- SOGEA stands for Single Order Generic Ethernet Access, an Openreach wholesale product that supplies fibre-to-the-cabinet broadband without an analogue phone service attached.
- SOGEA runs over the same copper line and street cabinet technology as standard FTTC, so the headline speeds available are broadly the same as the FTTC tier it replaces.
- Openreach introduced SOGEA to support the migration away from the analogue Public Switched Telephone Network, which is being retired as part of the all-IP transition completing in 2027.
- Because there is no separate Wholesale Line Rental product underneath SOGEA, the cost of the copper voice line is removed from the wholesale charge a provider pays Openreach.
- Calls on a SOGEA connection are carried over the internet using Voice over Internet Protocol rather than the traditional copper voice path.
SOGEA is fibre-to-the-cabinet broadband sold as a single order with no analogue phone line underneath. Speeds match equivalent FTTC, and any phone service is delivered over the internet instead.
Last reviewed: June 2026
What SOGEA actually is
Single Order Generic Ethernet Access, almost always shortened to SOGEA, is a wholesale broadband product supplied by Openreach to internet service providers. The defining feature sits in the word "single". A traditional fibre-to-the-cabinet connection was sold as two stitched-together products: a copper voice line, billed through Wholesale Line Rental, and a broadband overlay on top of it. SOGEA collapses that into one order. A provider buys a data circuit that uses the same copper pair into the home and the same fibre-fed street cabinet, but the analogue telephone service that historically rode alongside it is simply not present. The word "generic" reflects that it is a standard wholesale building block any provider can buy and wrap its own service around, rather than a retail brand in itself.
That structural change matters because the phone line was never really about the phone for most modern households. It was the billing and provisioning wrapper that the broadband sat on. By removing the voice element from the underlying order, Openreach created a product that behaves like FTTC for data purposes while shedding the legacy voice plumbing. The line into the property still exists physically, but it carries data only, and the dial tone that used to be permanently present is gone unless a provider layers an internet-based phone service over the top. For a household, the visible effect is usually nothing more than the broadband arriving without a working socket-based telephone behind it.
How SOGEA delivers FTTC-grade broadband
The engineering underneath SOGEA is deliberately conservative. The connection uses Very-high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line technology, the same VDSL standard that powers fibre-to-the-cabinet. Fibre runs from the exchange to the green cabinet on the street, and the final stretch from cabinet to home travels over the existing copper pair. Because the physics of that copper run are unchanged, the achievable speed on a SOGEA line is governed by the same factors as FTTC: the distance from the cabinet, the condition of the copper and any line interference. A property a short distance from its cabinet will see a strong speed, while one a long way down a copper run will see the signal attenuate, exactly as it would on FTTC.
This is why SOGEA is often described as a like-for-like replacement for FTTC rather than an upgrade. A household that received around a given speed on standard fibre-to-the-cabinet will typically see the equivalent on SOGEA, because nothing about the data path has changed. What has changed is the absence of the voice channel. On a copper line, the analogue voice frequencies and the broadband frequencies coexisted on the same pair, separated by a microfilter at the socket. SOGEA frees the line of the voice obligation, but the broadband performance is set by the same VDSL profiles Openreach already published for FTTC, which is why providers can quote the same speed estimates for both.
Why Openreach created SOGEA
SOGEA is a direct consequence of the retirement of the analogue Public Switched Telephone Network. The PSTN is the decades-old copper voice network that delivered dial tone to the country, and it is being switched off as part of a national move to an all-IP network. Openreach has set out a programme to migrate services off the analogue network, with the all-IP transition completing in 2027. Continuing to provision millions of new lines with an analogue voice element attached would have run counter to that direction of travel, because every such line would be one more legacy connection to unwind later.
