Millions of people face losing their landline phone in three months as part of the UK-wide digital switchover, with one campaign group saying that “lives will be lost” if the Government doesn’t push telecommunications firms to delay the transition.
The warning comes as the country prepares to retire its old copper-wire cables and complete the switch to an internet-based network by early 2027.
BT-owned Openreach, which operates the UK’s largest landline network, said roughly one million households and businesses across the country are yet to upgrade as the deadline approaches.
Customers who do not make the switch in time may lose connection or be moved on to a temporary emergency phone service that does not have features such as voicemail, three-way calling or call diversion.
Who will be left vulnerable by the landline cut-off?
Unlike digital services, the traditional landline network does not rely on mains electricity and continues to work in a power cut. But the Government and operators say the move to digital landlines will offer a more reliable service, better-quality calls and improved blocking of unwanted calls.
The people most impacted by the switchover will be the elderly, those who lack digital skills and those in remote rural areas.
Research from Age UK in March found that nearly 60 per cent of adults over the age of 50 were unaware of the switchover, with around one in two older adults digitally excluded.
MPs raised concerns last week that the switch could leave the elderly and people living in remote areas unable to contact emergency services, particularly during storms. The Telegraph reported earlier this year that a couple in their seventies were unable to call for an ambulance after a stroke as their landline was cut off and their digital line was unusable due to an upgrading error.
Ofcom has said it expects minimal disruption for most people. A spokesperson for the regulator said it was monitoring the process closely and had already fined one firm for “putting vulnerable customers at unacceptable risk of harm” during the changeover.
What is happening to the old phone lines?
Landline operators are switching home phones across the country to internet-based connections instead of copper-wire cables. The Government says the transition is necessary due to the declining reliability of the cables.
James Lilley, Openreach’s director of customer migrations, told The Telegraph that tens of thousands of customers were switching each week, but it was difficult to get customers to respond to letters about the change due to a rise in scams.
Although the deadline is nearing, Lilley said there would not be a day when customers suddenly lose access to services: “There is no big red button that will switch everyone off on 31 Jan.”
Telecoms companies, including BT, have been giving free back-up battery packs to vulnerable customers, which can keep landlines operating for an hour or more.
But Labour MP Torcuil Crichton, who represents the Western Isles constituency of Na h-Eileanan an Iar, told the House of Commons last week that this was “simply not adequate” and that telecoms providers “simply don’t have the means to maintain or keep their signal going during storms”.
He called for telecoms firms to “up their digital game” to protect places “on the edge where people are vulnerable, isolated from their neighbours, where the ambulance is an hour away and the storm is 70 miles per hour”.
When will the lines be switched off?
Openreach is phasing out the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a system in place since the 1870s, with the shutdown planned for 31 January, 2027.
The initial deadline was 31 December, 2025, but this was extended after worries about rural households and vulnerable customers who rely on telecare alarms.
Under the PSTN Charter, providers said they will not migrate customers using telecare devices unless their equipment is confirmed to be compatible with digital lines.
But campaigners are calling for another extension to ensure elderly and vulnerable customers are better prepared. They also slammed the tactics used by telecoms companies to get customers to make the switch.
Last month, BT was accused of “bullying” customers to switch to digital by temporarily cutting off their broadband. A small group of customers were given five days’ notice of the planned outage to encourage them to contact BT and take action to avoid the “pause” in broadband service, The Guardian reported.
Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, told The i Paper that telecoms companies are “resorting to desperate tactics because they realise that they have no chance of meeting the January deadline”.
“Unless the Government acts now to call off their bully boy tactics to force vulnerable customers to switch to inferior and unreliable digital landlines, lives will be lost because of the Government’s indolent attitude.
“With such current emphasis on national security and resilience it is bonkers to be dispensing with a tried and trusted alternative to internet-based telephony.”
The Government was contacted for comment.
How can I avoid being cut off?
Call your service provider and check any devices connected to your phone line, such as fall alarms, to see if it is digital-ready.
Make sure to inform your phone company about these devices and if you are a vulnerable customer.
You may also be entitled to a free battery pack if you rely on a landline and do not have good mobile signal.
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