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VOIP - how can I find out when my small local exchange will have copper turned off? My ISP doesn't know.

Coppered

Casual Member
Title says it all really. My ISP can only tell me what they know and that's by the end of 2025 (edited typo when I mistakenly typed 2024). How can I get some more precise info with perhaps an estimate within a month or two of the copper switch off with my exchange, or isn't it as simple as that due to Openreach's presumably hectic schedule?
 
Last edited:
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There is no fixed plan as there are too many factors and dependencies involved
  • Broadband Technology
  • Exchange (including Priority or FTTP covered)
  • Current voice network provider
  • ISP strategy
  • Resource
Even if you are on a Priority Exchange with near full FTTP coverage you may still use copper if you are noted as vulnerable or on an ISP contract still using their LLU.

The BT Wholesale list above may assist as these were the priorities.

If on BT I'd simply watch out for notifications of their local events or the 30 day notice email you will receive.

Main DV programme https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-announces-regional-rollout-schedule-for-digital-voice/

However I have received an email despite me not being on a priority exchange nor FTTP. Nothing since so who knows. It could come at any time.
 
Hi,
Title says it all really. My ISP can only tell me what they know and that's by the end of 2024. How can I get some more precise info with perhaps an estimate within a month or two of the copper switch off with my exchange, or isn't it as simple as that due to Openreach's presumably hectic schedule?
It isn't clear what you are asking:
  • If you are asking when you will no longer be able to order a traditional analogue phone line then the answer is you can't any more.
  • If you are asking when traditional analogue phone lines will be withdrawn then the answer is by the end of 2025.
  • If you are asking when you will no longer be able to order broadband delivered via copper wiring then you need to know the "stop sell" date for your exchange and when you will actually have fibre available to your property (if you don't have fibre available to you then copper based products will remain available).
  • If you are asking when your broadband, delivered by copper, will be withdrawn then no dates have been set. (But if you are in a stop sell area and covered by fibre then you may have difficulty in moving to a different provider and remaining on copper).
There are more possibilities but the above covers most of them.
 
Even if you are on a Priority Exchange with near full FTTP coverage you may still use copper if you are noted as vulnerable or on an ISP contract still using their LLU.
Thanks for your reply - the above part is interesting, does this mean that they will still be retaining a limited amount of the old copper wiring in some areas even after the main transfer to VOIP?
 
Hi,

It isn't clear what you are asking:
  • If you are asking when you will no longer be able to order a traditional analogue phone line then the answer is you can't any more.
  • If you are asking when traditional analogue phone lines will be withdrawn then the answer is by the end of 2025.
  • If you are asking when you will no longer be able to order broadband delivered via copper wiring then you need to know the "stop sell" date for your exchange and when you will actually have fibre available to your property (if you don't have fibre available to you then copper based products will remain available).
  • If you are asking when your broadband, delivered by copper, will be withdrawn then no dates have been set. (But if you are in a stop sell area and covered by fibre then you may have difficulty in moving to a different provider and remaining on copper).
There are more possibilities but the above covers most of them.

Actually, it's none of the above - what I'm trying to find out is when my 'copper exchange' (as it were) is being switch over to VOIP.
 
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Thanks for your reply - the above part is interesting, does this mean that they will still be retaining a limited amount of the old copper wiring in some areas even after the main transfer to VOIP?
Just to make sure you understand this - VoIP Does NOT require the removal of copper lines. The transfer to digital voice is something that will happen long before a complete national transition to full fibre.

If you were in an area without FTTP, You would continue to use FTTC or even ADSL connections for your internet for the foreseeable future. Where I live for example, I have a FTTC Connection still. But my landline has moved to VoIP meaning I plug the phone into the back of the router rather than the telephone socket... The router still plugs in to the telephone socket with the broadband sent through this same copper wire back to the cabinet. But there's simply no dial tone of provision for calls to be carried over this old analogue system anymore.

So we now go back to trying to find out if you are asking about a transition to full fibre, or if you are simply asking about a transition to VoIP. Not that either of these questions will have a straight answer.
 
Actually, it's none of the above - what I'm trying to find out is when my 'copper exchange' (as it were) is being switch over to VOIP.
All analogue (copper) telephone exchanges are being switched off in December 2025.

You will still continue to receive ADSL or FTTC broadband service over copper, just without the analogue "dial tone" superimposed.

If you want to retain a voice service, it will be provided by your service provider as VOIP over the broadband. So it still goes over the copper cabling, as digitally-encoded voice carried over the broadband to your service provider's voice equipment (which will be in one of their data centres, not in the telephone exchange).

