BT Accused of Bullying Customers During Digital Landline Switch
BT faces criticism for temporarily pausing broadband services to pressure remaining customers into migrating from analogue landlines to digital technology before a January deadline.
Broadband provider BT has faced accusations of bullying customers after temporarily pausing internet services for a small group of users to pressure them into upgrading to digital landlines. The company implemented these pauses for customers who had not responded to switchover communications for two years, providing five days' notice before the outage occurred.
BT stated the measure is intended to prevent a complete loss of service before the retirement of the copper-based public switched telephone network at the end of January 2027. While over 80% of affected customers migrated following the pause, campaign groups including Silver Voices and Age UK expressed concern that vulnerable individuals, particularly the elderly, are being unfairly pressured.
This transition is part of a wider industry effort to migrate approximately 1.3 million remaining copper lines to Voice over Internet Protocol technology. Charity directors and campaign founders have urged telecoms providers to ensure that older people are not cut off by the hard deadline, noting that the elderly are overrepresented among those who have not yet switched.
