This month marks three years since the WLR and ISDN stop-sell took effect. Since September 2023, Openreach has taken no new orders for ISDN2, ISDN30 or wholesale line rental — the products that connect most UK phone systems to the outside world. What is left of that estate has 141 days to move: the whole network withdraws on 31 January 2027.
Why some lines are still there
The stop-sell did not switch anything off — it just stopped new orders. Lines that existed in September 2023 carried on, which is why sites still run on ISDN today: lift lines the landlord forgot, a dialler nobody re-pointed, an ISDN30 feeding a phone system that "still works". The danger is the last-minute scramble: engineers, ports and equipment all queue up in the final months, and every provider has the same deadline.
What late movers should book now
- A line-by-line inventory — circuits, what they feed, and who owns the contract. The PSTN switch-off guide has the checklist.
- A replacement per service type — SIP trunks or hosted voice for phone lines; IP path signalling for alarms; a virtual number port so published numbers survive the migration.
- Numbers ported before the network quits — porting is the step with lead time, and after January 2027 there is no copper network left to port from.
Related: 141 days left on the PSTN · What is a DID number?
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