Businesses in parts of Stoke-on-Trent are being urged to check whether their phone lines, payment terminals, alarms and other essential systems still rely on copper connections before new restrictions take effect this summer.
The Stoke City and Trentham telephone exchanges are scheduled to enter Openreach’s “stop sell” programme on 19 August 2026, with Burslem expected to follow in November.
At properties where suitable full-fibre services are available, the restrictions will prevent businesses from placing new orders for certain traditional copper-based phone and broadband products or upgrading existing services on the same network.
The changes form part of the nationwide move away from the Public Switched Telephone Network, known as the PSTN, which has supported landlines and broadband connections for decades.
While many businesses may associate the transition primarily with office telephones, a range of other equipment can still depend on traditional copper lines. This may include card payment terminals, security alarms, lift emergency phones, door-entry systems and some monitoring equipment.
Businesses may only discover that a system relies on an old connection when it develops a fault, needs to be moved or requires replacement. Once stop sell restrictions apply, it may no longer be possible to reorder the same service, meaning the equipment must instead be moved to a digital alternative.
Analysis by business communications provider Crystaline found that 70.1 per cent of telephone exchanges across the West Midlands have already entered stop sell. A further 27.3 per cent are expected to follow between August 2026 and June 2027.
Kristian Torode, director and co-founder of Crystaline, said: “Many businesses still see the copper switch-off as something happening in the future, but the transition is already under way.
“For businesses still relying on old phone lines, the window to act is getting smaller. This is no longer simply an infrastructure change. It is becoming a business continuity issue.”
Businesses are being advised to identify every device and service that uses a traditional phone line, contact their suppliers and establish whether replacement equipment or a digital connection will be required.
Crystaline said a typical migration could take between 30 and 60 days, depending on the complexity of the installation, surveys, engineering work and telephone number transfers.
The company has warned that demand could increase significantly during the autumn as more organisations attempt to replace legacy services at the same time.
Mr Torode added: “If too many organisations try to move at once, there will be pressure across the industry.
“The risk is not simply the final deadline. It is whether businesses can arrange surveys, installations and number transfers in time without disruption.
“The safest approach is to identify every service that depends on a legacy line and begin planning now. Waiting until a service fails or an order is refused leaves too much to chance.”
