Quick answer
Openreach raised the wholesale price of legacy analogue line products (Wholesale Line Rental) in three steps during 2026 - +20% in April, up to around +40% by July, and again in October - roughly doubling wholesale costs within the year. These are wholesale increases that providers pass on, so if you are still on old analogue or ISDN lines your bill has climbed noticeably and will not come back down. The network switches off on 31 January 2027 regardless, so the money is being spent on a product with a known end date.
If your business is still on traditional phone lines, your bill has already climbed - and not by a little. This was not an ordinary annual increase; it was a deliberate commercial push to move the last businesses off copper before the switch-off. Here is exactly what happened, what it does to different kinds of setup, and how to work out whether it is worth paying to get out of a contract early. All figures are illustrative guide ranges as at August 2026.
What actually changed
Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) is the Openreach product that underpins traditional analogue lines. Your provider almost certainly does not own the copper running into your building - Openreach does - so when you pay line rental, your provider is paying Openreach for WLR underneath.
As part of retiring the copper network, Openreach increased WLR prices in stages during 2026:
| Date | Increase | Cumulative effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 April 2026 | +20% | Bills step up in the spring quarter |
| 1 July 2026 | To around +40% above the previous level | Roughly half the total rise landed |
| 1 October 2026 | A further step | Roughly double the year's starting wholesale price |
Those are wholesale figures. Providers pass increases on, though not always immediately or identically, so the exact timing on your bill depends on your provider and your billing cycle. Check the last three invoices side by side rather than assuming - the increases are easy to miss when they arrive as small changes to a standing charge.
Why Openreach did it
The increases are not arbitrary, and it is worth understanding the logic because it tells you the direction of travel.
The analogue network is being switched off on 31 January 2027. With a large number of business lines still on legacy products well into 2026, Openreach had a straightforward problem: a network it must retire, and customers with no financial reason to move until the last minute. Raising the price does three things - it reflects the genuine cost of maintaining obsolete infrastructure, it encourages migration ahead of the deadline, and it reduces the last-minute crush that would otherwise hit in late 2026.
Openreach has described the deadline as locked, and its behaviour is consistent with that. This is the final push, not a negotiating position. Combined with the national stop-sell in September 2023 - which means you cannot order new analogue lines at all, as our stop-sell guide explains - the message is unambiguous.
What it means for your bill
If you still have analogue or ISDN lines, expect:
- Noticeably higher line rental, stepping up in April, July and October 2026.
- No improvement in service - you are paying more for the same ageing line.
- A hard stop in early 2027 when the lines are switched off anyway.
The effect scales with how many lines you have, which is the part that catches people out:
| Setup | How the rise lands |
|---|---|
| Single analogue line | Noticeable but modest in absolute terms |
| Four analogue lines | Four times the increase, every month |
| ISDN2, multiple pairs | Multiplied across every channel |
| ISDN30 | Multiplied across 8-30 channels - the largest absolute impact |
| Lines feeding devices you forgot about | Pure waste, at the highest price the product has ever been |
That last row is the one I would look at first. Every audit we run finds lines nobody can account for - a fax line, a line for a card terminal that moved to mobile data years ago, a line at a site that closed. Those were mildly wasteful in 2025. At post-October-2026 prices they are meaningfully wasteful, and cancelling them requires no migration project at all. Our business phone line cost guide covers how to spot them.
When is it worth paying to exit early?
This is the question I get asked most, and it deserves arithmetic rather than a rule of thumb. If you are locked into a contract with an early termination charge, work it out like this:
- Monthly saving = current monthly cost (at post-increase prices) minus quoted monthly cost of the replacement.
- Months remaining on your current contract.
- Total saving if you exit now = monthly saving × months remaining.
- Compare that with the early termination charge.
- Then add two things the arithmetic misses: any further increases still to land, and the value of not being migrated on your provider's terms in a rush.
A site three months from renewal should almost always just wait. A site eighteen months into a legacy contract, paying post-October prices across several lines, frequently should not. And there is a third route worth trying: an incoming provider has a clear commercial interest in helping you exit, so ask what they will contribute before you assume you are stuck.
If you would like us to run that calculation against your actual bill, get a no-obligation quote - it takes us about ten minutes and the answer is sometimes "stay where you are until March".
