A telecoms company is hosting a series of events over the summer to raise awareness of the change from analogue to digital landlines.

Set to be rolled out by the end of January 2027, all British Telecom (BT) lines will be upgraded to digital as the analogue system has become outdated.

BT will be hosting 40 events throughout Scotland in July and August.

Experts will show customers how BT’s new home phone service, Digital Voice, works and will also demonstrate how other products work.

Some events will take place in Edinburgh, Stornoway, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Inverness, although there will be events held in all local authorities.

Vicky Hicks, senior engagement manager at BT, said: “The landline is here to stay, and for the majority of customers, making the switch simply means plugging your phone into a broadband router instead of into a wall-mounted phone socket. This will bring new benefits like advanced, spam call blocking.

“So far, we’ve prevented over 1.2 million scam calls from reaching our customers and flagged more than 6.4 million potential nuisance calls.

“Thanks to upgrades to Scotland’s broadband infrastructure, led by BT Group and government partners in some locations, more than 96% of Scotland now has access to superfast broadband and around 42% of the country has access to BT’s full-fibre broadband.

“This means the vast majority of our customers won’t experience much of a difference in their service when they make the switch”.

While the shift from analogue to digital aims to help all BT customers, the company hopes the move will be especially helpful for its most vulnerable clients, including those who have additional needs.

Vulnerable customers who use telecare alarm systems through BT will not have their systems swapped until at least spring 2025.

This will allow time for data-sharing agreements with local authorities and to allow for in-home support for telecare users.

BT will focus initially on switching customers who have not used their landline over the last 12 months, encouraging them to take a digital landline provided over full-fibre broadband, where available.

The company also announced plans to offer a dedicated landline service for customers who do not use broadband from the autumn.

This will allow customers to use their landlines in the same way as they do today until a digital solution becomes available or 2030, if that comes sooner.

Here's when events will take place across Greater Glasgow:

  • Bearsden, Dobbies Garden Centre (carpark), Boclair Road, Milngavie, G62 6EP, on July 25 & 26, from 10am to 4pm.
  • Paisley, Morrisons (carpark), 1760 Paisley Road West, Cardonald, Glasgow, G52 2BW, on July 30 & 31, from 10am to 4pm.
  • Newton Mearns, Caulders Garden Centre (carpark), Mearns Road South, Mearnskirk, Newton Mearns, G77 6RS, on August 6 & 7, from 10am to 4pm.
  • Glasgow City Centre, Trades Hall of Glasgow, 85 Glassford Street, Glasgow, G1 1UH on August 7, from 10am to 3pm.