Guide · For trades firms
The landline switch-off: what trades firms need to do before January 2027
Your number is how your work arrives. The old copper network it may still run on is being retired, and Openreach says the move must be complete by January 2027. Here is what is changing, why it matters more for a trades firm, and the checklist to work through with your provider.
The direct answer
Ring your provider this month and plan the move.
Short answer: the UK's old copper phone network, the one traditional landlines run on, is being switched off, and Openreach says the move must be complete by January 2027. In July 2026 it warned that around 350,000 business premises still had not moved, out of about 1.5 million lines left on the old network.
Your number does not have to change and you will not lose it, but the line it lives on will become a digital one that runs over broadband, and that does not happen by itself. If your firm's number is still a traditional landline, ring your provider this month, ask when you are being moved, and plan it, because that number is how your work arrives.
The change itself
What is actually being switched off?
The copper phone network, often called the analogue network, has carried UK landline calls for decades. It is old, it is expensive to keep alive, and it is being retired. Calls are moving to digital lines that run over a broadband connection instead.
For most firms, the change on the day is simple: the same number, but the phone now works through a router or an app instead of a wall socket. The risk is the date. If your line has not been moved before the old network is retired, it will stop ringing.
Openreach put a number on it in July 2026: roughly 350,000 business premises still to move, with six months to go. Its advice to businesses is direct: speak to your provider today, understand which of your services could be affected, and have a clear migration plan well before January 2027.
The bit that is different for trades
Why this matters more for a trades firm than most businesses.
A shop with a dead phone line loses a bit of convenience. A heating firm's number IS the business. It is on the van, on the website, on ten years of fridge magnets, on every Google listing and every old invoice. Work arrives through it, and it mostly arrives while you are on the tools and cannot answer anyway.
The switch-off touches three things you care about:
- The number itself. It moves with you, but only if the move is planned. A rushed migration is where numbers get ported wrong and diverts get forgotten.
- Anything that quietly uses a phone line. Some older alarms, lifts and card machines were built to run over the old network. Openreach's advice is to ask your provider what is affected rather than assume, so walk the office and the yard and list what plugs into a phone socket.
- Power cuts. An old landline worked when the power was off. A digital line needs the broadband up, so ask your provider what backup makes sense if the phone matters to you in an outage.
The useful part
The switch is a good time to sort out how calls are answered.
Here is the useful part. Once your number is digital, the things that were fiddly on copper become straightforward: sending calls where you want them, answering from more than one place, keeping a record of what was said.
Most trades firms have run for years on one physical line, one voicemail nobody checks, and a mobile that rings in a loft. Moving to a digital line is the natural moment to decide the question the copper network let you avoid: when the phone rings and every pair of hands is on a job, who answers?
That is the job Ryku does. It answers your firm's phone, and your email, website chat and social messages with it, in your firm's voice, from your own details: your services, your areas, your prices, your diary. The caller gets an answer instead of a voicemail, the enquiry is captured, and anything that needs your judgement comes to you with the full conversation attached.
Work through it now
Your pre-2027 checklist.
- Find out what your number runs on. If you are not sure, that is the first question for your provider.
- Ask your provider for your migration date and what happens to your number on the day.
- Walk the premises: list anything with a phone line in the back of it, alarms, card machines, lifts, and ask what happens to each.
- Ask about power-cut backup for the new line.
- Decide who answers when you cannot. Set it up before the migration, not after, so the switch is the day your phone gets better instead of the day it goes quiet.
Frequently asked questions
The questions trades firms ask first.
When is the landline switch-off?
Openreach says the move off the old analogue network must be complete by January 2027, and it warned businesses in July 2026 that time was short.
Will I lose my business number?
No. Numbers move to the new digital lines. But the move has to be arranged with your provider, and a badly planned move is how call diverts get missed and old listings end up pointing at a dead line, so start early.
Do I have to do anything, or does it just happen?
Some providers migrate customers automatically, some need you to act. Either way, Openreach's advice is to speak to your provider now and have a plan well before January 2027, rather than find out in the last month.
What happens in a power cut on a digital line?
A digital line needs your broadband working, so in a power cut it will not ring the way an old copper line did. Providers offer backup options; ask about them when you arrange the migration, especially if the phone is how emergency call-outs reach you.
What does Ryku cost?
Plans from £299 a month, first month free.
Where the facts come from
Where the figures come from.
- Openreach warns businesses: just six months left before the UK's old phone network is switched off. Openreach, July 2026. openreach.com/news/openreach-warns-businesses-just-six-months-left-before-the-uks-old-phone-network-is-switched-off
- Openreach says 1.5 million UK analogue phone lines yet to make digital switch. ISPreview, July 2026, reporting Openreach's figures. ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/07/openreach-says-1-5-million-uk-analogue-phone-lines-yet-to-make-digital-switch.html
Get started
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