Digital Phone

Digital phone is the consumer name for a home phone service that runs over your broadband instead of a copper landline. You keep your existing number, plug a standard handset into the router, and calls travel as data. It's becoming the default UK home phone product as the copper network is switched off by 2027.

What it actually means

Digital phone is the everyday name for the home phone service replacing the old copper landline across the UK. Providers also call it digital voice, IP voice or VoIP, and the differences are largely about who's marketing it rather than how it works. The underlying idea is the same. Your call travels as data over your broadband connection, the same connection that handles your streaming and your work calls, instead of an analogue signal sent down a twisted pair of copper wires from the telephone exchange.

For most households the experience looks almost identical to the old service once it's set up. You keep the number you've had for years, often a number that's been on the family fridge for decades, and you plug your existing cordless handset into the back of the broadband router or into a small adapter. Calls dial out the same way. What changes is what sits behind the wall. The copper line going to the exchange is being retired, the new line is your broadband, and the handset is now reliant on that broadband and on mains power to work.

At home

What this looks like in the house

The shift only really feels real the first time the router gets unplugged. A relative tries the home number, hears nothing and rings the mobile instead, worried something's happened. Or the broadband has a quiet wobble on a Sunday evening and the handset that's lived on the hallway table for fifteen years has no dial tone. The number hasn't changed, the handset hasn't changed, but the line behind it now lives or dies with the broadband, and that's the household conversation worth having once, properly, rather than finding out the hard way.

In business

What this looks like at work

For a small business the upside of a digital phone is that the main number can ride with the team between the shop floor, the van and home working without a customer ever knowing the difference. The risk is the Tuesday morning when the broadband drops, no failover has been set up, and the inbound enquiry from a buyer who was ready to spend hits a dead line. For salons, garages and trades that share a circuit with the till and the booking system, the phone going quiet usually means the diary going quiet at the same time.

The Inspire approach

Connection Matters

How we'd handle this if you were our customer

Inspire's digital phone product for the home is Home Phone. It runs over our Home Broadband, keeps your existing number through number porting and works with the handset you already own in most cases. We talk you through what plugs in where on the welcome call, so the box isn't sitting on the side a week later because the wiring felt confusing. For customers who want a digital phone line without taking broadband from us, LightLine is the standalone alternative, working on a mobile, a computer, or an existing handset via a small adapter. Vulnerable customers get a battery backup arranged as standard so 999 calls still go through during a power cut.

Questions, answered

Frequently asked about Digital Phone

Is digital phone the same as digital voice?

In practice yes. Digital phone is the consumer facing name most households recognise, while digital voice is the more technical term used in the industry and on Ofcom documentation. Both describe a phone service that runs over your broadband rather than a copper line. Different providers brand the same service differently, which is why the names get mixed up.

Will my old cordless handset still work with a digital phone?

Almost always, yes. Standard corded and cordless handsets plug straight into the back of the router or into a small adapter and behave exactly as they did before. The devices that can struggle are older alarm panels, fall pendants, fax machines and a few telecare units, because they were built around the analogue signal. We flag any of these on the welcome call rather than letting you find out later.

Do I have to switch to a digital phone?

Eventually yes. Openreach is retiring the copper PSTN network across the UK by the end of 2027, which means every home phone line will be digital by then. You don't have to rush, but if your current provider contacts you about an upgrade, or you're already moving broadband, it's the natural moment to switch and keep your number rather than waiting for the deadline.

Where to next

Inspire pages built around this

Home Phone

Inspire's digital home phone, bundled with broadband, keep your number.

LightLine

Standalone VoIP line on mobile, computer or your existing handset.

Home Broadband

The connection your digital phone service runs over.

Keep reading

Related glossary terms

Digital Voice PSTN Switch Off Number Porting FTTP (Fibre to the Premises)Vulnerable Customers

Back to the full glossary

Last reviewed 2026-05-20