Phonely Claim 59 Percent of Older UK Adults Unaware of Analogue Phone Switch-Off
A new poll of 4,298 UK adults aged 50+, which was conducted by Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider Phonely (vested interest), has claimed that 58.7% of UK adults aged over 50 are still unaware that the country’s ancient legacy phone network is being switched off on 31st January 2027.
The survey also found that 14.8% of respondents plan to delay switching until forced, while 4.8% said the whole thing sounded too complicated and only 21.6% said they had already made the switch. This suggests that almost four in five over-50s are either unaware, hesitant or planning to delay action, despite years of warnings from telecom providers, the government and Ofcom.
Just to recap. The legacy phone switch-off was already delayed once in order to give broadband ISPs, phone, telecare providers, councils and consumers more time to adapt (details), but there will not be another delay. The main focus of this delay was also on the 1.8 million UK people who use vital home telecare systems (e.g. elderly, disabled – vulnerable users), which aren’t always compatible with digital phone services (i.e. telecare providers were slow to adapt).
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However, Openreach did recently confirm that there are currently still c.2.8 million lines on the old phone network that need to migrate, with more than half a million of those serving business premises. The operator has also previously stated that prices for these legacy lines are set to double by October 2026 (details), which is another good reason not to leave upgrading until the last minute.
In most cases such upgrades merely involve a fairly seamless change of service by your ISP, which often results in you needing to connect your home phone into the back of either a broadband router or small Analogue Terminal Adapter (ATA), instead of directly into the NTE5A/B/C socket on your wall or skirting board. Special solutions also exist for telecare users.
Just to clarify something that catches a lot of people out, only the PSTN phone service is being removed – copper lines still exist and can also handle digital IP-based voice and broadband services, so this isn’t just about the wider switch to full fibre (FTTP) lines (yet).
Bryn Thompson, Director of Phonely, said:
“We are now inside the final year. The extension to 2027 has clearly created a false sense of security. If millions wait until the last minute, we could see real disruption, particularly for older and rural households who rely on their landline the most.”
Phonely claims that if households delay action until autumn or winter, the industry could face a series of problems including – 1) Equipment shortages, 2) Engineer appointment backlogs, 3) Rural installation delays and 4) Increased pressure on vulnerable customers. One additional risk is that some lines may end up losing connectivity, but ISPs and network operators are naturally incentivised to do everything they can to avoid that outcome.
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Plenty of solutions now existing for tackling difficult switches, so the best advice is to get in touch with your fixed line phone or broadband provider now in order to discuss your specific needs, rather than wait until the last minute. Take note that anybody who has switched broadband and phone provider within the past few years may already be on a digital phone service. But if in doubt, ask your provider.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I was until recently a Plusnet FTTC broadband with phone customer, I was offered a 12 month extension to that current contract earlier this year.
Various ISP’s have kicked this PTSN switch off can down the road far to long & it will be the customers that suffer when they either get an unexpected email about loss of phone service OR worse go to use the phone & find its been cut off.
You can be changed over to VoIP / digital voice mid contract. It works over FTTC just fine.
The amount of people who claim to have never received (or more likely ignored) the numerous communications and only ring up once the legacy product stops working is truly astounding. Scale that up to those that haven’t switched yet and I’d say it sounds about right.
Definitely more than 14.8% of people will delay it until forced tho.
I think a lot of that communication was not clear/too technical, and the solutions to deliver a “like for like” replacement for a NTE5 socket but VoIP including support for existing wired extensions and dECT handsets) in a standard, easy to communicate and install way, have been lacking.
Some suppliers offer routers that act as DECT base station (and most DECT phones can be paired to any base station), others just a BT socket on back of router (and router may be some distance from NTE5 master and start of wired extensions). Others even less!
What’s needed are low cost easy to set up standalone ATAs which convert WiFi to DECT (base station) or WiFI to BT analogue.
If such things exist, maybe ISPreview can provide a list or do reviews.
Also would be useful to know which ISP offer DECT or VoIP in the router, and which require you to VoIP using the router (3rd party ATA not supported). @Mark?
@EE Anon — “The amount of people who claim to have never received (or more likely ignored) the numerous communications and only ring up once the legacy product stops working is truly astounding”
Bottom left corner of my BT Bill for the past few years has said:
“Changes to your landline are coming
We’ll be moving our existing phone lines to a new digital
home phone service. It’s an update all providers will be
making across the UK. When it’s time to switch we’ll be
in touch. During the switch to your home phone service,
we’ll give you all the information you need, and we’ll be
with you every step of the way.”
I’ve phoned BT, they’ve had *no interest* in discussing it or saying what/when it’ll happen. They just kick the can further down the road, saying ‘Openreach’ will be in contact when the time comes. Of course they know each month longer they can-kick they get the monthly fee for a little-used landline.
My (separate) Broadband provider has admittedly taken a bit more interest, but only in as far as they want me to re-contract on to a more expensive package on full fibre (and losing the fixed-price features I’ve already got), and move my landline to them, so really just a sales pitch rather than anything proactive.
Sitting it out at the moment, but expecting a mad last minute rush Dec/Jan time.
Not surprised, unless you are attempting to move providers, chances are that the it has gone unnoticed by the majority of people who don’t follow the technological trends. Even I wasn’t aware of it until a little over a year ago and I follow the tech news, it was only because I was forced off Plusnet business and had to go looking for a new ISP that I discovered what was going on.
I suspect a huge portion are waiting for the date to be pushed back again.
I saw an article shared the other day where they were stating it shouldn’t be switched off due to issues with resilience in terms of storms etc. IMHO the time for that debate has long passed.
Don’t expect this to go well. Many ISPs don’t do digital voice and many that do charge extra. They are also not telling their customers about it and how they can switch to digital voice. I remember the switch off of analogue TV. The BBC did loads of adverts and everyone knew they needed a box or new TV months ahead.
Yeah but how many of the ‘unaware’ even have a landline and specifically a PSTN landline? I also have to wonder how many of the 14.8% of ‘hold outs’ even know whether they’re on PSTN or not. Most people haven’t got a clue about technical terms like that.
I don’t understand why people are so nervous about this. I switched to BT’s Digital Voice over two years ago, while still on a copper connection. No problems and the phone works just the same as before. Six months ago I upgraded to Full Fibre (FTTP). Again, very smooth, no problems and it works even better than the old copper connection.