UK landline switch-off 31 January 2027: what to do before the PSTN ends

Openreach says it will not move the date again: on 31 January 2027 the UK's traditional landline network, the public switched telephone network (PSTN), goes dark, and every home and business that still has an old-style phone line has to be on a digital service by then. The Register reported on 1 November 2026 that about 100 days remain, and the practical question for most people is simple: what happens to my phone, my alarm and my card machine if I do nothing?

Key points

• Openreach's own page says "On 31 January 2027, all traditional phone lines will be going digital", and customers cannot opt to stay on the old network.
• Digital phone lines normally run through a broadband router and need mains power, so a power cut can cut the phone unless battery back-up is arranged with your provider.
• Alarms, CCTV, payment terminals, telecare devices, door entry systems and lift phones that use the phone line may be affected and should be checked with the device supplier or provider.
• Customers who have not moved in time may be put on a temporary, voice-only Emergency Voice and Access Continuity (EVAc) service, whose availability the trade body ECA says is not guaranteed.
• Openreach says full fibre is available to over 23 million homes and businesses, and tenants in flats need landlord or building management permission for an installation.

What to do

1. Contact your phone or broadband provider now. Openreach's guidance is to contact your service provider as soon as possible and not to ignore messages from them about the switch. The wholesale network is Openreach's, but your contract is with the provider that sells you the line, so the provider arranges the move.
2. List everything that uses the phone line. Openreach names house alarms, CCTV, payment terminals, telecare and health monitoring devices, door entry systems and lift phones. Ask each device's supplier or your provider whether it works over a digital line.
3. Ask about power cuts. A traditional line carries its own power from the exchange, which is why a plain corded phone kept working in a blackout. A digital line through a router does not. Openreach says customers who rely on a landline should tell their provider, who can arrange battery back-up support.
4. Check whether you can get full fibre. Openreach points customers to its fibre checker. If you have a phone line but no broadband, your provider is meant to identify a suitable digital option.
5. Live in a flat or rent? Installation needs the landlord's or building management's permission. Openreach says registering interest prompts the necessary permissions. If full fibre cannot be installed, a digital line may still be added to existing broadband.
6. Businesses: audit remaining analogue services (lines behind alarms, card terminals and door entry are the usual ones), agree a migration plan with your communications provider and test it before the date.

Government guidance is published at digitalphoneswitchover.com, according to Openreach.

What happened

The Register's Liam Proven reported on 1 November 2026 that Openreach, the infrastructure arm of BT Group, says the 31 January 2027 deadline will not be postponed. The headline on that story counts 100 days from publication. Age UK, quoted in the same report, says about three months remain and wants providers to keep trying to reach people who have not responded.

Openreach's consumer page states the date plainly and describes the change as replacing the old landline network with digital phone lines that usually run through a broadband router instead of a wall socket. It gives the reasons as an ageing network that is harder to maintain and more prone to faults, plus better call quality, more reliable service and better blocking of unwanted calls from digital lines.

Two practical points stand out. First, existing customers cannot choose to stay: the page says the old network is being switched off. Second, the date applies to the network, not to individual customers, so nobody gets a personal cut-over day. If you are still on a copper phone line at the end of January, you are depending on whatever safety net exists.

Background

The PSTN is the copper-based voice network that has carried UK landline calls for decades. The Register notes Openreach has been planning the move for nearly ten years and links its 2018 report on BT's plans. The deadline has also slipped before: the Register covered a 2024 delay, after the government asked providers not to force vulnerable customers to switch until fixes were ready.

Prices have been used as a nudge. The Register reports that businesses and providers still on legacy business lines now pay double the rental cost compared with last year, and links its February 2026 report that Openreach raised prices to push laggards off copper.

The switch-off is not the same as the fibre rollout. Openreach says full fibre reaches over 23 million homes and businesses, but a digital voice service can also be delivered over an existing broadband line. That is why the advice is aimed at people with a phone line only, as well as people with fibre.

How it works

A traditional analogue line is a pair of copper wires from your socket to the exchange. The exchange supplies the electrical power, so an ordinary phone works when your house has no electricity. A digital phone line carries your calls as data over broadband, so the phone connects to a router or adapter at home, and that equipment needs power. That is the reason Openreach tells customers who rely on the landline to ask their provider about battery back-up.

The same change affects anything that used the line as a signalling path. The Register says point-of-sale terminals, fire and security alarms and personal care alarms for elderly and vulnerable people are all affected. Older devices were designed around analogue tones, which is why a supplier or provider has to confirm each one works over a digital line instead of assuming it will.

For lines without fibre, the Register reports that customers are likely to be moved to a service called SOTAP for Analog, which keeps the old line working through equipment at the local exchange, while landline users can also plug a phone into a broadband router for digital voice. Openreach's own consumer page does not mention SOTAP, so treat that detail as the Register's reporting and ask your provider what it will give you.

What it means

Households. Most people only need a call to their provider, a compatible router or adapter, and a decision about power cuts. The biggest risk sits with people who rarely think about the phone line: someone with a pendant alarm or telecare unit on a line that has not been migrated.

Vulnerable and older customers. Age UK's concern in the Register report is that people who have not responded to their provider may not understand what is changing. Relatives and carers can help by checking whether the line has been moved and whether any alarm has been tested on the digital service.

Businesses. The costs are on the table already: double rental on legacy business lines, and, per the Register, significant disruption and extra cost for commercial customers who delay migration. Card terminals, alarms and door entry are the likeliest things to be forgotten.

Installers and equipment makers. The ECA told its members on 11 August 2026 that Openreach's Digital Services Test Lab can test hardware on fibre-based technology, covering equipment from six communications providers: Sky, TalkTalk, BT Consumer, BT Business, Zen and Vodafone.

The safety net after 31 January

Openreach's page says customers who do not switch in time may be moved to EVAc, a temporary, voice-only service that may not support all current calling features. The ECA's August article says Openreach will launch an Emergency Voice product at the end of January 2027 for lines that are still connected, that it is voice only, and that availability "is not guaranteed" because it depends on BT's capacity at each exchange.

In plain terms: the safety net is a stopgap for voice calls, not a way of keeping alarms, payment terminals or other devices working. Nobody should plan around it.

What we don't know yet

• How many lines are still on the PSTN. Neither Openreach's page nor the Register's report gives a figure.
• Exactly which customers will get EVAc, how long it will run, and what happens to lines that cannot be given it. The two descriptions we found (Openreach and the ECA) agree it is voice only, but give no further detail.
• Whether SOTAP for Analog will be offered to every customer without fibre. The Register says "likely"; Openreach's page does not say.
• Whether any further delay is possible. Openreach says no, and we have not seen a regulator or government statement that changes that.

What to watch next

Provider letters and calls over the next three months, any Openreach statement on the exact EVAc and SOTAP terms, and further guidance from Age UK and the government site digitalphoneswitchover.com. If you manage alarms or terminals for others, the useful milestone is a successful test on the digital service well before the end of January, not after it.

Sources

• The Register, "Landline phones will switch off across Britland in 100 days, no extensions" (1 November 2026)
• Openreach, "The big switch-off"
• ECA, "Less than six months to go until landline phones switch off" (11 August 2026)