Home phone not working but broadband is?

UK landlines are moving from the old copper phone network, the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), to digital calls carried over your broadband. BT calls it Digital Voice, EE Digital Home Phone and Sky Internet Calls. The timetable is in our digital landline switchover explainer. The checks for a dead phone differ between the two.

Your phone is probably digital if it plugs into the hub or a small adapter rather than a wall socket, or if your provider wrote to you about moving it and the date has passed. Sky says the Broadband & Talk section of your bill shows "Sky Talk Line Rental" for a traditional line or "Sky Talk Internet Calls" for its digital service.

Not every home has moved yet: Sky says Openreach aims to remove its traditional phone equipment by January 2027, but Sky will only remove traditional talk by then where Sky Talk isn't provided on its own network (about 10% of its customers).

Sky says its Internet Calls phone won't work if the hub is off, there's a power cut, or broadband has a fault or outage. So if web pages load normally, the connection a digital phone needs is probably there, with one BT exception covered below.

After a move to digital, this is the quickest thing to rule out. On a digital landline the phone connects to the hub or a provider adapter, and BT, Sky and Virgin Media each say the old sockets won't carry the service. Where each provider says the phone should connect (checked October 2026):

Also check:

• Phones moved to another room. For example, a corded phone plugged into a bedroom extension socket stays silent on a digital line. BT says that on its traditional Home Phone Standard service, extension sockets should carry on working as normal.
• Cables. TalkTalk and Virgin Media say check the cable is pushed in firmly; TalkTalk also suggests trying another phone cable.
• Adapters. EE says its adapter must be plugged in and powered. On TalkTalk's Grandstream adapter, the phone goes into a microfilter (a small plug-in filter), and the microfilter into the adapter's green Phone port.
• Sky hub model. Sky says Internet Calls only works with the Sky Broadband Hub, Sky Max Hub or Sky Gigafast+ Hub. If you have a Max Hub or Gigafast+ Hub (the white routers) and can't make or receive calls at all, its troubleshooter says to contact Sky.

For phones in rooms away from the router, our guide to whether your phones work on a digital landline covers cordless handsets, adapters and extension sockets.

BT says a restart refreshes the connection and updates the Digital Voice service. Providers' instructions differ, so follow yours:

• BT: switch the hub off, wait 2 minutes and switch it on. If you hear a recorded announcement when you call, turn it off at the mains, wait 1 minute, switch on and let the lights settle.
• EE: if you hear a message when calling, switch the hub off at the mains, wait 1 minute and switch it back on.
• Virgin Media: use the switch on the back of the Hub and allow 5 to 10 minutes. It's ready when the white power light is solid.
• TalkTalk: turn the Wi-Fi Hub 2 off and on. With the Grandstream adapter and an eero, turn off both, then on again.
• Sky: Sky says the phone won't work if the hub isn't set up correctly. Its "Fix problems with your home phone" troubleshooter asks whether your broadband works, whether you have Internet Calls and which hub you have. On the Sky Broadband Hub it then asks about the voice light: if it's green, check the phone itself; if it's off or amber, contact Sky.

Once it has fully started, listen for a dial tone, then ring your landline from a mobile to test incoming calls too.

If the hub looks healthy, check the phone itself (from BT, EE, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media's help pages):

• Power. EE says a cordless base station must be plugged into both the hub's green phone socket and the mains. BT says the base unit connects to the green phone socket and the handset must be switched on with power. Sky suggests turning the phone and any cordless base station off and on again.
• Batteries. Virgin Media and TalkTalk say to charge cordless handsets fully. Sky notes that some phones make a warning noise when the battery is low, which can be mistaken for a line fault.
• Phones off the hook. Virgin Media and TalkTalk both say to make sure no phone in the house has been left off the hook.
• Another handset. BT, Sky and TalkTalk all suggest trying a different phone. If the second phone works, BT says the first is the problem.
• Ringer volume. If you can call out but never hear it ring, BT says look for a ringer-off symbol and press volume up.

