The stop sell is next month: Here’s what you need to know

While we’re definitely running the risk of repeating ourselves here, it really is worthwhile knowing that the PSTN stop sell happens next month.

By way of reminder the PSTN, or Public Switched Telephone Network, is the existing copper network that has powered our telephone and broadband connections for many years. And it is going away. Not overnight – in fact, the actual switch off of copper-based services won’t happen until 2025 – but very soon. Parts of the UK’s copper network are now more than 100 years old, so it’s well overdue an upgrade!

Phase one of the PSTN switch off is the stop sell of services that use the network. And in a nutshell, that means analogue telephone (think landlines) and broadband (ADSL and FTTC) services.

‘So what?’ ‘You’ve told us all this before’, you might exclaim, and of course, you’d be right.

But now that the PSTN stop sell is almost here, we thought we ought to explain what that means.

No new sales

If you’re looking for a new broadband or telephone connection – you might be shopping around for a new provider, renewing your contract, or moving home – then from pretty much now you’ll no longer be able to purchase any service that makes use of the copper telephone network.

That means no more ‘standard’ or fibre to the cabinet broadband, and no landline telephone connections.

No changes

If you’re using copper-based broadband or telephone services, you won’t be able to make any changes to your service either. That may, for example, include upgrading your speed or moving to a new provider.

And should you experience any faults, repairs to the copper network will become less frequent which means a serious fault could leave you without a service altogether.

Related services

If you’re using services that rely on the PSTN, you’ll probably find that these will be affected too. Things like connected alarms and CCTV, for example, will need to be transitioned over to the new all-digital network infrastructure.

What’s the alternative?

Zen and the other internet and telephone service providers have already been working hard to help make the move away from copper services as easy and seamless as possible.

If you’re a Zen customer, you should already have heard from us about upgrading your broadband connection to full fibre (FTTP) or, if you’re not in a full fibre enabled area yet, SOGEA (Single Order Generic Ethernet Access). These modern broadband connections make use of the UK’s fibre network to keep users connected long after the PSTN is retired.

And these modern connections also enable a new kind of telephony known as Digital Voice. Digital Voice uses VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology to carry phone calls across the internet.

If you haven’t heard from us yet about upgrading your services, or you’d just like to see what’s available, you can visit our broadband and Digital Voice pages to find out more.