This topic

BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

converse420 — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 17:58:55 GMT

With the recent announcement that BT ar aiming to turn of the conventional PSTN (copper) phone service by 2025, I got to thinking about the potential upside to broadband speeds.

For those of us in small communities with no sign of Ultrafast Broadband on the horizon I wondered what the implication of no longer requiring a copper phone line really was.

For years we've lived with ADSL/VDSL microfilters and interstitial faceplates to filter the legacy voice frequency (that used by legacy phone/faxes/modems). As the modem/codec functionality moves to the BT router, it occurs to me that we will no longer need to filter out the bottom few K of the spectrum that has previously been reserved for legacy.

Assuming that this results in the full spectrum becoming available to Broadband, does anyone have a view on what kind of speed uplift that may result to those of us trapped on FTTC without g.fast, or if this has even been considered by BT/others?

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

albertj — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 18:34:12 GMT

I think it’s 2027.

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

converse420 — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 18:38:12 GMT

Thanks for your reply, I've only seen 2025 in the news, but I'm more interested in the technical aspects of this as it seems to negate some long held ANFP burdens.

Regards

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

albertj — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 21:45:16 GMT

Hi,

I've only seen 2027 and thought it was worth putting.

I realised this wasn't the response you were looking for, and I meant to put this but forgot.

The only thing I think I could contribute; is that I am hoping huge steps will be made in 4/5G by then, to provide broadband to rural communities. Including faster speeds, lower costs with unlimited usage.

Thanks

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

nickwaller41 — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 12:21:40 GMT

I wonder how BT is going to handle the PR when the public realise that all their landline phones and any extension wiring will need to be replaced. I also wonder about what help will be provided for old people like my 90 year old Mother-in-law whose only means of communication is her landline.

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

imjolly — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 12:39:51 GMT

@nickwaller41

there is no need to replace existing tone/pulse dial phone as they can connect either to the hub or dect adapter provider by BT. There is also no need to replace the existing extension wiring but you need to make an adjustment to master socket wiring - already covered in other forum posts

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

nickwaller41 — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 12:44:18 GMT

As far as I know there will still be millions of premises connected via copper cabling in 2025. My guess is that you'll see no improvement. The switch to VOIP will presumably also impose extra load on the network.

I think the main impact of switching off the PSTN will be in telephone exchanges where they can further reduce the space needed for equipment and then sell off or rent out the buildings. I guess that also means less maintenance and therefore less people.

There are lots of pros (and a few cons) arising from the PSTN switch off but getting rid of the constaints of copper wiring is going to take a lot longer.

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 12:51:37 GMT

@nickwaller41

The BT exchange equipment, circa 1980s, is well beyond its useful life, and spares are difficult to obtain. Also full number portability is not possible, owing to its architecture.

A single VOIP circuit uses 64Kbs, so is not likely to have any impact on ADSL, in fact, the old BT Broadband Talk service worked well, and had no effect on my ADSL connection.

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

nickwaller41 — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 19:28:19 GMT

Thanks for the reply - can you point me to the post that shows how to connect a wired phone to my Hub ? Doesn't solve my M-I-L's problem though as she doesnt have a broadband connection. I hardly use my landline at all so I will probably stop using it entirely. I wonder if BT will reduce their prices accordingly ?

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

NeilO — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 19:37:37 GMT

Hi @nickwaller41 all the info on how to set up Digital voice can be found on this link. I hope that helps?

Thanks

Neil

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

imjolly — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 20:02:18 GMT

BT already have a broadband package which excluse a call package but you cannot have broadband without paying for line rental whether that is a copper or fibre line. The drop in package cost is negligable This has been covered many time on forum before.

This link about connecting extension sockets.

https://community.bt.com/t5/Landline/Correct-way-to-enable-all-BT-sockets-after-Digital-Voice/m-p/2164637#M76965

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

nickwaller41 — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 19:57:26 GMT

I assume that BT will send me a Smart Hub2 when Digital Voice is rolled out in my area ?

Is any provision being made by BT to ensure that all the old hubs, adsl filters etc are properly recycled rather than simply dumped into household waste ? Apologies if this has been covered before in other topics. Searching for specific answers is more time consuming than asking a new question.

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

imjolly — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 21:07:19 GMT

If BT supply updated equipment then they will also supply a bag to return the old equipment for recycling

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

Carlusha — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 21:59:30 GMT

@nickwaller41wrote:
Searching for specific answers is more time consuming than asking a new question.

Charming!

Re: BT 2025 PSTN Switch Off

j0hn83 — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 12:59:15 GMT

"Assuming that this results in the full spectrum becoming available to Broadband, does anyone have a view on what kind of speed uplift that may result to those of us trapped on FTTC without g.fast, or if this has even been considered by BT/others?"

Unfortunately not.

The current bandplan will remain the same. DSL specifications don't allow carriers below 4Khz to be used.

Even if they could use the current voice tones and the guard band between voice and data tones, it would only provide a tiny increase to the U0 upstream band, increasing upstream speed by a fairly insignificant amount.