The exchange buildings themselves will remain for quite a long time: there are LLU providers like Talktalk that still have equipment in them, also Openreach's SOTAP (ADSL) and leased line nodes. But eventually they'll be closed down; there are a handful of trial sites already.
 
Thanks. Just to clarify - my local exchange is a small one.

My Internet connection is via FTTP.

My single phone line is via copper.

Copper will, as we know, completely cease to function for all by the end of 2025 but my ISP doesn't know when that will be for my area. Naturally I don't want to lose my phone number when I have no choice but to move from copper to VOIP.

I'm trying to find out when this will occur for me - I want to hang onto using copper for my phone as long as possible because I don't like VOIP's reducdancy (or lack of) - seems I'll need to buy a UPS just to keep my ONT box and router working in the event of a power cut. My mobile phone signal is weak so that's not guaranteed to work either.

For my particular circumstances VOIP is a big step backwards compared to copper.

I was hoping that somebody would perhaps know a contact at Openreach to get a better idea of the switch off for my exchange. I cannot find my exchange on any online lists regarding the copper switch off.
 
The PSTN end date Dec 25 is determined by BT
The LLU date is controlled by the LLU provider
The copper cease date 2030 (some exceptions) is determined by OR

I would say if you are on FTTP it will be soon and it is not determined by OR but by your provider.
 
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Thanks. Just to clarify - my local exchange is a small one.

My Internet connection is via FTTP.

My single phone line is via copper.

Copper will, as we know, completely cease to function for all by the end of 2025 but my ISP doesn't know when that will be for my area. Naturally I don't want to lose my phone number when I have no choice but to move from copper to VOIP.

I'm trying to find out when this will occur for me - I want to hang onto using copper for my phone as long as possible because I don't like VOIP's reducdancy (or lack of) - seems I'll need to buy a UPS just to keep my ONT box and router working in the event of a power cut. My mobile phone signal is weak so that's not guaranteed to work either.

For my particular circumstances VOIP is a big step backwards compared to copper.

I was hoping that somebody would perhaps know a contact at Openreach to get a better idea of the switch off for my exchange. I cannot find my exchange on any online lists regarding the copper switch off.
Who is your ISP? That may also be of relevance here. Because while BT And their wholesale operations have their 2025 deadline for example, this is not the case for some LLU Operations who have their own equipment at the exchange and are free to do what they want in their own timeframe. Some may move to VoIP just as soon if not sooner. But others may do nothing for years to come yet.

Regarding phone signal. Have you checked your options with all 4 networks where you live? Some are better than others. At least one of them likely has a good signal available unless you live in the middle of literally nowhere - Which seems somewhat unlikely if you are able to get FTTP Service. Ofcom has a simple checker on their website to help you get a rought ideal across all 4 networks.

If there is genuinely no acceptable signal from any of the 4 networks then your ISP would likely have a responsibility to sort you out with a battery backup to make their VoIP solution work for a while following a loss of power supply.

Nobody can give you a solid answer of a set date. Not even Openreach themselves. Your ISP is best placed to advise what will happen and when. And I suspect it will probably be sooner rather than later.
 
My ISP is Zen.

My best option for a mobile network in my area is EE - it's not terrible, but it's not great either - reception can be weak, spotty or non-existent. It varies.
 
My ISP is Zen.

My best option for a mobile network in my area is EE - it's not terrible, but it's not great either - reception can be weak, spotty or non-existent. It varies.
What's your issue with VoIP per se?

By hook or by crook with Zen / Openreach you will be migrated from voice over the copper pair in the next 22 months, as said above, latest by December 2025. That's when PSTN will disappear - not be be conflated with copper removal - that will probably be around for a decade or perhaps longer still carrying 1's and 0's rather than 48 VDC and an analogue voice signal.

Its better to jump than be pushed - so even if Zen don't really know / able to tell you their migration timescale for your property, better to get on the front foot now and make the necessary preparations and accommodation to suit whatever it is you need to do with your landline.
 
Hi,

It isn't clear from the OP's posts whether their analogue phone provider and FTTP internet provider are both Zen.

If they are both then Zen will be in touch sometime in the next two years to arrange the cease of the phone line and (if it is a service they offer) its replacement with a VOIP equivalent.

If the analogue phone provider is someone else then they will be contacting you in due course about the cease of the line and no doubt be trying to sell you an internet service and VOIP service combined.

The easiest thing to do is to wait until you are contacted and then migrate the phone line to a VOIP provider of your choice. Personally I think it is wise to keep the internet service and VOIP service as unrelated services so that changing one doesn't have any effect on the other.
 
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