However, as the date for the retirement of the old public switched telephone network (PSTN) approaches, Openreach, the BT subsidiary that maintains the vast majority of the UK broadband and telephony network, says there are still about 1.3m copper-based landlines yet to be migrated.<\/p>\n
To hit the end-of-January deadline telecoms companies have started to ramp up pressure after years of direct customer communications and awareness campaigns \u2013 in BT\u2019s case including using personalities including Moira Stuart<\/a> and Clare Balding<\/a> \u2013 have failed to prompt some to engage in the migration programme.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m getting increasing evidence that there is some bullying behaviour going on in order to try to force people to switch over,\u201d said Dennis Reed, the founder of the campaign group Silver Voices.<\/p>\n \u201cI have heard of cases that some with a contract with BT for broadband, who have not been particularly proactive or cooperative over a date to switch their landline, have been threatened with their internet being cut off. I am also fearful that, because targets have to be met, a lot of people are going to fall through the cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n It is understood that BT did recently \u201ctemporarily pause\u201d broadband services for a small group of customers who had not responded to any communications about the copper landline switchover for two years.<\/p>\n They were given five days\u2019 notice of the planned outage to encourage them to contact BT and take action to avoid the \u201cpause\u201d in broadband service. Landline connections and mobile services remained intact, meaning services such as telecare devices<\/a> remained operational.<\/p>\n More than 80% of the previously unresponsive customers are understood to have subsequently taken the steps needed to switch over.<\/p>\n \u201cThroughout this transformation BT has been raising awareness of the switchover, supported by local events, advertising campaigns and partners \u2013 as well as direct communications to our customers,\u201d said a BT spokesperson.<\/p>\n \u201cA small minority of customers are yet to move and haven\u2019t responded to repeated communications about the change. The temporary broadband pause we have introduced for this small minority is intended to help prevent a complete loss of service when the old, analogue network is retired.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the final months of the programme, it\u2019s critical that customers take action when contacted about the switchover \u2013 failing to do so could result in the loss of their services when the outdated network retires.\u201d<\/p>\n Campaigners are concerned that the 1.3 million households still on copper lines include vulnerable individuals, such as elderly people with only a landline and no internet and those in rural areas <\/a>with patchy, or no, broadband and variable mobile coverage who worry about being able to call emergency services if there is a power cut.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter |Every weekday<\/p>\n Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n There are also around 2 million users of telecare<\/a> services, most commonly personal pendant alarms or buttons that have traditionally relied on copper landlines, which are unaffected if the internet goes down.<\/p>\n In December, Virgin Media was fined \u00a323.8m<\/a> for leaving thousands of customers, typically older and disabled people, without access to their alarms as it was transitioning customers in 2023.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791039495_644_500.jpg\")
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