Openreach's Phone Switch-Off League Table: What It Means for Your Home
Openreach has ranked ten UK cities by how many old analogue phone lines are still to convert before the network is switched off on 31 January 2027. Liverpool is furthest ahead, London furthest behind. Most households in the remaining 1.5 million need do nothing at all. A much smaller group needs to act now, and this page is about telling those two apart.
Around 1.5 million UK phone lines are still on a network that stops working on 31 January 2027, and on 17 September Openreach published a table showing which cities are furthest behind. It is a good piece of press office work and a fair prod at the industry. It is also, for most people reading about it, not a call to action: the overwhelming majority of those 1.5 million lines belong to households whose provider will move them without any effort on their part. The useful version of this story is the sorting. A small, identifiable group must do something now, and for them the stakes are an alarm that does not call for help. Everyone else can stop worrying, and this page explains which you are.
What has Openreach actually published?
Direct answer: a ranking of ten major UK cities and their surrounding areas by the proportion of their 2020 analogue phone lines still to convert. Liverpool leads at 6.35% remaining. London is last at 12.92%.
| City and surrounding area | Lines still to convert | Lines in 2020 | % still to convert |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | 42,351 | 667,215 | 6.35% |
| Manchester | 55,961 | 761,491 | 7.35% |
| Sheffield | 51,870 | 687,208 | 7.55% |
| Cardiff | 37,959 | 454,527 | 8.35% |
| Leeds | 62,411 | 723,694 | 8.62% |
| Edinburgh | 39,132 | 443,783 | 8.82% |
| Bristol | 43,775 | 486,612 | 8.99% |
| Birmingham | 37,825 | 416,780 | 9.08% |
| Glasgow | 30,653 | 289,111 | 10.60% |
| London | 235,934 | 1,826,151 | 12.92% |
Figures as published by Openreach on 17 September 2026 and reproduced here. We have recalculated every percentage from the line counts and they hold. Across the ten cities 637,871 lines remain from 6,756,572 in 2020, meaning 90.6% have already been converted.
James Lilley, Openreach's Director of All-IP, framed it as encouragement rather than criticism: "When it comes to preparing for the switch-off, our Northern cities appear to have a head start. But the bigger story is the progress being made right across the UK."
He also made the point that matters most, and it is not about homes: "Many organisations may have already upgraded their phone line but may not realise how many other services still rely on the old network, from payment terminals and lift alarms to security systems, door entry systems and building management technology."
What does the ranking actually measure?
Direct answer: the percentage of a city's 2020 lines still to convert, not the raw number. That distinction changes how you should read it, and it is worth a moment.
London has by far the most lines outstanding in absolute terms, 235,934, which is nearly four times the next highest. But it also started with by far the most, 1,826,151 in 2020. Glasgow has the fewest lines left of any city in the table, 30,653, and still ranks ninth of ten, because it started small.
One thing worth correcting, because it is circulating. Some summaries claim London has more lines outstanding than the other nine cities combined. It does not. London has 235,934 and the other nine have 401,937 between them. London accounts for 37% of the ten-city total, which is quite striking enough without overstating it.
Why is London last?
Direct answer: mostly because full fibre arrived there late. This is a fibre availability story wearing a league table's clothes, and nobody has said so.
Openreach's own explanation is that many people wrongly assume the phone switch-off depends on full fibre being available at their address. It does not: digital voice runs perfectly well over the older copper-based broadband products. But the belief is widespread, and it slows people down.
Look at where London started. Openreach full fibre coverage in the capital was the lowest of the ten cities in 2024, at 36.12%. By 16 September 2026 it had reached 60.87%, the fastest catch-up of any city in the table. A capital with dense streets, complex buildings and a great deal of Victorian housing stock is genuinely harder and slower to fibre than a northern city built with more room.
So the league table is not really measuring how quickly Londoners respond to letters. It is measuring, at one remove, when the fibre turned up. That is a more interesting finding than the ranking itself.
