Digital Voice,
the future of the home phone service
What is Digital Voice?
Digital Voice is the future-proof replacement for the existing copper telephone landline service. It's delivered by VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology and runs over your broadband connection, meaning that it future proofs your phone line in the coming years, helping you to get ahead of the 'switch off'.
Working seamlessly over your connection, Digital Voice provides high quality voice capability, without the need for a traditional phone line. The transition is simple, we can help you make the move and you can even keep an existing phone number if you wish with a free number port.
If you'd like to move to Digital Voice, you can view our packages and click the button below to order online. You can also call our team on 01706 902696.
What’s included?
Our Digital Voice service enables you to make high-definition calls, together with a 1,000 or unlimited minute monthly bundle, depending on which package you choose. You'll have the option to keep an existing phone number or take a brand new one if you like, along with all of the features listed below.
Voicemail
Allow your callers to leave a voicemail when you're not available
Number Withheld
Dial 141 before a call to prevent the other party from seeing your phone number
Call Waiting
Get a notification of another inbound call when you're on the phone
Call Diversion
Forward your Digital Voice calls to another device when you're away from home
Call Barring
Prevent calls being made to international or premium rate destinations
Blacklisting
Blacklist numbers from nuisance callers to prevent them calling you again
What’s included?
Our Digital Voice service enables you to make crystal clear calls, together with a 1,000 or unlimited minute monthly bundle, depending on which package you chose. You'll have the option to keep an existing phone number or take a brand new one if you like, along with all the features listed below.
Included
Voicemail  | |
| Number withheld | |
| Call waiting | |
| Call Diversion | |
| Call Barring | |
| Blacklisting | |
| Call history |
Order Digital Voice
or Digital Voice Extra online...
Alternatively you can place your order over the phone by calling our team on 01706 902696.
If you have any questions prior to ordering Digital Voice, please take a look at our FAQs below.
Selected value set on form.
Please select which Digital Voice package you would like to take.
Required
If you would like to keep your phone number, please provide it here field input is required
Please only provide your current landline phone number if you would like to transfer it, leave blank if you are happy to have a new telephone number. If you are moving your traditional phone line from outside Zen, please do not cancel with your current provider until we have confirmed your transfer has taken place. By providing this phone number you accept that you have authority to proceed with transferring it.
A few things to check...
- To ensure that you are on the latest technology to effectively support Digital Voice, including a Fritz!Box router, you may need to change your broadband product to a more modern technology. We will contact you by phone or email if a regrade is required.
- For the Digital Voice product to work most effectively we advise that you use the Fritz!Box router provided by Zen.
- Digital Voice works slightly differently to a standard landline; a power cut or broadband outage would affect your ability to make and receive calls. We recommend you also have a working mobile phone in case of emergencies.
- Some forms of care or social alarm connected to your phone line may not work if you switch to Digital Voice.
- Some much older telephones will require an RJ11 adapter to work with Digital Voice, these are included with the Fritz!Box router. If you have misplaced your RJ11 adapter and require one you will need to purchase one. These are available to order via Zen or you can source one yourself.
Confirmation
We will send you a payment link by email to collect the first month's payment and activation fees associated with your order.
Your Digital Voice product will replace your line rental or line rental plus product with Zen and your monthly bill will be adjusted accordingly.
By clicking the ‘order now’ button you accept that you are submitting an order to enter into a contract based on the product that you have selected above. Your Direct Debit payment will be adjusted accordingly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Digital Voice FAQs Segment 6
With some of our older broadband packages, the line rental addition reduces the cost of your broadband service as a bundle. When you replace line rental with Digital Voice, you may pay slightly more in total for your broadband and Digital Voice. Our team are on hand if you have any questions about this – please call 01706 902969.
If you are on a Full Fibre broadband package, you won’t need to upgrade.
If you are on an older FTTC, or ADSL package with Line Rental or Line Rental Plus, you will need to upgrade your broadband package to a Digital Voice compatible service. Our team can help you with this – please call 01706 902969 to talk through your options.
It depends which broadband package you are currently on.
If you are currently on a fibre to the cabinet connection with line rental, we would need to upgrade your broadband package to enable Digital Voice to be added on. This would mean you would be entering into a new contract for both broadband and Digital Voice.
If you have a full fibre connection, Digital Voice is separate contract from your broadband contract.
Digital Voice is the industry terminology for the new digital phone line service that UK households will predominantly use moving forward. Rather than running on traditional copper wires as the traditional landline has done, Digital Voice operates on fibre broadband, connecting via your home's WiFi router.
Digital Voice is available to all Zen customers on a fibre connection. As we transition to an all fibre or full fibre telecommunications infrastructure, there is no longer a need for a traditional landline. In fact, the traditional landline running over century old copper wires, is being retired, and Digital Voice is the replacement. Digital Voice provides high quality voice capability over your broadband connection without the need for an additional phone line.
No, if you choose to disable WiFi you can still use a handset plugged directly in to the router, the Frtitz! App on your mobile phone or a DECT device paired to the router as a base station.
