BT to hold North East events to help customers with digital phonelines switch - full list

BT will host more than 30 events across the North East this month in a bid to help raise awareness of the change from analogue to digital landlines.

The company will be stationed across the region throughout June to visit communities and talk to customers about how landlines will be changing over the coming years, steps they need to take, and the support available. The change, which will see calls made over a broadband line for the vast majority of customers, is described by the telecoms giant as a "much-needed upgrade" due to the increasingly fragile and 40-year-old analogue technology.

Experts will be on hand at locations in Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside Gateshead, Northumberland, Sunderland and County Durham, to demonstrate to customers how BT's new home phone service Digital Voice works. It comes after the company announced a revision to its timetable for moving all customers off the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and onto digital landlines, after concerns were raised over the impact on vulnerable customers.

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The BT group, which is also responsible for EE customers, had initially set out a timetable to force all customers away from ageing copper phone lines and onto its new digital network by the end of next year. However, it is now aiming to have moved all customers over by the end of January 2027, with this "revised" schedule allowing for improvements to be made to better protect vulnerable customers and those with additional needs.

BT will instead 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 don't use broadband from the autumn.

For customers who would like to know more, here's the full list of BT events being held across the North East this month:

• Middleton-in-Teesdale: Pathway Methodist Church, Wesley Terrace, June 4, 10am-4pm

• Northallerton: Northallerton High Street (in front of Grovers), June 4 and 5, 10am-4pm

• Newcastle: The Common Room, Westgate Road, June 5, 10am-3pm

• Barnard Castle: Market Place, June 5, 10am-4pm

• Darlington: Darlington Library, Crown Street, June 6, 10am-4pm

• Bishop Auckland: Market Place (loading bay by St Anne's Church), June 6 and 7, 10am-4pm

• Stockton-on-Tees: Dobbies, Yarm Road, June 10 and 11, 10am-4pm

• Peterlee: East Durham Garden Centre, South Hetton Road, June 10 and 11, 10am-4pm

• Gateshead: Gateshead Central Library, Prince Consort Road, June 12, 10am-2pm

• Newton Aycliffe: Aycliffe Town Centre (by Savers), Beveridge Way, June 12, 9am-3pm

• Consett: Consett Outdoor Market, June 12 and 13, 9am-3pm

• Ferryhill: Market Place, June 13 and 14, 10am-4pm

• Hexham: Hexham Town Centre (The Shambles), June 14 and 17, 9am-3pm

• Chester-le-Street: Low Chare Car Park (behind Teichman), June 17, 10am-4pm

• Birtley: Dobbies Birley, Durham Road, June 18, 10am-4pm

• Prudhoe: Prudhoe Library, Front Street, June 18, 10am-4pm

• Boldon: The Village Hall, North Road, June 19, 10am-4pm

• Washington: Speculation Place Car Park, June 19 and 20, 9am-3pm

• South Shields: Morrisons Car Park, Ocean Road, June 20, 10am-4pm

• North Shields: Royal Quays Retail park (car park by House of Bebe), June 21, 9am-3pm

• Wallsend: Forum Shopping Centre Car Park (between Wetherspoons and Aldi), June 21, 9am-3pm

• Cramlington: Cramlington Library, Forum Way, June 24 and 25, 10am-4pm

• Whitley Bay: Morrisons Car Park, Hillheads Road, June 24 and 25, 10am-4pm

• Durham: Durham Town Hall, Market Plac, June 26, 10am-3pm

• Ponteland: Dobbies Ponteland, Street House Farm, June 26, 10am-4pm

• Morpeth: Dobbies Morpeth, Heighley Gate, June 26 and 27, 10am-4pm

• Sunderland: Sunderland City Hall, Plater Way, June 27, 10am-2pm

• Hartlepool: Community Hub Central, June 27, 10am-2pm

• Amble: Morrisons Car Park, Coquet Enterprise Park, June 27, 10am-4pm

• Rothbury: High Street (by Turks Head), June 28, 9am-3pm

• Alnwick: Market Place, June 28, 9am-3pm

Vicky Hicks, Senior Engagement Manager at BT, said: "We will be visiting the North East throughout June to speak to our customers face-to-face and answer any questions they may have about the essential upgrade from analogue to digital landlines. There will be over 30 events across the region to give us a chance to speak to as many customers as possible about the change and demonstrate how the service works.

"The landline is here to stay, and for the majority of customers, making the switch simply involves plugging your phone into a broadband router instead of into a wall-mounted phone socket, bringing new benefits such as advanced spam call blocking. So far we've prevented over 200,000 scam calls from reaching our customers," she added.

BT said it is also working with local authorities, the telecare industry and government bodies to ensure vulnerable customers are identified and can be supported with the necessary steps to make the upgrade to digital in the future. In January, BT led the formation of the Telecare Action Board (TAB), which has brought together around 30 organisations from Government, the telecoms and telecare sectors, industry bodies, local authorities and regulatory stakeholders, to identify and protect telecare users and those with additional needs before they switch to digital.