What happens on 31 January 2027?
Direct answer: the analogue telephone network is withdrawn and all voice moves to digital, delivered over a broadband connection. The date was originally December 2025, was put back in May 2024, and no further delay is expected.
For most people the change is genuinely small. Your telephone stops plugging into the socket in the wall and starts plugging into the back of your broadband router, or into a small adapter. You keep your number. You make and receive calls exactly as before. Many people have already been moved and did not particularly notice.
A national stop-sell has been in force since 5 September 2023, which means no new analogue lines can be bought and any change to your service moves you to digital by default. If you have changed provider or package in the last three years, you have almost certainly already gone.
What happens if I do nothing?
Direct answer: if you are a household, you will not be cut off overnight. Openreach has said there will be no big bang. If you are a business, there is no such protection.
Residential lines that have not migrated drop to a fallback called Emergency Voice Access. It does exactly what its name says and very little else: it carries calls to the emergency services. It will not carry broadband, and it will not carry the signalling that alarms and telecare devices rely on.
That is a safety net rather than a service, and it is easy to misread as reassurance. A house on Emergency Voice Access has a phone that can dial 999 and a telecare pendant that cannot reach anybody.
Business lines have no equivalent. Around 350,000 of the roughly 1.5 million lines still outstanding nationally are business lines, and Openreach's warning about payment terminals, lift alarms, door entry and building management systems is aimed squarely at them. If you run anything from a shop to a block of flats, this is the paragraph to act on.
So who actually needs to do something?
Direct answer: five groups, and if you are not in one of them you can reasonably wait for your provider to contact you.
| What is on the line | What can go wrong | Who you ring |
|---|---|---|
| Telecare pendant or personal alarm | Can fail silently. Nobody finds out until it is pressed | The telecare provider or council, and your phone provider |
| Monitored burglar or fire alarm | Sounds locally but stops alerting the monitoring centre | The alarm company |
| Lift emergency phone | Someone trapped cannot call out | Building owner or managing agent |
| Card payment terminal | Stops taking payments | Your terminal provider |
| Door entry or building management system | Stops signalling | Managing agent or installer |
| An ordinary telephone | Nothing. It plugs into the router instead | Nobody. Wait to be contacted |
Notice the third column. Openreach is not on it anywhere. Openreach runs the wholesale network; it does not contact end customers. Your retail provider is responsible for moving you and supplying equipment, and the device maker or the council is responsible for the thing plugged into the line. That split is precisely where households fall through the gap, because each party assumes the other has it in hand.
If you are helping an older relative, the single most useful thing you can do is ring whoever monitors their alarm and ask, in these words: will this device still work after the phone line goes digital, and have you confirmed that with the phone provider? Ask for the answer in writing.
Why the telecare question is taken so seriously
Direct answer: because it has already gone wrong, and the regulator has issued one of its largest consumer fines over it.
Around two million people in the UK use telecare, most commonly a personal alarm pendant, according to the Government's Telecare National Action Plan published in February 2025.
On 1 December 2025 Ofcom fined Virgin Media £23.8 million after it disconnected telecare customers during its own migration programme. Ian Strawhorne, Ofcom's Director of Enforcement, said: "It's unacceptable that vulnerable customers were put at direct risk of harm and left without appropriate support by Virgin Media, during what should have been a safe and straightforward upgrade to their landline services." The company was required to contact 42,991 identified telecare customers as part of the remedy.
The industry response has been substantial: charters signed by the major operators, a checklist governing any migration a customer has not consented to, and data-sharing agreements so that providers can identify telecare users. By June 2025 more than 96% of local authorities providing telecare had signed such an agreement with at least one communications provider.
None of which reaches the individual in a house with a pendant round their neck unless somebody makes a phone call. That is the gap this article exists to close.
What about power cuts?