Absolutely not! We understand that changing your landline number can be a real headache. So going digital doesn’t mean losing your number – you can take this with you when you move to your digital alternative.
If you have higher usage needs, we also offer Digital Voice Extra, with all the same features as Digital Voice and unlimited minutes included monthly for UK landlines and mobiles.
Digital Voice is an additional £6 on your broadband bundle offering a competitive 1,000 inclusive minutes for UK mobile, landline and Digital Voice services. Our Digital Voice Extra service includes unlimited minutes for UK mobiles (EE, Three, Vodafone and O2 only), landlines and Digital Voice services for just £17.99 per month.
Digital Voice is an alternative to your traditional, analogue phone line. You do not need a new handset, in some instances a typical domestic handset will fit into the desired port on the Fritz!Box 7530. Where it does not fit, an RJ11 adaptor will be required. You can watch our 'How to video' for more information on this here. If you still have the box your router was delivered in, it could still be in there as it will have come with the device. If you can't find it contact us on 01706 902668 and the team will be on hand to help.
Historically your landline would need to be installed first to deliver the broadband service, which carried voice and data dual services. Our new Fibre broadband products are data only and no longer require the voice component that ran over the copper infrastructure.
You will need to regrade to the data only variant (full fibre) to maintain your Broadband connection. Voice is now an optional service that goes alongside this, but it is not a prerequisite to having broadband.
Please call our team on 01706 902969 and they can talk through the options with you.
Yes, simply plug the handsets’ base station into the back of your router and your multiple handsets connected to that base unit should connect automatically.
Please follow your Digital Voice set up guide to set up your service. You can also watch our handy 'How to' video here. If you have any questions, please get in touch with our Technical Support Team who can help you with your set up by calling 01706 902001.
Digital Voice is not designed to work with care lines or alarm lines. With the pending switch off of the PSTN network we suggest you speak to the provider of these services to confirm their plans for the move to IP. You can find more information about this on the Government website here.
No, as you are moving across to our new Digital Voice package you are not subject to an early termination charge on your current line rental contract. This charge will be waived by our team when you place your order.
This email is auto generated when we cancel your Line Rental service. However, we will set you up with Digital Voice at the same time as we cancel the Line Rental service, so you can please ignore this email.
That all depends! Openreach has planned a phased switch off of the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), so some areas have already been fully switched off from the public switched telephone network – customers in those areas have already had to make the transition to the digital technologies. So it all depends on where you’re located.
Although 2027 is the final switch off date, this is not a big bang approach. In fact, many areas will be switched off much sooner and we are encouraging our customers to avail of the more modern technologies once they are available to them as they will ultimately provide a better connection. At Zen we are maintaining the original switch of date (2025).
Your bundled minutes will include calls to local, national and mobile numbers. When you choose Digital Voice you'll get 1,000 monthly minutes to these numbers and with Digital Voice Extra, your minutes will be unlimited.
"Safe pair of hands!"
"The upcoming ‘big switch off’ nudged me into moving to Digital Voice and upgrading my broadband at the same time. My order was placed in super-fast time and all the stress and hassle was taken out of the upgrade. I am so pleased with the continuing service from Zen.”
- Heather Jones -
Here's what you need to know about the upcoming 'switch off'...
What is the switch off?
The switch off refers to the gradual phasing out of BT's Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) - or as many of us know it, that socket on the wall that your phone and router plug into.
The UK is moving away from this unreliable copper connectivity and towards a modern digital world, meaning the copper telephone network will soon be switched off completely.
Why is it happening?
The old copper network has been around for more than a hundred years, and it's beginning to show it's age. Traditional landlines are known for their unreliability - with dated underground copper cables impacted by even the slightest change of weather conditions. Combine that with the fact the copper network is becoming increasingly difficult and costly to maintain, repair and keep up to date, and it's clear why this is a welcome change for many.
Users want a connection that can stand up to the storm - quite literally. And with the new FTTP (fibre to the premises) cables being installed in replacement of the dated copper wires, this will mean stronger, more robust connections that are also more reliable, resilient and future-proof.
When will it happen?
From September this year, sales of new services (phone and broadband) that run on copper ended, and the network will be switched off entirely by 2025.
But the switch off isn't going to happen everywhere at the same time. Instead, a phased approach is being taken, so the exact switch off date will depend on each location - some connections have already been switched off!
What are my options?
If you'd like to keep using a home phone after the switch off, you’ll need to switch to an internet-based phone service such as Digital Voice or Digital Voice Extra.
By adding Digital Voice now you'll be future-proofing your phone line and you won't face any disruption in the coming years. You can find out more about our voice packages above.
Myth busting...
The switch off is a pretty big deal and with it, comes lots of new information to digest. In our mission to make sure you have all the right information in regards to the switch off, we've come across a number of myths that we'd like to bust once and for all!
We've compiled a list of truths for the most common misconceptions that we've heard surrounding the switch off, so that you have peace of mind when making the move yourself.
DV Myth busting - Segment 6 & 7
This is a myth.
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol - the technology that delivers Digital Voice) can be secure when properly configured and maintained. Very much like a traditional phone line VoIP requires security measures to protect against potential threats.
