Silver Voices Withdraws Support for BT’s Digital Voice Transition UPDATE

The non-profit Silver Voices organisation, which campaigns on behalf of senior UK citizens, has withdrawn its support for UK broadband ISP BT’s transition to Digital Voice (phone) services after the provider allegedly “reneged” on a deal with the group to help safeguard the interests of those over the age of 70.

Just to recap. The Digital Voice product was designed to replace BT’s old analogue phone service, which will cease to function once the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN / WLR) is completely withdrawn by December 2025. After that point, all future phone services – whether delivered via copper (ADSL, FTTC, G.fast) or Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based lines – will become IP (internet) based and require broadband to function.

However, BT’s original attempt to migrate existing customers over to Digital Voice ran into various problems and ended up being paused in May 2022 (here), with most of the complaints coming from senior citizens and vulnerable users.

The complaints tended to focus on the confusion and limitations of the service, such as the fact that, without a good battery backup, it won’t work during power outages. Similarly, some kit, such as older home alarms and remote medical monitoring / telecare services, may not function correctly. Some homes also need wired extensions and special handsets (not everybody has a router location that is suitable for connecting handsets).

After making various changes, the rollout was finally restarted earlier this year and has been going reasonably well, although it should be understood that the move to IP based phone services does have some unavoidable caveats and edge cases will still run into problems.

As part of that restart, Silver Voices withdrew its earlier opposition to the programme on the basis of a deal to safeguard the interests of older customers, at least until reliable new technology and products are widely available. A key part of that deal was that “no customer over 70 would be switched over during the next 12 months (unless they wanted to voluntarily opt-in)“.

However, Silver Voices recently learnt of BT’s trial in the East Midlands region, which the operator this week (here) said involved the “rollout of Digital Voice to a limited number of existing broadband customers who are over 70.”

The customers BT said they reached out to were between 70 and 74, already had broadband, the latest hub, didn’t use their landline for calls that often and didn’t have any additional needs. “Customers who could make the switch easily without being sent any additional equipment,” said BT (apparently 98% of customers between 70 and 74 chose to switch and only 2% chose to defer).

According to OTS News, senior BT Executives gave the Director of Silver Voices, Dennis Reed, assurances that nobody over 70 would have to switch if they were uncomfortable with the pace of the transition, or for other reasons.

But Silver Voices now says this was “untrue” and that BT has also declined to make clear in the future that the switch over is voluntary for the over 70s at this stage of the programme. BT has claimed that this change has the support of its in-house Digital Voice Advisory Group, which is said to be dominated by BT insiders, but co-chaired by Age UK.

Silver Voices Statement

“Silver Voices was assured that a landline-only option would be available next year, which would not require the customer to take out a wider broadband package from BT, and the one-year delay in switching the over 70s was based on the development of this, and other products, for vulnerable customers.

BT has been advised that Silver Voices is withdrawing its support for the whole Digital Voice programme because of this “breach of faith”. If it is true that Age UK has supported this change of policy, without consulting its supporters, then the charity is failing in its responsibilities towards older people.

The deadline of 2025 for the removal of all copper landlines is untenable as the measures to support vulnerable customers have still not been developed. There is no reason why the two systems should not work in parallel for at least five years, so that everyone continues to have access to a reliable landline, until proven new technology is in place. The target was agreed between the telecom giants and the Government, but there is no need for this ‘Big Bang’ approach.”

In fairness, this change has been known about for the best part of a decade, so ISPs and network operators have had plenty of time to adapt (BT are arguably the most prepared of the lot). The same could also be said for all those providers of alarm and telecare services, which have tended to shift the blame for their own lackadaisical pace of adaption and support.

Once again, it’s important to stress that this is not merely a BT specific challenge and impacts many providers, with some ISPs even opting to avoid the hassle entirely by only focusing on the sale of broadband-only products – forcing some customers with home phone products to switch away.

As usual with these things, most consumers only start to take notice when something reaches the point of directly impacting them, and by then it’s often at the 11th hour mark. Meanwhile, it’s important to remember that what may seem like a simple change to those with some familiarity, can still be very confusing for those finding out about it for the first time. We’ve asked BT for a comment and will update when that arrives.

UPDATE 4:38pm

We’ve had a statement from BT, although it largely just repeats what they’ve said before.

A BT spokesperson told ISPreview:

“Silver Voices has played a valued role in helping inform our expanded trials and regional rollout of Digital Voice alongside Age UK, Independent Age and other organisations representing older people, as part of our Digital Voice Advisory Group.

This has included helping us develop improved customer communications, introducing a region-by-region approach to the rollout and a host of new additional support and services.

The response we’ve received from customers as a result has been really positive, so with the backing of the Digital Voice Advisory Group, we recently made the decision to extend the rollout of Digital Voice to a limited number of existing broadband customers between the ages of 70 and 74 as part of a new trial.

These customers – like all others – can contact us if they have any questions or wish to defer their move to Digital Voice. Nearly all customers in the trial chose to make the switch to Digital Voice, with only 2% choosing to defer. If customers have any questions or concerns, we’re here to support them every step of the way.”