141 days left: the UK landline network closes on 31 January 2027
Openreach's copper network closes for good on 31 January 2027. Alarm lines, EPOS, fax and lift phones all ride on it — here is what to check this month, and the IP routes that keep you working.
BT Redcare is gone — where 100,000+ alarm systems signal now
More than 100,000 private and commercial systems depended on BT Redcare. With the service closed, installers are splitting between dualcom IP/GPRS path signalling and TAP-to-SMS alerting — here is how the land lies.
OpenTAP over TCP/IP: alarm alerts at 5p a message, no phone line needed
As the PSTN closes, DIDcomms's OpenTAP gateway accepts the industry's TAP messages over the internet: 7E1 framing over IP, pay-as-you-go at 5p per message including VAT, with no subscription and no line rental.
Three years since ISDN orders stopped — thousands of UK lines are still live
September 2023 was the last chance to order ISDN30, ISDN2 or WLR lines. Businesses still running them have until 31 January 2027 — and migration slots are first-come, first-served.
350,000 business lines still on copper — and Ofcom's rules say every number can be kept
Roughly 350,000 business premises are still on copper ahead of 31 January 2027. Ofcom's General Condition C7 guarantees you can port your number — on reasonable terms, without a direct charge, and up to a month after you switch.
084 and 087 support lines were banned 12 years ago — with 138 days of copper left, swap them now
Since 13 June 2014, post-sale support and complaints lines must be basic rate — 01, 02 or 03. With 138 days until the PSTN closes, the migration wave is the moment to catch any 0845 or 0871 stragglers.
Spoofed UK mobile numbers are next: caller ID withheld from 15 July 2027
UK networks already stop around a million spoofed scam calls a day. Ofcom has now confirmed the sequel: from 15 July 2027, calls from abroad wearing a UK mobile number get their caller ID withheld unless it can be verified.
BT hits 95% Digital Voice milestone — and broadband pauses begin for analogue holdouts
BT says over 95% of its landline phone users have now left the analogue network. For the rest, a trial that briefly paused broadband to force a response is going national — with 136 days until the PSTN closes.
Copper line rentals double in 13 days: WLR hits about £21.30 a month from 1 October
The last of Openreach's three copper price rises takes effect on 1 October 2026, taking WLR basic rental from a £10.65 baseline to about £21.30 a month ex VAT — double price for a line that dies on 31 January 2027.
The next two exchange closures are 39 days away — and business lines go first
After Deddington, the pilot moves on: Ballyclare and Kenton Road exchanges reach their Network Cease Date on 2 November 2026, and communication providers must have every line off by 30 October. Business lines are explicitly more likely to be disconnected on the deadline.
786 blocks of 070 numbers left — as Ofcom keeps the personal-number cap
Ofcom's five-yearly termination review reconfirms that 070 personal numbers stay capped at the mobile rate — and only 786 blocks of the range are still allocated, with calls growing for it to be reclassified.
Fixed voice lines fell 757k in a quarter to 20.7 million — Ofcom data
Ofcom's Q1 2026 market data shows 757,000 fixed voice lines lost in a single quarter and revenues down 17.9% year on year — with the PSTN switch-off deadline now 130 days away, the data says migration, not abandonment.
350,000 business premises are still running on copper — 129 days before it stops
Openreach's last published count put 1.5 million UK lines on legacy copper, roughly 350,000 of them in business premises — with 129 days to the switch-off and no household-style safety net for businesses.
Ofcom opens Vonage and Voxbone investigations over scam-misused phone numbers
Two cloud and VoIP providers face Ofcom investigations over numbers misused by scammers. The cases put KYC checks and number monitoring at the centre of the anti-scam rulebook — and every business that holds a UK number is on it somewhere.
Openreach's last-resort eVAC safety net now keeps broadband alive — at £35 a month
Openreach has confirmed the fine print of its post-January 2027 safety net: eVAC keeps voice — and, where technically possible, broadband — running for unmigrated single lines, business ones included. It costs £35 a month wholesale, it is temporary, and the switch-off date hasn't moved.
