Openreach Name 51 UK Areas for Copper Phone to Fibre Switch
Openreach (BT) has told ISPs of another 51 UK exchange locations where they intend to move away from their old copper-based analogue phone (PSTN / WLR etc.) services and on to a new all-IP network, which will apply in areas that receive over 75% coverage via their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network.
Before we get started it’s important to clarify that there are two different, albeit closely related, stages to moving away from the old copper line telecoms network and its eventual withdrawal. The first starts with a gradual migration of traditional voice (PSTN) services to all-IP technologies (e.g. VoIP), which is due to complete by December 2025 and is occurring on copper line (e.g. SOGEA) products (i.e. many copper and full fibre ISPs will need to introduce IP based voice solutions for customers).
Meanwhile the second stage reflects the on-going deployment of faster FTTP broadband technologies (these use light signals instead of electrical ones like copper). Only after that second stage has largely completed in an exchange area can you really start to switch-off copper in favour of fibre, which is a longer process (i.e. it takes time to deploy FTTP and then you have to allow time for natural customer migration etc.).
As above, the process for moving from copper to FTTP lines begins once 75% of premises in an exchange are able to receive that full fibre connectivity. The target for this is often c.24 months after the fibre roll-out starts, while the copper switch-off might then occur c.3 years after that (consumer migration is a slow process). The pace of this progress may vary from place to place, as some areas will be faster to tackle than others.
The migration process itself usually starts with a “no move back” policy for premises connected with FTTP (i.e. no going back to copper), followed by a “stop-sell” of copper services to new customers (12-months’ notice is usually given before this starts) and ultimately full withdrawal.
The New Areas
Until today a total of 169 FTTP exchange upgrades had been notified (c.1.8 million UK premises) as part of the aforementioned process (including the Salisbury trial exchange). The first batch of 118 UK exchange locations, where they would stop selling their old analogue phone services by 29th June 2021, were announced in May 2020 (here).
After that a further 51 were announced in October 2020 (here), which means that FTTP will be available to more than 75% of homes in these locations by 5th October 2021 and thus the migration can begin. Now we have a second batch of 51 exchange locations, which brings the total to 220 and this batch will see a “stop sell” being introduced from 25th January 2022.
Unlike previous announcements Openreach has not yet released the latest list to the public, which is a little odd since consumers will be directly affected by these changes and need to be kept informed. As such we’ve had to piece it together ourselves and the result is below. We would encourage the network access provider to ensure this information is always made public.
Jan 2021 List of 51 New ‘stop sell’ Exchanges
| Exchange Name |
Location | SAUID |
| Binley | Coventry | CMBIN |
| Shirley | Solihull | CMSHI |
| Billericay | Basildon | EABCY |
| Hardingstone | Northampton | EMHARDI |
| Peartree | Derby | EMPRTRE |
| Whitburn | West Lothian | ESWHI |
| Formby | Sefton | LCFOM |
| Epsom | Epsom and Ewell | LSEPSM |
| Molesey | Greater London | LSMOL |
| Aughton Green | West Lancashire | LVAUG |
| Birkenhead | Wirral | LVBIR |
| Chorleywood | Three Rivers | LWCHO |
| Chapeltown | Leeds | MYCHA |
| Crossgates | Leeds | MYCSG |
| Moortown | Leeds | MYMOO |
| Whitley Bay | North Tyneside | NEWB |
| Balby | Doncaster | SLBAL |
| Woodhouse | Sheffield | SLWD |
| North | Bristol, City of | SSNOR |
| Brock | Wyre | LCBRC |
| Chwilog | Gwynedd | WNCHW |
| Bungay | Waveney | EABGY |
| Sheering | Epping Forest | EASHR |
| Southminster | Maldon | EASMN |
| Anstruther | Fife | ESANS |
| Lundin Links | Fife | ESLUN |
| West Calder | West Lothian | ESWCA |
| Burscough | West Lancashire | LCBUS |
| Clitheroe | Ribble Valley | LCCLR |
| Croston | Chorley | LCCRS |
| Fleetwood | Wyre | LCFLW |
| Rufford | West Lancashire | LCRUF |
| Betchworth | Mole Valley | LSBET |
| Neston | Cheshire West and Chester | LVNES |
| Congleton | Cheshire East | MRCON |
| Kirkburton | Kirklees | MYKKB |
| West Kingsdown | Sevenoaks | NDWKI |
| Crook | County Durham | NECR |
| Olney | Milton Keynes | SMOY |
| Tarvin | Cheshire West and Chester | WNTV |
| Okehampton | West Devon | WWOKEH |
| Campsie | Derry-Londonderry | NICSI |
| Carrickfergus | Carrickfergus | NIC |
| Castledawson | Castledawson | NICD |
| Comber | Newtownards & Bangor | NICR |
| Cross | Derry-Londonderry | NICRS |
| Dundrum | Dundrum | NIDR |
| Portavogie | Portavogie | NIPVE |
| Portstewart | Portstewart | NIPS |
| Warrenpoint | Warrenpoint, The Burren | NIWP |
| Whitehead | Whitehead, Ballycarry | NIWD |
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 and Linkedin.
