Big Switch Off Myths Busted: 5 Things UK Businesses Still Get Wrong About the PSTN Shutdown

The UK's analogue phone network is being switched off.After more than a century of service, the Public Switched Telephone Network(PSTN) — the copper-line system that has carried Britain's calls since theVictorian era, is being retired, with the full shutdown due by January 2027.

You'd think a change this big would be impossible tomisunderstand. Yet a surprising number of UK businesses are still operating onassumptions that are out of date, half-true, or flat-out wrong, and thoseassumptions could leave them scrambling when their lines go quiet.

Let's set the record straight on five of the mostpersistent myths.

Myth 1: "It's been delayed before; it'll be delayedagain"

The reality: Don't bank on it.

It's true that the original December 2025 deadline waspushed back to January 2027, largely to protect vulnerable customers andtelecare users. But that extension wasn't a reprieve for businesses, it was afinal adjustment to make sure no one gets left behind.

The migration is already well underway. Openreach hasstopped selling new analogue lines in most of the country, and exchanges arebeing withdrawn from service area by area. The switch-off isn't a singlecliff-edge date; it's a rolling process that may reach your business wellbefore January 2027.

Waiting for another delay isn't a strategy. It's a gamble and the downside is your business losing its phone lines with no migration plan in place.

Myth 2: "This only affects my desk phones"

The reality: It affects far more than you think.

The PSTN doesn't just carry voice calls. Decades' worthof business-critical equipment quietly depends on those same copper lines,including:

1. Card payment terminals that dial out over a phone line

2. Intruder and fire alarm systems that signal to monitoring centers

3. Lift emergency phones (a legal requirement in mostcommercial buildings)

4. Door entry and access control systems

5. CCTV systems, franking machines and fax lines

Older broadband connections (ADSL and FTTC, which runover the copper network)

If any of these are still connected via an analogue line,they'll stop working when the line is withdrawn. The businesses that get caughtout by the Big Switch Off usually aren't the ones who forgot about their phones,they're the ones who forgot about everything else plugged into the wall.

Myth 3: "We'll lose our business phone number"

The reality: Your number can come with you.

This is one of the biggest anxieties holding businessesback, and it's almost entirely unfounded. UK number portability rules mean youhave the right to keep your existing phone number when you move to a newprovider or a new technology.

When you migrate to a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)system, your existing landline number is "ported" across and worksexactly as before. Your customers dial the same number they always have; thecall simply travels over the internet instead of copper.

In fact, VoIP usually makes your number moreflexible, not less. The same business number can ring on your desk phone, yourmobile and your laptop, wherever you happen to be working.

Myth 4: "Internet calling isn't reliable enough forbusiness"

The reality: Modern VoIP is business-grade, and most UK calls already travel this way.

This myth dates to the early days of internet calling,when patchy broadband made for patchy calls. Things have moved on dramatically.With a decent business broadband connection, VoIP call quality now matches orexceeds traditional landlines, HD voice is standard on most modern systems.

It's also worth remembering that the major UK networkshave already moved their core infrastructure to digital. When you make a"landline" call today, much of its journey is already overinternet-based networks. The switch-off simply completes a transition that'sbeen happening behind the scenes for years.

Myth 5: "Switching will be expensive anddisruptive"

The reality: Most businesses end up saving money, andthe switch is simpler than you'd expect.

Traditional business phone setups carry costs that havequietly stacked up over the years: line rental on every channel, separatemobile contracts, call charges, PBX hardware maintenance, and engineercall-outs every time something needs changing.

Cloud-based systems sweep most of that away. There's noon-site phone system to maintain, adding or removing users takes minutes ratherthan engineer visits, and calls between sites or team members are typicallyfree. Bundling your landline, mobile and messaging into a single per-user priceusually works out cheaper than paying for each separately, often significantlyso.

As for disruption: a well-managed migration runs your newsystem alongside the old one until everything is tested, then ports yournumbers across. For most small and medium businesses, the changeover itselfhappens with little or no downtime.

The bottom line

The Big Switch Off isn't something happening to UK Businesses, it's an opportunity to replace ageing, expensive infrastructure with something more flexible and cheaper to run. The businesses that struggle will be the ones who believed the myths and left it too late.

The ones that thrive will be those who treated January2027 not as a deadline to dread, but as a deadline to beat.

How Mobex can help?

Mobex makes the move off the old network simple. We bringyour business landline, mobiles and messaging together in one cloud-basedsystem, with one provider and one predictable per-user price, no PBX hardwareto maintain, no engineer call-outs, and your existing number ported acrossseamlessly.

Our team handles the migration end to end: auditing whatyou have today, running the new system alongside the old until you're happy,and switching you over with no downtime.

Find out more at https://www.mobex.biz/uk/switch-off.

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