BT Switch 3 Million UK Homes to Digital Voice Ahead of Legacy Phone Switch Off
Broadband and phone provider BT (EE) has today revealed that the majority of its landline phone using customers, over 3 million UK households, have now successfully switched to its IP-based Digital Voice service. But there’s still more to go ahead of the analogue phone switch-off in January 2027. Some 80% of BT’s business voice customers have also switched.
Just to recap. The legacy phone switch-off was previously delayed to 31st January 2027 in order to give broadband ISPs, phone, telecare providers, councils and consumers more time to adapt (details). The main focus of this was 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 because telecare providers were slow to adapt.
Nevertheless, BT is known to account for a significant portion of UK landline phone services and so the news that they’ve already been able to switch 3 million households to their broadband-based (IP) phone services (Digital Voice) represents good progress. But the provider doesn’t clarify how many households are yet to make the switch.
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BT claims that the majority (99%) of handsets should be compatible with their digital landline service, while customers will “generally keep their existing number and pricing” when moving over. Extra protections are also available for vulnerable customers, including free engineer visits and backup (battery) power where required.
Allison Kirkby, BT Group CEO, said:
“Upgrading the UK’s digital backbone is essential to make sure everyone has the modern, secure and resilient connectivity they can trust to help them prosper in a connected world. Failing, decades-old infrastructure holds back homes, businesses and digital inclusion ambitions.
BT is currently one of the biggest investors into UK infrastructure and will have invested more than £40bn into the country between 2020 and 2030. We know that growth and opportunity is unleashed, as a result of our investment and when people, businesses and communities connect to our digital networks.”
However, Openreach recently confirmed that there are currently still c.2.8 million lines on the old phone network that need to migrate (across all providers), 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 the final year of the nationwide upgrade, BT are thus today reminding customers of what support is available and warning that “failing to respond to messages from their provider may result in disruption to their phone or broadband services as the switchover deadline approaches“.
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.
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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.
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 did as has been suggested by others previously, and called BT (and separately called my ISP too), BT were pretty much useless. First call was only interested in getting me to move to BT Broadband (was the retentions/cancellation option), second call to billing told me it’s impossible that I’ve got two companies on my line, and that there’s no way there is Phone from one, Internet from another, he was 100% sure of it, and said they don’t believe I’ve got broadband on my line (I have) and they’ll switch me to a new package of ‘Home Phone Standard – Broadband’ at some point (no date for when) and it’ll be a basic internet service just for the phone. My ISP however says this will cease my FTTC if it happens and are concerned, but only want to sell me a new contract, even if only changing to SoGEA which is more than the FTTP they offer.
Risk I face is BT making that happen before I’ve got an alternative sorted, and wiping out my internet connectivity, which I’d presumed there were protections in place to prevent, but now have doubts.
If I were you I’d do what I did for my parents (they have a landline just for phone and an altnet for ISP). I ported their number to a SIP service and used an ATA. I used Dial9 but have also used Sipgate in the past and they are also pretty good.
@DL I believe doing this would cease my line though, taking down my broadband (FTTC from another provider) with it. I guess I could in theory move phone to another phoneline provider, but they all seem to be bundled in with broadband now, unless they are purely voip only and not using the line, which results in the same issue as moving it to a voip provider.
Either have your ISP take over your voice line and port it to VoIP while migrating to SOGEA, or install a new SOGEA service and port your number which will bring the line down as well as the FTTC sitting on top of it. Or do this with FTTP if that’s available.
People paying a premium for line rental and then finding an ISP that will do FTTC without line rental (and presumably paying a premium for that as well) must be a minute % of total subscribers and the nature of two suppliers being involved with one having to lose out means it can’t be handled automatically.
The person you spoke to in billing is incorrect – it was possible to order a WLR PSTN service from one provider and ADSL or FTTC from another. They may not have access to the information which shows your line is setup like this as BT won’t see any billing data for the broadband part – the broadband provider will be billed by Openreach, not BT.
