OBSERVATIONS ON 'DIGITAL VOICE'

More properly called  VoIP (voice over internet protocol).

Openreach, who supply broadband and telephone services to the telephone and Internet Service Providers, such as BT, TalkTalk, Plusenet et al will, on the 31st January 2027, discontinue the current telephone system meaning anyone wanting a land-line telephone service after that date will have to use VoIP.

At present, anyone not on a full fibre broadband package will be unable to do this as if your broadband is delivered either solely by copper wires such as ADSL, or partly by copper, as with FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) it will not be possible to split off your phone line from your broadband service.

What this means in practice is that come 31st January people not on a full fibre broadband service, which will be about 70% of the population, will face a stark choice.

a) Either lose your landline telephone service altogether, or

because your ISP needs your current telephone number to provide you with your broadband

b) Sign up for a VoIP telephone service either with your current provider, or a third-party telephone company, which will mean losing your current 'phone number and being issued with a new one. or

c) Changing to a new full-fibre broadband service at considerable more cost and which will require the drilling of a hole through your outside wall to get a new fibre cable into your house.

Then providing you have a power socket near the cable entry point, and a modern telephone handset, plugging your telephone into your new broadband router.

I suspect there is going to be a huge up-roar come 31st Jan 2027 when everyone not on full fibre (the majority of the population) will be given the above choices, assuming someone tells them about them in good time.

Older less 'tech-savvy' customers are most at risk of being excluded from a reasoned decision making process, and vulnerable to being conned by an unscrupulous dealer or individual, keen to make money out of people's predicament.

And no-one is talking about this, nothing from ISPs, no newspaper articles, nothing on TV, some folk, most folk I suspect, are in for a HUGE shock.