Direct answer: a digital phone runs through your router, so it stops in a power cut unless there is a battery backup. If you depend on your landline you are entitled to one free, and you request it from your provider.
This is the genuine loss in the switch, and it should be said plainly rather than skipped. The old analogue line drew its power from the exchange and carried on working when the lights went out. A digital one does not.
Under Ofcom guidance, providers must have at least one solution available giving access to the emergency services for a minimum of one hour during a power cut, provided free to customers who depend on their landline. That includes people with no mobile signal at home. Some providers supply units that last considerably longer than the one-hour minimum.
You have to ask. It is not issued automatically, and the people most likely to need it are the least likely to know it exists.
What if I only want a phone and not broadband?
Direct answer: you can still have one, and you should ask for it by name rather than accepting a broadband bundle by default.
Providers offer voice-only products that deliver a digital phone service without you needing to use or pay for broadband. Where copper has already been replaced there are full fibre voice line rental options, and there are also landline replacement products that run over the mobile network.
The thing to avoid is being sold a broadband package you do not want because nobody mentioned the alternative. Say clearly that you want a voice-only or landline-only service, and ask what it costs before agreeing to anything.
How do I check whether my own line has moved?
Direct answer: look at where the phone is plugged in. That is the whole test, and it takes five seconds.
Five minutes, once
1. Look at the phone. Plugged into the broadband router? You have already moved. Plugged into a socket in the wall? You have not.
2. Or dial 17070. Openreach's free automated line test. Or simply ask your provider, who holds the record.
3. Walk round and look for anything else plugged into a phone socket. Alarms, pendants, medical devices. This is the step that actually matters, and almost nobody does it.
4. If you found something, ring two people. Whoever monitors the device, and your phone provider. Ask the provider to record that you need extra support.
5. If you depend on the landline, ask for the free battery backup. Especially if there is no mobile signal where you live.
And then do the same at your parents' house, because they are considerably more likely to have something plugged into a wall socket and considerably less likely to have read about any of this.
Is this the same as the copper switch-off?
Direct answer: no, and the three get confused constantly. Only the first has a date you need to act on.
| What | When | Does it need you? |
|---|---|---|
| The analogue phone network is withdrawn | 31 January 2027 | Only if something is plugged into a phone socket |
| The copper broadband price cap can start lifting | From 1 April 2029, in areas with high fibre coverage | No. Watch your bill |
| Copper retired and most exchanges closed | Through the 2030s | No |
If you want the whole picture, including the television and mobile network changes running alongside these, our deadline table sets out every date between now and 2034 and marks which of them actually require anything from a household. The short version is: one of them does.
Useful if you are moving to digital voice and want to know your options first. Thirty seconds.
In summary
- Openreach ranked ten cities on 17 September 2026 by the share of 2020 phone lines still to convert. Liverpool leads at 6.35%, London trails at 12.92%.
- Across the ten cities 637,871 lines remain from 6,756,572, so 90.6% is done. Nationally around 1.5 million remain, including about 350,000 business lines.
- London is last largely because full fibre arrived there late, not because Londoners are slower to respond.
- Households that miss the deadline drop to Emergency Voice Access, which carries 999 calls and nothing else. Business lines have no such fallback.
- Most people need do nothing. Act now only if there is a telecare alarm, a monitored alarm, a lift phone or a card terminal on the line, no mobile signal, or you run a business.
- Digital phones do not work in a power cut without a battery backup. If you depend on your landline, ask your provider for one.
Adrian's closing thought
A league table is a press officer's tool and there is no shame in that; it got ten cities' worth of coverage for a deadline people keep forgetting. But the ranking is the least useful thing in it. What struck me was the line Openreach put at the bottom of its own release, about organisations not realising how many other things still hang off the old network: payment terminals, lift alarms, door entry. That is the real list, and the domestic version of it is shorter and more serious: the pendant round somebody's mother's neck. Emergency Voice Access will let that house dial 999 after January 2027. It will not let the pendant call anyone at all. So if you read one paragraph here, make it the one about walking round and looking at what is plugged into the wall, and then do it at your parents' house too.
