PSTN Switch-Off: Will Your Card Machine, Alarm or Lift Line Still Work?

Any device that plugs into a traditional phone socket can stop working when the analogue phone network closes on 31 January 2027. That includes older card machines, monitored burglar and fire alarms, lift emergency phones, door entry panels, fax and franking machines and telecare alarms. Devices that already connect over broadband, Wi-Fi or a mobile network are not affected. Here is how to check each one.

Why devices are affected, not just phones

For decades the phone line was the easy way for a machine to send a message. A card terminal dialled the bank. An alarm panel dialled a monitoring centre. A lift phone dialled a rescue service. All of them were designed around the analogue network, the PSTN, and its sister service ISDN. Both close on 31 January 2027. Our guide to the PSTN switch-off covers the phone lines themselves.

Digital phone lines carry voice well. They do not always carry the tones and data bursts that older equipment sends. They also lose something the copper line gave for free: power. An analogue line is powered from the exchange, so a device on it could keep working in a power cut. A digital line runs through a router on your mains supply.

Openreach lists the business systems it sees most often on remaining analogue lines: payment terminals, lift emergency telephones and auto-diallers, fire alarm panels and security monitoring, building access controls, automated gates and door entry, and telemetry such as building energy management. The government's guidance adds a point that catches people out: your phone provider does not know what you have plugged in.

Device by device: how to tell and who to call

Card machines that dial out over a phone line

Terminals that connect over broadband, Wi-Fi or a mobile network are unaffected. The ones at risk are older countertop models set up to dial out. Some countertop terminals offer both: Barclaycard's set-up guide for its desktop machine, for example, describes connecting by broadband, by phone line, or by broadband with the phone line as a fallback. If yours was set to phone line only, or uses the phone line as its backup, that route disappears.

What to do

• Look at the back of the terminal or its base. A network cable to the router is fine. A phone cable to a wall socket needs action.
• Ask your payment provider whether the terminal can be switched to broadband or needs replacing, and what a replacement costs.
• Check your contract. A replacement terminal can start a new minimum term, so compare the rates and the exit terms before you agree.
• Think about a second route. A terminal with a mobile SIM keeps taking payments if the broadband fails.

If you are replacing a terminal anyway, it is a sensible time to check what you pay to take cards. Our card machines and payments page shows the options we can arrange, and the guide to card processing fees explains the charges.

Burglar and fire alarms

An alarm that only sounds a bell or siren on the building does not use a phone line. A monitored alarm does: it sends a signal to an alarm receiving centre, which calls you, a keyholder or the emergency services. The British Security Industry Association warns that alarms signalling over the PSTN will fail and need to be upgraded. The National Security Inspectorate is more measured: some systems will not work on a digital line, others will with minor changes, and not every system needs replacing.

Both give the same advice. Contact your alarm company before your line is changed. If the line is switched first, the alarm may look normal on the wall while no longer able to send a signal. If you are quoted for an upgrade, the Inspectorate suggests asking for a detailed quote that explains why the change is needed.

Two more things to check. Your insurance policy may require a monitored alarm in working order, so tell your insurer or broker if signalling is interrupted. And for fire alarms, Openreach points out that the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 makes the responsible person accountable for maintaining life-safety systems, including the route a fire panel uses to send its signal.

Lift emergency phones

The alarm button in a passenger lift connects a trapped person to someone who can send help. Openreach notes that the lift standard BS EN 81-28 and the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations call for a monitored two-way communication system that is available around the clock. Many of these still dial out over a copper line, and the same can apply to refuge intercoms in stairwells and accessible toilets.

The power point matters most here. A lift phone on an analogue line works in a power cut, which is exactly when someone may be stuck. A replacement needs its own battery backup, a mobile network connection, or both. Call your lift maintenance company, ask how the lift phone connects and what it proposes, and test the button after any change. If you rent your premises, the landlord or managing agent may hold the line, so ask them in writing.

Door entry, fax and franking machines

Door entry and gates

Older door entry keypads, gate intercoms and visitor barriers can use a phone line to ring a desk or a phone number when someone presses the button. If the panel rings a phone and has no connection to your computer network, ask the installer how it is wired.

Fax

Fax machines are analogue devices and were not designed for internet-based lines. Ofcom removed fax from the universal service obligations on BT and KCOM for that reason, and advises fax users to look for alternatives such as email. The industry's switchover site says an older machine is unlikely to work, though an adaptor may help in some cases. If a customer, supplier or public body still insists on fax, ask them what they will accept instead.

Franking machines

Openreach lists franking machines among office equipment that often connects through an analogue line. Your supplier can tell you whether your model can connect through your network or needs changing.

Telecare alarms

Telecare covers the pendant and pull-cord alarms that older and disabled people use to call for help. The government puts the number of users at about 2 million. It matters to businesses that run care homes, sheltered or supported housing, and to anyone with a relative who relies on one.

The safeguards are stronger here than for any other device. Major phone providers have signed a government charter, and for telecare users they send an engineer to carry out the switch and test the alarm on the new line. That only happens if the provider knows the alarm is there. Tell the phone provider and the telecare provider, and do not agree to a line change until both have confirmed a plan. A telecare unit on a digital line may not work in a power cut, so ask about battery backup.

A five-step check for your premises

1. List every line on your bills. Include lines you do not recognise. A line with no calls on it may be an alarm or a lift.
2. Trace each one. Walk the building and follow the cable from every phone socket, alarm panel, lift motor room and door panel.
3. Ask each maintainer. For every device, ask: does it use a phone line, will it work on a digital line, and what do you recommend?
4. Order replacements, then the line change. Get the device sorted first, or at the same visit. Agree dates in writing.
5. Test before the old line goes. Run a card payment, send a test signal with your alarm company, press the lift button, ring the door panel. Then test again with the mains switched off at the router.

Once you know what each line does, replacing the lines themselves is the simpler part. Our business telecoms page sets out the broadband and phone options we can arrange, and you can ask for a quote when you are ready.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• GOV.UK: UK transition from analogue to digital landlines
• Openreach: Fewer than 100 days left to move off the old analogue phone network
• Openreach: What the PSTN switch-off means for facilities managers
• Openreach: Digital phone lines for businesses
• National Security Inspectorate: Transition from analogue to digital landlines
• British Security Industry Association: Digital voice and the PSTN switch-off
• Ofcom: Removing fax from the universal service obligations
• GOV.UK: Telecare users urged to speak to telecoms providers