You’ve probably heard that there’s a major change coming to the way we deliver telephone lines. Right now, the chances are if you use a phone line for your business, your calls will still be delivered through an old copper connection. We may be living in a digital world where customers can place an order at the swipe of a screen, but old copper phone networks are still very much part of everyday business. But not for much longer.
Across the UK, there are plans to replace and upgrade old copper phone networks with new fibre networks. In the same way that the UK’s televisions changed from analogue to digital with the Digital TV Switchover in recent years, now it’s the time for our phone lines to join the 21st Century. In most of the country, BT is replacing its old copper networks with modern fibre, but here in Hull and East Yorkshire, KCOM is pioneering the way with our own full fibre network.
If you have a copper phone line or ADSL broadband as part of your business setup, this will affect you and you will need to take action if you want to stay connected.
We will be contacting you shortly to discuss how this fibre upgrade will affect your business and to work with you to make sure you have the best possible, and seamless, service going forward. So be ready for the call and, if you need an engineer visit, we’ll get you booked in as soon as possible.
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Why is this happening?
Legacy copper services such as analogue phone lines and ADSL broadband are old and no longer fit for purpose. Most of the copper phone lines in Hull and East Yorkshire are more than 40 years old – and in some places could be up to 100 years old. They were never designed to cope with the demands our modern world puts on them. Fibre is more reliable, easier to fix and uses 35% less energy than copper – so it’s future proof and good for the planet too.
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When is it happening?
From April 2023, we’ll start upgrading and transferring our business customers in Beverley and its surrounding area from copper to fibre. Don’t worry, your phone number won’t change and we won’t be digging up your road.
Your area’s upgrade is part of a larger £17m, two-year, project to switch voice services to fibre across the whole region. The Beverley part of the upgrade should take several months to complete. We’re already way ahead of the pack though thanks to the rollout of our full fibre broadband network, which was completed across Hull and East Yorkshire in 2019. This means the vast majority of businesses in our area already have a fibre connection and are ready to be migrated.
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What do I need to do?
If you have a single phone line for your business, switching from copper to fibre is easy – and you’ll be able to do it in the most part yourself. We’ll send you an adaptor in the post that you will need to plug into the internet connection box on the wall. Technically this is called the Optical Network Terminal (or the ONT) and is the same box that your internet router plugs into. We will then agree a migration date with you for when the change will take place. Then simply wait for your migration date and then plug your existing telephone handset into the adapter.
If you have two phone lines into to your business you will simply have to plug in two adaptors into your ONT, as above, await your migration date and then plug in your handsets. If you have three or more lines into your business, we will need to discuss with you further how the migration will work for you.
For more details on the full range of fibre business voice solutions available please visit www.kcom.com/business.
Important information
Once you have switched to full fibre, your Optical Network Terminal (ONT) must have power for you to be able to make calls.
It’s important to note that if your fibre or power supply fails you may be unable to make any phone calls including those to emergency 999 services. In the rare circumstances this happens please use an alternative means to make these calls, such as a mobile phone. Feel free to contact us if you feel you need further support on this subject.
In certain circumstances, where businesses are in need of extra support they may be eligible for a Battery Back Up Unit that will ensure service continues in the event of a power cut. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this further.
If you have any active phone line features, these will need to be re-activated following your migration.
Did you know:
- It’s becoming increasingly hard and expensive to find the replacement parts and the engineering knowhow needed when the copper network breaks.
- Copper lines fail four times more often than fibre and are less reliable in bad weather.
- The way in which people in the UK make phone calls has changed in the last 10 years. Fewer people use traditional landlines that use old copper wiring. More people use mobiles and digital messaging services such as WhatsApp over Wi-Fi when they’re at home.
- Copper is environmentally unfriendly and uses more power to run then full fibre. By switching to fibre KCOM will reduce its electricity usage by 35% and cut its carbon footprint by 20%.
- Ofcom support the upgrade from copper to fibre and you can read about it here.
Request more information
For more information on the switchover, please fill in the form below and a member of our team will be touch shortly. By completing this form you are also giving us your consent to contact you to discuss your Lightstream availability.
KCOM takes privacy seriously. The personal data we collect, the way in which we will collect it and how we use that personal data will depend on the reason for which we have gathered it in the first place. For more information on how we will use personal data, please view our privacy notice.