BT set to expand rollout of Digital Voice
BT has announced it will begin to restart its migration to digital landline telephone services in April. The new service works via fibre optic broadband services, rather than the copper phone network.
The rollout of the service, called Digital Voice, began in 2018 but was put on pause in 2022 when storms affected people in rural areas – digital phone services don’t work in a power cut.
At the time, BT said it would stop migrating customers unless they actively opted for the service while it took time to work on backup solutions for power outages.
Next month, it will expand trials it has been conducting to cover a slightly larger group of customers. Later in the year, it will begin inviting customers to move to the service on a region-by-region basis.
For more information on digital landlines and what it means for you, read our guide to Digital Voice.
What is Digital Voice?
Digital Voice is the name of BT’s digital telephone service. In practice, you're not likely to notice too many differences between it and a traditional landline but it works a bit differently behind the scenes. Rather than connecting via the copper phone network, Digital Voice works using a broadband connection. This might mean your phone needs to be plugged into your router, or a new socket, but for many there won’t be too many other noticeable changes. BT and the UK’s other major telecoms providers plan to move all customers to digital phone services by the end of 2025.
Moving to a digital phone line will be straightforward for many, and some will happily take the opportunity to forego a landline all together. However, the move to digital phone services becomes more complicated for people who have other devices that depend on their landline service – particularly health care devices and burglar alarms.
And there’s another key difference between digital phone services and traditional landline services – while you used to be able to depend on a landline if there was a power cut, broadband (and therefore digital phone services) won’t continue working if there is broadband outage or in a power cut (unless there is a battery backup in place).
Why the Digital Voice rollout was paused
Last winter, storms Arwen and Eunice saw some people experience outages much longer than the single hour that battery backups are designed to support. Also, battery backups aren’t universally supplied – they’re only given free to certain customers and supplies for those wishing to buy one haven’t always been plentiful.
The impact of the storms was such that BT paused its migration to digital phone services in March 2022, saying that it had underestimated the disruptive impact of the work. It acknowledged that too few customers understood the process and said it had more work to do to on backup solutions.
Next steps for Digital Voice
It’s absolutely essential that nobody gets left behind in the move away from traditional landlines. The telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has said providers must give customers adequate notice if they're being migrated to digital phone services. They must also ensure all communication is clear and reflects customers’ needs, and offer assistance and advice to migrating customers when needed.
Ofcom has also said that providers must offer at least one backup solution that enables access to emergency services (for at least an hour) in the event of a power outage – and offer it free of charge to those who are considered ‘at risk’ because they’re dependent on their landline.
However, supplying customers with a battery back up is just the beginning. In the next phase, BT must also ensure that those who need it have help setting up the service including the backup battery, as these can be heavy and unwieldy.
Hybrid routers that work using 4G or 5G mobile phone services if there are a broadband outage are another way of ensuring customers will have a reliable landline service if they depend on their landline.
When will I be moved to Digital Voice?
New and re-contracting customers can already opt into Digital Voice (or to not have a landline at all) if they prefer.
In the next phase of the migration that will begin next month, BT will focus on moving a limited number of full fibre broadband customers who are low-level users of their landline (or don't use it at all) and have good mobile phone service to Digital Voice. Affected customers will be contacted four weeks before they're due to be migrated.
From summer, BT will gradually begin migrating more broadband customers, using a regional approach that it hasn't yet outlined. However, it has said this will be accompanied by an awareness raising campaign to help ensure customers are aware of the upcoming change. Customers will also be able to nominate a family member, friend or carer to receive the information about switching on their behalf.
Over the next 12 months, BT will also focus on migrating those most ready to switch – that means certain people won't be migrated, including:
- People with healthcare pendants (or other similar devices)
- Those over 70
- People living in areas with no or poor mobile reception
- Customers who have made BT aware of with any additional needs
BT is also offering visits from its home tech experts to existing Digital Voice customers who need support setting up connected equipment.
Customers who only take a landline service are the last piece of the puzzle and are also unlikely to be migrated at this stage. When they are migrated, they won't be forced to take a broadband connection they don’t want or need – they’ll be set up with a special dedicated connection for their phone service that shouldn’t cost any more than what they currently pay.
If you have concerns about the prospect of you or a relative moving to BT’s digital phone service, get in touch with BT to talk through your options.
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