To our complete lack of surprise, BT/OpenReach have announced that they have delayed the final switch off of the traditional phone lines (so-called ‘analogue’ or ‘copper’ phone lines). The grand plan was that all voice telephony would be delivered over your Internet connection by the end of 2025. The technical name for this is VOIP (Voice Over IP). When this plan was announced in 2021 anyone with any real-world knowledge knew it was unachievable. There were just too many connections to deal with – not to mention all the specialist services that only work on the copper. Like RedCare & emergency buttons for the elderly. Plus, of course, OpenReach’s ghastly reputation for not delivering the quality of broadband essential for voice communications.
And here we are. Bowing to the inevitable, OpenReach has pushed back the deadline by 13 months. That’s still ‘ambitious’. We shall see. My money is on a series of further delays as reality seeps in bit by bit.
You can read the BBC article here.
Having said that, if (and it’s a big if) you have the broadband to support it, voice telephony delivered over the Internet is very good, and very cheap. The system we use has been into our office for many years, and it works well. If you are interested talk to us about it. Call us on 01905 426365 (yes, it’s a VOIP line!)