Sometimes nothing is broken and a setting or restriction is stopping calls, so check these before asking for an engineer.

If a holiday divert to your mobile is still on, our guide on how to divert your home phone to a mobile explains how to turn it off with each provider.

Also undo anything you changed recently. TalkTalk says if you recently connected a TV box, a new router or a new phone, reverse the change and reconnect devices one at a time. If a handset stopped pairing after the change, the re-registering steps above apply.

See whether your provider already knows about a problem. Sky's phone troubleshooter starts by asking you to check its Service Status page for planned outages or known problems where you live. Virgin Media points to its Service Status page and My Virgin Media, where you can check for local issues and run tests on your kit. It says a fault that comes and goes at certain times, such as in windy weather, can point to a line fault. BT says its online troubleshooter can be run over mobile data, which helps if your BT broadband is also down.

If the phone crackles or hisses, or gets worse when it rains, rather than going dead, our noisy and crackling phone line guide covers faults that come and go with wet weather.

On a traditional copper line, one more check shows whether the fault is in your home or on the line outside. TalkTalk says the main socket is usually in the hall or near the front door, since that's where the line comes into the house. If yours has two ports, or a single port with a horizontal line across the faceplate, there's a test socket behind the faceplate that bypasses your internal wiring.

1. Unplug every phone, router and other device from all your phone sockets.
2. Plug a corded phone you know works into the main socket, or the test socket behind the faceplate (TalkTalk says this takes a few minutes and a Phillips screwdriver).
3. Make a call.

Virgin Media and TalkTalk say that if the phone works there, the fault is probably in your own wiring or equipment: plug items back one at a time to find it. If it still doesn't work, the line is probably faulty, so report it. Our guide to why broadband keeps dropping out covers the test socket in more detail.

This test doesn't apply to full fibre: BT limits its test-socket instructions to copper and part-fibre lines. On full fibre, and on any digital landline, the hub and handset checks above are the ones that count.

Report it to your provider, not Openreach, even if your line runs on the Openreach network. Openreach says your provider is the first point of contact and the only one who can ask Openreach for a repair. It can run remote tests on the line and on equipment in your home, such as the router and master socket, and book an engineer if one is needed.

Tell your provider whether your phone is digital or copper, that broadband works, what you hear (silence, an announcement, a stuttering tone), whether it's outgoing calls, incoming calls or both, and what you've tried. Note the fault reference, date and time. Openreach says to keep your contact details up to date and check messages, including junk folders, for updates; if an engineer has visited and the fault is back, go back to your provider. For what happens after that, from line tests to engineer visits, see reporting a broadband or phone fault.

Keep another way to call for help. Sky advises always having one, such as a mobile, and BT says use a mobile for emergency calls when Digital Voice isn't working.

Ofcom's rule for people who rely on their landline is about power cuts rather than faults: where there's no working mobile or no dependable signal at home, the provider has to offer a free back-up, for example a battery unit that runs for at least an hour (more on what happens to a digital landline in a power cut). A fault isn't covered by that rule, but still tell your provider about your situation when you report it, especially if someone at home is unwell or uses a telecare alarm. See how to ask your provider for extra support.

Repeated faults or long waits are worth acting on. Your log of fault references and dates supports a complaint and shows whether compensation should have been paid.

If you're out of contract, or close to the end, compare deals at your postcode before you renew. On broadband and phone deals, check whether the phone is included or an add-on, whether the router has a phone port, and whether adapters are available for other rooms. There are deal pages for BT, Sky and Virgin Media, and a list of UK broadband providers. If you do move, One Touch Switch means you only contact the new provider; your current provider must send you the switching information, including any early termination charges. Our guide to keeping your landline number when you switch explains what to check about the number itself. We show deals through a partner's comparison tool and don't arrange switches, so confirm the phone details with the provider before you sign.