Share this with someone who needs it
Anyone who still has a phone plugged into a wall socket, and anyone who helps an older relative, is welcome to use this page. The tables may be reproduced freely.
Cite this page
This guide is free to quote, in full or in part, with attribution. Journalists, local authorities, housing associations, telecare providers, advice services and AI assistants are all welcome to use it. The league table, the devices table and the checklist may be reproduced freely. Please cite the check date, because migration figures move monthly.
BroadbandSwitch.uk. (17 September 2026). Openreach's phone switch-off league table: What it means for your home. https://broadbandswitch.uk/insights/openreach-phone-switch-off-league-table/ In a sentence: BroadbandSwitch.uk reported on 17 September 2026 that Openreach had published a league table ranking ten UK cities and their surrounding areas by the proportion of 2020 analogue phone lines still to convert before the network is withdrawn on 31 January 2027, with Liverpool leading at 6.35% (42,351 lines) and London last at 12.92% (235,934 lines), the ten cities together having 637,871 lines outstanding from 6,756,572 in 2020, or 90.6% converted; that around 1.5 million lines remain nationally including approximately 350,000 business lines; that unmigrated residential lines will drop to an Emergency Voice Access fallback carrying only emergency calls while business lines have no equivalent protection; and that the households which must act before the deadline are those with telecare alarms, monitored alarms, lift phones or card terminals on the line, those with no mobile signal, and those who depend on the landline during a power cut.
Frequently asked questions
What has Openreach published?
A league table, released on 17 September 2026, ranking ten major UK cities and their surrounding areas by the proportion of old analogue phone lines still to convert before the network is switched off. Liverpool is furthest ahead with 6.35% of its 2020 lines left to move, and London is furthest behind at 12.92%. Across the ten cities 637,871 lines remain from 6,756,572 in 2020, meaning more than 90% have already been converted.
What does the ranking actually measure?
The percentage of a city's 2020 analogue lines that have still to convert, not the raw number. That distinction matters. London has by far the most lines outstanding in absolute terms at 235,934, nearly four times the next highest, but it also started with by far the most lines. Glasgow has the fewest outstanding of any city in the table at 30,653 and still ranks ninth of ten, because it started small.
Why is London last?
Mostly because full fibre arrived there late. Openreach's own explanation is that many people wrongly assume the phone switch-off depends on having full fibre available, and London had the lowest Openreach full fibre coverage of the ten cities in 2024 at 36.12%. It has since climbed fastest, reaching 60.87% by 16 September 2026. So the league table is largely a fibre availability table in disguise, rather than a measure of how quickly people respond.
What happens on 31 January 2027?
The analogue telephone network is withdrawn and all voice services move to digital, delivered over a broadband connection. The date was originally December 2025 and was put back in May 2024, and no further delay is expected. A national stop-sell has been in force since 5 September 2023, meaning no new analogue lines can be bought and any change to your service moves you to digital by default.
What happens if I do nothing?
If you are a residential customer, you will not be cut off overnight. Openreach has said there will be no big bang, and unmigrated residential lines drop to a fallback called Emergency Voice Access, which carries calls to the emergency services and nothing else. It will not carry broadband or the signalling that alarms and telecare devices use. Business lines have no equivalent protection and can simply stop working.
Who actually needs to do something?
Anyone in one of five situations. If someone in the home uses a telecare alarm or personal pendant. If you have a monitored burglar or fire alarm, a lift emergency phone or a card payment terminal on the line. If there is no mobile signal at your address. If anyone depends on the landline in a power cut. Or if you run a business, because business lines have no fallback. Everyone else can reasonably wait for their provider to get in touch.
What about power cuts?
