Smart Landline Network

BT’s Old Landline Network Is Shutting Down – Here’s Why SecondRing Is the Smart Move

If you’ve seen headlines saying “BT PSTN is shutting down”, you’re not imagining things. The UK’s traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) – the copper-based system that’s powered landlines for decades – is being retired and replaced with fully digital phone services. BT and Openreach plan to turn off the old analogue network completely and move everyone to digital phone lines by the end of January 2027. Openreach+1

That means every business and household still relying on an old BT analogue line will have to move. The only question is who you move to.

You can wait for BT to move you on their terms… or you can choose a provider that puts price, flexibility and service first. That’s where SecondRing comes in.

In this post, we’ll explain what the PSTN switch-off actually means, why sticking with a legacy landline is a risk, and why switching to SecondRing now could save you money, stress and time.

What does “PSTN/BT is shutting down” actually mean?

For years, your landline has run over copper cables using analogue technology. It was world-class in the 20th century, but today it’s:

Fragile and increasingly prone to faults
Expensive to maintain compared to modern networks
Not built for how we work now – cloud apps, remote teams, flexible working

The telecoms industry – led by BT and Openreach – is replacing this ageing PSTN with fully digital, internet-based calling. Every line will move to IP (VoIP) technology, where calls travel over a broadband connection instead of old copper pairs. BT Business+1

By 2027, the old platform will be shut down across the UK. Traditional analogue and ISDN lines will no longer work. If a business hasn’t moved to digital by then, it risks losing phone service altogether until it migrates.

So “PSTN/BT shutting down” doesn’t mean landlines are disappearing – it means the old way of delivering them is. If you act early, you can upgrade to a modern, flexible, low-cost phone service that does more for your money.

Why waiting until the last minute is a bad idea

It’s tempting to think: “BT will sort it, I’ll deal with it later.” But leaving everything to the last minute is risky:

More faults, more outages – as the PSTN ages, resilience incidents are already rising, meaning more unexpected downtime and repair delays. BT Business+1
Costs rarely go down – maintaining old infrastructure becomes more expensive as fewer people use it.
A last-minute rush – the closer we get to switch-off, the more overloaded engineers, porting teams and providers will be.

Moving now, on your schedule, means you avoid last-minute panic and have time to choose the provider and setup that actually suits your business rather than just accepting whatever you’re pushed onto.

Why SecondRing beats sticking with a legacy BT line

You’ve got plenty of options for digital phones – so why choose SecondRing?

Because our whole model is built around three things that matter in the real world:

Price – we aim to be the UK’s cheapest landline
Free business features included as standard
UK-based support that actually picks up the phone

Let’s break those down.

1. We aim to be the UK’s cheapest landline

Lots of providers shout about “cheap calls”, then bury the real price in bundles, bolt-ons and small print. SecondRing is different.

Our mission is simple: be the cheapest landline option in the UK while still delivering rock-solid, business-grade service.

That means:

Clear, transparent tariffs – no nasty surprises on the bill
No old-school line-rental for copper you don’t even need any more
Sharp rates to UK landlines, UK mobiles and popular international destinations

If you’re currently paying for a traditional BT landline, there’s a very good chance we can cut that bill. Once you strip away line rental and random add-ons, a SecondRing digital landline often comes in significantly cheaper each month.

We’re confident enough to say it plainly:

SecondRing is designed to be the UK’s cheapest landline – without cutting corners on quality.

2. Free business features at no extra cost

In the PSTN world, every extra feature meant another charge: call forwarding, hunt groups, voicemail, caller display, and so on.

With SecondRing, business-grade features come included free of charge – no nickel-and-diming, no surprise extras.

Depending on your plan, you can unlock things like:

Call forwarding & simultaneous ring – send calls to your desk phone and mobile at the same time so you never miss important customers.
Hunt groups / ring groups – share one number across a team (e.g. Sales or Support) so the next available person picks up.
Auto-attendant / IVR – “Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Support” – giving you a professional image from day one.
Voicemail to email – voicemails land in your inbox so you can listen anywhere.
Time-of-day routing – send calls to the office during opening hours, then to on-call staff or voicemail after hours.

These are the kinds of tools that used to require a big phone system in a cupboard and an even bigger invoice. With SecondRing, they’re cloud-based and included, not sold back to you as bolt-ons.

3. A UK-based support team that’s on your side

Price matters – but support is what you notice on the day something goes wrong.

With SecondRing you get:

UK-based engineers and support staff who understand UK networks, porting and BT dependencies
Help with number porting, call flows, handsets and softphones
Real people, not just scripts – if your phones are down, we know it’s urgent

Because we focus on landlines and VoIP, you’re speaking to specialists, not a generic “quad-play” call centre juggling TV packages and mobile upgrades.

What switching from BT to SecondRing looks like

Moving away from a traditional BT line sounds scary, but in practice it’s straightforward:

Tell us your existing phone number and provider.
We confirm we can port the number and agree a migration date.
You plug in your IP handset, adapter or softphone app (we’ll guide you).
On the agreed porting day, your number moves to SecondRing and starts ringing on your new service.

In most cases, there’s little or no downtime. You keep the number your customers already know – you just move it onto a cheaper, smarter, future-proof platform.

A future-proof landline that costs less

The BT/PSTN switch-off isn’t optional; it’s happening across the whole UK, regardless of provider. The real choice is:

Let a legacy provider move you when it suits them,
or
Take control now and choose something better for your business.

With SecondRing, you get:

A modern digital landline ready for the post-PSTN world
Some of the lowest landline costs in the UK – we’re built to be the cheapest
Free, built-in business features that other providers charge extra for
A friendly, UK-based support team to help you at every step

If you’re still on a BT analogue line, now is the perfect time to review your options.

Talk to SecondRing today and see how much you can save before the old BT network finally goes dark – and upgrade to the UK’s cheapest, feature-rich landline while you’re at it.