By default, inbound calls are sent to your router based on its IP address. The Zen platform has mechanisms in place to detect fraudulent traffic and performs automatic blocking of such activity.
This is incorrect.
Whilst data only FTTP (Fibre to the Premise) absolutely can support VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol - the technology that delivers Digital Voice) there is also another product that can meet this requirement whilst Openreach continues to move at pace with the FTTP roll out.
This alternative technology is called SoGEA (Single Order Generic Ethernet Access) and is a viable solution for Digital Voice where FTTP is not available. SoGEA is very similar to FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet), but the difference is that SoGEA carries data only, the voice service is removed.
This is incorrect.
This move from aging, Victorian technologies is a significant change in the nation’s telecommunications infrastructure and Openreach is confident the January 2027 deadline of withdrawing all products that currently rely on the PSTN and ISDN network will be met. To ensure no one gets left behind, and to enable providers such as Zen stay ahead so they can have continuity of service for all users, the time to move to the new technology is now.
Whilst power outages in the UK are rare, experiencing one can have an impact on services that rely on mains power such as Digital Voice. This means if a call needs to be made to emergency services during a power outage this will need to happen via:
- Mobile phone. Dependent on battery life and signal.
- Back-up Power. A battery back-up or uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can provide temporary power to your router during a power outage, you can source these online. This will allow users to continue using the voice service, including making emergency calls.
- DECT (wireless) phones. This is an option to bridge very short outages, but is wholly dependent on the base unit being at full capacity, and charge in the handset/s.
For guaranteed in-life support, seamless transition and the ability to make calls immediately on the date of activation we do advise that you use our VoIP compatible Fritz!Box router. However, should you choose to use a router not supplied by Zen we can supply you with your credentials which will allow you to manually configure your hardware of choice, ready for calls.
Please note that we will not be able to provide in-life support of the Digital Voice service where hardware supplied by Zen is not in use. You will also need to call our Technical Support team on the date of activation for your credentials.
All Sky boxes (including the older plus models) do not require a working phone line.
Everything you need to know...
In this video we’re joined by Lee Houston, our Head of Product, who has the answers to some of your most frequently asked questions.
Key features
| Digital Voice | |
| What's included? | Voicemail Number Withheld Call Waiting Call Diversion Call Barring Blacklisting |
| How many minutes are included? | 1,000 minutes |
| Pricing | £6 per month |
| Digital Voice Extra | |
| What's included? | Voicemail Number Withheld Call Waiting Call Diversion Call Barring Blacklisting |
| How many minutes are included? | Unlimited minutes to landlines and mobiles (EE, Three, Vodafone and O2 only) |
| Pricing | £17.99 per month |
Calls are billed by the minute (with each call rounded up to the nearest minute), helping you to manage your service more effectively.
| Digital Voice | Digital Voice Extra | |
| What's included? | Voicemail Number Withheld Call Waiting Call Diversion Call Barring Blacklisting | Voicemail Number Withheld Call Waiting Call Diversion Call Barring Blacklisting |
| How many minutes are included? | 1,000 minutes to landlines and mobiles (EE, Three, Vodafone and O2 only) | Unlimited minutes to landlines and mobiles (EE, Three, Vodafone and O2 only) |
| Pricing | £6 per month | £17.99 per month |
Calls are billed by the minute (with each call rounded up to the nearest minute), helping you to manage your service more effectively.
General billing information
- The new price you will pay for your broadband and Digital Voice package will depend on the existing bundle that you have and whether you need to upgrade your broadband technology. To find out more please call our team on 01706 902668.
- Charges are pence per minute (PPM) and include VAT.
- Calls are billed by the minute (with each call rounded up the nearest minute).
- For mobile tariffs please refer to these rates.
- For other service numbers please refer to these rates.
How we calculate call charges
Calls are subject to a minimum length of one second and are rounded to the nearest minute (e.g. if a call lasts 25 seconds, it will be rounded up to one minute on your bill). If applicable, a call setup fee is added. Fixed fee calls have a fixed-cost element for part (or all) of the call (e.g. 5p for the first five minutes or 25p per call). For calls to service numbers beginning 084, 087, 09 and 118 the access and service charges are rounded up to the nearest minute. There is no setup fee for these calls.
UK and Standard Mobile Call Rates (pence per minute)
| Call type | Price (all day) |
|---|---|
| UK local & national calls (01, 02, 03 numbers) | 20ppm (outside of bundle) |
| UK mobile - EE, Three, Vodafone and O2 only | 20ppm (outside of bundle) |
| 084, 087, 09 & 118 numbers | 11ppm charge plus service charge |
| Standard call setup fee | 20p per call |
International Call Rates
Our International pricing structure splits all International destinations into five bands: A, B, C, D and E.
The cost for making calls (landline and mobile) to each of these bands are presented in our International Call Rate Tariff, available here.
All call rates given in pence per minute including VAT.
Would you like to move to Digital Voice?
Order online by clicking the button below,
or call us on 01706 902696.
The Zen Difference
Our people
We believe in making Zen a great place to work. Because happy staff provide award-winning service and go the extra mile for our customers every day.