Openreach's migration discounts now run to the PSTN's final day: 31 January 2027
The migration offers that were due to end on 31 October now run to the switch-off's last day on 31 January 2027. Openreach keeps paying providers to move lines — but eVAC at £35 a month is what's waiting for anyone who does nothing.
TalkTalk's break-up is 'imminent' — and your number shouldn't wait for it
TalkTalk Group says the sale of its PXC wholesale arm and consumer business will conclude 'imminently'. Provider ownership is about to change — here is why your phone number should be the one asset that does not change hands with it.
BT buys TalkTalk and PXC out of administration: 2.5m customers change hands
BT Group has acquired TalkTalk Telecommunications and PlatformX Communications out of administration, keeping 2.5 million customers connected. Here is what the rescue deal means for business numbers — and for the wholesale market that sits beneath them.
Ofcom's Global Titles ban: the last exemptions expire in 16 days
Ofcom banned the leasing of Global Titles — the hidden numbers that route mobile calls and texts — in April 2025. The final exemptions run out on 22 October 2026: what the ban does, and why clean, well-held numbers matter to any business that lives on its phone number.
Ofcom blocks Openreach's £9.50 new-customer discount — a regulatory first
Ofcom has ordered Openreach to withdraw its 'Incremental New to Openreach' offer — up to £9.50 per customer a month for 30 months. It is the first time the regulator has blocked an Openreach commercial offer under its new access rules, having judged the deal 'not fair and reasonable'.
Power cuts overtake ISP faults as the UK's top broadband outage cause — and 4.6m don't know their phone dies too
A Uswitch-commissioned survey puts power cuts ahead of provider faults as Britain's number one cause of broadband outages, with 26.7 million people hit in the past year. Of those who already have a digital landline through their router, 32% don't know it stops working when the power does.
The last easy copper orders die in 18 days — after that, WLR3 is exceptions only
Openreach's WLR3 exceptions process closes on 30 October 2026, with only emergency restoration of copper cases spared. The next deadlines — letters of authority on 6 November, final migration orders on 31 January 2027 — follow in quick succession, and business lines that miss them have no consumer-style safety net.
67% of UK small firms miss a money-losing call every day — so BT built an AI to answer the phone
BT Business has launched AI Receptionist, the first product in its new 'AI from BT' portfolio, after research found 67% of UK small firms miss a potentially valuable call on an average day — an estimated £3.7 billion a year. The 24/7 agent answers, books and transcribes on your existing number; the boring routing that never misses a call is still worth having too.
112 more exchanges named for copper stop-sell — 16.4m premises now inside the fence
Openreach has named another 112 exchange areas — 619,724 premises — where copper phone and broadband products will stop being sold from November 2027. Around 16.4 million premises are now covered by stop-sell rules, and the PSTN itself closes in less than four months.
Openreach warns 35,000 customers in Northern Ireland are yet to migrate off the copper network
Openreach has warned that 35,000 of its customers in Northern Ireland are still to migrate off the old PSTN copper network, with the 31 January 2027 switch-off just 107 days away. NI's 97% full-fibre availability should have made this the easiest region to finish — the warning is really about what happens to the last holdouts everywhere.
The CMA's next call could decide how many fibre networks UK businesses get to choose between
Nexfibre and its shareholders say they will not submit remedies over the £2bn Netomnia acquisition, after the CMA provisionally found the deal would substantially lessen competition in wholesale fixed broadband. With BT now owning TalkTalk's wholesale arm, the final call on 15 December shapes how much choice UK businesses really have.
Vodafone's wholesale copper exit has already begun — three weeks before most firms even heard of it
VodafoneThree brought its legacy copper withdrawal forward to 1 October 2026 — over a year ahead of the industry deadline — and migration orders after 30 September were no longer guaranteed to complete. The first provider-level copper deadline has quietly passed; here is why your supplier's supplier now sets your date.
100 days to go, and Ofcom's latest data shows the copper exit is running at pace
Ofcom's Q2 2026 market data shows another 522,000 fixed voice lines lost in a single quarter, down to 20.2 million, with voice revenues down 16.1% year on year — published as the PSTN switch-off enters its final 100 days.