« 1 in 6 UK People Struggle to Afford Broadband During Lockdown
Latest UK ISP News
- FTTP (5571)
- BT (3526)
- Politics (2549)
- Openreach (2308)
- Business (2279)
- Building Digital UK (2250)
- FTTC (2049)
- Mobile Broadband (1986)
- Statistics (1796)
- 4G (1675)
- Virgin Media (1634)
- Ofcom Regulation (1472)
- Fibre Optic (1405)
- Wireless Internet (1399)
- FTTH (1382)
I have a question if anyone knows. Right I know the uk government and openreach are switching off analogue copper services. I understand if you get a VoIP with your ISP I know you plug your phone in the back of the router. But I would like to know rather in using my ISP router with ISP supplied VoIP service. I know you can use your own equipment like a much better lRouter ike from TP-LINK.
If I get my equipment like VoIP Adapter could then get the SIP username and password from my ISP to use on my own adapter.
The great thing about VoIP is you’re free to pick any provider you wish – you don’t have to be tied to your ISP. So if your ISP won’t allow you to use your own equipment, you can just port your number over to another provider.
Then you can either use an ATA with your old analog phone, upgrade to a VoIP phone or use a soft client on a computer or smartphone, the latter allowing you to take calls to your home number while you’re out and about.
If you move your landline number to a bundled FTTP/phone package from BT then they will supply the voice via their Digital Voice (VOIP) platform.
You MUST use the BT Smart Hub 2 to make or receive landline calls on Digital Voice.
BT will not give out the SIP login info.
I believe the same might apply for Sky’s VOIP service and you must use their Hub to make or receive calls.
One solution is to pick an ISP that doesn’t require their Hub to use VOIP.
Another option is to take a broadband only FTTP package from an ISP like BT and choose a dedicated VOIP provider to run the landline number.
That way you can use your own router.
Personally i recommend the latter. Using a VOIP provider can save
If you are already on Digital Voice (BT VOIP) then you may be stuck with the BT Smart Hub 2.
You can’t migrate the landline number to a 3rd party VOIP provider at that point.
When you try migrate the number that’s part of a bundled broadband/phone package then the broadband is ceased.
OpenReach offer a way around this with a service called “renumber with number export” but the ISP needs to sell/support it.
VoIP is just another online service you can subscribe to, like video/audio streaming (Netflix, Spotify etc.) or Smart Home stuff.
ISPs are getting into the market to offer it because they’re the companies people currently expect to get their phone service from, but it’s not tied into your line.
Just like the other services which hardware you can use varies with the company offering the service. Some will insist you use their hardware and only their hardware, others are fine with any hardware.
Tp link 8 would go for asus better than net gear
You would still need to use the ISP supplied equipment. They possibly don’t use a protocol that your ATA/Router would support, and also the ISP line operates a layer above what your internet connection does, so latency should be much better. This doesn’t stop you using your own ATA and a different service or simply porting out your existing number. I have used VoIP for probably over 25 years now (we have moved a long way from push to talk and half-duplex audio). I must say that in the past ~10 years nothing much has changed and most of the ATA options out there are quite honestly crap – but they do work.
Part of the reason ISPs have adopted VoIP hardware is because it’s so cheap now, sure in new areas there’s a huge cost benefit to having less hardware, but the hardware used on the old network areas have these FXO/FXS ports too, that should tell you how little the ISP is paying for such a thing.
Personally I would be tempted to go ATA (check for HD Voice as standard, Direct calling, and IPv4/IPv6 support) because that lets you swap your router out in the future if you need to. Some VoIP Providers are not moving to IPv6, so if your connection is CGNated then that can be an issue. The VoIP routers can be easier to use (due to NAT) but for most users that shouldn’t be an issue.
The issue with the migration that I’m still trying to find out is how care line alarm system will work?
My uncle just moved to Sky and was meant to get FTTP but was then switch back to FTTC due to him having the alarm
Analog devices lacking the ability to upgrade for VoIP can be used in conjunction with an Analogue Telephony Adaptor (ATA) – like a Cisco ATA 191 (which will give you two telephone ports).
