The UK is switching off its old copper phone network. Analogue and ISDN lines are being retired for good, and everything is moving to digital voice over broadband. The deadline is the end of January 2027, and while most people think of it as a phone change, the biggest risks are the devices quietly plugged into a phone line that everyone forgets about.
What is the PSTN switch-off?
The PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) is the traditional copper-based network that has carried phone calls for decades, along with ISDN. Openreach is retiring both and moving the country to an all-digital, IP-based network, where voice runs over a broadband or data connection instead of a copper line. You already cannot buy new analogue or ISDN lines, and the remaining lines are due to be switched off by the end of January 2027.
If you still have copper phone lines, this affects you
Any analogue line, ISDN circuit or anything that runs over the old network will stop working when it is switched off. The good news is that the digital replacements are usually cheaper, more flexible and far better suited to how businesses work today. The catch is that a like-for-like swap is not always enough, because the phone line does much more than carry calls.
The part everyone overlooks: it is not just your phones
This is where businesses get caught out. A surprising amount of critical equipment quietly relies on an analogue phone line to dial out, and much of it is safety-related. It is easy to forget because it just works away in the background, until the line it depends on disappears. Devices to check include:
- Lift and elevator emergency phones. Lift autodiallers are a legal safety requirement and must be able to call for help. A lift phone that goes dead is both a serious safety risk and a compliance problem.
- Fire and intruder alarms that dial an alarm receiving centre or key-holder over the phone line.
- Telecare, careline and personal alarm pendants that people rely on to call for help in an emergency.
- Door entry and gate intercom systems.
- CCTV, EPOS and card payment terminals connected over an analogue line.
- Other line-powered kit such as franking machines and monitoring equipment.
Many of these devices do not work reliably over a standard digital voice line, and they can fail silently. Nobody notices until the alarm needs to call out or someone presses the button in a lift, which is the worst possible time to find out.
Why you should not leave it until the last minute
The switch-off is not a distant problem. New analogue and ISDN lines have already been withdrawn, and as 2027 gets closer the demand for migrations, engineers and replacement equipment only goes one way. Planning it calmly now means you can test everything properly, keep your numbers, and make sure the safety-critical devices are sorted long before the copper is pulled.
What to do now
A straightforward audit is the place to start. For every line and connected device, work out:
- which lines are analogue or ISDN, and what runs over them;
- every device that dials out over a phone line, including lifts, alarms and telecare;
- whether each one can move to digital voice, or needs a dedicated solution; and
- a plan and a timeline to migrate and test each one before its line is switched off.
How Synergy Max can help
We move your phones to digital, hosted voice and keep your numbers exactly as they are, with the flexibility to work from anywhere. Just as importantly, we deal with the overlooked kit: for lifts, alarms, telecare and other critical lines, we provide dedicated, resilient connectivity, including 4G and multi-network solutions built specifically for equipment that must not drop. We audit what you have, plan the move device by device, and manage the whole migration so nothing important is left connected to a line that is about to disappear.