Team Partners Telecommunications

The copper switch-off is getting closer...

Posted on May 22, 2026  | Tags: phone lines, phone systems, VoIP, broadband

An article in the BBC’s online news on the 2^nd May reported on the difficulties, hardships indeed, being imposed on UK dwellers in remote locations by the withdrawal of copper-based phone services.

The whole change away from copper based to digital is a subject we’ve covered a few times in these blogs, both in terms of it being something we all had to engage with, and in terms of those systems that we don’t always think of as using landlines, such as lift (elevator) alarms, some CCTV monitoring and the fall alarms used by those unsteady on their feet. Our advice has constantly been to take action, and, more recently that, if you don’t, you’ll pay for your delay.

Even though there remain calls for the switch-off to be extended, yet again, beyond the current January 2027 deadline, it’s unlikely these will be acceded to, even for those in remote locations. There are now, apparently, only 2.8 million users still connected to the PSTN, about 20% of the original number, remembering that the number for commercial users should be added to this.

For anyone reading this who has yet to take action, please don’t delay any longer. Our old friend, Openreach, is raising their landline prices by a further 40% in July, ostensibly ‘pour encourager les autres’, but to make an extra buck as well, presumably! Not delaying, in this case, means picking up whatever phone you have and giving us a call, especially if you haven’t yet sorted your lift or security alarm.

And, please, have a thought for your elderly neighbours or further flung relatives. There’s a great deal of uncertainty and fear out there. For many, their phone has been the security relied on if things go wrong, and it’s in these very corners of the UK where Broadband cover is the worst that power outages are most likely to happen. Battery backups exist, of course, but regularly supplied with no more than an hour of standby, whereas the BBC’s article reported several remote locations having to endure power outages of more than 24 hours. Certainly, battery standby packs are available to cover this, but at a price.

The agreement with OFCOM is that your present supplier is responsible for offering specialised support to vulnerable customers and to those over 70 years old…a fact worth remembering. Meanwhile, another reminder, if any of this is raising questions for you, contact us for the answers.