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2023: A year of change for broadband and calls

Zen Jan 20 2023

If you haven’t heard about the Great British Switch Off yet, you need to know that 2023 will be the year it really swings into full gear.

Here’s how home broadband and telephone services will change forever.

The big switch off

In 2025, the copper telephone network will be switched off completely. You might know it as the PSTN network or just that socket on the wall that your phone and router plug into.

The old copper network has been around for more than a hundred years, and it’s beginning to show its age.

It is becoming increasingly difficult and costly to maintain, repair and keep up to date and – frankly – it is no longer able to adequately cope with our ever-increasing demand for faster broadband connections. We’ve managed to squeeze just about the maximum level of performance out of it (if you’re using a copper or fibre to the cabinet broadband service, think about how much faster it is today than 20 years ago), but it has just about reached its practical limits (squeezing extra performance is more expensive and restrictive than the full fibre alternative).

So, it is going away, to be replaced by something better (more on that in a moment).

But if the switch off is happening in 2025, why is 2023 such a big deal? That’s all about proper planning and preparation.

Imagine if one day in late 2025, your telephone and broadband connection just didn’t work anymore? There would be havoc as millions of people across the country were no longer able to communicate, work – or do whatever else they do with their connections.

That’s why, two years out from the big event, a stop sell will make the transition much smoother. It’s already started in fact, but 2023 is the year where the stop sell will gather real momentum.

More and more local exchanges throughout the UK will have their copper services withdrawn from sale. If you’re connected to one of those exchanges, that means you’ll no longer be able to purchase a copper or fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) broadband connection, or a phone line. And it’s not just new purchases that will be affected. Upgrades, regrades and even repairs will also become increasingly scarce.

Better broadband

As those connections go away, if you haven’t upgraded already, you’ll need a different way to connect to the internet.

But as one door closes, another invariably opens. And in the case of copper and FTTC broadband that means more modern alternatives – known as full fibre (or sometimes fibre to the premises, or FTTP) and SOGEA (which stands for Single Order Generic Ethernet Access – quite the mouthful).

As the full fibre rollout continues across the UK, more and more homes will have access to this newer broadband technology that promises greater speeds than the older alternatives – and better reliability to boot. That’s because it doesn’t use the old copper network at all, but rather fibre optic cables to carry all your data.

In those places where full fibre isn’t available, users won’t be left with nothing. Instead, they’ll be able to connect to the internet using a SOGEA service which, without going into too much detail, is similar to an FTTC service but without the phone line. It will provide similar levels of performance, so if you’re not able to get a full fibre connection, SOGEA can keep you connected. And though the telephone network is being switched off, the copper networks that exist will keep those SOGEA connections moving.

No phone

When the PSTN network is switched off, if you don’t already have an alternative set up, you won’t be able to make and receive calls at home.

Thankfully, we’re already prepared for the transition. Over the course of this year – if you haven’t already – you should be contacted by us regarding your future telephone needs.

As the copper telephone network is withdrawn from use, you’ll be offered an alternative Digital Voice service. That Digital Voice service will allow you to make and receive calls at home – using your broadband connection instead of traditional telephone lines.

It’s a completely different type of technology (VoIP) but as far as the user is concerned, the only difference will come in where the telephone is plugged (into the router instead of the master socket).

A little more

That’s all there is too it, for the most part. And while these changes are profound – the way we connect and communicate is going to completely change – by getting ready now, the transition should be perfectly smooth for most of us.

But what if you’re using other services that rely on the copper telephone network – like home alarm systems, emergency pendants or even lift communication services? In that case, we would recommend contacting your supplier to check that they’re prepared for the switch off. They should have plans in place for what will happen, and they should be able to communicate those plans with you.