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PSTN switch-off

What still runs on the old phone network?

10 questions on your lines, alarms, lifts and card terminals. You see straight away what has to move before the switch-off, and you do not need to give a name or an email address.

The questions

Openreach is retiring the analogue and ISDN network, and the switch-off completes on 31 January 2027. No new analogue line can be ordered now, and a business line that has not moved by then is not guaranteed to work.

Answer yes if a thing still runs on a phone line, no if it does not, and not sure if you cannot tell yet. Two questions are marked because they keep people safe: the alarm and the lift phone. Your answers stay in your browser, and nothing reaches us unless you send us a message below.

Phone lines and broadband

3 questions

Does any phone bill still show line rental for an analogue line or ISDN (sometimes listed as ISDN2, ISDN30, WLR or a business line)?
What to do

Every analogue and ISDN line has to move to a digital service before 31 January 2027. List each number and line from the bills, including the ones you cannot place.

Does your phone system make and take outside calls over those lines, rather than over the internet (SIP or hosted)?
What to do

The calls move to hosted voice, to SIP trunks if the system supports them, or to Microsoft Teams. A system that cannot use SIP, or is out of support, is usually replaced rather than patched.

Does your broadband come over a phone line you pay rental on, rather than SoGEA or full fibre (FTTP), which need no phone line?
What to do

Broadband that depends on a phone line moves to SoGEA or full fibre, which come with no phone line. Check what your address can get before the line goes.

Alarms, lifts and entry

3 questions

Keeps people safeDoes a burglar or fire alarm signal to a monitoring centre over a phone line?
What to do

Ask your alarm company, in writing, what the panel will signal over after the switch-off and whether they supply the replacement. Their tested answer sets the plan.

Keeps people safeIs there an emergency phone in a lift car?
What to do

Ask your lift company, in writing, what the lift phone will run over after the switch-off. It needs a digital service the lift company has tested, so it still reaches the monitoring centre.

Does a door entry panel or gate intercom dial out over a phone line?
What to do

A door entry panel on a phone line needs a digital service or a converter, tested before the old line is ceased.

Payments and office equipment

4 questions

Does a card payment terminal connect over a phone line, rather than broadband or a mobile network?
What to do

A card terminal on a phone line stops taking payments when the line goes. Ask the payment provider for a terminal that connects over broadband or a mobile network.

Does a franking machine connect over a phone line to top up or report?
What to do

Ask the franking machine supplier how it will connect after the switch-off, usually over broadband.

Do you still send or receive faxes on a fax machine?
What to do

A fax line has to move too. Decide whether the business still needs fax, and if it does, move it to a digital fax service.

Is anything else plugged into a phone socket, such as a modem in the server room, a meter, or equipment nobody can place?
What to do

Walk the building and trace every phone socket in use. The line nobody remembers is the one that fails.

Want help moving your lines?

Call 01642 661888 and a person answers within three rings, or send us a message. Once you have your result, it goes into the message so we can start from your list. Read it, change it or delete it before you send.

We audit every line and number, choose what replaces each one, port the numbers and move the lines before the date, with the alarm and lift companies confirming their equipment on the new service. More on business lines and numbers. We call back within the hour in office hours.

So we can call you back

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