112 more exchanges join Openreach's Stop Sell. Is your digital phone ready for a power cut?
Openreach has named another 619,724 premises where copper lines will stop being sold, and says the analogue phone network closes in under four months. A survey out the same day says power cuts are now the most common cause of lost connections.
Openreach published the 26th tranche of its FTTP Priority Exchange programme on 8 October: 112 more exchanges covering 619,724 premises, ISPreview reports. These are areas where more than 75 per cent of premises can get full fibre. Once Stop Sell starts in an area, copper based phone and broadband products can no longer be sold to premises that can order full fibre, which becomes the only option there. Openreach gives twelve months' notice, so this batch takes effect on about 4 November 2027.
Where it leaves the totals
According to ISPreview, this update takes the total number of notified Stop Sell exchanges, including trial sites, to 2,325, and the number of UK premises covered by Openreach's Stop Sell rules to around 16.4 million. Stop Sell applies premises by premises, so a site that cannot yet get full fibre continues to be served by copper based broadband. ISPreview also points out that the list is tentative and that exchanges are often moved between tranches, so it is worth checking your own exchange on Openreach's Stop Sell page rather than relying on a list.
Two programmes, one deadline
Stop Sell is the full fibre programme. Running alongside it is the retirement of traditional analogue phone services, PSTN and WLR, which ISPreview says is due to complete by 31 January 2027 on both copper and fibre lines. Openreach's Managed Customer Migrations Director, James Lilley, said retiring legacy copper services would help "ensure customers are ready for the closure of the PSTN in less than four months' time, when everyone will need a digital phone service."
The power cut question
The same day, ISPreview reported on a Uswitch commissioned Opinium survey of 2,000 UK adults, carried out between 29 September and 2 October. Among people who had lost their connection in the past year, 42 per cent said a power cut was the cause, ahead of provider faults and router problems at 31 per cent each. In rural areas the figure was 63 per cent, against 28 per cent in towns and cities. The survey found 26 per cent of respondents now have a digital landline that runs through their broadband router, and 32 per cent did not know a power cut can stop a digital phone working. ISPreview is cautious about the numbers, noting that opinion surveys often reflect perception more than reality and that the sample is too small for a credible regional split, although the survey put the South West second, at 56 per cent.
The mechanism behind it is simple. ISPreview explains that old analogue lines were often powered from the exchange, while a digital phone usually plugs into the router, so it stops when the power does unless something keeps the router running. It says most of the major broadband providers will give vulnerable users a free battery backup unit, and other customers can get one at a cost.
What this means for your business
Two jobs, and they belong together. First, check whether your premises sit in a Stop Sell area. If they do and you are still on copper, you will not be able to add a line, move or upgrade on the old products, so plan the move to full fibre and digital voice before you need it, not on the day you need it. Second, make a list of everything that relies on your phone line or router: handsets, card machines, alarms, door entry, lift lines. Decide which of those must keep working in a power cut, then decide how, whether that is a battery backup on the router, a 4G failover line or calls diverting to mobiles. If you are in Exeter or across the South West and want help working through both lists, we can go through them with you.
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