You will need a SIP/VoIP account for it, a decent ISP will allow you to have the login details for your service if they are also providing a phone service so it can be shared – otherwise a single line VoIP account is pretty cheap and in some cases free, you just pay for phone calls.
You may even have a local small telecoms/IT company who will find installing/wiring up an ATA to your uncle’s alarm as their bread and butter work – if your alarm is wired into a socket that is, plus they might have a solution for battery backup etc.
Unfortunately the care line system is via the local authority. All we are told is to have a working telephone line.
Some great advice from @lightbulb on both replies to date there. Contact a local I.T. company and get some planned advice. This is something we would cover locally.
Why ? Is Suffolk or East of England on the list of updating
An ATA is not a complete solution for a copper exchange line used for a care line. A traditional copper care line almost always still works if there is a power cut (a real issue in some rural locations), where a router/ATA combo stops working unless there is a battery backup (UPS), which is an extra bit of kit to buy and set up. Most current users of care lines will not have knowledge of this or skills to set up. Providers of care line equipment with monitoring services will need to support transition to VoIP with suitable packages of equipment.
Apparently some care line providers are rolling out GSM based equipment (with battery backup) in preparation for PSTN switchoff, as a simpler solution to getting a battery backup for router/ONT. In some cases this will lead to an increase in monthly rental for monitoring. Presumably that means the equipment would be available for private purchase outside of a monitoring contract for any that want that.
Have also read elsewhere apparently BT will supply a small UPS for the router if more sophisticated care equipment that requires broadband is being installed; as a “special” type of order (other ISPs please note).
whole new learning curve with care systems coming up for everyone. We couldn’t find a current system to ‘end the call’ without copper phone line. If the care desk can’t end the call and the customer is too far away for the base unit to ‘hear’they can’t call the customer back to check they are ok and have to call the carers/ambulance, often in the middle of the night when the patient is asleep and has pressed it by mistake. So we found an IP based system which also has a 24 hour battery and doesn’t need a phone line at all. That is working brilliantly. So we’ve millions of care lines out there and someone clever has to come up with a way to make them work. They wouldn’t work through the ATAs. We also found that if the signal drops the customer/carer gets an instant notification through the IP based system, whereas with the old system they don’t, so the phone line could be down for weeks with nobody noticing with some systems. I agree with @Alex and @lightbulb, specialist advice (not mine) will be needed. just sayin.
People that are dependent on monitored Alarm systems (or their advocate) whether Care,Vulnerability or Security must contact their provider before considering a move to IP based services. Most reputable providers now have products that support both analogue and digital using protocols such as SCAIP.
Some crude alarm systems that just dial out will work on ATAs but not all VoIP systems are the same.
Providers such as BT and Sky retain control of the VoIP settings for security and will also automatically pass location information to the Emergency Services. If using an alternative VoIP provider they need to ensure that the Location information is correct.
As highlighted services over broadband will cease during any power failure. Therefore consideration should given to centralising equipment so that the ONT, Router and any telephone equipment (ATA, Dect etc.)is protected by a UPS and regularly tested.
Another issue is that Ofcom allows BT to limit their Landline options available if you have broadband from any provider, otherwise the I would recommend reverting to landline only. If an area becomes FTTP only then there is not much you can do, the change will come in the next 4 years to all of us. Until then it may be better to stay with the DSL product if there is technical/familiarisation dependency.
The current copper system is powered from the exchange and in the event of a power outage at customer premises will still Function. Is this functionality totally lost, ie emergency calls for localised fire, flooding etc.
You can buy a battery backup unit to plug your ONT and phone/router devices into, which resolves this. I’ve got a power bank with a couple of AC sockets on it, very handy.
My ONT came with its own battery backup – that said the router didn’t .
I would like to know when we getting it in sunbury surrey? Bt should had this rollout by now getting bit late now they should be no Excuses.
what are you referring to , dial up, ADSL, LLLU. VDSL. FTTP or exchange closure
what so special about sunbury
assume virgin media not in your part of exchange
Our address is Sidcup Kent but we have got a Dartford post code we live on a retirement site of 132 homes and we are lucky to get 1g cant do much at all
Mrs M Pharo you should look at this:
https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/community-fibre-partnerships
Openreach will help your community draw down vouchers if you are eligible to support an FTTP build.
so what did your developer . builder decide to do about your broadband on the site
As usual East Anglia is left out
Yep. Very frustrating!
Here in a village in cb23, it seems that our phone lines are in ducting, so if bt want to offer fibre they will have to dig up the village.