If your current ISP doesn’t offer FTTC to SOGEA migration at a good price and insists on a new contract it may be worth looking at other providers. Migrating from separate PSTN and broadband providers to one providing both broadband and digital voice is straightforward – Zen have been doing this for several years, the larger ISPs should be able to hand this too.
(The opposite migration path from one provider which provides both to two, one providing broadband and the other providing VoIP / digital voice, is more difficult as there is no mechanism to link the two migration orders to complete on the same day)
Simon keeps forgetting to mention that he’s on a Zen “price for life” deal and that’s why he thinks it is more difficult than it has to be.
The options are to either move the broadband to BT or move the phone service to Zen, or go broadband only with either or another company. However, Zen’s policy is that changes to the service also mean that the price for life promise ends, and they may stick to that even though it was not a change that Simon asked for.
If it were me I’d be escalating with Zen to see if they’d be willing to let me move to SOGEA or FTTP on the same speed with price for life. Or just bite the bullet and pay current pricing with Zen as it’ll probably save money overall anyway. I can’t see how it is really BT’s problem.
@Ivor While I’ve not (yet) escalated it as a complaint, and you’re right it’s Zen, and Zen have told me this past week it’s a new 18 month contract, new pricing, and the loss of the previous ‘price for life’. I’m basically starting from scratch on an all new 18 month deal if I decide to go the Zen route and at current 2026 pricing. They can port my phone number to their VoIP service, but that too would mean a new 18 month contract on the SOGEA and 12 month on the Zen Digital Voice phone. And Zen’s DV is more expensive than some alternative cheaper VoIP providers which don’t have a tie-in either (but would result in a cease of my line, hence the catch 22)
I specifically left any mention of my Broadband provider out of my comments — It feels unreasonable/unfair *to me* that I’d have to start new contracts, (potentially higher prices, potentially loss of things I’ve had before, grandfathered features) because my *phone provider* wants to change what they provide and doesn’t have a clear route forward for me. I’d *love* to move my phone away from BT today, and never pay another penny to BT, but doing so either ceases by line for broadband or results in me having to re-contract my Broadband (at current or new provider). The only slight reprieve is that I may be able to get an FTTP connection installed before BT finally decide it’s time to make the PSTN change on my phone service, but again it’s a new contract which *at the moment* not so keen on the route to take, but may end up forced in to the only option. I do realise that eventually I’m going to have to do something, at risk of losing the entire lot come Dec/Jan or possibly even earlier. My disappointment, at this stage, is with my phone provider, hence not naming the Broadband provider.
It seems bizarre that you are concerned about losing a “price for life” offering when your current arrangement is by far the most expensive way to get FTTC and a landline service. Look at your current monthly spend, and look at what it would be to move to DV with Zen, and be pragmatic about it.
Zen could (and probably should) argue that “price for life” only applies for as long as the product is available, and they have no obligation to keep supplying FTTC when the product has been withdrawn in favour of SOGEA, and the SOGEA + VOIP combination is a different product to the one you currently receive from them, namely they’re now the ones paying for the copper pair.
What exactly are you looking for from your phone provider (BT)? It sounds as if you want them to continue providing a voice service, so your broadband situation doesn’t change. Aside from SOTAP, which wouldn’t allow your FTTC to continue, no supplier would have an option to continue providing voice only.
@Jonny @FlynnM …
Number portability of my longstanding number out to a voice provider of my choice (maybe A&A VoIP as its cheap and no long contract)
Continuation of my current FTTC Broadband contract (as SOGEA if it technically needs to change to that rather than auto-ceasing)
Other people have previously said they have had proactive changes (to SOGEA or FTTP installed) with no change to their contracts, no change to their prices, no new contract period started, so that’s what I want(ed)/expect(ed) would be the case. I realise some people have gone ahead with new contracts/packages/providers.
(Understanding from whoever provides me with future service that during an internet outage/powercut, I have poor/no mobile signal on any network, so need some solution to that for at least emergency calls)
A clear plan of exactly what my communication providers intend to do and a target date for when they will do this (not just a “by jan 2027”
Doesn’t seem unreasonable ask to me.
