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The Telephone Engineerex-BT · Stockport

Ex-BT telephone engineer · Stockport & CheshireYour phone sockets are about to stop working.

Line statusCopper / PSTN
Service ends

The UK copper telephone network is switched off on 31 January 2027.

Every UK copper phone line is being withdrawn. Extensions wired off your master socket stop carrying dial tone on that date.

On 31 January 2027 the copper network is switched off and every extension socket in your house goes dead. Openreach stop at the master socket. I don't.

Call 07942 815 831Send me a photo

No call-out charge · Every day, 9am–10pm · 30+ years on the tools

30+
years on the tools
ex-BT
trained and time-served
£0
call-out charge
1 man
you get me, not a call centre

The 2027 switch-off

What actually happens on 31 January 2027

Your dial tone stops coming from the line in the street and starts coming out of your broadband router. The wiring in your walls is still perfectly good — it's just no longer connected to anything.

Now

  1. Exchange
  2. Copper line
  3. Master socket
  4. Every extension

All your sockets have dial tone.

After 31.01.2027

  1. Fibre
  2. Your router
  3. One phone by the router
  4. Extensions — dead

The wall sockets have nothing feeding them.

What stops working

  • Extension sockets in bedrooms, offices and hallways
  • Corded phones plugged into a wall socket away from the router
  • Older care alarms, pendants and monitored burglar alarms
  • The phone working during a power cut, unless you ask for a battery backup

In most houses I can feed the router's dial tone back through the existing extensions, and every socket works exactly as it did before.

Read the full guide

What I do

What I get called out for

If you're not sure which of these you need, ring and tell me what it's doing. I'll know soon enough.

How it works

Four steps, no surprises

  1. Ring me, or send a photo

    Tell me what it's doing. A photo of your master socket or the back of your router on WhatsApp often tells me most of what I need before I've set off.

  2. I come and find out what it actually is

    Tested properly, at the socket, with engineer's kit — not guessed at. Half the job is knowing whether the fault is inside your house or on the network.

  3. You get a price before I start

    You'll know what it costs and what it involves before I pick a tool up. No call-out charge, and if it's your provider's job to fix I'll tell you so.

  4. Done, tested, and tidied up after

    Every socket tested before I leave, cable clipped and hidden where it can be, and the old kit and the mess go with me.

About Mark

I'm the one who answers the phone, and the one who turns up.

I'm Mark Fairbrother. I trained with BT and spent years on their network before going out on my own, and I've been doing phone lines, broadband and home networks around Stockport and Cheshire for over 30 years since.

That means when you ring, you get me — not a call centre, not a subcontractor who turns up in an unmarked van. I quote the job, I do the job, and if something isn't right afterwards you ring the same number.

The thing people have said about me for thirty years is that I'm neat and tidy. I take it as the compliment it is. Cable gets clipped and hidden, holes get made good, and the mess leaves with me.

Trained by
British Telecom
Experience
30+ years
Working out of
Stockport
Team size
One. Me.

“There's not much that can go wrong with a phone line that I haven't already seen go wrong.”

— Mark

5.0 on Google

What people say afterwards

Every review Mark has, unedited. Most of them mention the same two things: he turned up the same day, and he left the place tidy.
I contacted Mark to repair a telephone landline fault for my elderly aunt & uncle. He provided a prompt & efficient service for them. Very helpful, thank you.
Gill Dale
Cut through our telephone cable while decorating, came at same same day to reconnect it. Highly recommend!
Ben Raf
Great bloke , absolutely professional great service. Completed job cleaned up, perfect. Definitely recommend this telecom Enginner.
Gaz B
Great service. Attended same day to reinstate our broadband connection after our dog chewed through our telephone wire!
Dave SkellyLocal guide
Great service very pleasant Everything left clean and tidy. Would recommend.
Pamela WilkinsLocal guide

Where I work

Stockport, Cheshire and the towns in between

I cover the patch I know. If you're a little outside it, ring anyway — I'd rather tell you honestly than have you wait in for someone who isn't coming.

Get in touch

Ring me. It's usually quickest.

I answer my own phone. If I'm under a floor or up a ladder, leave a message and I'll ring you straight back.

Or leave your number

Tell me what it's doing and I'll ring you back — same day where I can.

Your details come to me and nobody else. No mailing list, no passing them on.

07942 815 831WhatsApp