Retired university professor Ian Kershaw is sitting at a table toying with a white plastic box. 

The 80-year-old former modern history lecturer weighs up the phone charger-sized gadget in his hand before passing it to his wife Betty, 79, a former nurse, for further inspection.

On a damp October morning, they are among the dozens of visitors filing into St Thomas Centre in Manchester for a BT roadshow.

Two bouncers in BT purple T-shirts flank the gates, making sure crowds don’t get out of hand. They don’t need to worry as the respectable-looking older crowd is here only for verbal sparring — not fisticuffs.

Beneath the impressive 30ft-high ceiling — with its neo-Roman plastered cornice and pillar design — people sit at a dozen tables that have been put out, each with four chairs. 

Expert advice: Reporter Toby Walne (right) tests the digital phone with BT’s Lee Barlow

Expert advice: Reporter Toby Walne (right) tests the digital phone with BT’s Lee Barlow

Expert advice: Reporter Toby Walne (right) tests the digital phone with BT’s Lee Barlow

The layout and atmosphere make it feel more like a school parents’ evening rather than a BT event explaining to the public how phones will be going digital over the next couple of years. 

Proceedings are being presided over by no nonsense ‘headmaster’ Lee Barlow — a ‘migration’ senior manager who has brought along two dozen BT experts for lessons.

Ian and Betty are clearly no fools — but the BT staff patiently go back to basics with the equipment on the table. 

After being shown the difference between an internet and traditional phone socket — the couple are told the £20 ‘digital voice adapter’ they have been handling is not the only option.

Ian, who used to lecture at the nearby University of Manchester and is also a critically acclaimed biographer of Hitler, has a 20-minute chat with staff.

Afterwards, he and Betty share their experience with me. Ian says: ‘We can handle the change, and the face-to-face guidance today has made it easier to understand.

‘But it is vulnerable people that concern us. Fortunately, it appears no one will simply be cut off — but it is still a concern for people living alone who are unaware of Digital Voice.’

Going Digital

telecoms giant BT is switching all ten million of its home-phone customers to new lines over the next two years as part of a programme called Digital Voice.

In total, 29 million homes across Britain will be forced to make the switch. This monumental challenge means everyone pulling their old handset wire out of the traditional phone socket on the wall at some point — and then plugging that wire into either an adapter or into a new hub. 

You can also replace your old set-up with a new digital handset. All these options will need to be connected to the mains electricity.

The call quality will be similar, but uses so-called Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology instead of traditional analogue signals. 

To tackle this logistical headache, BT is switching homes over region-by-region and on specific days. 

Plug in: You will be able to replace your old set-up with a new digital handset

Plug in: You will be able to replace your old set-up with a new digital handset

Plug in: You will be able to replace your old set-up with a new digital handset 

The telecoms giant relaunched the rollout in the East Midlands only this summer — after suspending it last year due to concerns that vulnerable people could be stranded during a power cut when their phone stopped working.

BT says it has now solved this problem by offering free battery back-ups and hybrid phones to the most vulnerable that will work even in a power cut. 

But as part of the task it must educate households about what on earth is going on.

BT says the tight deadline was set because old copper wires used for traditional phone calls are getting too expensive to repair and so must be replaced by fibre-optic cables more suitable for VoIP.

Homes are targeted with letters, cards, emails and texts in the eight weeks up to a switch. 

Face-to-face sessions are also offered in a travelling BT roadshow touring the nation, with more than 200 venues to be visited — at town halls, ‘pop-up’ events in libraries and a touring ‘demonstration vehicle’. 

This summer it went to the Midlands, Yorkshire, Humberside, then Northern Ireland, and is now in the North-West.

The roadshow moves to London in November, followed by other parts of England, Scotland and Wales, with everyone switched over by December 2025.

Visit bt.com/broadband/digital- voice/events to find out more.

How it works

you plug the old phone line into a digital adapter and then insert it into an electric socket. There is alternatively the latest £200 BT hub (Smart 2) with a green socket that accepts old phone lines. Or thirdly, perhaps users might prefer a new £30 digital phone instead.

The pricey catch

Despite reassurances at the roadshow that any necessary digital change goodies will be sent to you for free, the onus is still on customers to ensure they get the upgrade equipment.

If you want a 12-month reprieve because you are vulnerable — perhaps you don’t have a mobile or are aged 75 or more — you may still have to call BT to explain this.

To get the ‘free’ upgrades, many are told they must visit the EE shop website — the link is sent by BT when it provides details of the switch. 

