Last Updated on October 1, 2023 by Tim FitzGerald
BT/Openreach has announced that it will be closing the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) by the end of 2025. Analogue voice services will be replaced by an internet-based digital voice service. This change may impact as many users as the change of television services from analogue to digital some 15 years ago. There are nearly 30 million landlines in use in the UK in 2021. Some 2.3 million of these do not have broadband.
Why?
The PSTN relies upon copper wires (telephone lines) to connect the phone in the home to the telephone exchange. These wires carry voice as electrical signals between the exchange and the home. Copper wires are being replaced by fibre-optic cables, which do not carry electrical signals. These fibre-optic cables are being used to carry fast (gigabits per second) internet services to the home. The copper wires are sometimes still connected to old exchange equipment and this equipment is becoming very expensive to maintain. Openreach also plans to close thousands of local telephone exchange buildings as these will be redundant.
Internet over phone lines
For nearly 20 years these telephone lines have also been used to carry broadband internet services to the home and this will continue until they are replaced by fiber-optic cables. The mobile phone network can also be used to carry internet services to the home. The company from which you get your phone and/or internet services is your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Your ISP will continue to provide internet services on either the existing phone lines or new fibre-optic cables. These are provided via underground ducts or overhead using telephone poles.
Digital Voice by BT
BT has introduced a new service called Digital Voice and BT customers are being converted from PSTN to Digital Voice. The new digital voice service will utilise Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services. VOIP carries voice on the internet as digital signals. Your ISP will provide the necessary equipment with which to terminate your landline and connect your home telephone and other internet-connected devices. Many other companies (A&A, Vonage, etc.) have similar VOIP services and offer these at attractive prices.
Power cut issues
Will VOIP services work if there’s a power cut? The old PSTN phone services are powered by the phone network and will normally work in the event of a power cut. This is not true of digital services. The termination devices supplied by your ISP will require power and will not work when there is a power cut. Most households have access to a mobile phone which will work in the event of a power cut. However, not all homes have a mobile phone. Your ISP is responsible for ensuring you can make an emergency (999) call even when the power is out.
Support for vulnerable people
The winter storms of 2020 caused prolonged power outages in various parts of the country. These outages highlighted the challenges for vulnerable and elderly people who rely on the PSTN for essential communications. Openreach has acknowledged the need to identify these vulnerable citizens and to ensure they are not cut off when the PSTN shuts down.
Personal Alarms
Users of personal alarms need to check with their alarm provider their equipment is capable of being connected in the new digital environment. Most major telecare providers have suitable equipment but there are well over a million users of some sort of personal alarm system in the UK.
Burglar Alarms
Like with personal alarms (see above), users of burglar alarm systems that are connected via the telephone need to check with their alarm provider.
Planning for the change
Landline users should begin to plan the changeover from PSTN to VOIP for phone services, it might be unwise to leave the change too late. Some early small-scale pilots (in Salisbury and Mildenhall) have already been done and larger pilots are planned for 2023. BT is no longer selling new PSTN services in many areas, including Yorkshire, Humberside and Northern Ireland. Existing PSTN services will no longer be maintained in those areas. Existing BT users are being offered the opportunity to move to VOIP services.
Planning for the future
Any upcoming purchase of domestic or business telephone equipment should be reviewed in light of these upcoming changes. All existing systems that use the phone line should be reviewed to check they will work after the digital switchover.
Changes in Surrey Heath
I note the Bagshot exchange is the first in the Surrey Heath area to introduce the change – this will commence in August 2023 when BT/Openreach will restrict new sales and repairs of PSTN landlines served by the Bagshot exchange.
BT’s Regional Digital Voice Rollout Plan – 2023/24
Autumn 2023
- North West
- London
Spring 2024
- West Midlands
- South East
- Wales
- East Anglia
Summer 2024
- North East
- Scotland
- South West
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