Prepare your education estate for the PSTN and ISDN switch-off
Audit your estate to help you replace copper-based internet services before PSTN and ISDN are switched off in 2027.
Applies to England
What is changing
The public switched telephone network (PSTN), integrated services digital network (ISDN) and copper broadband services will be switched off by January 2027. The switch-off is industry-led and your local network supplier should contact you well in advance of the switch-off.
To prepare for this, schools, colleges and other public-sector estates should audit their sites to identify where these are still used. Where appropriate, they should switch to a digital service, such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP).
Who should use this guide
This guidance is for:
- estates and property managers
- facilities and IT support teams
- headteachers, special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs) and governors
What could be affected
Services that may rely on PSTN, ISDN or copper broadband include:
- phone lines
- backup broadband
- alarms and security systems, including fire and intruder alarms, lift emergency lines, closed-circuit television (CCTV) and door-entry systems
- business and administrative devices, including tills and card machines, fax machines, vending machines, franking machines and printers
- health and safety equipment, including specialist fridges and medical equipment
- technologies used to support students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), especially any landline accessibility tools such as amplifiers
- travel infrastructure, including electric vehicle (EV) charging points and car park barriers
- environmental monitoring systems, including air-conditioning and air-handling units, gas and electricity meters, and building management systems (BMS)
How to audit your estate
Your estate or property managers should lead an audit, covering all buildings and outbuildings to:
- identify all copper-connected services
- record their location, function and connection type
- note the supplier or responsible team
- assess whether the service is still needed
- plan next steps
When auditing your estate, you should:
- review telecoms bills – confirm that they match what is being used
- check your maintenance contracts – these may list service providers and contact details
- look for correspondence – some notices may have gone to other staff
- conduct a site survey – identify live and unused phone sockets (you can do this by plugging in a phone to check for a dial tone) and record what is plugged into it
Use the to help you do this.
What to do after your audit
After completing the audit, you should:
- cancel any services that are no longer needed
- contact your provider to plan to transition the services you still need
Choose your replacement option
All providers aim to move customers to fibre in the long term.
Depending on your availability and needs, you can:
- use your main fibre broadband line, if there is capacity
- order a separate fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) line
- consider satellite broadband for backup
You may need to work with other staff or governors to choose a replacement option. If they are not involved in the decision-making process, they should be informed of the outcome and any actions.
Moving to a fibre connection
Your provider will supply a router when you move to a fibre connection. You will be able to connect devices to the network via the router using:
- wi-fi
- ethernet ports
- analogue terminal adapter (ATA) port, if available
ATA ports are for voice calls only. They are not suitable for alarms or other machine-to-machine services.
Fibre lines do not carry voltage, unlike copper. This means you will need to consider:
- if there is a power supply nearby for your router
- what will happen during a power outage, as all voice and internet services will be lost unless you have a battery backup or uninterrupted power supply
Moving to a digital phone system
If you use PSTN for voice calls, you will need to switch to VoIP. It is typically cheaper to run than PSTN and offers more flexibility as it has a richer feature set.
The package you need will vary depending on the size of your estate.
Before choosing a solution:
- count how many handsets you need
- list the features you want
- check compatibility with your existing infrastructure