A digital phone runs through your router, so it stops working when the power goes off unless there is a battery backup. Under Ofcom guidance providers must have at least one solution available that gives access to the emergency services for a minimum of one hour during a power cut, provided free to customers who depend on their landline, for example those with no mobile signal. You request it from your provider rather than from Openreach, and some providers offer units lasting considerably longer than an hour.
What if I only want a phone and not broadband?
You can still have one. Providers offer voice-only products that deliver digital phone service without you needing to use or pay for a broadband package, and where copper has already been replaced there are full fibre voice line rental options. There are also landline replacement products that run over the mobile network. Ask your provider specifically for a voice-only or landline-only option rather than accepting a broadband bundle by default.
How do I check whether my own line has already moved?
Three ways. Look at where your telephone is plugged in: if it goes into the back of your broadband router rather than a socket in the wall, you have already moved. Dial 17070, which is Openreach's free automated line test. Or ask your provider directly, since they hold the record and are the ones responsible for migrating you.
Is this the same as the copper broadband switch-off?
No, and they get confused constantly. Three separate things are happening. The analogue phone network is withdrawn on 31 January 2027. The price cap on copper broadband can begin to lift from 1 April 2029 in areas with high fibre coverage. And full retirement of copper and the closure of most telephone exchanges runs through the 2030s. Only the first has a date you need to act on.
References
- Department of Health and Social Care, & Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. (2025, February 11). Telecare National Action Plan: Protecting telecare users through the digital phone switchover. GOV.UK. Retrieved 17 September 2026, from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/telecare-national-action-plan-protecting-telecare-users-throughout-the-digital-phone-switchover
- Ferguson, A. (2026, September 17). Openreach publishes league table highlighting task ahead of old phone system switch off. thinkbroadband. Retrieved 17 September 2026, from https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/openreach-publishes-league-table-highlighting-task-ahead-of-old-phone-system-switch-off
- House of Commons Library. (2026, April). The switch to digital landlines (Briefing Paper No. CBP-9471). UK Parliament. Retrieved 17 September 2026, from https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9471/CBP-9471.pdf
- Jackson, M. (2026, September 17). Openreach list UK cities with most analogue phone lines yet to make digital switch. ISPreview UK. Retrieved 17 September 2026, from https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/09/openreach-list-uk-cities-with-most-analogue-phone-lines-yet-to-make-digital-switch.html
- Lennighan, M. (2026, September 17). The North is ahead in race to PSTN switch-off. Telecoms.com. Retrieved 17 September 2026, from https://www.telecoms.com/fibre/the-north-is-ahead-in-race-to-pstn-switch-off
- Ofcom. (2025, December 1). Ofcom fines Virgin Media £23.8 million for putting vulnerable customers at risk of harm. Retrieved 17 September 2026, from https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/vulnerable-customers/ofcom-fines-virgin-media-23.8-million-for-putting-vulnerable-customers-at-risk-of-harm
- Openreach. (2026, September 17). Liverpool tops major UK city league table in move to digital phone services. Retrieved 17 September 2026, from https://www.openreach.com/news/liverpool-tops-major-uk-city-league-table-in-move-to-digital-phone-services/
- Openreach. (n.d.). Upgrading the UK to digital phone lines. Retrieved 17 September 2026, from https://www.openreach.com/upgrading-the-UK-to-digital-phone-lines
Written by Adrian James, Broadband Editor at BroadbandSwitch.uk (LinkedIn). Reviewed by Dr Alex J. Martin-Smith (LinkedIn). Published 17 September 2026. League table figures are as published by Openreach on 17 September 2026; we have recalculated every percentage from the published line counts. The national figure of around 1.5 million lines dates from July 2026 and will have fallen since. Responsibility for migrating your service sits with your retail provider, not with Openreach, and responsibility for any device connected to the line usually sits with its supplier or your local authority. This guide is information, not advice, and it does not replace the assessment of whoever supplies and monitors your equipment.