The truth of the conflation of the digital switch off with fibre roll-out depends on where you live. In some areas, where there is a 'stop sale' on
all copper-based services, then if a fibre connection is possible, it will be the only option for either new connections or changes of supplier - or even recontracting with the same supplier in some cases. In other areas, both full-fibre and part-fibre services may be available depending on your supplier of choice. Existing fibre to the cabinet (part fibre, FTTC) services will continue over copper wires to the home in many areas, not least in areas where there are no current plans for full-fibre at all.
There is already a nationwide stop-sale on new traditional PSTN phone lines - but I have a feeling that you might just be able to get a few LLU/MPF services installed in some areas.
This thread is throwing up some interesting points, so a summary of some myths that are reflected in this thread:
Myth 1: If you have extension sockets/bells, they can't be made to work
My Farther has 3 extensions that I wired in for him. So these won’t work once he’s potentially been upgraded .
Extensions can still work if you want them, the wiring just needs to be connected to the router/adapter rather than the exchange line master socket. The safest way to do so is to fit a 'slave' phone socket next to the existing master socket (but not connected to it) and transfer only the extension wiring to the slave, then use a double-ended phone cable (ie with a BT plug at both ends) to connect the slave socket to the router/adapter. There are other methods of varying degree of bodge - search for 'VOIP voice reinjection'.
Myth 2: You must get a special 'Digital Voice phone'
My mother-in-law was notified by BT back in January and she had her FTP line added in April. She, too, had to buy a digital landline phone.
Any phone with * and # buttons should work with digital voice (and indeed almost any British phone made since the 1920s will work with a pulse-to-tone adapter). If a new phone is needed, it does not need to be a proprietary 'Digital Voice' phone. I have managed to get all sorts of phones from the 1930s to the present day and extension bells happily working on VOIP.
Most ISPs will supply a router that has a phone socket at the back for the phone service: some will supply (or require you to buy) a separate Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA - such as the Grandstream mentioned by Lucan). Both provide a socket that simulates a landline - though some have US-style RJ11 sockets that need an adapter (with a ringing capacitor) for BT plugs.
Older phones may not
ring when plugged into some non-BT Digital Voice sockets. If so, they usually just need an adapter with a ringing capacitor - an old broadband 'filter' should do the trick.
There are two cases for dedicated digital phones: if your 'digital voice' is actually a standard SIP service, then a dedicated 'digital' VOIP SIP phone can be used instead of plugging a phone into an ATA; and BT's Digital Voice phones connect to their router directly.
Myth 3: If you don't have broadband, you'll lose your phone or need to get broadband straight away
Helpfully busted by philjo...
BT then switched us over to Digital voice. There is no change to the landline - the same phone works on the same cabling. It still works in a power cut as the phone has no power source at this end.
... who is the beneficiary of SOTAP for Analogue/pre digital phone line, the 'temporary' voice-only service that works just like a PSTN landline.
However, these are due to be around only until 2030. Otherwise, the intention is to provide a low-speed broadband connection and associated equipment good enough for calls only, at the same cost as a landline-only contract, as noted by m0ffy.
Myth 4: All remaining landlines will be switched off in January
As traditional copper networks face decommissioning by 2027 due to The Big Switch Off [Moneypenny]
As m0ffy notes, it is the BT PSTN exchange network not the copper network that is being closed. But even that is not the end of all landline services.
What is often forgotten is that many people (over 3 million) get a phone service from the exchange that is
not provided by the BT/Openreach equipment that is being retired, and which is
not necessarily being withdrawn in January. These "Local Loop Unbundled" services run over Openreach "Metallic Path Facility (MPF)" copper cables (available until 2030 at least), and are operated by companies such as Sky. They have their own, different, deadlines for withdrawal. Always check with your own provider!
Almost-certainly-a-Myth 5: you'll need a new number
Number portability is regulated, so it should be possible to keep a number. Any number that started on a BT line should be fully portable (even if it's a five- or four-digit number); others may be trickier but should not be impossible. If all else fails, porting the number to a separate VOIP service (eg A&A) may be possible, up to 30 days after 'losing' a number. In theory, numbers are no longer tied to exchanges on digital voice/VOIP either, so if you move house you should be able to keep the number.
Common assumption: A landline is a waste of money
Always puzzled me why society or the older generation have had mobile phones for years and still beem so obsessed with keeping a landline which is duplication.
I'm not ancient and I have a landline number over VOIP with fixed phones. My "older generation" parents also keep both. Why?
- It doesn't cost much to keep a landline number (less than £2 a month with my provider)
- It provides a number for the whole household rather than only one person
- It provides a number that people do not expect to be answered all the time
- It provides a 'local' number for business purposes which still looks more professional/permanent
- Some of the numbers date back decades, so are in countless address books/contact lists, and directories
- The Ageing Parents' hearing aids work better with the inductive couplers in the fixed phones
- Fixed phones never get lost/accidentally migrate to one room in the house (something that became apparent when one of the APs ended up in a heap at the bottom of the stairs with all the phones upstairs - fixed phones were swiftly put back afterwards!)
- Fixed phones don't 'go flat' (before anyone asks, yes, I have long battery back-up for the VOIP)
- And, blast it, the mobile signal is unuseable here.
