Landline phones to be axed by 2025

They might have changed their mind
www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/20055241.bt-pause-plans-switch-off-analogue-landlines-hampshire---say-sorry-worrying-vulnerable-customers/

Another excuse to forget about those that don't have or don't want to use broadband technology.
Our landline is now digital and goes through our wifi hub, but no one has yet explained just what will happen if the wifi goes down as we have everything on BT - mobile, landline and TV and on a couple of occasions before Christmas, the whole lot actually did just that - we had no TV, mobile or landline for several hours which caused absolute chaos to those working from home !

We were in an area worst affected by Storm Arwen and there were huge problems with the lack of phones. We still had an elderly corded handset and were able to make calls with that but most people were utterly marooned.

As a result, BT is thinking again about the roll out. As far as I can tell, it will happen eventually but there will be more of a safety net. There will be battery back ups and so on for when comms are down due to weather and people like my mum who don’t have BB will be offered a different solution.

You can read here about it. newsroom.bt.com/were-pausing-our-digital-voice-plans-for-consumers-while-we-work-on-a-more-resilient-rollout/

I well remember some really stormy weather a few years ago, when a friend’s elderly neighbours had lost their landline connection.
They asked friend for help, so she phoned BT on their behalf, to get it restored - emphasising that they were elderly and frail, so it was urgent.

Young bloke on the other end: ‘Can’t they use their mobiles?’
Typical attitude, I dare say.

Power cuts aren't unusual here, so if the power goes off so will the communications - and the mobile signal isn't brilliant (if that still works or if the phone doesn't run out of charge). At present we plug in the old analogue phone when we get a power cut. Being in a rural area we need to be able to summon help if necessary.

Exactly Septimia I'm in the same situation.
I'm glad to hear there's some rethinking going on.

The telephone lines here are overhead and therefore vulnerable to storm disruption. And we have no mobile phone signal without walking to the bottom of the garden. It’s by no means an unusual situation in rural areas.

Everything will still get ported over as planned by 2025, they are just re-thinking how they are going to do it.

I didn't know, but I don't think it's a good idea. I agree with previous posters as to the reasons and what about the very elderly/disabled who perhaps can cope better with a landline. At least most people are able to dial the emergency numbers. Some mobiles can be complicated, it took me a while to get used to mine.

I think its worth pointing out that we won't just have to rely on our mobiles. We'll still have a landline but the technology it operates on will be different.

Good links on here. Thanks to everyone posting them. Well worth reading.

I live in rural Cornwall and we went digital just over a year ago after fibre cable was laid. It means the copper cable is no longer needed.

Not just homes but schools, hospitals and business rely on the copper cable that's been in place since 1876 apparently. It now can't cope with the amount of data that is transferred these days. Its use goes beyond just making calls.

We still have our landline and use it occasionally as the speaker facility on it is brilliant. However, we kept it because a few friends and one family member have no mobile signal in their area and prefer to do landline to landline calls.

The switch off will happen but I very much doubt it will happen in 2025.
This was posted just under a week ago (UK parliament - House of Common) statement.

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9471

We ain't be losing landlines, they'll just work a different way.
It was the same when TV changed from analogue to digital. Some people needed new devices but it all worked OK.

Whilst we will still have landlines, the fact that they will work through the wifi is a concern. My wifi goes off frequently. Several times a week it cuts out around ten times a day for a few minutes, which would be enough to cut off any phone call you are on. Around once a month it cuts out for a couple of hours.

I hasten to add I am not adept with technology.

Our county has poor mobile coverage and when the schools were closed the rural based children could not do their work or submit it.
All the village telephone boxes are used for defribulators etc.
.We have kept an old landline phone and have a socket in the kitchen that does not link in to the mobile system.

I have had no broadband for the last 3 years, because it kept breaking down and being off for 3 or 4 weeks at a time - bt hopeless at organising engineer's visit.

So I will have no landline, if it has to work via broadband.