1 If you have a power cut your phone won’t work and 2 your internet service providers will supply you with analogue phone adapter

Most people are sales and not technical from telecoms (retired from industry as an engineer) Start to research UPS, uninterupted power supplies Will need to be large enough for as long a powercut as you anticipate

This is the most ridiculous idea. Far from future proofing telecommunication network it will make it far more unreliable and open to hacking, latency issues, and monitoring,including by foreign agents. The phone network will no longer have a secure power supply. The current system has maximum resilience as it uses a diverse range of technology. Those who have used the internet as a phone system, maybe to take advantage of video calling,know that it is less reliable than the land line phone. This is a money making scheme by BT and will create a mountain of new electronics waste and create a flood of expensive imports. The government will come to bitterly regret allowing the switch off of the analogue network. Open reach has still not provided every property with the option of a fibre internet connection, what hope is there of offering every user access to an internet based phone.

@@MsDmcclymont I am a retired electronic designer andi already use a ups to power our IT equipment. These proposed changes bring no advantage to the customers. BT will no doubt save money on not having to provide power to the PSTN, and the software companies will make a fortune supplying incompatible and competing video telephone software, but that is something they are already doing. Audio latency will increase as will call costs. The Chinese will benefit from all the new consumer electronics equipment that will be required, no doubt the consumer will be expected to pay the bill for that, along with the cost of the mountain of electronic waste that will be produced. Companies, such as Microsoft, will be able to further their agenda of turning what was once a product into a subscription service. The consumer will have poorer call quality and system reliability, and pay more for the privilege of this reduction in service. Consumers will also be able to look forward to a constant churn in the equipment required. So what was once relatively stable will now be subject to constant change, as designed in obsolescence is transferred from the computer industry to that of the telephone network. How long before phone ungraded are required to deal with incompatible operating system revisions. I will be interested in hearing BT's excuses as to why FTP is not available to every home. Unfortunately for BT, the move to a unified voice over IP system will result in a reduction in their market share, as there are many others who can play that game. Not long ago it was mandatory for homes to have a land line connection, to ensure a reliable emergency service connection. This in the wake of the mobile phone revolution. By making the land line no more reliable than a mobile phone connection this requirement disappears.

@@MsDmcclymont Good point. I received a quote from an ISP for a new service. They offer a battery back-up unit which will provide an additional supply of service for at least one hour, allowing you to make landline/fixed line calls during this time. It costs £35 and requires a corded phone. In a storm or flood, some people dont have power for 3+ days.