Further Resources: Fibre Broadband & Changes to Landline Phones

The way that homes and businesses are connected to the telecoms network is changing. Direct links over copper wires between the telephone exchange and your premises are being phased out in favour of fibre optic links for all or part of the connection. Whilst this should bring faster Internet services, it may also bring problems for people who still rely on a landline telephone, particularly in the parts of the parish where mobile telephone signal is poor.

It is important to note that true fibre FTTP connections no longer come with a traditional phone line. If you switch to full-fibre broadband, you will need to move your phone number to a digital phone service that runs over your broadband connection: and all telephone connections will be changed to this new system by 2030 at the latest.

BT no longer manage the telephone network directly: the separate Openreach business manages the telephone exchanges, poles and wires that make up the old BT (formerly General Post Office) network, whilst new providers either share the Openreach network with BT or have built their own networks.

Fibre broadband

Most of the parish can now get super-fast or ultra-fast fibre broadband.

There are two types of ‘fibre’ broadband: fibre-optic broadband based on copper wires between your home and the cabinet (or node) is called ‘FTTC‘ and has a nominal transmission rate (speed) af at least 24 Megabits per second; ‘full fibre’ broadband supplied over a fibre optic cable brought all the way to your premises is ‘FTTP‘ and should give speeds of at least 100 Megabits per second.

The green telecoms cabinet close to the Devil’s Backbone bridge in Avonwick is ‘South Brent 5’, the link between Avonwick and the fibre broadband network. Over the hill in North Huish, Openreach have installed small green boxes to various telegraph poles: these are ‘local nodes’ that do a similar job on a smaller scale.

Is it available to everyone?

Not every supplier covers all the parish: for example, Wildanet supply FTTP in Avonwick but Openreach do not (yet – it’s due to offer it by the end of 2026), whilst in North Huish you can get fibre from Openreach but not Wildanet. Openreach provide the underlying service for customer-facing companies including BT, with the full list of companies who may supply broadband here.

Wherever you live, your maximum broadband speed on FTTC will still depend on the length of cable between you and the distribution point – that’s the South Brent/Gara Bridge exchanges for ordinary broadband and the South Brent 5 cabinet or the miniature ‘local nodes’ in North Huish for superfast broadband – and the condition of those cables.

Switching to FTTP removes the speed constraint of the local copper cables.

Is this connected to better wireless broadband or 4G and 5G?

In short, no. The wireless part of broadband is down to the router/wireless transmitter in your home (the box you plug into your telephone socket, such as a ‘Home Hub’ from BT), and fibre broadband won’t directly affect that part of the system. 4G/5G – superfast mobile broadband – is related to mobile telephone signals, which are entirely separate (although many modern mobile phones can make calls over your wireless Internet connection if necessary via ‘VOLTE’ or ‘WiFi Calling’).

Do I need a six-figure phone number to get fibre broadband?

It doesn’t matter if your telephone number is five or six digits long, and you should not need to change your telephone number to get faster broadband.

Digital phone lines using fibre broadband

Traditional phone lines are being discontinued

Openreach intend to withdraw the traditional telephone service by January 2027 (delayed from January 2025), and true fibre FTTP connections no longer come with a traditional phone line.

This means that the equipment in telephone exchanges that provides the dialling tone and connects your calls when you dial, or which provides the electric signal that rings your telephone, will be switched off, and the telephone socket in your home will stop working. This ‘PSTN’ system will be replaced by digital phone services that work over a broadband connection using an adapter in your premises to connect your telephone. If you don’t change your phone system, you will lose your telephone service.

Some providers – notably PlusNet – no longer offer a telephone service at all on new fibre broadband contracts, so check your contract carefully if you switch to full fibre broadband or accept an offer to take up a new contract.

Digital phone services from your broadband supplier

If you switch to full-fibre broadband, you will now need to move your phone number to a digital phone service that runs over your broadband connection: BT call it “Digital Voice”, Wildanet call it “Phoneline+”, other providers may call it anything they like, but it’s VOBB or VOIP (Voice Over BroadBand or Voice Over Internet Protocol).

Whatever it’s called, it relies on you plugging your telephone into the back of your broadband router (or a separate adapter) rather than into the telephone socket on the wall. If you have internal wiring to extra sockets, extension bells, alarms etc, this will need to be adapted to connect to the socket on your router instead of the ‘master socket’.

Digital telephone services won’t work in a power cut

If you want your digital landline to work in a power cut, you will need to install a back-up battery to power your Internet connection if the mains electricity has failed. Traditional phone lines are powered from the telephone exchange, which has both batteries and a generator to keep lines working for days in case of a power cut: digital phones are not connected to this power supply, and will not work if the power fails.

If you live in a property where you rely on your landline, e.g. where there is no mobile phone signal, your phone provider is obliged to provide a back-up battery that will last at least an hour.

You can also provide your own back-up by purchasing a ‘UPS’ (Uninteruptible Power Supply) to power your broadband router and, if you have one, fibre connection box (ONT).

If you have a care alarm, you should be extra careful

Not all care alarms are compatible with digital phone services. Before switching phone service, tell your phone provider and care alarm supplier to make sure that you won’t lose your service. At the moment, Ofcom have ruled that suppliers must check that your care alarm will still work before you are switched to a digital phone line if you have a care alarm.

Very old phones may not work without an extra adapter

Telephones with a rotary dial, or which don’t have * and # buttons, may need a pulse-to-tone adapter to work with digital phone services.

Extension sockets, bells or fire/burglar alarms connected to the phone line won’t work without adapting your wiring

Because your telephone service will no longer arrive at the ‘master’ socket, extension, bell or alarm wiring from the master socket won’t work unless it is rewired to be connected to the telephone socket on your router instead.

Are there any alternatives to digital phone lines?

Alternative telephone suppliers

You can also ‘port’ your telephone number to a separate VOIP provider and detach your phone number from your broadband service – but beware that doing so can cause your broadband service to be terminated. Having a separate VOIP service can have advantages, such as enabling you to make and receive ‘landline’ calls on a smartphone, for example. You can buy ‘IP’ telephones that connect to VOIP, or VOIP ‘Analogue Telephone Adapters’ to connect almost any traditional telephone to VOIP (some even accept rotary dial telephones!).

The last-ditch back-up for really difficult cases

Openreach are preparing a little-known ‘backup’ solution for people who, for some technical reason, cannot be moved on to a digital phone line. This is known as SOTAP for Analogue and effectively means that the digital conversion will happen at the exchange, with a telephone service supplied via copper wires to your master telephone socket. It will effectively be just like the traditional service, and will work in a power cut. This is expected to be available in 2025, but is expected to last only until 2030. It will only be for existing customers, not new lines.

Where can I find out the latest information?

Here is a link to the latest information about the provision of fibre broadband to the area.

Here is a link to Ofcom’s advice about the switch to digital phone services.