Landline switch-off: what it will mean for homes that still rely on the copper network

The landline switch-off is the biggest change to home telephones in decades, and it is now close enough to matter. The copper network that has carried voice calls into British homes since the analogue era will be retired on 31 January 2027, after which every landline call will travel over a broadband connection instead. For most households the change will be barely noticeable. For the minority who still depend on an old-style line — often older people, and anyone with a personal alarm plugged into it — the detail is worth understanding before an engineer knocks on the door.

What is actually being retired

The technology being withdrawn is the Public Switched Telephone Network, usually shortened to PSTN. It is the system that sends your voice down a copper pair and powers the handset from the exchange, which is why an old corded phone still works when the lights go out. In its place comes digital voice: the handset plugs into the router, and the call travels as data.

Two things follow from that. First, you need a working broadband line for the phone to work at all, even if you never use the internet. Second, the line no longer draws power from the exchange — it draws it from your house. That single difference explains almost every complication in the switchover.

How many homes are still waiting

The migration has been running for years and most of it is done. The number of landline customers still on the old network fell from 5.2 million in July 2024 to 3.2 million a year later, and by the end of July 2026 roughly 1.5 million lines remained, around 350,000 of them at business premises. In other words, the households left are, by definition, the hardest cases: those that have resisted, those without broadband, and those with equipment nobody wants to break.

That is why the deadline has already been pushed back more than once. The industry had originally aimed to finish much sooner; the extension to January 2027 was granted specifically to give providers time to move vulnerable customers safely rather than quickly.

Telecare alarms: the real sticking point

Around 2.3 million people in the UK rely on telecare — pendant alarms, fall detectors, pull cords — and a great many of those devices were designed to dial out over an analogue line. Move the line without checking the device, and the alarm may simply stop calling for help, silently.

Regulators have been pressing providers hard on this. On 14 September 2026, Ofcom confirmed a set of changes it had secured from BT after finding that staff could wrongly record whether a customer used telecare equipment, and that restoring a telecare service after a fault could be delayed or handled inconsistently. BT agreed to tighter verification of telecare customers, system prompts telling agents when to escalate, post-migration checks and refreshed training, with the final system and policy changes due to be in place by the end of November 2026. Openreach, for its part, runs a scheme in which specially trained engineers visit the property to test the alarm on the new digital line before the upgrade goes ahead; more than 70,000 telecare customers have been moved that way. Anyone in this position should tell both their phone provider and their telecare provider — the two do not automatically talk to each other. The same habit of checking who is really calling you applies here as it does to cold calls and phone scams aimed at older people, because switchover appointments are an obvious hook for a fraudster.

What happens in a power cut

A digital line goes down with the electricity. Providers are expected to offer customers identified as being at risk a solution that allows them to reach the emergency services for at least an hour without mains power, typically a battery back-up unit for the router or a mobile handset held in reserve. Some providers now go beyond that minimum. The important part is that the back-up is not automatic: it has to be requested, or at least flagged, and that only happens if the provider knows the household has no mobile signal, no second phone, or someone at home who could not cope without a line.

What it should cost, and what to watch

The upgrade itself is not supposed to cost anything, and moving to digital voice is not a reason to accept a new, longer or dearer contract. Keep an eye on the terms offered alongside it: the way providers are now obliged to spell out mid-contract price rises in pounds and pence makes it much easier to see what a tempting switchover bundle will really cost in year two. Households already watching every fixed cost, such as the standing charges on an energy bill, will recognise the pattern — the headline is the call price, the money is in the monthly line.

• Check your equipment: alarm, care line, fire or burglar alarm, lift line, card terminal.
• Tell your provider if anyone in the home relies on the phone for health or safety reasons.
• Ask about back-up power and about mobile signal at your address.
• Keep a note of the appointment and refuse any contract change you did not ask for.

The switchover is a plumbing job dressed up as a product launch, and it is being handled far more carefully than it was two years ago. But the responsibility for flagging a vulnerable household still falls, in practice, on the household or its family — which is reason enough to make the call before the engineer does. It is the same quiet shift in who carries the admin burden that turns up elsewhere in the monthly mood check on household finances.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to get broadband to keep a landline?

You need a broadband connection into the property, but not an internet package you actually use. Providers offer a digital voice service on its own for customers who only want a phone, and the handset plugs into the router rather than the wall socket.

Will my phone number change?

No. Numbers are carried across to the digital service, and in most cases an existing corded or cordless handset will keep working once it is plugged into the router. Very old or specialist equipment is the exception, which is what the pre-upgrade checks are for.

What should I do if a relative has a pendant alarm?

Contact the telecare provider and the phone provider separately, before any migration date. Ask for the alarm to be tested on the digital line in the home, and ask what happens to it during a power cut.

Sources

• House of Commons Library — Switching off the copper telephone network
• Ofcom — The future of landline calls
• ISPreview — Ofcom secures BT changes to protect vulnerable users

This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence. Editorial policy