a term describing the connection, rather than the fact that the connection uses a cable (which it could be said that all non-wireless connections do).

Most commonly used for domestic connections, rather than for business, cable in the UK uses fibre-optic cables and, for the connection to the premises, co-axial cables (in what’s called the ‘DOCSIS’ standard) to provide high-speed connectivity and TV services. Performance downstream is typically between 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps, and Virgin Media is the main provider.

Cable is not affected by the analogue switch off.

FttP

Fibre-to-the-Premise, unlike the technologies above, uses fibre optic cabling instead of metallic cabling FttP all the way from the network core to the premises. This is generally regarded as a more future-proofed approach, and tends to be the technology referred to for ‘gigabit-capable’ connectivity (i.e., 1,000 Mbps).

FttP is not affected by the analogue switch off.

Leased Line

Like FttP, the connections from the network core to the local premises are all fibre optic. Unlike FttP, however, leased lines use a more ‘dedicated’ architecture; instead of the large, shared network cores that support solutions like FttP, leased lines are supplied using specific equipment in specific locations, and are therefore more expensive.

They can support very high bandwidths (1 Gbps and more), and are usually symmetric.

A leased line is not affected by the analogue switch off.

What next?

If you’re looking at your home phone or broadband, the best starting point is to get in touch with your current provider (e.g. BT, Sky, Virgin Media etc.)

If you’re a business, let’s look at four key questions:

  1. Do you have a standard broadband service (ADSL) or an older ‘superfast’ broadband service (FttC)? If you’re not sure, you can check your bill or see if it connects into the basic telephone wall socket.
  2. Do you have the same number of phones as you have telephone numbers, and are they connected to basic telephone wall sockets?
  3. Do you have older devices like fax machines, burglar alarms, or door entry systems?
  4. Do have a phone system that connects to a grey or white box labelled “BT”, “ISDN” or “NT1”?

If the answer to any of these is “yes”, there’s probably a need to do something before January 2027.

If this all sounds a bit confusing, don’t worry: we’re here to help. Get in touch with us and we can work out what’s best for you.