Landlines to be "switched off" from 2025

[Astra LeMort]

Just stumbled across this article. The traditional landline (via copper wire) is being phased out and replaced by Digital Voice (VOIP). Anyone who wants a home phone instead of/as well as a mobile will need a broadband connection. The phone will have to be plugged into the router.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-58233420

This hasn't been very well publicised. There are still a lot of people who don't have mobile phones or internet. I know several elderly people who only have their landline.

Has anyone else heard about this?

[Doctor_Wibble]

I had only heard general rumbling in that direction, nothing definite like a date.

Until such time as the routing of IP traffic becomes utterly fireproofed from being diverted (or it is confirmed as being kept clearly separate) I will remain unenthused because that combined with needing extra batteries in the kit in case of power cuts puts it (as far as I am concerned) as less reliable.

That's not to say it isn't progress - but there's a few i's to dot and t's to cross first I think.

[Astra LeMort]

I don't particularly have a problem with the technology (not that I know how it works ), but I think a lot more publicity and explanation is needed, especially for older people who will worry that their phones will be cut off.

It seems the change is being driven by the telecoms industry as fibre optic cables are cheaper to maintain than copper (savings they will, of course, pass on to the consumer ), but there will have to be back up systems in place for emergencies in the event of a power cut. And there are still areas of the country that have very poor broadband coverage.

A trial started last year in Mildenhall, Suffolk. New customers there can only get the new style service. There are also numerous other things that rely on the copper cables - alarm systems, traffic lights and ATMs. They will all have to be upgraded.

[Dave]

I'd not heard that before.

I guess that if the modern alternative is 100% robust, foolproof, safe and guaranteed to be available (well, as much as the older equivalent which could always fail due to line interruption from high winds and digger drivers) then it should be fine, but it does seem slightly worrying to have a date so near to now if the technology isn't quite there yet. A little like electric cars perhaps?

Lots of people probably never use or don't even have landlines already, but I guess that's probably not the point...

[Astra LeMort]

I'd not heard that before.

I guess that if the modern alternative is 100% robust, foolproof, safe and guaranteed to be available (well, as much as the older equivalent which could always fail due to line interruption from high winds and digger drivers) then it should be fine, but it does seem slightly worrying to have a date so near to now if the technology isn't quite there yet. A little like electric cars perhaps?

Lots of people probably never use or don't even have landlines already, but I guess that's probably not the point...

But lots of people do! According to the article, a survey last year suggested that 40% of people don't use their landline for phone calls, but that means 60% do. I know this news would have thrown my late mother-in-law into a complete panic thinking she wouldn't have a phone, and I'm sure she wouldn't be alone. A friend of my dad's lives in a remote farmhouse in rural Devon, where there's no mobile reception and he has no broadband. I think the broadband where he lives is still limited to very low speeds. I don't know if VOIP works well on low speeds.

The date is a bit soon, though I don't think that it's a case of everything being switched at midnight on a specific day, more a gradual rollout. I imagine (but could be wrong) that it will be similar to when TV went from analogue to digital, it was switched over gradually area by area.

I'm just surprised that it hasn't been more widely publicised. When TV went digital, there were constant adverts about it for years!

[swingaleg]

I've only got a landline phone .

I have got a BT Router for Broadband ....... maybe I can just plug my phone into one of the ethernet sockets on the router, although the router is connected to the BT connection on the same socket as the landline so I'm not sure the router would work if they turned the wires off

I'll worry about it when it happens !

[Dave]

I'd not heard that before.

I guess that if the modern alternative is 100% robust, foolproof, safe and guaranteed to be available (well, as much as the older equivalent which could always fail due to line interruption from high winds and digger drivers) then it should be fine, but it does seem slightly worrying to have a date so near to now if the technology isn't quite there yet. A little like electric cars perhaps?

Lots of people probably never use or don't even have landlines already, but I guess that's probably not the point...

But lots of people do! According to the article, a survey last year suggested that 40% of people don't use their landline for phone calls, but that means 60% do. I know this news would have thrown my late mother-in-law into a complete panic thinking she wouldn't have a phone, and I'm sure she wouldn't be alone. A friend of my dad's lives in a remote farmhouse in rural Devon, where there's no mobile reception and he has no broadband. I think the broadband where he lives is still limited to very low speeds. I don't know if VOIP works well on low speeds.

The date is a bit soon, though I don't think that it's a case of everything being switched at midnight on a specific day, more a gradual rollout. I imagine (but could be wrong) that it will be similar to when TV went from analogue to digital, it was switched over gradually area by area.

I'm just surprised that it hasn't been more widely publicised. When TV went digital, there were constant adverts about it for years!

BIB1: Totally agree! Although lots of people have already given up on their landlines, we have to think of those that haven't. And even if there was only a tiny minority using landlines, there would still have to be a system in place to cater for them.

BIB2: And that's a huge issue too. Until there's a viable option for people in this scenario, then the current system MUST remain. It'd be easy for the Powers That Be to say that they will just have to lump it, but no, it could be a matter of life and death, literally.

Interestingly, a few years back there was talk of cheques being axed, but the reality was that so many people used them and had no alternative, in the end they had to stay!

[Astra LeMort]

I've only got a landline phone .

I have got a BT Router for Broadband ....... maybe I can just plug my phone into one of the ethernet sockets on the router, although the router is connected to the BT connection on the same socket as the landline so I'm not sure the router would work if they turned the wires off

I'll worry about it when it happens !

Good point! The article says that the phone would have to be plugged into the router, but obviously the router is plugged in to the phone socket! It does say that most of the technical stuff will happen in the background, but won't fibre optic cables have to be connected to every residence? I have no idea how any of this stuff works.

[Doctor_Wibble]

The biggest step is fibre between exchanges and to street cabinets, with cabinet to house still being on copper (or equivalent) wiring so from the consumer end we probably won't see a difference for a while yet.

Either way, for the avoidance of doubt, definitely don't try plugging a phone into an ethernet port!

[finlux]

I'd heard about this too, that they planned to switch off BT landlines in 2025, but I hadn't heard the date confirmed.

As others have mentioned, they need to make sure that everyone has broadband/internet connections and good mobile signals first. My mother has a BT landline, but no internet (and is not likely to either!) so how is it going to work? She has a mobile, but of course living in the south Wales valleys signals can vary from shite to non existent!

On a personal note, my mobile signal is very good at home, and my landline is a Virgin one (and before that Telewest) so it is connected to their network, so I can't foresee any problems for us.

It doesn't look its been thought-through to me...!