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Articles for Category Tag - voip

Openreach Warn 500K UK Business Lines Haven’t Switched Away from Legacy Phones

5th February, 2026 (68 Comments)

National operator Openreach (BT) has today warned that “more than half a million business lines” still haven’t migrated away from the old Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to new IP-based digital phone (VoIP etc.) alternatives, which with only 12-months to go until the service is switched-off risks firms being exposed to price hikes, as well as “failing equipment and eventual loss of service“.

Utility Warehouse Join Charter to Protect Vulnerable UK Users in Digital Phone Switch

23rd January, 2026 (0 Comments)

Energy and communications provider Utility Warehouse (UW), which offers broadband, mobile, energy and insurance services to UK consumers, has become the latest telecoms provider to sign the Government’s Public Switched Telephone Network Charter – committing them to protect “vulnerable customers” (e.g. those with telecare devices) when upgrading old phone lines to IP-based digital equivalents.

phone_voip_and_handset by 123RF ID 70258122

ScamBlocker Launch Own UK Digital Landline Home Phone Service

22nd January, 2026 (3 Comments)

Communications platform provider SONIQ Labs has launched a new “AI-powered digital landline service” called ScamBlocker Home, which connects via your existing broadband router and promises to protect UK households from telephone fraud by screening unknown callers before the phone rings.

Openreach exchange engineer testing fibre

Openreach List Next 132 UK Areas for Copper to FTTP Switch – Tranche 23

19th January, 2026 (6 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has just published the next batch (Tranche 23) of 132 exchanges in their “FTTP Priority Exchange” stop sell programme – covering 1.23 million premises. This reflects areas where over 75% of premises are able to get full fibre lines and will thus stop selling copper based legacy phone and broadband products (i.e. FTTP becomes the only product option, where it’s available).

Analogue-uk-phone-handset-on-red-background 123rf

Ofcom Warn BT of Possible Investigation Over Troubled UK Digital Phone Switch

7th January, 2026 (20 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has responded to recent concerns that BT’s switch to broadband-based Digital Phones may have left some vulnerable customers without access to a working service. Ofcom warns that they could potentially “step in” and investigate the operator (such things sometimes lead to a significant fine), but it’s not yet clear if they will.

BT Battery Back Up BBU for SmartHub Plus Router

UK ISP BT Criticised Over Failure of Broadband Battery Backup During Power Cuts

2nd January, 2026 (74 Comments)

Broadband provider BT (EE) has been criticised by a resident of the remote Outer Hebrides (Scotland) island of Scalpay after they found that the Battery Backup (BBU) device, which the ISP provided for their internet and Digital Voice (phone) service, failed to work in two out of three recent power cuts. A bit of a problem as the house also gets no mobile signal.

Openreach Relax Stop Sell Rules in FTTP Priority Areas to Aid Migration of Old Lines

16th December, 2025 (13 Comments)

Network access provider Openreach has announced that they will soon temporarily allow a “bulk relaxation” of FTTP Priority Exchange “Stop Sell” rules across the UK (excluding Northern Ireland), under certain criteria, in order to help migrate old lines off their legacy Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) service.

UK ISP Spitfire Launch PSTN Switch Off Migration Service for Businesses

9th December, 2025 (3 Comments)

Business telecommunications and UK broadband ISP Spitfire has today launched its new PSTN Switch Off Migration service, which is designed to provide both technical support and expertise to UK businesses making the move from the old Public Switched Telephone Network to all-IP (digital).

Virgin Media UK Fined £23.8m Over Poorly Handled Digital Phone Migrations

1st December, 2025 (20 Comments)

Broadband ISP and phone provider Virgin Media (O2) has today been hit with a £23.8 million fine by telecoms regulator Ofcom, which occurred after they were found to have “failed to protect vulnerable telecare customers” during their programme to migrate them from analogue phone services to IP-based digital landlines.

Ofcom Warns UK Phone Providers to Ensure Customers Can Contact 999

3rd November, 2025 (6 Comments)

The telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has opened a new compliance programme to assess whether regulated UK phone providers are meeting their obligations concerning the need to ensure access to emergency calls (e.g. 999 and 112). The move comes after a string of broadband and VoIP providers, including BT, Gigaclear and Vonage, were fined over various related failings (here, here and here).

2025 Openreach engineer testing connections in exchange PR 200125

Openreach List Next 94 UK Areas for Copper to FTTP Switch – Tranche 22

10th October, 2025 (19 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has today published the next (Tranche 22) batch of 94 exchanges in their “FTTP Priority Exchange Stop Sell” programme, which reflects areas where over 75% of premises are able to get full fibre lines and will thus stop selling copper based legacy phone and broadband products (i.e. FTTP becomes the only product option).

Openreach Launches Alternative UK Analogue Phone Line Product

29th September, 2025 (36 Comments)

Openreach has today notified UK telecoms providers that their SOTAP Analogue product will, following a “successful pilot” (here), get its full commercial launch on 28th October 2025. This is a phone line service that does NOT require broadband to work and will be targeted at vulnerable users who would otherwise struggle with migrating to an All-IP (internet) based phone service.

Landline UK Phones Still Popular with Some Groups – 28 Percent of GEN Z Have One

26th September, 2025 (25 Comments)

A new Opinium survey of 2,000 UK adults, conducted during June 2025, has revealed that 28% of respondents aged 18-27 years old (Gen Z) still have a landline phone at home and 21% of that same group only retain it “as a decoration”. But interestingly, 43% of respondents remain unaware of the looming change to digital phones by the end of 2027.

Comms Council UK Name Winners of Best 2025 VoIP Provider Awards

25th September, 2025 (0 Comments)

The Comms Council UK, which represents the United Kingdom’s national Unified Communications and Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) phone industry, has today announced the winners of their 17th annual 2025 awards event at a ceremony at The IET in London. Some of the winners include bOnline, 8×8, and Yealink.

BT Study Claims UK Digital Network Upgrades to Deliver £3bn in Economic Benefits

25th September, 2025 (6 Comments)

Broadband, mobile and telecoms giant BT has today published a new economic modelling study from Assembly Research, which examines how the ongoing migration from legacy networks (PSTN/WLR, 2G mobile etc.) to All-IP (Internet Protocol) services could “deliver billions in benefits” (£3bn) to the UK’s critical national infrastructure sectors.

Home Phone and UK Broadband VoIP Services

Ofcom Fines UK VoIP Provider Vonage £700k Over 999 Access Failure UPDATE

25th September, 2025 (0 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today hit internet phone (VoIP) provider Vonage with a £700,000 fine after an investigation that started in March 2024 (here). The penalty follows an incident that resulted in disruption for its business customers to emergency calling (999) services between 23rd October and 3rd November 2023.

Openreach Launch New Telecare Phone Migration Services Across UK

17th September, 2025 (11 Comments)

Network operator Openreach (BT) has today announced the official launch of their new telecare migration services across the UK. The service is designed to help UK consumers with old analogue based phone (PSTN / WLR) and medical telecare systems to safely migrate to modern broadband-based (FTTP etc.) connections with digital phone (IP-based) services.