‘Other people have previously said they have had proactive changes (to SOGEA or FTTP installed) with no change to their contracts, no change to their prices, no new contract period started, so that’s what I want(ed)/expect(ed) would be the case.’
Those people almost certainly had telephone and Internet from the same provider and that one provider was able to convert both and roll contract/pricing over accordingly. BT aren’t being obtuse: they are unable to move you to an IP voice service without impacting your Internet service. However much you complain that’s the long and short of it. They place an order with their wholesale provider who in turn place an order with Openreach. Openreach have handled millions of these in the exact same way: terminating the landline service terminates the Internet service. If you’re expecting a bespoke wholesale product to be created so that you can keep your Zen discount I’m afraid you’re going to be sorely disappointed. The only solution not involving an indeterminate outage is moving the voice service to Zen.
‘Number portability of my longstanding number out to a voice provider of my choice (maybe A&A VoIP as its cheap and no long contract)’
‘(Understanding from whoever provides me with future service that during an internet outage/powercut, I have poor/no mobile signal on any network, so need some solution to that for at least emergency calls)’
https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile/voip-information/
‘Note: This is a not sold as a “landline replacement service” package, and it does not include wire/fibre to your premises (that is your “internet service”). You will need to consider how you access emergency services during a power cut, or loss of internet access.’
‘A clear plan of exactly what my communication providers intend to do and a target date for when they will do this (not just a “by jan 2027”’
From a read of your posts you’ve been given two plans you just don’t like them and it seems to have become a matter of principle for you. Let me be abundantly clear:
It is not incumbent on your providers to liaise with one another to produce a plan for you. Your voice service is not Zen’s problem, your Internet service is not BT’s problem.
The only option to avoid risk of prolonged outage is to have both voice and Internet in the same place at least initially.
There is nothing BT can do to give you what you want without your moving your Internet service to them. You are wasting your time focusing on them. They can’t even provide you a new line with the terms you have set as it’d terminate your Zen Internet service.
Very few, if any, VoIP providers that aren’t also selling you the broadband will provide free of charge battery backup units. They don’t tend to market as landline replacements due to issues with relying on third party Internet services to connect you to their network. You’d have to purchase that yourself.
Zen are your only realistic hope for getting what you want. Even if you lose the price for life it’ll still be cheaper than the price you’re paying now for the combination of BT line rental and Zen Internet.
Waste time and stress over a matter of principle or get it done and get on with life. Your call.
As highlighted above, the A&A service is cheap but it isn’t advertised as a landline replacement service. Those which are, provide a service which is managed up to the analogue port on the router. So you need to decide what you want/need from what’s actually available.
There still doesn’t appear to be no confirmation of what will happen to Plusnet customers with FTTC/ADSL and PSTN lines, given that they have no VOIP product.
PlusNet customers that want to migrate but keep their PSTN service are moved to EE. There is no early termination charge if the customer is still in contract.
Customers with Plusnet who want to maintain there phone line are given the option to move to EE, but are required to begin a new contract. Have also been made aware of a customer with BT who didn’t want DV any longer, and again were moved to EE, but a new contract had to be started.
I was a Plusnet FTTC & phone customer until about 6 weeks ago, they offer customers who want to keep the phone service a move to EE with a special pricing deal. I did have a look & if that’s EE special pricing deal for Plusnet customers I’d hate to see the normal prices.
I moved to Zen FTTP + digital voice via Cityfibre, cheaper prices & also means I don’t have to deal with Openreach incompetence.
There’s not a chance in hell of them meeting this self-imposed 31 January 2027 deadline, not a chance.
They will. Even if it means disconnecting customers who are actively blocking any migration to Digital Voice. Openreach have made it clear the deadline will not be extended, so any customers who do everything in their power to block their ISP from moving them to Digital Voice (or the equivalent named product) will either be migrated to the new service, whether they like it or not, or be cut off.