Ofcom's Q2 complaints league table is out — and provider service quality now matters more than ever
Ofcom's Q2 2026 complaints report puts BT, EE, TalkTalk and Vodafone joint-worst for broadband complaints at 7 per 100,000 customers, with Plusnet worst for landline at 10 — and with the copper switch-off 96 days away, service quality is becoming the deciding factor when businesses move.
One Touch Switching is getting cheaper — TOTSCo cuts switching prices from 1 January 2027
TOTSCo has announced cuts to One Touch Switching prices from 1 January 2027 — the residential unit price falls from £0.28 to £0.25 and business switching from £1.60 to £1.50 — with a further 25–50% reduction in business switching costs expected from 2028.
Thieves took 2,000 metres of copper cable in one Essex town — and the phone lines are the last to come back
Thieves have stolen more than 2,000 metres of Openreach copper cable around South Woodham Ferrers this month alone, and while full fibre is back, the remaining copper broadband and phone services are still being reconnected. Every business line still riding on copper is one theft, flood or fault away from silence.
One million lines to go — and this week's 6 November letter-of-authority deadline decides who migrates smoothly
Openreach's latest count puts one million UK lines still on legacy copper — around 300,000 of them business premises — with the PSTN switch-off 90 days away. This week brings the deadline that decides whether the trickiest transfers happen smoothly: letters of authority for novations and transfers of service are due by 6 November.
Virgin Media O2 confirms £800m of cost cuts and halts further fibre upgrades — why a leaner giant makes your number more valuable, not less
Virgin Media O2's Q3 2026 results confirm the plan the leaks promised: £800 million of annual cost savings by 2029, a significantly smaller workforce, and a halt to further fibre upgrades beyond existing commitments. Consumer broadband customers fell another 22,100 in the quarter. For businesses, the message is about continuity: operators restructure, but your number doesn't have to follow them.
Eight arrests, one million stolen card details: the SIM farm ban now has teeth
Intelligence from VodafoneThree helped the NCA and City of London Police disrupt criminal SIM farm networks, leading to eight arrests and the recovery of more than one million compromised card details. It lands just as the Crime and Policing Act 2026 offences came into force on 29 October — and while the law targets fraudsters, it lands in a wider clean-up of the UK's calling and texting ecosystem.
BT's 25 million fibre target slips to March 2027 — with 87 days left on the copper clock
BT Group's H1 results put Openreach's full-fibre footprint at 24.1 million premises and quietly move the 25m build target from December 2026 to March 2027. The copper network's closure date is not moving with it — which turns a build delay into a migration timing problem for the businesses still on analogue lines.
Plusnet tops the landline complaints table with 10 per 100,000 — a record worth reading before the landline market shrinks
Ofcom's latest complaints figures, published 26 October, put Plusnet at the top of the landline table with 10 complaints per 100,000 customers — up from 7 the quarter before and more than three times the industry average of 3. With the landline market itself heading for the exit door, the last league tables are worth reading closely.
Openreach details when broadband survives the PSTN switch-off — and warns it 'cannot be guaranteed in every case'
Openreach's new industry briefing adds detail to its promise to keep broadband alive for lines stranded by the 31 January 2027 PSTN closure — but continuity depends on the individual line, cannot be guaranteed, and any 'lose voice, keep broadband' requests must be in before the deadline.
TalkTalk quietly reopens part of its shop — but you still can't buy Digital Voice as a new customer
TalkTalk has quietly started selling some paused products again — but its Digital Voice phone service is still closed to new customers, five months into the UK's final PSTN countdown. Buying a phone service mid-migration has risk attached.
Popular guides
Evergreen, source-checked explainers — updated as rules change.
The UK PSTN switch-off
The traditional landline network closes on 31 January 2027. What stops working, what it means for alarm lines, and how to keep your number.
0800 numbers explained
Free for callers since 2015 — but what does one cost your business, and is it worth it? Costs, rules and when to choose 0800.
03 numbers explained
Charged exactly like a 01/02 call and included in mobile bundles. Why 03 has quietly replaced 0845 for UK-wide presence.
What is a DID number?
Direct Inward Dialing, from 1980s switchboards to modern SIP. The concept behind every virtual number — and wholesale supply.
TAP to SMS guide
How alarm panels send text alerts over a phone line, the modem settings that matter, and what happens at switch-off.
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