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PSTN switch-off17 September 2026

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.

DIDcomms Telecoms News · 17 September 2026 · Sources checked on publication

More than 95% of BT's landline phone users have now switched from the analogue network to its IP-based Digital Voice service — the clearest adoption milestone yet on the road to the 31 January 2027 PSTN switch-off, now 136 days away. For the remaining minority, the tone is hardening: BT is expanding a trial that temporarily paused broadband for customers who had ignored two years of switch-over correspondence.

Sources: ISPreview, "BT reveal 95 percent of UK customers have switched to digital voice as new trial expands" (16 September 2026), including comment from Lucy Baker, BT's Consumer Digital Voice Director; gov.uk, "UK transition from analogue to digital landlines" (both checked 17 September 2026).

What the trial actually did

BT targeted a small group who "had not responded to multiple letters, emails, texts and calls over the last two years". In the controlled trial, it paused their broadband temporarily — "keeping customer's landline services running", in the words of Lucy Baker, BT's Consumer Digital Voice Director — after giving notice in advance. The nudge worked: more than 80% of the trial group then got in touch and took steps to switch. BT says it is now widening the approach to remaining unresponsive customers, with advance warning and additional support for anyone who needs it.

Why the holdout count matters to businesses

Government guidance expects the analogue-to-digital upgrade to be complete for most customers by January 2027, and it is not a consumer-only exercise — business lines ride the same copper network. Fax machines, legacy card terminals and alarm panels all sit downstream of it. A 95% figure from the UK's biggest landline brand signals that migration is now routine: the processes, adaptors and support paths are proven, so the last businesses to move are choosing friction, not avoiding it.

Move on your own schedule, not BT's

The trial's lesson is blunt: wait to be chased and the decisions get made for you. Porting a number to a DIDcomms virtual number keeps it working over IP — with call forwarding, voicemail-to-email and business-hours routing — and calls can be answered in a SIP desk phone or softphone or straight on mobiles. Free PAYG gets a number live in minutes, and a £9.97-a-month plan adds bundled minutes and ten concurrent calls. What stops working when the network closes is covered in our PSTN switch-off guide.

Related: 141 days left: the PSTN countdown · BT Redcare closure: where alarm signals now go

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