Regarding the BT switchover for landlines, which is due to be completed by the beginning of next year, i.e. Jan ’27, we wanted to provide a brief update, regarding the new ‘Home Phone Standard’ service that is being rolled out.
BT are continuing to progress with transferring people with traditional landlines and existing broadband over to their Digital Voice service. This requires customers to have a BT Homehub installed in their property which is always switched on, as the new digital phone service works over the internet (i.e. via VOIP, ‘voice over internet protocol’).
You do not have to have Wi-Fi enabled for this, it is possible to disable Wi-Fi on a BT Homehub via the hub settings, but you must also make sure to disable the separate Wireless Hotpot signal that is transmitted (BT or EE Wi-Fi), via your BT online account. (This can take a few days to take effect and the Homehub must be left on during this time).
If you don’t want a BT Homehub at all, then it is possible to use you own wired router (e.g. Draytek 2767-K), or other wireless router with Wi-Fi disabled, but you can’t then use the BT Digital Voice service for your home phone (as this only works with a BT Homehub). If you want to use your own router, then you will need to sign-up for a separate VOIP phone service with another company (e.g. with Voipfone), and either keep your broadband internet with BT, or go with a different provider altogether.
If you want to keep using your existing analogue phone, then you will also need to purchase an analogue telephone adaptor (ATA, such as a Grandstream HT801), which connects into the Ethernet port of any router, and allows your analogue phone to work with a VOIP service over the internet (again, you can’t do this with BT, as their adaptors are all wireless). Some broadband providers have their own dedicated VOIP service, and will provide the necessary hardware.
For people who do not currently have broadband internet at all, and are super-sensitive to the electrical interference generated by the mains transformer plugs on most of the above equipment, such as routers and ATAs, unfortunately we have not yet managed to test or source any low-emission products/ set-ups, although are continuing to work on this.
However, BT appear to have thrown a temporary lifeline to their landline-only and vulnerable customers, in that they are currently upgrading their network, so that a type of router/analogue telephone adaptor will be installed remotely at the telephone exchange, receiving a digital fibre signal from BT’s central network up until the exchange, and then converting this into an analogue signal over the copper line from the exchange to the customer’s individual property.
This service has been termed ‘Home Phone Standard’, and is being rolled out automatically to landline-only customers, who will be given 40 days notice in writing of the change. It will not require a home-visit by an engineer, as all work is carried out remotely at the exchange. There is no option to opt-out of this service, and it is not available to customers who also have broadband (as the two services are not compatible).
It’s possible that if you currently have a landline with BT, but full-fibre internet with another provider that does not share the same Openreach copper line to the property, you might still be able to get the Home Phone Standard service, but this has yet to be confirmed.
If you are a landline-only customer, and BT try to switch you to Digital Voice instead in the meantime (requiring a broadband connection), and you don’t want this, then make sure you stress you are vulnerable due to any health issues or analogue telecare equipment requirements you may have, and ask to have this Digital Voice switchover deferred/ cancelled, and wait for the Home Phone Standard service to be rolled out to your area.
What the new Home Phone Standard service means in practice is that you will not need any additional equipment installed at your property for now, i.e. no router or ATA within your house, but your landline will now effectively become part-digital, and you will need to dial all numbers with full dialling code, even if local. All other BT services, such as 1571 messaging and call waiting etc, will remain the same for now.
In terms of whether this will cause additional issues within the property for EHS sufferers, or when using the phone, this may depend on individual reactions, as there could be additional interference transmitted down the phone line, which some people who are extra-sensitive may react to (but it is certainly a better option than having to have a router etc on all the time in the property in order for the phone to work).
If you do notice a change after this upgrade, the only mitigating factors we can recommend for now are to use a few old ADSL filters/splitter plugs on the phone line (previously used to filter out broadband interference from phone lines, available on ebay etc), in combination with small snap ferrite beads, which clamp over the phone line, that can reduce radio frequency interference a bit. Also, try to keep phone extension cables within the house to a minimum, or use shielded cable if feasible.
This new service is only designed to be transitional, until 2030, to provide vulnerable customers more time to update existing analogue phone/telecare equipment, but people will ultimately still have to switch to being fully digital (i.e. router/ATA within their property) by 2030.
Everyone will still need to look into solutions by 2030 for going fully digital (i.e. shielded ATAs/ routers etc).
For more info see:
https://www.bt.com/about/all-ip/case-studies/pre-digital-phone-line
https://www.bt.com/bt-plc/assets/documents/special-services/pdpl-customer-pack.pdf
https://www.bt.com/bt-plc/assets/documents/special-services/pdpl-wholesale-product-handbook.pdf