Who do you think “they” is who can’t achieve this? Openreach can just shutdown the network as planned on the published date, its not up to them to migrate anybody. If the end customers haven’t migrated to an alternative product, the service will stop. A lot of the unmigrated services are going to be ones that are not in use but haven’t been cancelled for whatever reason.
They absolutely will. “PDPL” is the great unblocker. Customers with broadband will get digital voice, customers without broadband of any kind get “PDPL”, which is effectively the same service as digital voice but served from equipment in the exchange and should look and feel much the same as their PSTN service does now, including power resilience.
It’s a bit of can kicking as PDPL prevents eventual exchange closure but that is not the priority right now.
Why on Earth not?
People who are over 75 and don’t understand the change. They have phoned BT but are getting nowhere for simple straight advice, they don’t have the internet. Will the ATA box be the solution? Who provides and fits this and what is the cost?
BT have a ‘Pre-Digital Phone Line’ product which can be used to transition for existing customers only who have voice-only lines with no broadband service. It requires no changes at the customers premises, but is temporary in as much that it will be withdrawn as exchanges are closed in the next 5-10 years.
BTs preferred option will be to install a broadband service with digital voice. If the customer is in an area where full fibre (FTTP) is available BT will arrange for Openreach to install the fibre connection and connect the BT-supplied router, the existing phone will plug into this router rather than the existing BT master socket. If full fibre is not available they would likely post a router and expect the customer to plug this into the existing master socket along with the phone into the router.
Either way the router and ONT, the fibre interface in the case of FTTP, require mains power to function. For vulnerable users who have no other means of communication, e.g. mobile phone, or have telecare devices, e.g. fall alarms, they should provide a power backup solution and verify the telecare operation, but BT need to be made aware of this requirement.
Is this really correct?
Computers appeared in the workplace in the 1980’s and the internet in the 1990’s. Those aged 75 now would have been mostly working and will have been in their 30’s or 40’s. Not everyone will have interacted with tech in work but this age cohort will have had mobile phones since the 1990’s too.
The research shows UK adults use tech and this is just another internet based service. For example see https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/12/ofcom-finds-uk-adults-now-spend-over-4-5-hours-online-each-day.html
Tried to move from plusnet ( to retain landline ) to EE but told can’t be done as I can’t get fibre yet!
You should be able to move to SOGEA with EE. Digital voice can be delivered in that way.
Was that Plusnet or EE sales / customer service? If so it is down to inadequate training of their staff – as mentioned at the end of the article PSTN to VoIP / Digital voice migration is completely separate from copper (ADSL / FTTC) to full fibre (FTTP) migration, it is perfectly possible to migrate from PSTN + FTTC to SOGEA (broadband only over copper) + Digital voice.
Assumes FTTC is available, it might not be.
* their phone line. 🙂
I note that BT seem to be more aggressive with migrations in general now. I’ve had an unprompted FTTP upgrade order placed against my SOGEA / DV line. They state in the email that this is a free upgrade due to fibre availability and there is no change to my contract or pricing. I have the option to cancel it if I want.
I’d have had it installed long ago if not for the fact that it is a rental property. I suppose it gives me the excuse to go to the landlord and claim I’m being pushed into it now…
How well does Digital Voice work with a fairly poor quality ADSL 2 line?
Last August Openreach sent me a letter saying I was being switched to Digital Voice and they would upgrade to fibre at the same time. It was supposed to happen within 30 days. After a few calls to check progress over the next few months, they finally gave up on the idea and said they’d contact me again when their plans change.
I have an exchange only line that most of the time gives me about 15 mbs down, but less than 1 up, and drops quite frequently. Fibre should be an easy install, with a line going to the pole next to my house, but BT have been saying for the last 10 years they have no plans to connect us.
So what happens next January? Do I get Digital Voice over the existing line? Will it be more reliable than the current broadband connection?
1 meg upload is enough for about 10 concurrent phone calls, I expect the router will prioritise VoIP traffic over other traffic. Obviously fibre would be better but this isn’t a blocker to moving to digital voice
When BT/EE representative did a presentation on the subject of the Digital Voice migration process, in the Brightling Village Hall last summer, they stated that anyone with a broadband speed below 2Mb/s, would be given a 2nd telephone line for the Digital Voice Service.
