Guide
The 2027 phone line switch-off: a small business checklist
The old copper phone network that has carried UK landlines for decades is being switched off, with the industry deadline at 31 January 2027. Phone calls are the easy part. The things that catch businesses out are the boxes on the wall that quietly use the line.
Published 13 November 2026 · DH Website Services
What is happening
The analogue phone network (PSTN) and ISDN lines are being retired and replaced with digital lines that run over broadband. Most homes and businesses have already been moved, or will be moved by their provider. The deadline for the switch-off is 31 January 2027.
If your landline already plugs into your router, your phone calls have probably moved already. The question is what else is still on the old line.
Things that often still use the old line
- Intruder and fire alarms that dial out to a monitoring centre
- Lift emergency phones
- Card machines that dial out over a phone line instead of broadband or mobile data
- Door entry systems and gate intercoms
- Franking machines and fax machines
- Telecare alarms for elderly or vulnerable people, at work or at home
- Old ADSL broadband, which runs over the same copper
The danger is that some of these look fine locally, with the panel lit and the keypad working, but can no longer call out. You find out when you need it.
The checklist
- Walk the building. List everything that plugs into a phone socket, not just the phones.
- Ask each supplier directly. Your alarm company, lift maintainer and card machine provider can tell you whether your kit works on a digital line.
- Get it in writing. Note the date each one was checked or replaced.
- Book early. Engineers get busier the closer the deadline gets.
- Test after any change. Trigger a test alarm and make a test card payment once a line has moved.
Phone systems
If you are replacing your business phones anyway, this is a good time to move to a cloud phone system with call queues, voicemail to email and missed-call alerts. We run our own on our main number, 01443 805303.
Need a hand?
We look after IT for small offices in South Wales, including working out what in the building still depends on an old line. See IT support or ring 01443 805303.