Digital Voice Explained: What Changes and What to Do

Digital Voice is a home phone service carried over the internet: speech travels through your broadband connection instead of the old analogue Public Switched Telephone Network. BT uses the Digital Voice name, Sky calls its digital home phone service Internet Calls and Virgin Media carries home phone calls through its Hub. You can usually keep a familiar handset and number, but the router must remain powered and connected.

Digital Voice at a glance

What is BT Digital Voice?

BT Digital Voice is BT's home phone service delivered through a BT broadband connection. It is a branded form of Voice over Internet Protocol, usually shortened to VoIP. Your voice is converted into data, carried through the router and connected to ordinary UK telephone numbers. It is not a mobile service and it does not mean calls must be made through an app.

BT says existing customers are contacted with instructions and suitable equipment. Depending on the setup, a telephone can connect to the phone socket on the Smart Hub, a supplied adapter or a compatible Digital Home Phone. Do not unplug the old service until BT gives the migration date. If the preferred phone sits away from the router, ask what adapter or wiring option applies before the change.

Digital Voice, Sky Internet Calls and Virgin Media home phone compared

The underlying idea is similar across providers, but the brand name, router and support arrangement differ. Treat the service as provider-specific rather than assuming an adapter or backup unit from one company works with another.

A provider can revise equipment and migration processes, so the letter or email for your account takes precedence over a general guide. Verify unexpected messages using the number on a bill or the provider's official website. Citizens Advice warns that the provider will not ask you to pay simply to move an existing phone line to digital service.

Do I need a special phone for Digital Voice?

Most households do not need to buy a special Digital Voice phone. BT, Sky and Virgin Media each say many existing home phones can continue when plugged into the correct router socket or supplied adapter. A cordless system usually needs only its base station connected; the other handsets still communicate wirelessly with that base.

Compatibility can become less straightforward with very old handsets, pulse-dial phones, several separately wired base stations or extension sockets in different rooms. Ask the provider whether it will reactivate extension wiring, supply an adapter or arrange an engineer. Do not buy a handset before checking the exact router and service because an ordinary compatible phone may already be sufficient.

Will Digital Voice work in a power cut?

A standard Digital Voice line will not work if the broadband router loses mains power, and it can also fail during a broadband outage. That includes calls to 999 and 112. Ofcom says providers must offer at least one hour of access to emergency organisations during a power cut to customers who depend on the landline because they have no other way to call.

The practical solution can be a battery unit, a mobile-network backup device or another arrangement chosen by the provider. Ask what equipment is covered, who qualifies, how long it works and whether the handset or cordless base also needs power. A cordless phone base can stop even when the router has a battery, so a compatible corded handset may form part of the plan. Keep a charged mobile and power bank where mobile coverage and the user's ability make that suitable.

Telecare, personal alarms and other connected equipment

Tell the phone provider before migration if the line supports a care pendant, personal alarm, monitored burglar or fire alarm, lift phone, fax, entry system, card terminal or accessibility device. Then contact the organisation that supplied or monitors the equipment. A handset making an ordinary call does not prove that a monitoring centre receives the device's data or the correct address.

Citizens Advice recommends checking the exact personal-alarm model with its supplier. Get written confirmation of compatibility or arrange a replacement, then perform a supervised end-to-end test after Digital Voice activates. Our alarm and telecare switchover checklist covers house alarms, Careline pendants, lift phones and a written critical information record. If a safety-critical device is not ready, ask the phone provider and equipment supplier to agree a safe migration plan rather than relying on an untested adapter.

Your Digital Voice readiness card

This written readiness card adapts the emergency communications checklist used by Australia's nbn for a UK household. It puts the phone, router, power and dependent devices into one test plan, rather than treating a dial tone as the only measure of a safe migration.

What to do on migration day

1. Follow the dated instructions from the company that bills for the home phone service.
2. Connect the telephone only to the router socket or adapter specified by that provider.
3. Wait for the router and phone service lights to reach their normal state.
4. Make an outgoing call, then call the home number from another line and check caller display and voicemail.
5. Test every required extension handset and complete supervised tests with alarm or telecare monitoring centres.
6. Keep the router powered, store the provider's fault number elsewhere and practise the agreed power-cut route.

If the number is missing, there is no dial tone or a safety device fails, contact the phone provider from another line and record the time, equipment lights and fault reference. The broader UK landline switch-off guide explains the 31 January 2027 deadline, landline-only services and the difference between retiring PSTN voice and removing copper broadband.

Should you keep a home phone service?

Keep it if household members use the number, mobile coverage is poor or a compatible accessibility or safety arrangement depends on it. Giving up the service is reasonable where nobody uses it and every emergency route has been checked, but removing a call plan does not always reduce the broadband bundle price. Ask the provider for broadband-only and broadband-with-phone totals before deciding.

If you change broadband company at the same time, tell the new provider that the landline number must transfer and do not cancel the old service first. Our broadband switching guide covers number transfer and One Touch Switch, while the complaints guide explains the escalation route if agreed support is not delivered. Firms should instead use the PSTN switch-off checklist for small businesses, which covers ISDN, PBX systems, alarms and payment terminals.