Analogue Phone switch off

How far down the line are with this and which areas have been switched off so far?

I have always felt me and a mobile phone is never a a good combination.
What puts me off having one is : -

1) Safety. When I see people often walking about on mobiles texting, and not looking where they are or what they are doing and crossing the road and not looking where traffic is stupid.

2) Cost There may be good deal/offers about but a lot of it comes down to compatibility with my blue tooth hearing aid. I feel even a good one would be far to expensive to keep.

I may look into broadband only deals once the switch off happens in my area, & I have Microsoft Teams installed. I know the payoff would be if we get power cuts it goes off, but I feel that is a small price to pay rather than having something that I may never ultimately feel comfortable with having especially from a financial point.

It can't be that long before all landlines go.

I work off a mobile phone and a sim wifi router.

I'm no expert, but as I understand it, there are two 'layers' of switch off.
There's the 'physical' switch off, where the actual copper lines are no longer supported at the exchange level, and the equipment is turned off and removed. General opinion I've seen floating around is that this will take some time, and you may be lucky and be able to continue using copper lines for some time to come, although it's becoming increasingly difficult to switch providers, and almost impossible to get a new copper line installed.
The second layer of swirch off is where providers simply make a business decision to not continue supporting copper in a particular area. This is becoming more common as landline use decreases, and new installs are pretty much exclusively fibre, it simply isn't worthwhile for a provider to support an increasingly small number of copper lines.

I was with talktalk until just over a year ago, with a copper line, and as I was leaving I started getting letters telling me they were discontinuing copper support in my area and I would need to get a fibre line. That was just a business decision by them, to my knowledge copper is still supported here through the likes of BT and others, but talktalk decided it wasn't worthwhile for them to continuing to support it.
I am now using 5G and getting internet speeds comparable to my old copper connection at a fraction of the cost, and I currently have my old landline number ported to a VOIP service, although I don't know how much longer I'll continue with that as I almost exclusively use my mobile now.

(01-08-2025 07:54 )Charlemagne Wrote:  It can't be that long before all landlines go.

I work off a mobile phone and a sim wifi router.

had to have a landline if you wanted broadband but the change to fibre means thats no longer the case which is good as its saved me a fortune

plus getting 300mbps on both ethernet and wifi also helps

I have Virgin Media and they have already transferred us to having our landline via our broadband connection. I do worry about how the poorest, most vulnerable, and least technologically savvy people will cope?

I apprecicate feedback on what I feel is an important subject

I am now in the process of looking at switching from my current provider (NOW TV) to Vodafone Essentials broadband as a cost saving exercise, Superfast fibre on Now TV is costing me £44 a month. did the Registration for the switch yesterday, so it now falls on Vodafone calling me to let me know if I'm eligible (through claiming PIP, Universal Credit).

I read the tread title as Antique Phone switch off, the first time

Mind you...

I am with BT bit of info below as to the switch over.
The UK is switching from traditional landlines to digital voice services, meaning your landline calls will soon be made over your broadband connection. This change is part of a wider industry move to retire the old copper network (PSTN). For most people, the switchover will be completed by the end of January 2027, but your provider will contact you before your area is upgraded.
Key points about the digital switchover:
What's changing? Traditional landline calls are being replaced by Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which uses your broadband connection.
No need to panic: Your existing phone number and calling features will remain the same.
When will it happen? Most providers aim to complete the switchover by the end of January 2027, but your provider will notify you in advance.
What about my alarm system? If you have a healthcare or burglar alarm, contact your provider to ensure compatibility with digital voice.
What if there's a power cut? Digital voice requires a working broadband connection and power supply. Providers are offering solutions for power outage situations, such as battery backups.
How will I know when it's happening? Your provider will contact you before your area is upgraded.
Can I switch now? If you want to move to a digital voice service now, you can upgrade to a new phone and broadband package.
Where can I get more information? BT offers information and events about the switchover. Ofcom also provides guidance.
Analogue switch-off map: Check the Openreach map to see if your area has had a stop sell date set.

We have a house in deepest Buckinghamshire, on the outskirts of a village down a country lane with about 40 dwellings on it. 25 miles to centre of London
The rest of the village has been converted to full fibre, and one of the newer, fibre-only has been along and hung hoops of fibre cable from the telephone poles down the lane ready to connect to the various properties. This was done 2 years ago. Only thing is they then discovered the BT (Openreach?) underground ducts have collapsed, and Openreach can't afford to replace them. This means they cannot, yet turn off the copper,.
Basically it is looking like we will remain with fibre to the cabinet (about 1.2Km away) and copper to the premises, which means a maximum download speed of about 35Mb.
As for mobile signal- because of the hilly nature of where we live in some rooms we can only get EE signal, in other rooms Vodafone.
We can't be the only ones in this state?