Rethinking Your Landline

Landlines as we know them will soon be a thing of the past. By 2025, making calls via a copper line into our homes will be replaced by calls over the internet — something Ofcom are calling “The Future of Voice”.

- Andy Webb

I'm sure for a lot of you this won't make any difference. Personally I've not had a landline for the last four years, and even before, though I connected a phone, it wasn't used for many years. Instead all my calls are made via my mobile phone.

But three quarters of homes still have a landline, and that figure is even higher for those over 65. When the switchover happens, you'll need to plug your phone into your broadband router rather than a phone socket.

This could require new digital telephones or adaptors. If you don't have the internet right now, a new router will be provided for free, and in some cases that might require engineers to visit. You won't have to pay any more than you do right now though.

The big concern is that you'll no longer be able to make a call if there's a power cut. Similarly, if your internet goes down there won't be a line to use. Even people who use a mobile phone more and more have liked the security of a landline as a back up.