BT won’t do that, so they have offered us a Community Fibre deal at £92000, £590 per property. Needless to say, a third of the people have adequate internet, a third are ok, and a third have terrible service, dependent on distance from the cabinet. The chances of enough people taking it up to make it economically viable is very low.
Correction, our phone lines are NOT in ducting.
The alternative to the above may be to have say a galaxy smart watch or similar linked to mobile phone – simple and not too costly. After all, most of us have a mobile these days. Mine is linked to my son and daughter and covers falls too.
Not one devolved county again
I’ve just switched to sky with their VoIP service and as mentioned previously in other comments, the telephone is plugged into the back of the router. One concerning issue however is that the service does not support emergency calls to 999. Does anyone know why this is the case? Surely it can’t be a technical impossibility. Maybe it’s a case of telecom regulations catching up with the expansion of technology?
Shouldn’t be the case, particularly a big player like Sky.
Ofcom:
Communications Providers and Network Operators who provide Public Electronic Communications Service enabling origination of calls to numbers in the National Telephone Numbering Plan (‘CPs’)
A programme focussed on ensuring compliance with obligations relating to emergency call access and resilience was signed off 08 March 2019
Any sign of fibre in the ts233eb. Area
How do you expect us to know, get off your backside and go and find out for yourself.
When will ts233eb area have fibre fitted?
How do you expect us to know, get off your backside and go and find out for yourself.
Is there any sort of time frame between being added to this list and something happening? I mean I know everything is delayed, but we were added to the last list in September but nothing has happened and even the contractor doesn’t know (or the lady on the phone couldn’t find out) when any movement will happen.
I’d love to upgrade to copper. Yes you read that right, our area is still mostly aluminium (as confirmed by BT engineers)
I don’t even live in the sticks, I’m less than 15 miles from Bournemouth centre!
Not on the list of upgrades, tired of paying £60 a month including phone bills got at best 30 down, 3-4 up with a connection so bad it makes a schizophrenic seem stable.
Why are you paying £60 a month? That’s entirely your decision. You could certainly pay a lot less. 30Mb/s is actually not that bad. So long as there isn’t high packet loss that would be more than enough for any single task.
If you’re getting 30Mb/s sync rate but you are finding it as unusable as you say then almost certainly the problem is with your router or devices.
If your service over the Openreach network really is being massively impacted by the quality of the cable in their network then you can always cancel. No one is forcing you to use them. You can get unlimited 4G data on a sim card for £20 a month. Stick that in a 4G router and away you go.
Also, BT engineers typically have absolutely nothing to do with Openreach’s underground network so how would they know it was an aluminium cable?
We live 2 miles from a fibre cabinate and get less than 10mbps down. We’re not worth upgrading apparently… £48 a month for the ability to not quite stream 1080p content. They want roughly £3k per house hold for that community funding thing as well to upgrade us to “up to 24mbps”. as pretty as it is out here, it sucks to be in the last 6% or so preventing them from claiming 100% super fast coverage or whatever they call it.
@JamHammer
We were quoted 92000 or 590/house to cover our village because phone lines are not in ducts which means digging those in.
Since most people can’t or won’t, it would mean 5000 for FTTPod for me, just for install, plus another 1000 for the first year.
If you have a phone line plus FTTC (30 meg implies it) plus unlimited calls to uk numbers then £60 per month is about £10 – 15 per month more than other providers might offer but is not over the top. Shop around a bit. And don’t use BT.
I turned all my landline phones on mute because it only gets nuisance calls. But I can call out. But why would I, my mobile gives free unlimited calls but I get charged if I use the landline.
So with the old copper lines, phones were powered from the exchange (banks of batteries in the old days), and always continue to work during power cuts. With fibre systems, does this mean we are now more prone to disruptions during power disturbance / cuts?
As it happens, my router is solar / battery fed and I have UPS and laptops that can run during power outage – but thats no use to me if the roadside cabinet is dead. The present copper system just works. Please advise.
Hi John, can’t speak for others, but the ISP I am with (B4RN) the service carries on working in power cuts, they have big ups and genny points which are manned and monitored 24/7. I have a big ups at home and have never had downtime, and we get quite a lot of power cuts round here. I don’t think fttc can keep the service running for long, but am pretty sure any real fibre network will have this built in?
@chris conder
Your post is misleading. Its because you have a UPS at home that you don’t loose full fibre service in a power cut, its has nothing to do with your ISP (B4RN) service.
Yes. This is just one of the many problems associated with this dash to voip. Better make sure you have a couple of fully charged power packs to enable mobile phone charging.