You may be given a code which will get you the £20 adapter for free and £7 off a digital phone.

Power problem

The Achilles’ heel of digital is that it stops working in a power cut — as VoIP requires both the internet and an electricity supply to work. So those without a mobile phone are stranded if they want to call 999 emergency services. 

Lee Barlow says: ‘Often the best solution — which we offer for free to vulnerable people — is a hybrid phone. In a power cut, it switches to a mobile signal.

‘Our Motorola hybrid has a SIM card in the back that automatically switches on in a power cut, with eight hours of reserve.’

However, for those living in rural areas with poor mobile phone reception, the BT boss admits this £80 hybrid phone may not be enough — and an £85 battery pack, which weighs 3kg and lasts for four hours, could be necessary.

It plugs into the modem and power socket. On the front is a ‘cold start’ button. This is not for starting cars on a freezing winter morning, but to keep the landline alive during a power cut. 

These battery packs are available for free if you are vulnerable. But it may be necessary to ask BT to supply you with these extras.

Ageing network: BT says the tight deadline is set as old copper wires used for traditional phone calls are getting too expensive to repair so must be replaced by fibre optic cables

Ageing network: BT says the tight deadline is set as old copper wires used for traditional phone calls are getting too expensive to repair so must be replaced by fibre optic cables

Ageing network: BT says the tight deadline is set as old copper wires used for traditional phone calls are getting too expensive to repair so must be replaced by fibre optic cables 

Help, please!

Everyone I spoke to agreed that having face-to-face support where you can handle the digital device helped them understand the switch, as well as get answers to questions they could not find on the BT website or waiting for it to answer a phone call. 

Church minister Richard Ingham turned up with a list of queries. The 76-year-old says: ‘It concerned me that other electric devices that use the internet could be disrupted. They have reassured me this should not be the case.’

Action stations

A pop-up event in Macclesfield town library the following day was a far more subdued affair. This once wealthy ‘silk town’ is now the poor cousin of nearby Manchester.

The main draw of the day was ‘rhymetime’ — ‘songs and rhymes for the under-5s’. No mention of BT. But a table was being set up inside by two BT staff.

A dozen people turned up over a couple of hours. But although less popular than a nursery rhyme sing-song, BT attracted more interest than a jigsaw swap being offered on an adjacent table.

Jimmy Jones, 78, and his wife, Janet, 76, were among the first to attend — having been invited via email a couple of weeks earlier.

Retired administrator Janet says: ‘There has to be a catch somewhere as BT is only really interested in making money.’

She adds: ‘The staff say they send free adapters without asking. But, of course, we pay for these extras in our high bills. We will drop our landline and stick to our mobile phones if Digital Voice ends up costing more.’ BT says Digital Voice will not cost customers more — for now — and that the sound quality of calls should not suffer.

Retired computer programmer Steve Hull, 74, wanted to know if Digital Voice might sound different through copper wires rather than fibre optic cables. ‘I was reassured that it should work on traditional copper lines and not affect internet speeds,’ he says.

Joan Payne, 75, a volunteer for the local hospice, came so she could share what she had found out with her neighbours.

She says: ‘One friend was due to transfer to Digital Voice today — but has still not received an adapter or upgraded hub, so her old phone will work. Staff here say it should have been sent. I hope their words will be backed up by action.’

Am I sold?

A BT Digital Voice roadshow is worth attending — but it also exposes how little many of us understand the rollout that will affect everyone in the UK in the next two years. 

And despite the slick sales talk, the reality is that those ‘free’ gadgets might only arrive if you demand them.

BT enjoyed pre-tax profits of £1.7 billion in the year to March. With all that cash sloshing around — and a 14.4 per cent hike in phone rental prices also in March — you wonder why the company is not offering more face-to-face support. 

For the most vulnerable who cannot attend such an event, including those who live alone and have health pendants that may stop working after the digital switch for BT landlines, that’s a huge concern.

If BT offered better help through customer support lines — answering phone calls promptly, having help centres able to address specific issues, and real experts rather than online ‘chatbots’ — the roadshow might not be vital.

And I cannot help but fear that unless the roadshow circus knocks on your front door, many customers will still miss the message.

Of major concern is that some of the most vulnerable customers might learn about the switch only when their phone stops ringing.

So while it may sound impressive on paper, even with stop-offs at a few hundred venues, BT is providing nothing more than lip service to its ten million customers.

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