Openreach Stops Selling New UK Analogue Copper Phone Lines
Openreach Stops Selling New UK Analogue Copper Phone Lines
Openreach (BT) has this morning confirmed that they've formally introduced their long-planned UK wide “stop sell” on sales of new Wholesale Line Rental (WL
Sad times. I always liked having a corded phone powered off the phone line, that way if the power went out it would still work. Granted, these days you'd fall back to a mobile, but I like the nostalgia.
I also hate the idea that customers are paying twice for the same thing. I pay for my internet connection, I pay for my phone, but now my phone is using my internet connection. It's almost as bad as Sky are trying to do with their phase out of satellite.
The move to fibre is great in many ways, but I do think there is some value in the redundancy older, simpler technology provided.
Analogue radio is another, it may appear primitive today but it's very robust. It's been an essential form of information distribution around the world during emergencies such as natural disasters, when more complicated systems like mobile networks fall over.
I live in quite a rural area and we have power cuts semi regularly, and we also have no signal on any network. It used to be quite fun plugging in the backup corded home phone with its curly cable to phone the power company!
I believe a lot of analog phones now transfer to VoIP at the cabinet. Those cabinets don't have a UPS in them. A friend of mine (naively) thought putting his ASDL modem on a UPS would keep his internet working during a power cut. His side worked, unfortunately the street box went dark, till the power came back up.
Even an analog phone will now fall over in a power cut.
This is a shame. I have a foot in the Emergency Management world and one of the things we always recommend is POTS - plain old telephone service. It's always worth having a landline around because it is very robust against network disruptions when communications count.
Strikes me as way too early. Large parts of the country are stuck on copper because upgrading to fttp is deemed too expensive (I am, and I'm not exactly out in the sticks). Maybe in a few years .. I'm lucky I restarted my line when I did.
Copper will still be used, its just the traditional analogue phone signal delivered over the copper that is stopping. New (and changed/upgraded) users will instead receive a digital phone service, effectively over broadband (which can still be delivered over copper lines).
I think in areas with fibre coverage they will now only install fibre lines to homes, copper only of areas that haven't been upgrades.
Regardless of the type of cable, I think there is going to be a lot of turmoil when PSTN is fully withdrawn in 2025. It's one of the biggest tech transitions in the UK since the switchover from analogue to digital TV, but there doesn't seem to have been anywhere near the public awareness effort. There's still plenty of landline phone users, especially among older people and in rural areas.
I had a lot of trouble myself when I switched to a fibre provider that didn't provide landline phone service, and had to explain to various elderly relatives that they would now have to call our mobile numbers. They would only call our landline from their landline.
The whole copper PSTN network is planned to be scrapped in 2025, including ADSL
https://www.vodafone.co.uk/business/pstn-and-isdn-switch-off
https://www.globe2.net/business-telecoms/the-openreach-pstn-withdrawal/
It kind of makes sense. I wonder if customers who only want a telephone line will be forced to sign up for an internet package anyway? Sure, there probably aren’t so many people. But still worth thinking about.
Lik my mother. She has WiFi provided by the building manager. Doesn't own a mobile phone and just uses her landline for talking to people.
BT already tried to 'upgrade' her but they wanted payment and a monthly fee.. She told them to F off.
The copper network is being shut down completely planned 2025, she is going to be dragged kicking and screaming into it.
https://www.vodafone.co.uk/business/pstn-and-isdn-switch-off
That’s sucks. I’m not from the UK but isn’t there already a line rental fee she has to pay monthly or yearly? Is the “upgrade” more expensive overall?
Seems maybe a mobile phone is a better solution. At least they still work if the power is out (not if it kills the cell network too of course).
But your mum would have to change her phone number and learn a new device. And remember to charge it.
I remember getting my grandma a mobile phone for emergencies (Nokia 3310) and it was so hard for her to grasp how to use it.
I think it would make sense in areas with full fibre coverage PROVIDED they offer a comparable service. That is they install an ATA with battery backup that presents a standard analogue phone port for the same price. That way they can start removing copper to make way for more fibre.
In areas not covered by full fibre this seems very short-sighted. BTs companies benefit greatly from the legacy infrastructure, in my opinion that comes with an obligation to ensure basic services are provided at reasonable pricing.
This is probably to shut down 3rd party providers of ADSL.