Let’s get your business phone line fibre ready - FAQs

Many of our business customers will also be our residential customers. For some of our business customers, the migration of their services will be the same to that of their residential service. Some business product migrations may however be more complex due to the solution which a customer takes from us. The approach to these migrations will be discussed with you when we call you.

For most customers the change to fibre won’t cost you anything, however for some customers there may be some additional cost due to the products they take with KCOM no longer being available. However, if any costs are to be incurred due to the complex nature of your business, you will be advised prior to your migration taking place. Your account manager will contact you to discuss what the migration means for you and your business.

The following products will no longer be supported after the migration of services to full fibre: Analogue phone lines, ADSL, ISDN2, Centrex and some ISDN30 services with DASS and DPNSS signalling types. However, we are replacing these products with modern, up to date, services which will fit your individual business needs. Our team will be in touch with you to discuss what this means for you and your business.

If you believe that these are being used for CNI, then please contact KCOM to discuss what this means for you. You can call us on our dedicated number, 01482 310700.

Yes, you will. This does not impact your phone number.

If your business uses a single copper phone line, connecting to the new network may mean your service will be down for a short time between 12pm – 6am, Monday to Friday, during the upgrade.

If you need to call the emergency services during this time, please use an alternative means, such as a mobile phone. Switching to different products may require an alternative means of migration, this will be discussed with you before any changes are made.

To ensure we're able to set the correct customer expectations, we're unable to provide a more definite timescale for adaptors to be delivered.

Due to the age of some telephone handsets or hardware, they may not be compatible with KCOM’s new digital network. Most handsets that were manufactured post 2010, should be compatible. Rotary Dial telephones (old style ‘turn dial’ telephones) are not guaranteed to be compatible.

If you have your phone line connected to any other equipment, such as an alarm, FAX machine, card payment terminal etc, then you will need to check with the equipment provider to see if they have tested it with us. KCOM are encouraging suppliers to come in and test their equipment if they have any concerns about the compatibility of their products.

If you have other devices or services connected to your existing phone line, such as an alarm, FAX machine, card payment terminal etc, you’ll need to check whether the device or services will work over the new technology. Your equipment provider should be able to provide this clarity for you. KCOM are encouraging suppliers to come in and test their equipment if they have any concerns about the compatibility of their products.

Please be aware that any additional services that were previously set up on your phone line such as voicemail, call diversion and call reminders will need to be reinstated after migrating.

Some customers ONT profiles will need updating before the migration activity takes place. This maintenance work will be completed in advance of your migration date.

If you are an ADSL customer, you will need to have fibre installed before the migration can take place. Once the fibre is installed KCOM will then arrange your migration.

No. If you have extension sockets around the office, these will not work after you have moved to fibre. If you want to use your existing extension sockets for any reason, we will discuss this requirement with you when we contact you.

Yes, If you currently have 2 phone lines, these can be hardwired directly from your ONT to your extension sockets. This will involve an engineer visit to utilise the TEL 1 and TEL 2 ports on your ONT, wiring the TEL 1 port to the required master / extension socket(s) for one of the existing phone lines, and the TEL 2 port will be wired to the second master / extension socket(s) for the second line.

One of the great things about living in Hull and East Yorkshire is that KCOM have already done the hard work of connecting most of our customers to full fibre, with the majority of the roll out completed in 2019, years ahead of the rest of the UK. It’s why we already have one of the UK’s fastest and most reliable broadband services.

This means that the fibre network is already available to most of our business customers.

If you don’t have a fibre connection to your premises yet, we’ll have to connect your business to our full fibre network. This will require a visit by one of our engineers to fit a new box to the wall inside your premises. We’ll be contacting everyone in this situation to let them know we need to do this and to arrange a visit from one of our friendly engineers.

Once the switchover is complete, your Optical Network Terminal (ONT) must have power for you to be able to make calls.

It’s important to note that if your broadband 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, some customers may be eligible for a Battery Back Up Unit that will ensure service continues in the event of a power cut. Should you have a requirement for this, please discuss it with us when we call you.

Any 999 calls already underway when the switchover takes place won’t be affected by the service interruption.

No, you will not lose internet service during the switchover.

It depends on why the internet has gone down. Customer’s telephone services will run down the same fibre connection your internet service will, therefore if the fibre is impacted, this will impact both your voice and internet services.

A small number of our ONTs do not need an adaptor. If your adaptor doesn’t fit into the TEL1 socket, try plugging the cable from your phone directly into the ONT without the adaptor. If you are still having issues, please contact us.

If you are unable to make calls following the switchover then this must be reported as a fault with normal troubleshooting being undertaken.

If any issues should occur regarding your adapter, or you are unable to receive service, please contact us on 0800 915 5777, option 2.

As the migration to the new digital network is a government led initiative that applies to the whole of the UK, our primary focus will be to resolve any issues that occur during the migration. Some migrations may fail, due to the compatibility of customer’s equipment. Please note, all end user equipment is the responsibility of the customer, unless provided and maintained by KCOM.

KCOM will be able to resolve any issues that may arise as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The switch to full fibre is mandatory. We will no longer be maintaining a copper network and all future installations will be full fibre.

We’re actively rolling out the fibre network to the few small areas of our network not yet connected. We will let you know when it is available in your area and when your services are ready for migration.

For most customers, the terms and conditions that apply to your phone service and the price you pay will remain unchanged. However, for some customers who require additional features and functionality, there may be costs incurred, but these will be discussed with you by your account manager.