The same as ADSL2+ so problematic beyond 6km, especially if the cabling is not in good condition. Did they have just a plain phone service or broadband also before the switch last year?

Can you please clarify, does your friend need just a telephone service or is broadband a requirement too?

Just a telephone service. Thanks

Just a plain telephone. The 3 engineers from Openreach who attended the problem last year said a digital service would never work. Have raised this issue with OFCOM why do BT sell a service that would never work. Left hand not talking to the right hand I guess. With no mobile service it was hell for her for 5 weeks. She is now very hesitant to sign up for what BT are proposing now.

In reply to a post by desken:

Just a telephone service. Thanks

In my opinion the only solution is 'SOTAP for Analogue' (aka PDPL) until full fibre is available. This is where a digital voice service goes through a digital to analogue converter (in the exchange) and is presented to the customer like a legacy telephone service (aka PSTN). Once full fibre is available a full digital voice service can then be provided.

Edited by PCJM40 (Mon 12-Oct-26 16:36:52)

So how did BT resolve the issue of 5 weeks without service, did they revert to the former PSTN setup?

You would have expected BT to have checked that service was possible beforehand, the wholesale checker https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/ will show what is available.

Given the distance involved and the anecdotal comments from the Openreach engineers it would suggest that they should have offered migration to the BT Wholesale Pre-Digital Phone Line (PDPL) / Openreach SOTAP for Analogue* product which keeps the existing arrangement at the customer premises with the conversion to digital being handled at the exchange.

* this is not the same as the Openreach SOTAP product.

PDPL as said really is the only possible copper-based voice solution that could be (technically) viable here.

Saying that I do wonder what maximum line lengths Openreach have actually tested it to ( know its a temporary drop-in replacement for PSTN voice, but its not exactly the same). Bodmin would be one of the more extreme edge cases.

Ultimately if/when copper completely disappears, then for a terrestrial connection fibre is the way - but this would be one heck of a build cost for presumably a handful of properties. Maybe it would be easier / cheaper to actually keep PDPL in perpetuity....

You would have expected BT to have checked that service was possible beforehand,

Trouble is, often this is sales people pushing the products …

Back in the day, when ADSL had just gone rate adaptive. We would repeatedly go out to the same properties in the boonies near Twyford, Berks. The three local cabs were 12, 13 and 14k from the exchange. You could swap out the E side onto the lowest attenuation one, but still no sync.

You’d tell the punters, but they wouldn’t accept it, because whoever sold it to them insisted it would work .
Some would sell their properties due to this, and 6 months later, you’d be back doing the same thing.

Thanks.
One afternoon when we were at our friends property she was passed to 4 or 5 BT persons - before we were passed to someone who understood and eventually resolved the problem. By going back to the original PSTN set up, but with a different phone number. It took another 3 or 4 days to revert to the original phone number.

Have looked at the test results from the test link -

SOADSL Products Downstream Line Rate (Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) WBC SOADSL Availability Left in Jumper
WBC SOADSL 2+ Up to 1.0 -- 1.0 to 3.5 Available --
SOADSL Max Up to 1.0 -- 0.75 to 2.5 Available --
SOADSL Fixed Rate Up to 0.5 -- --

Alarmingly when I raised the issue with OFCOM, after the initial 8 weeks of the problem arising, BT’s response to OFCOM was there’s not an issue !
I rejected this as an answer and BT then accepted there was a problem.

Speaking with a manager from BT Plymouth he tells me that the procedure between BT and Openreach has been improved ! I understand it use to work like this BT raise a contract with Openreach. Openreach then go and do the work as directed. But now the order to Open reach is different and if the Openreach engineer has issues or foresees issues the engineer speaks with BT! Remember BT had a slogan “ It’s good to talk”. !

Those figures suggest a line length around 6km, and if true SOADSL + Digital Voice would work. However records can be wrong and trying to get to anyone who can fix them is often difficult - if the line is 10km+ then PDPL is going to be the only reliable solution, it just* a case of getting BT to accept that.

* unfortunately easier said than done