Will My Card Machine Work After the PSTN Switch-Off?
A payment terminal that dials out over an analogue phone line will stop authorising transactions when the PSTN is retired on 31 January 2027. Government guidance lists payment terminals among the devices to check; most modern terminals move to broadband or 4G instead.
Written by Nathan Hill-Haimes, Co-Founder, AMVIA
Quick answer
A payment terminal that dials out over an analogue phone line will stop authorising transactions when the PSTN is retired on 31 January 2027. Government business guidance explicitly lists payment terminals among the devices to review, and Openreach's migration checklist says to check terminals for compatibility. Most modern terminals connect over broadband or 4G instead - the fix is usually an upgrade from your payment provider plus a resilient internet connection.
Key Points
What you need to know.
Officially On The List
Payment terminals are named in government business guidance as devices relying on legacy networks; fax machines are named in the national transition guidance.
No Business Safety Net
Non-migrated consumer lines may get a temporary emergency-calls-only service; business lines do not. Roughly 350,000 business premises were still on legacy copper in July 2026 (Openreach figures).
You Cannot Reorder Analogue
Openreach stop sell has applied since September 2023: WLR analogue and ISDN lines cannot be newly ordered or modified. A dead line stays dead.
Trading Risk, Not IT Risk
A silent terminal is lost revenue by the hour. Migrate the connection and test authorisation BEFORE the analogue line is ceased.
Payment Devices: Before and After the Switch-Off
| Feature | Analogue today | Digital replacement |
|---|---|---|
| Dial-up card terminal | Authorises by modem tones over the phone line | IP terminal over broadband, or 4G terminal - faster per transaction |
| Fax machine | Analogue fax over the voice line | Scan-to-email or a digital fax service; adaptors exist but are not guaranteed |
| The line itself | WLR analogue - cannot be reordered since September 2023 | SOGEA or fibre for connectivity; number moves to VoIP |
| Failure mode | Terminal works until the line is retired | Tested live before the analogue line is ceased - no trading gap |
Dial-up card terminals were built for a network that is being turned off. Government business guidance lists payment terminals among the systems that rely on legacy analogue networks, and Openreach's checklist tells businesses to check payment terminals for compatibility before their line is migrated. Fax machines sit in the same category in the national transition guidance.
Why a dial-up terminal fails on a digital line
An analogue terminal authorises payments by modem tones over the voice line. Digital lines carry speech, not modem signalling guarantees, so a terminal can dial, appear to connect, and still fail authorisation. Unlike a phone, the failure costs money by the hour: the card machine that cannot authorise is a till that cannot take cards.
The clock has two hands
The retirement date is 31 January 2027, but the practical deadline is earlier. Stop sell has applied since September 2023 - analogue WLR and ISDN products cannot be newly ordered, migrated or modified, so a terminal line that develops a fault today often cannot be replaced like-for-like. And business lines are excluded from the temporary emergency-only service that may catch non-migrated consumer lines. As of July 2026, Openreach counted roughly 1.5 million lines still on legacy copper, about 350,000 of them business premises - the queue in the final months will not be short.
The fix, concretely
First, ask your payment provider one question: is this terminal analogue-dial, or IP/4G capable? Analogue-only units get replaced - modern terminals authorise over broadband or mobile data and are faster per transaction. Second, give the replacement something reliable to connect to: a SOGEA or fibre connection for the premises, with 4G in the terminal as its own fallback. Third, if the same line also carried voice, move the number to VoIP so it survives the copper cessation. Test a live authorisation on the new setup before the old line is ceased - never after.
Frequently Asked Questions
If it authorises over an analogue phone line, yes - government guidance lists payment terminals among devices to review before the 31 January 2027 retirement, and Openreach says to check terminals for compatibility. IP and 4G terminals are unaffected; analogue-dial units need replacing.
One question, in writing: does this terminal authorise over analogue dial-up, and if so what is the IP or 4G replacement? Official guidance for new equipment is to check with the equipment provider that it is compatible with digital phone lines before you buy.
Analogue fax is named in the national transition guidance as a device category needing action. Some fax units work behind digital-line adaptors, but reliability is not guaranteed - most businesses move to scan-to-email or a digital fax service instead.
No. Openreach stop sell has applied since September 2023 - analogue WLR and ISDN products cannot be newly ordered, migrated or modified. The replacements are digital: FTTP, SOGEA and equivalent connections, with the terminal moving to IP or 4G.
Do not plan on one. The temporary emergency-voice-only continuity service that may catch some non-migrated lines applies to consumer lines; industry reporting confirms business lines are expected to complete their digital migration rather than rely on any soft landing.
Related Resources
PSTN Switch-Off 2027
The full guide: what is changing, who is affected, and how to migrate without disruption.
SOGEA Broadband
The like-for-like replacement for a phone-line-based broadband connection - no PSTN required.
Business VoIP
Hosted VoIP from GBP5.95 per user per month with number porting handled for you.
PSTN Switch-Off Statistics
The verified countdown numbers with named sources and dates.