They also stated that vulnerable BT/EE customers who had access to WBC-FTTP, would be upgraded for free at the same time and supplied with either a hybrid EE landline telephone with 100 call Minutes per month and or a battery backup.
Also that Plusnet was going to be a broadband only company and people could switch to BT/EE or another ISP, if they wanted to keep their telephone number, without being charged early exit fees.
In the audience a Sky customer who wasn’t themselves vulnerable, but who needed to be able to contact someone who was, said that they had managed to get a free battery backup solution, as they had poor mobile indoor coverage.
Not all of this was recorded in the presentation material https://brightling.community/digital-voice/ look at the main presentation can be viewed here. https://rdcparishsites.blob.core.windows.net/brightling/2025/06/DV-stakeholder-pack-2025-06-11.pdf
On the unreliable connection front, you could argue that the migration to Digital Voice on your existing connection, would cause your Digital Voice telephone line to fail the requirements of the Telephone Universal Service Obligation.
A resident of Brightling switched to VDSL2 as soon as it became available, but because their telephone line was direct buried, for a significant distance and had been dug up multiple times, to be repaired, they had to revert back to ADSL (2+ wasn?t available on the exchange at the time), because VDSL2 while faster, kept on re-syncing so frequently that the broadband was unusable, this was before LR-VDSL got dropped. They used the Telephone USO argument and had a new moleploughed duct and copper telephone line installed, when the Brightling Exchange Openreach Community Fibre Partnership came into being a few years ago, it made getting a fibre connection to them reality easy.
The residents of Westow, North Yorkshire, who were in one of Openreach trails for Wireless to The Cabinet, managed to get their Cabinet upgraded to a Fibre Connection, after complaining about the service failing whenever it rained, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c237eper1llo.
The solution was to extended the Openreach WBC-FTTP network 780 meters from Wesow Lodge, to reach Cabinet 1, Openreach also finished off a WBC-FTTP upgrade that was visible, as a result of CBTs showing up in Google Streetview images from May 2025, even though openreach.com in Sept 2025 reported no interest in upgrading the village to WBC-FTTP, the whole upgrade went live in Dec 2025.
The area is still down for a public funded upgrade by quickline and occasionally roadwork associated with them keep on appearing.
G723 over IP with overhead for encapsulation and signalling requires 100kbps – 0.1Mbps. There is absolutely zero problem with ip voice over ADSL.
These BT statistics are verging on Gaslighting. Because what they don’t reveal is many subscribers are being switched to IP Voice, on pre-existing Copper lines. So far from this being a good news story, about the heroic amount of New FTTP lines BT have installed. It seems to be an attempt, by BT to Gaslight people on the state of the FTTP transition. Which for many people, outside major towns & cities hasn’t even started yet. And judging by the snails pace of New BT FTTP installations, in these Rural areas. Won’t be completed, for many years to come…
I wish nobody had picked up the word “gaslight” in the last ten years or so because it’s getting used to mean “I disagree with this statement”. The BT announcement says nothing about FTTP, just that people are being migrated off the PSTN. Openreach FTTP is available at 65% of UK premises, FTTP from any provider is available at 83% of them – this is a million miles away from “hasn’t even started yet”.
Openreach have passed 22m premises, the alt-nets cumulatively a similar number. There will be a reasonable overlap with some properties having access to multiple networks while some none, but this is a hugely impressive bit of infrastructure for the UK. This should always be in mind, especially if you are still one of the now minority who do not have access to full fibre.
