UK copper landline switch off

[#1]

@Baldrick1 All that happened with us was that someone turned up and took the extension phone away, leaving the main phone (presumed included in basic line rental) and plugs/sockets. I still have them stored in my collection of old phone bits.

I bought a master socket (possibly from somewhere like Tandy) and installed it myself.

Internet was about 15 years after that, I had my first proper dial-up account and own domain in 1996. It cost then almost as much (in real pounds) as my FTTC does now!

[#2]

@bmc  said 

I'm guessing from your original post you're in or near Aberdeen.

If so, is your Full Fibre supplied by OR or CityFibre? If it's OpenReach did they leave your original copper line in place?

If it's OR then I suspect they'll never be back for the Master Socket so wouldn't notice if it wasn't there.

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Brian

I'm in London.

My first FFTP was BT and OR just wound the new fibre cable fronm the telegraph pole around the existing copper wire to the building and then went stright down the wall, through the wall and into the front room for the new socket and new router. 

The old copper wire  was left in place and went on to the front door, throungh the wood window frame and to a BTmaster socket. This was left working for the telephone landline, which I was paying for in the FFTP BT two year offer, so I had a telephone on copper and the same phone number on digital VOIP.

Two years later, I ditched the landline phone and phone number and joined Commmunty Fibre as FFTP.

[#3]

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Two posts released from Spam Filter.

[#4]

so I had a telephone on copper and the same phone number on digital VOIP.

That is interesting. Presumably from one of those VoIP suppliers (which one was it?) who didn't require "porting", just proof that you owned the number (such as you answering a call to it!).

That is very tempting for the impending switch-off; could set up VoIP in parallel to make sure all worked. Just the worry that when PN/Openreach/whoever do disconnect PSTN service, they might tell someone the number is no longer owned, and this might eventually reach the VoIP provider.

[#5]

Now they've moved the shutdown to 2027 and you will have to shift to fibre VOIP to have a phone number. 

https://business.bt.com/help/article/phone-line-and-services/move-from-traditional-lines-to-the-clou...

[#6]

When OR installed my fibre it was in a new duct. The old copper pair is still there and has 50V across it. It's terminated in small BT branded junction box. I removed the master socket and put it in a drawer.
The copper cable outside buried directly in the ground. Forever I reckon!

[#7]

@Leapy No wonder there is confusion regarding changing to VOIP phone services when BT put out totally incorrect information. You do not need full fibre broadband to have a VOIP phone service. I have had a VOIP phone since 2006 on ADSL broadband, then on FTTC (VDSL2). Millions of premises will not have Full Fibre (FTTP) by 2027, some rural places may never  get it so copper lines will be used for many years into the future.

[#8]

It's important to note that the link referenced by @Leapy is a BT BUSINESS one, so don't assume what is written there applies to domestic customers.

On a positive note I see that our exchange, long left off all build plans, is now supposedly getting FTTP by/in 2026. I'll believe it when I see it though...... 🙄

[#9]

It looks like alarms are also a challenge in the switch.

https://www.gbnews.com/tech/bt-openreach-delay-uk-landline-switch-off-2027-deadline

[#10]

@Leapy I don't believe 'a huge percentage of Britons aren't even aware it is coming' - it has been on-going for ages, and has received massive publicity, although some of that has been, shall we say, somewhat less than helpful/truthful.

[#11]

@jab1 I know what you mean and I understand the issues of change can be challenging.🙄

Many years ago I was incharge of some change machines, which changed notes to coins. 

When there was a new note in circulation, the machines were reprogrammed to take both notes for a time, then they were reprogrammed to just take the new notes, when the old notes had to be changed at the bank.

A year later, we still had people trying to use the old notes!

[#12]

Well, apparently 60% of over-50s don't know about it.

And I'd challenge your "massive publicity" claim: I don't think I've seen any, other than I might have seen something on one of the mid-morning TV prog.s (one of the ones with Angela Rippon). I'm reasonably tech-savvy, but I think even I have mostly only found out any details by proactively going to look for them when I heard about it somewhere (probably in a technical forum).

[#13]

@G6JPG-0 If that comment is directed at me, all I can say is many people don't read/listen to - or understand - the news.

I very rarely bother reading/listening to it, I admit - usually too boring or depressing, but I have seen articles on the subject, some tragically wrong, in a number of online 'newspapers', and most of the people I know, of varying ages, are aware that the PSTN is closing down, and the vast majority understand what it means, even if I have had to explain the finer details.

CPs/alarm companys etc. do seem in many cases to not be keeping their customers up to speed, as they have been asked to and in many cases publicly stated they would, but that seems to be a fault with many businesses these days. Having said that, my ISP had proactively switched me to SoGEA and Digital Voice  - after giving me plenty of warning and answering the odd question I had in simple English, but there again they are a company that treat customers as human.

[#14]

I very rarely bother reading/listening to it, I admit - usually too boring or depressing, but I have seen articles on the subject, some tragically wrong, in a number of online 'newspapers', and most of the people I know, of varying ages, are aware that the PSTN is closing down, and the vast majority understand what it means, even if I have had to explain the finer details.

I agree with you about the news - election-obsessed at the moment, of course.

I suspect the people you know are not typical, simply because they know you 🙂! It's very difficult to assess the "silent majority" in many ways, simply because they are silent. For example, several aspects of FreeView TV were little publicized - not the original changeover to it, but various changes afterwards that rendered some equipment obsolete. (Another example is the confusion put about between "HD" and "T2" equipment: some channels that are not HD, such as 46, are only receivable with a T2 receiver.)

I presume the "60% of over-50s are unaware" must have come from somewhere, even if inaccurate.

[#15]

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@G6JPG-0 wrote:

I suspect the people you know are not typical, simply because they know you 🙂! I

I presume the "60% of over-50s are unaware" must have come from somewhere, even if inaccurate.

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First line - very funny - I think.

Second line - obviously, but as we don't know where from, we are correct in assuming it is a figure someone has picked out of thin air.