Home › Solutions › PSTN Switch-Off
Solutions · ConnectThe PSTN Switch-Off in Ireland — Keep Your Lift Phones, Alarms & Remote Sites Working
Ireland’s copper phone network is being retired. Anything that still depends on an analogue line or legacy DSL — lift emergency phones, alarm diallers, card terminals, remote-site connections — needs a migration path before its exchange is decommissioned. TITAN IoT supplies that path: 4G and 5G hardware, pre-configured in Galway and supported for its full operational life.
What Is the PSTN Switch-Off in Ireland?
The PSTN switch-off is the retirement of Ireland’s copper-based analogue telephone network (PSTN) and ISDN services as the network moves to fibre and IP. Local exchanges are being progressively upgraded and legacy analogue equipment decommissioned, and new copper line orders are already restricted in fibre-served areas. Any device that relies on an analogue phone line — lift emergency phones, alarm diallers, intercoms, payment terminals — will stop working when its line is withdrawn, and needs to be migrated to a cellular or IP alternative.
There is no single national cut-off date — the withdrawal happens exchange by exchange. That makes it easy to ignore, right up until it isn’t. The safe assumption: if it runs on copper today, plan its replacement now.
What Stops Working When the Copper Goes
Most organisations only find out what was running on an analogue line when it goes quiet. These are the usual suspects.
Lift Emergency Phones
The alarm button in every lift car must reach a staffed monitoring centre at all times under EN 81-28. A lift phone on a dead copper line is a compliance failure, not an inconvenience.
Alarm & Fire Diallers
Intruder and fire panels that dial a monitoring centre over an analogue line lose their signalling path when the line is withdrawn — often silently.
Payment Terminals & Fax
Older EPOS terminals, franking machines and fax lines on copper stop transacting. Anything with a phone cable into the wall is suspect.
Door Intercoms & Gates
Entry systems that ring a phone number over an analogue line need a cellular voice path to keep buzzing people in.
DSL-Connected Equipment
Remote sites, telemetry, CCTV and legacy routers running over copper DSL lose their data connection as broadband over copper is wound down with the voice network.
Monitoring & Telemetry Lines
Pump stations, plant rooms and older SCADA outstations still dialling in over PSTN modems need a cellular data path.
Three Migration Paths Off the Copper
You don’t need to replace the equipment on the end of the line — you need to replace the line. Which path fits depends on what’s connected today.
1 · Analogue Kit That Must Stay
Lift phones · alarm diallers · intercoms. The Robustel EV8100 is a 4G VoIP gateway with an FXS port — your existing analogue device plugs straight in and the call travels over cellular voice instead of copper. Dual SIM for resilience, and the lift phone still reaches its monitoring centre.
View the EV8100
2 · Equipment on a Dying DSL Line
Remote sites · telemetry · CCTV · legacy broadband. A dual-SIM industrial router like the Robustel R1520 replaces the DSL connection with 4G — same Ethernet handoff to your equipment, no rewiring. We pre-configure APN, firewall and VPN before it ships.
View the R1520
3 · Remote or Weak-Signal Sites
Rural sites · masts · cabinets at the coverage edge. Our proven pattern: a Robustel R5020 5G router mounted inside a Poynting EPNT-4 antenna enclosure at height — eliminating coax loss — with SmartNetVPN for secure remote access. We’ve replaced entire estates of copper DSL lines this way.
View the R5020 EPNT-4 EnclosureMigration Without the Site Visits
Every unit leaves Galway staged for its site: SIMs fitted and tested, VPN and APN configured, cloud enrolment done, labelled per location. Your electrician or lift contractor connects power and antenna — the migration itself is already finished. One Irish contact for product selection, project scoping and support afterwards; no ticket queue.
PSTN Switch-Off Questions, Answered
What is the PSTN switch-off in Ireland?
The PSTN switch-off is the retirement of Ireland’s copper analogue telephone network and ISDN services as the network migrates to fibre and IP. Exchanges are being progressively decommissioned and new copper line orders restricted in fibre-served areas. Devices that depend on analogue lines — lift phones, alarm diallers, intercoms, payment terminals — must migrate to cellular or IP alternatives before their line is withdrawn.
Is there a deadline for the copper switch-off in Ireland?
Unlike the UK, Ireland has no single announced national cut-off date — the copper network is being withdrawn progressively, exchange by exchange, as fibre becomes available. In practice this means your line can be affected whenever your local exchange is upgraded, and new copper orders are already restricted where fibre is live. Planning the migration now avoids being forced into it at short notice.
Will my lift emergency phone still be compliant after migrating to 4G?
Yes — compliance depends on the emergency call reaching a staffed monitoring centre at all times, as required by EN 81-28, not on the technology carrying it. A 4G VoIP gateway like the Robustel EV8100 keeps the existing lift phone in service, connects it to the monitoring centre over cellular voice, and adds dual-SIM resilience the copper line never had.
Do I have to replace my alarm panel or lift phone hardware?
Usually not. The EV8100 provides an FXS port that existing analogue equipment plugs into directly — the device on the end of the line doesn’t know the copper is gone. That makes the migration like-for-like: replace the line, keep the equipment. Where a panel is being upgraded anyway, we can advise on natively cellular options instead.
What replaces a DSL line used for data, not voice?
An industrial 4G or 5G router. The router presents the same Ethernet connection your equipment uses today, with the data travelling over cellular instead of copper DSL. Dual-SIM models such as the Robustel R1520 add failover across two networks, and for weak-signal rural sites we mount the router inside a Poynting EPNT-4 antenna enclosure at height to maximise signal.
Do I need a static-IP SIM to reach the equipment remotely?
No. Our SmartNetVPN service and Robustel’s RCMS platform both work on ordinary SIMs behind carrier-grade NAT — the router connects outward to the VPN and you reach each site on a private address. This is more secure than exposing devices on public static IPs and avoids static-IP SIM contracts entirely.
Plan Your Copper Exit
Tell us what’s on the line today — lift phones, alarms, DSL sites — and we’ll spec the migration, stage the hardware in Galway and support it for its operational life.
TITAN IoT Ltd · Racecourse Business Park, Ballybrit, Galway, H91 A9NN
+353 91 757500 · iot@titan.ie