Whoop de do! Been in my house in Runcorn Cheshire for 18 years. Followed and pursued Open reach for as long as I can remember. They installed a new fibre network as far as Runcorn East Station a few years back but didn’t run a cable to the local box a few hundred yards from there fifty yards from here. Still got abysmal Virgin service with no competition. Too many promises no action!
Why do you think Openreach should spend thousands just to meet your needs
Underneath your comment the following reply is written
PM says:
January 29, 2021 at 1:32 pm
Why do you think Openreach should spend thousands just to meet your needs.
The reason Openreach should do this is because in their licence to operate they have a Universal Service Obligation and because they are, as near as makes no matter, a MONOPOLY. Personally I think they should get heavy fines for failure to meet their USO. Which they do daily without penalty.
We have the most abysmal Internet service. We have been promised on more than 1 occasion that fibre would be installed. They fitted a new box 100 yds maybe less from my home. Then they declared fibre would not go ahead. They wrote to me last year saying fibre was coming to my home in June, then guess what it all disappeared again. I cannot download programs or hold skype meetings, it’s dreadful and not fair. The houses over from us have the pleasure of a stable Internet, when are we to get the same
@mr truth I remember in storm desmond all the people on fttc lost their service after a few hours of the big power cut. Most of Lancaster had no internet, whether they had ups at home or not. I didn’t, because the feed held up, that is the point I was making, which isn’t misleading.
We live in a fttp area, but they didn’t upgrade the last two telegraph poles in our street. How can I find out why they didn’t, and if they will? Our ISP BT says they rely on Openreach, and when we email Openreach we get either promises that are missed, or responses that we are too far from the exchange (we are about 500metres)
+1 on this need lots of thinking through.
Tying people to using an ISP supplied router is a no-go. And like it or not, people will have devices that need an analogue phone line like a Fax / burglar alarm / OAP care system / a weird specialist phone integrated into a elevator etc that can’t just simply be replaced with an IP handset.
Do any of the raw modem/ONT devices (i.e. the box before the router) include an integrated Analogue Telephone Adapter?
My village has had vibre installed but only 3 quaters of it! probably 10 houses with out fibre me being one of them. Was told it stops 200 meters up the road from are houses you would of thought they would of finished the village and installed it in every house!
Highley frustrating and on top of that we are paying close to fibre prices for a horrendous 4mg on a good day
You can get a quote for FTTP On Demand, this could be costly but since its that close it might not be. You got nothing to loose.
To lazycrazy, I had very slow or intermittent broadband since moving here in 2013,kept informing them, they would send an engineer out he would muck about with wires or box on wall then leave. I got mad and phoned and messaged every day then someone actually listened to me, (I told them it was the cabinet from day 1).they did the checks one by one took 2 days. Then they sent some one to the cabinet. Next day 2show up work from home to box from 9.30 to 5.30pm then the next day 3show up, all three are there till 4.30pm got on my computer and power up 3seconds,download about 5-8seconds.I told them next time listen to me not 56 for nothing.
FTTC batteries will last around 24, hours. If the power is still out after that they will be swapped out . Usual bull from Chris.
Update on careline equipment.
If you have previously had analogue landlibe care line equipment from Circle Anglia, Circle Care, Epic Trust then you should be able to get a free update to a digital telecare monitoring unit which will resolve the VoIP transition issue.
All of these organisations have been merged over time into a new organization called welbeing (yes that is one “L”), which in turn has recently been taken over by Doro (the big button simple mobile phone people).
The unit they are now supplying is 4g connected with an all networks roaming SIM, which dynamically picks strongest available network. It can also be connected by Ethernet cable to a router (but not WiFi) as an alternative, although this mode is not currently enabled. The new unit can connect to multiple telecare monitors in the home at the same time.
You will have to sign a new contract for monitoring (may be £1-2 more than current).
They will send an installer or you can ask for self install (and they will provide prepaid return service for redundant analogue equipment)
Further details via their contact centre, email address on their website.
This is just lies, lies, lies.
I am in a rural community. We have FTTC. The Openreach checker tells me we can get speeds up to 80 meg. Our internet speed still ranges from 1 meg to 7 meg. But then we do have 3 FTTC connection plus one SOGEA connection coming to the one location in order to be able to have more than one person on line at a time. The SOGEA is a new connection and that is the worst of the lot.
No doubt Openreach will have us down as being ‘FULLY’ connected. What a crock. If this is their report that millions of homes and businesses are now connected shutting down ISDN with be an unmitigated national disaster. I also know people in urban areas with similar problems.
There connecting everyone to full fiber soon I’m in the plans and so happy u don’t no how long iv waited for something elz outher then virgin media and there pittful uploads you will be connected don’t worry the whole UK will be you don’t even understand how long iv waited for this