The UK has around 33m premises so the coverage rollout in largely the last 10-15 years is properly impressive. Openreach are still building to 1 million premises a quarter, and alt-nets while slowing their build are adding customer / premises to their networks to get closer to the required RoI. Even the recent Ofcom fibre statement can be summed up as do more of the same. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/telecoms-infrastructure/statement-promoting-competition-and-investment-in-fibre-networks-telecoms-access-review-2026-31
This recent ISP Review article highlights the real drag in the full fibre race – poor take up. 38% is low for a far better, faster and robust product. The alt-nets seem to have the same issue but are doing wholesale deals with more and more ISP’s so hopefully they will begin to get to the required levels of take up to survive and even thrive. https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/03/openreach-publish-tweaked-march-2025-update-on-uk-fttp-broadband-build.html
So I say spread the word – get friends and family to sign up to FTTP where available, and this will free up additional finance to fund the rollouts to the areas currently without access to FTTP.
Charlie, this is not the article you were hoping for. This one doesn’t mention the side-issue of FTTP at all, except in the final line (editorial) where it points out that BT’s statement on what has happened (all-IP transition, digital voice) has nothing to do with the pace of FTTP transition.
Nope. Nothing to do with FTTP. Why do you think it is?
@Anonymous Actually Openreach’s 38% take up is very good considering the build rate. Unfortunately they never give separate take up figures for older builds (2 years +). Openreach built our street back in 2021 and after 4 1/2 years since it went live take up is now 70%. Once the build slows at the end of this year expect to see take up dramatically increase.
Some of the older BDUK news articles on this site show how uptake has changed in those areas over time.
I guess I’ll find out next month… I pay the bill for 2 lines; my parents and a family one, it’s easier than chasing around looking for ‘forgotten’ bills. In the last few months I’ve had letters from BT telling their will be a change to the way the phone works (full number dialling, etc) but otherwise the change will be transparent to us – no new kit and the ‘phone remains in the NTE. Unfortunately I’m away on holidays so cannot actually report how the change works.
What will be interesting is to see what happens to bill as one line has ‘Callminder’ working for several years for which I get charged for but the DV blurb informs that every line gets a similar function – I do wonder if the charge for the Callminder service will now be taken off the bill.
I think BT’s press release is delusional. I have recently reviewed and recontracted my broadband. Most providers now either do not offer a landline for voice and those that do now all charge a supplement for a landline. Digital voice requires a user to connect their telephone through their modem. Houses where there is internal phone extension cabling can no longer connect through the wired sockets (ok, most of us have wireless handsets). I lost my longstanding voice number (which neatly used the same digits as my mobile as well as the first 3-digits of the number denoting our rural village, so everyone only needs to remember the last 3 digits for all neighbours) in the previous provider transfer, which I was unable to retrieve, even if I cancelled the transfer. No point in sharing the new replacement number as it may well have changed at the next contract transfer, so now I have no landline. Most of my neighbours have experienced the same, so anyone changing provider will ultimately cease their landline for similar reasons to me.
A cable with phone plugs at both ends can connect the hub phone socket into the extension wiring.
It’s perfectly possible to continue using the wired sockets.
BT can only speak for BT, who do offer a landline voice service, have a solution for connecting phones away from the socket on the provided router (https://www.bt.com/help/user-guides/phones/digital-voice/digital-voice-adapter), and seem to be fine when it comes to porting numbers.
Other providers can be as competent (or not) as they choose, and can offer solutions for wired extensions (or not), and people are free to make their purchasing decisions accordingly. I would expect a difference in quality between how TalkTalk and Vodafone approach failed number ports, and how a provider such as Andrews & Arnold deal with it, based on the reputation of those companies. If you have all the address details for your original number it may even be possible for someone competent like A&A to get it back, depending on how long ago the port failed.
@The Facts, you can but make sure the extension wiring has been disconnected from the old incoming copper line first. This video gives a good explanation:- https://youtu.be/Id_KGXMcJHk?list=PLexbWs0Wp_H6LvKLZ6n5fyUknvlMag-Su&t=7
Here’s how a recent migration of a bog standard business PSTN line went recently:
Ordered Zen internet and digital voice. I was only offered FTTP – fine with me.
A week or so later I get a message from Zen saying OR have designated it as an advanced install, and it will cost something like £350 (I may be off on the amount but in that ball park).
