This topic

BT Fibre BB Switchover Question.

ColinF1 — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 21:08:53 GMT

Hello.

I'm posting a question on behalf of my father. Last October he received a letter from BT stating that his broadband line would be upgraded from the old copper connection. The letter stated that BT would be in touch shortly to arrange this. He never heard anything more about it. He mentioned it to me at the time but I forgot until he reminded me a few days ago. Does anyone know what the cause might be regarding no follow up to the letter? As I understand it, the copper system is dur to be turned off next year but I was wondering if there's been some delay or an error in following up on this?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

Re: BT Fibre BB Switchover Question.

WSH — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 21:26:45 GMT

Firstly, it is not the copper system that is being turned off. It is the old analogue phone service, the PSTN, which is run as a separate service over copper. Instead that will become “Digital Voice” and be part of the broadband connection. That broadband connection will run quite happily over copper or fibre, however.

There could be many reasons why you have heard no more about the upgrade to fibre. It may be that Openreach’s plan have changed and that upgrade is no longer happening. That won't stop him upgrading to Digital Voice. It will just be on FTTC (copper) instead of FTTP (fibre).

Re: BT Fibre BB Switchover Question.

ColinF1 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 11:11:38 GMT

Thanks for the reply. He doesn't use his landline phone anyway (he unplugged it several years ago after being continually bombarded by scam calls). But, will he need a new router to be able to cope with the new system? I remember seeing the letter he received and that said a new one would be sent out (but, like the appointment, it never arrived) or will the existing one be compatible?

Re: BT Fibre BB Switchover Question.

WSH — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 11:22:53 GMT

Depends on exactly what is going on. Are they upgrading him to Full Fibre or was it just about Digital Voice (DV) which, as I said, can be done on the existing copper? And what router does he have at the moment?

Edit: Also, if he doesn’t use the phone, it might be worth upgrading him to a broadband only package, instead of broadband & phone. It should save him a bob or two.

Re: BT Fibre BB Switchover Question.

ColinF1 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 17:30:44 GMT

All I know an engineer appointment was supposed to have been made to run a fibre cable into his property, put a new point inside and have a new router installed (which they said was going to be sent through the post, as with the promised arrangement for an appointment, never arrived). According to dad the existing router is a BT Hub 4 K95P.

Just to clarify, if he has no use for the landline, does this make the difference between the existing copper cable continuing to function with the new broadband system or not?

Re: BT Fibre BB Switchover Question.

WSH — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 18:02:05 GMT

Yes, he would need a new hub for full fibre. The hub 4 is stone-age. I don’t think it would be capable of working with full fibre. He must have had that for many, many years. I’m surprised it still works. It may be an idea to upgrade it for security reasons, if nothing else.

If that fibre install does come to pass, it should just be a case of plugging the new router into the box on the wall instead of the old phone socket. The phone, (should he continue with it), then just plugs into the back of the hub. With anything else it’s just a matter of unplugging stuff from the old router and plugging it into the new one. The old SSID (wireless network name) could be put into the new hub along with the old key and that would avoid the need to change the settings on any devices.

Of course, if the fibre install is off the agenda, none of that matters.

As far as your second question goes, if he is upgraded to full fibre the old land line becomes completely redundant. If he continues with the existing broadband, then that copper line will continue. What will stop is the separate phone service it is carrying. Of course, if he is not using it, that doesn’t matter.

Edit: If he does want a phone service again while continuing on the copper line, he will need the new hub as the phone now plugs into the back of that instead of the old wall socket. The hub itself continues to be plugged into the old phone socket.