This topic

Fibre Upgrade necessary?

Marlbo — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 11:48:08 GMT

I have a landline number solely for use for accessing the Internet, it is not/never used for phone calls (I have a separate number for phone calls). As there are no phone calls made from my Internet number, do I need the BT upgrade as it doesn't need to use Digital Voice?

Re: Fibre Upgrade necessary?

garybs29 — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:03:36 GMT

Yes! Digital voice is mandatory in future so it will need it

Re: Fibre Upgrade necessary?

iniltous — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:16:04 GMT

If you have BT broadband and BT telephony currently supplied via the soon to be retired PSTN , so your phone instrument is connected to the socket on the wall , in most instances being notified of the requirement and date to convert to DV that notification also comes with the option to remove telephony completely if that better suits your requirements……FWIW , there has been no requirement to take BT telephony to get BT broadband for many years , so you could have dropped your BT telephony from your BT broadband if you didn’t need it before now .

Re: Fibre Upgrade necessary?

licquorice — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:17:50 GMT

No idea why you feel the need to have separate lines for broadband and telephony, seems bizarre to pay twice, but your choice

However, there is absolutely no need to have telephony at all on the line used for broadband.

Re: Fibre Upgrade necessary?

WSH — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:19:54 GMT

The internet will continue to be delivered over copper for many years to come. In an increasing number of areas, NEW connections have to be fibre, as there is a “Stop Sell” on new copper products, but generally existing copper broadband connections will go on for quite some time yet.

There has generally been a lot of confusion over this. It is the old PSTN phone service, delivered as a separate service to the broadband, that is being discontinued. The phone service will now be part of the broadband connection. (If you want a phone connection, that is).

As far as the broadband itself is concerned, that will continue to be delivered over copper as well as fibre. And, should you want a phone connection, BT’s Digital Voice works fine over copper broadband as well as fibre broadband.

(Edit: Seems iniltous and Liquorice beat me to it!)

Re: Fibre Upgrade necessary?

Marlbo — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:25:55 GMT

Thank you Licquorice,

It's a hangover/set up from years ago. I didn't want a big personal pc, monitor and desk clogging up my living room so it made sense at the time to convert a spare room upstairs into an 'office'.

Time to reassess I think?

Re: Fibre Upgrade necessary?

Marlbo — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:28:20 GMT

Thank you Iniltous,

Just spoken to BT and they told me "I don't think you can have a broadband only deal"

Re: Fibre Upgrade necessary?

Marlbo — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:31:45 GMT

"(Edit: Seems iniltous and Liquorice beat me to it!)"

Thank you WSU, it all helps!

Just spoken to BT and they don't seem to want to commit to confirming that!

Re: Fibre Upgrade necessary?

iniltous — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:49:09 GMT

The only way I can see that a standalone broadband isn’t available is if you are on exchange based ADSL without a VDSL /FTTC option in your location ( FTTC now sold as by OR as SoGEA ) , apparently the option for ADSL and telephony when there is no FTTC access is to be converted to EE broadband SOTAP , and a second line just for BT PDPL (a phone line service that isn’t DV or PSTN ) this suggests ADSL can’t deliver Digital Voice hence the two line solution , but obviously even that isn’t your situation as you don’t want to keep telephony anyway , so SOTAP if you are currently ADSL and prepared to drop telephony is obviously your path ( again assuming you are ADSL without the option of FTTC and you may already be FTTC or it’s available if you are ADSL )

You can see what’s available here (enter your address, you are looking for SoGEA ) or even go to BT.com and click to order as a new customer, the ordering screens effectively are broadband and phone or broadband only , you simply select broadband only to ‘prove’ it’s possible in your situation

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/

Re: Fibre Upgrade necessary?

Marlbo — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:07:28 GMT

Thanks again for that additional information Iniltous, much appreciated, but it's got to the stage where I'm Googling/getting so much conflicting information that I'm throwing in the towel!

I could always ditch my telephone landline number but connect the phone via the microfilter to the internet number (or throw phone out of the window and use my mobile permanently!)

Re: Fibre Upgrade necessary?

iniltous — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:35:18 GMT

This last message makes no sense whatsoever, if you have a ‘line’ for telephony only , it has no broadband, if you have a broadband and phone connected to a micro filter then that’s clearly PSTN telephony that’s that’s what is being retired so you can’t stay on that PSTN arrangement hence the need to move the phone from the wall socket to the router socket , this is the line /number your DV notification refers to ….not your standalone telephone line , you can’t simply mix and match .

The standalone telephone line will also need converting away from PSTN , but to something called a PDPL (pre digital phone line ) not Digital Voice , the notification for this change is if you haven’t received it yet , will be along ‘soon’ , but has little change to the customer, for one thing the standalone phone doesn’t have a router and obviously no router socket , all the changes are made at the exchange, the only difference for the customer is the need to dial the full national number even on local calls , but many areas have this requirement anyway, a PDPL still uses the telephone socket on the wall not via a broadband micro filter , the notification for this doesn’t mention the router as no router is needed .
The PDPL notification isn’t the same as the DV notification but other customers in a similar situation to you ( with two separate lines ) seem confused as to which ‘line’ the notification is for , as it doesn’t mention the phone number .

Re: Fibre Upgrade necessary?

Marlbo — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:12:21 GMT

"This last message makes no sense whatsoever"

Yes, reading it back you're right Iniltous.

Apologies, I think it's because I've spent so much time on this (days), getting different responses from different people and trying to think of various solutions that my head is spinning, so now I'm just giving up but thanks to all for your input.

Re: Fibre Upgrade necessary?

licquorice — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:25:05 GMT

The solution is extremely simple. One line with broadband only..

Cease the telephony only line completely and cease the telephony portion on the broadband line.