Given that we may not have the business for very much longer, that felt a bit much. Zen did offer to dispute the advanced install after the fact, but there would be no guarantee of getting the money back. From looking online, it looks like business properties are designated as needing an advanced install from Ordinance Survey data and it is all about how much cable etc will need to be run INTERNALLY. In this case I knew it would be incredibly easy – no worse than a bog standard residential install.
So I look at other options. Vodafone have a good deal suddenly and no install fees. My feeling was that maybe with a bigger company, the advanced install fee might get lost in the bureaucracy and not passed on. Within 24 hours of ordering I got a call from a foreign call centre saying the order was being cancelled for reasons I couldn’t quite hear on the call, but essentially down to the non standard install.
So I try Sky who are one of the few providers who will allow me to order SoGEA on the website. Most others only offer fibre. The order starts progressing, but I get notification from our third party card payment provider that an entirely separate managed SoGEA line is being taken over by Sky. Something that absolutely cannot happen if we want to keep taking card payments and stay in business. This is despite the Sky order including digital voice and the porting of a number currently sat on it’s own perfectly good copper line. After calling Sky and speaking to several people I simply couldn’t make them understand that I didn’t want them to take over the existing internet connection, I wanted them to provide internet on the other existing line and port the phone service. Due to the risk to the connection with the managed VPN, I just had to cancel the order.
A day or two later, Zen phoned me back to discuss options, and one was to go with SoGEA. So we do. No set up cost at all this time, so money saved, and a small reduction in monthly cost. We only needed a basic internet service to view some cameras remotely, so the predicted 70Mb down and 17Mb up is fine.
A few days later I get an email saying the number port has been rejected by BT due to ‘security products on the line’. In the past the line was used for alarm monitoring using BT’s Redcare service. A service which BT completely shut down last year and no longer exists. Cue several calls to BT who kept trying to pass me to a ‘corporate’ department as somehow our sole trader convenience store that’s been in existence with the same owner and BT line for 40 plus years, had been somehow lumped in with accounts of other similar but also individually owned Spar convenience stores. They would attempt to pass me to ‘corporate accounts’ but I’d end up talking to someone in faults.
A fun aside – I registered for an online BT account around this time. Up until now it had just been paper bills paid quarterly. When I got in, although it only showed one analogue line under billing, under faults I could see the phone numbers and addresses of about 50 other lines belonging to other stores across the country, and even raise faults on them. So massive data breach implications there.
EVENTUALLY I speak to someone in corporate accounts and they say that yes, the line will still be flagged as having a Redcare ‘terminal block’ which will need to removed before the number can be ported away. Again from Googling, this is literally what it sounds like. A hardwired phone extension using a small terminal block to connect to an alarm system. These were seemingly connected to the OR side of the master socket so that pulling the front off the NTE wouldn’t disconnect it. The guy on the phone seemingly can’t do anything about it, but gives me the email address for our account manager. So I email him asking if this can be removed. I say that the physical wiring and terminal block may well have already been removed by the alarm company when Redcare ceased (a white lie). I ask if the flag on the account showing that this defunct product is present can therefore just be removed.
He replies and CC’s in someone from OR asking that the flag be removed. I wonder if it would have been as easy as CC’ing in a random person at OR if this wasn’t BT I was dealing with? Within a day the OR person responds saying that’s done. So I contact Zen and ask them to resubmit the port. It finally goes through and a week later we have broadband and digital voice.
I only post this deranged rant to show how for small businesses this can be an incredibly time consuming and complicated process. I imagine many similar small businesses will be in a similar situation. I know this is an extreme example, but it was incredibly frustrating when all we were trying to do was the thing that we’re told we have to do – move off the PSTN.
No action by my ISP (Zen) to switch us to SOGEA and very little interest from them when I ask. That is despite one of our accounts being on their list for vunerable customers
BT just dictating when DV has to be done by (soon), but giving no reasonn why. No technical reason there’s any rush in the area, and the deadline is supposed to be next January.
Thanks for the update Mark. Is Home Phone Standard how BT are calling the Pre Digital Phone Line for offering to all their customers currently on a copper landline only service?