Do not confuse the three things happening at once
These get muddled constantly, and the distinction matters for planning:
| What it is | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Stop-sell | You cannot order new analogue lines or change existing ones | Since September 2023 |
| WLR price rises | Legacy line rental costs more | Three steps through 2026 |
| Switch-off | The network stops; services on it cease | 31 January 2027 |
So: you cannot buy more, what you have costs more, and it stops working in January 2027. The price rises are the only one of the three that is purely financial - and the only one you can do something about today without a full migration project.
What to do about it
- Audit your lines. Identify every analogue line and what it is used for, including devices that rely on phone lines. Cancel anything genuinely unused - but never cease a line you cannot identify.
- Cost the alternatives against your current bill, not last year's. Compare with a digital line, a hosted system or SIP trunks - see business landline alternatives.
- Do the break-even sum on any early termination charges.
- Book the long-lead items now. Alarm and lift work runs four to twelve weeks and is unaffected by your contract dates.
- Keep your numbers - they port across, as we explain in keeping your landline number.
- Plan the connectivity, since your replacement runs over SoGEA or full fibre.
Our switch-off checklist puts these in order.
The opportunity hiding in the price rise
It is tempting to see this as just another cost increase, but it is really a prompt to do something you would benefit from anyway. Moving to digital usually lowers total spend while adding capability the old network never had - inclusive calls, features that used to be paid extras, and phones that are not tied to one building.
What the price rises did was remove the last argument for waiting. When copper was cheap, "we will deal with it nearer the time" was at least financially rational. At double the price on a network with five months left, it is not. See what the switch-off costs a business for the full picture of one-off versus ongoing spend.
The bottom line
Legacy line rental roughly doubled through 2026 in three steps, and the lines switch off on 31 January 2027 regardless. Paying a growing premium for a closing network makes no sense, and the impact multiplies across every line and channel you have. Start with the free win - cancel lines nobody uses, at their most expensive ever - then cost the migration against your current bill and do the break-even sum on any contract you are locked into.
Want to know what you would actually save? Get a no-obligation quote or call 0333 006 9399.
Getting unknown calls on a business line? Our free UK phone number checker shows which network or provider Ofcom allocated any number to, and whether the range is in service — no sign-up.
Frequently asked questions
How much did line rental go up in 2026?
Openreach raised legacy WLR wholesale prices by 20% in April 2026, to around 40% above the previous level by July, and again in October - roughly doubling wholesale costs within the year. Providers pass these on, so business retail line rental rose in step, though exact timing varies by provider and billing cycle.
Why is Openreach increasing legacy line prices?
To reflect the rising cost of maintaining an obsolete copper network and to encourage the remaining businesses to migrate before the PSTN switch-off on 31 January 2027. It also spreads the migration workload rather than concentrating it in the final months. Openreach has described the deadline as locked, so this is a final push rather than a negotiating tactic.
Can I avoid the line rental price rises?
Only by migrating off legacy analogue and ISDN lines to a digital line, a hosted system or SIP trunks. There is no discount or exemption to apply for. The immediate free win is auditing your lines and cancelling any that nobody uses, since those are now costing more than they ever have.
Will my lines still work after the price rises?
Yes, until the switch-off on 31 January 2027, but you will be paying a rising premium for a network that is closing and cannot be extended. Migrating sooner avoids both the increases and the risk of being migrated on your provider's terms in a last-minute rush.
Is it worth paying an early termination charge to get out?
Sometimes. Multiply your monthly saving by the months remaining on your contract and compare that with the termination charge, then factor in any further increases still to come. Sites close to renewal should usually wait; sites well inside a legacy contract with several lines often should not. An incoming provider may also contribute to the exit cost, so ask.
Does this affect ISDN as well as analogue lines?
Yes, and usually harder in absolute terms, because the increase applies across every channel. An ISDN30 with a large block of channels sees the largest monthly impact of any common setup, which is why ISDN sites tend to have the strongest financial case for migrating quickly.
Is the price rise the same as the switch-off?
No - there are three separate things happening. Stop-sell (since September 2023) means you cannot order new analogue lines or change existing ones. The price rises (three steps in 2026) mean what you have costs more. The switch-off (31 January 2027) means the network stops and services on it cease.