KCOM: Get your landline fibre ready Hull

KCOM Retail Managing Director Neil Bartholomew

Your old copper phoneline is set to be upgraded

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Did you know that a big change is coming to the way we make phone calls in the UK?

Right now, the chances are, if you use a landline to ring your friends, family or anyone in your phone book, your call still travels up and down an old copper phone line.

We may be living in a digital world where the internet is everywhere, but our old copper phone networks are still a big part of our everyday lives.

But not for much longer.

Across the UK, plans are in place to replace and upgrade old copper phone networks with new fibre networks. In the same way that the UK’s televisions changed from analogue to digital with the Digital TV Switchover in recent years, now it’s the time for our phone landlines to join the 21st Century.

In most of the country, BT is replacing its old copper networks with modern fibre, but here in Hull and East Yorkshire it’s KCOM which is replacing its old cables with a state-of-the-art replacement.

Importantly, KCOM has reassured customers that their landline phone numbers won’t change, they won’t be digging up streets or installing unwanted new telegraph poles, and customers shouldn’t notice any difference in service once they have switched to the fibre network.

The process of switching KCOM’s landline network to fibre will begin in Beverley in April before moving on to focus on different areas of Hull later in the year. The two-year, £17m process, will connect 170,000 homes and businesses to the fibre phone network and is set to be completed in 2025, making pioneering Hull the first city in the UK to have full fibre for both broadband and its landline phones.

KCOM Retail Managing Director Neil Bartholomew, said: “It’s important that people across Hull and East Yorkshire are aware the big switchover is coming – and what, if anything, they need to do to keep their landline phones connected.

“The legacy copper network needs to be upgraded because it’s more than 40 years old – in some places up to 100 years old - and not able to keep up with the many modern demands we put on it. It was certainly never meant to carry high-tech streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify.

“As well as being old, the copper network breaks down four times more often than its modern fibre equivalent and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find parts and the engineering expertise to fix it when things do go wrong. Fibre is reliable, easier to fix, provides an infinitely better broadband service and uses far less energy – so it’s good for the planet too.”

Luckily, our area is already way ahead of the pack thanks to KCOM’s rollout of its full fibre broadband network, which was completed across Hull and East Yorkshire in 2019.

This means the vast majority of homes and businesses in our area already have a fibre broadband connection and will be easy to transfer to a fibre landline connection. But, in a small number of cases, where a KCOM customer only has an old copper landline, the company will need to install a fibre connection inside each home. The customer’s phone will then be plugged into a different connection box on the wall (this is technically known as an Optical Network Terminal or ONT) where the internet arrives in their house.

Most people will be able to do this themselves quickly and easily by plugging their phone into an adapter which plugs into their ONT socket. You can find more information and watch a video of how to do this at www.kcom.com/switchover

KCOM has stated it will be in touch with everyone in the months ahead to let them know when their service is being changed and what, if anything, they need to do.

For older and vulnerable customers KCOM is also working with charities and community groups across the region such as Age UK Hull to identify those who may need a little extra help to make sure they’re connected to the new system.

If you represent a vulnerable group and would like to hear more about the changes and what it means, get in touch with KCOM’s Community Engagement Lead Louise Babych at louise.babych@kcom.com