Mildenhall's phone lines are changing

Mildenhall is one of the first areas in the country to switch to digital, which means you’ll probably need to upgrade your phone line by October 2023. 

After the switch, your home phone will be connected via a broadband router, as will all the devices and services that are connected to your existing phone line. If you have anything that relies on your phone line connection, like a care or security alarm, you'll need to check whether they'll work over the new technology. Most modern devices should be compatible, but if you use one of these devices it’s really important that you speak with the company that supplied it to you.

If you don't have a router, or need a new one, your service provider will send one to you. You won't have to sign up for a broadband service and your service provider will be able to confirm whether the price you pay for your service will change.

We recommend making a list of any other devices, besides your landline phone, that connect to the phone line. Some examples are fax machines and security, fire or health alarms. Do this before you call your service provider, so they can provide guidance on how those devices will be supported after the upgrade.

It may do.  This depends on your service provider. Check with them to see what number porting features they have available as part of the move to digital phone lines.

The old technology has its own inbuilt power supply, but the new network will need to be powered from your home electricity. If there's a power cut this means that you won't be able to make or receive calls.

If you’re about to upgrade to a Digital Phone Line, please let your service provider know if any of the following apply:

·        you live somewhere where there's little or no mobile coverage

·        you're a vulnerable customer and rely on your home phone

·        you don’t have a mobile phone.

If you plug other devices into your phone socket, like fax machines, healthcare alarms, burglar alarms and security systems and text-relay phones, these won't work over the phone line in a power cut. It’s really important that you speak to your service provider, and the company that supplied any device you have, to find out whether it requires a battery backup.

Ofcom has published some guidance which may be helpful.

We're in regular contact with Ofcom and the Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA2) about the upgrade of our phone and broadband network and we’ve shared our plans with them.