By offering SOGEA, Openreach gave providers a way to sell broadband that does not depend on the analogue voice platform at all. New customers ordering broadband no longer need an analogue line spun up purely to host the connection. Telephone calls, where a customer still wants a number, are handled digitally instead. This staged approach lets providers move households onto an all-IP footing one connection at a time, rather than waiting for a single national cut-over, and it reduces the number of analogue lines that have to be decommissioned later. It also gives the wider industry, including alarm and telecare suppliers, time to adapt their equipment to an internet-based voice path before the analogue network disappears entirely.
SOGEA compared with standard FTTC plus a phone line
The table below sets out the practical differences between an old-style fibre-to-the-cabinet line with an analogue phone service and a modern SOGEA connection. The underlying broadband technology is shared, so the contrast is mostly about the voice element, the ordering structure and the wholesale cost basis.
| Feature | Standard FTTC with phone line | SOGEA |
|---|---|---|
| Broadband technology | VDSL over copper from cabinet | VDSL over copper from cabinet |
| Voice service | Analogue line included | None by default; VoIP optional |
| Number of Openreach orders | Voice line plus broadband overlay | Single combined order |
| Wholesale Line Rental charge | Applies underneath | Not applicable |
| Typical broadband speed | Set by distance from cabinet | Same, set by distance from cabinet |
| PSTN dependency | Relies on analogue network | All-IP ready, no analogue voice |
Which providers sell SOGEA and what it costs
Because SOGEA is a wholesale Openreach product, it is available to the many providers that resell Openreach connectivity. The major retail brands operating over the Openreach network offer SOGEA-based packages, often without drawing attention to the acronym at all. To a customer browsing tariffs, a SOGEA package usually appears simply as a fibre broadband plan with no landline, or as a broadband-only deal. The technical name rarely surfaces on the bill, and the order is generally invisible to the household beyond a single broadband sign-up.
On cost, the removal of the Wholesale Line Rental charge from the underlying order means providers are no longer paying Openreach for an analogue voice line they bundle in. How that saving is reflected in retail pricing is a commercial decision for each provider, so it is not possible to quote a single figure that applies across the market. The mechanism is consistent, though: SOGEA strips out the cost of provisioning a voice line that most broadband customers were not using for calls anyway. Precise wholesale charges are published by Openreach and revised periodically, so the authoritative pricing is whatever Openreach currently lists rather than any fixed number quoted elsewhere.
What changes for the household
For a customer moving onto SOGEA, the broadband experience is intended to be unremarkable: the same router, the same socket and the same speed range as the FTTC service it replaces. The practical change concerns the telephone. Any phone service is now delivered over the internet, so a handset plugs into the broadband router rather than a wall socket, and it depends on the broadband connection being up. Where a household still wants a number, providers typically supply a digital voice service alongside the SOGEA line, often keeping the existing number through Ofcom's number portability arrangements.
The most important consideration is resilience. An old analogue line drew power from the exchange and kept working in a power cut, whereas a router-based service stops if the mains fails or the broadband drops, including for 999 calls. Ofcom expects providers to offer at least one solution that lets a customer contact the emergency services for a reasonable period during a power outage, such as a battery backup unit, and households that rely on a telecare alarm or that have no mobile signal should flag this when ordering so the provider can put a suitable arrangement in place before the line goes live.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is SOGEA broadband?
SOGEA broadband is a fibre-to-the-cabinet connection supplied by Openreach as a single order with no analogue telephone line underneath. It uses the same VDSL technology as standard FTTC, running fibre to the street cabinet and copper for the final stretch to the home. The difference is that the legacy voice service is removed, and any phone service is delivered over the internet instead.
Is SOGEA the same as FTTP?
No. SOGEA is a cabinet-based product that still uses copper for the final run from the street cabinet to the property. FTTP, or fibre-to-the-premises, runs fibre all the way to the home and generally supports higher speeds. Both can be sold without an analogue phone line, but the underlying technology differs and FTTP is not limited by the length or condition of a copper run.
Do I need a phone number with SOGEA?
No, a phone number is not required. SOGEA is fundamentally a broadband product with no analogue voice service attached. A household can take SOGEA for internet only and have no telephone number at all if it does not want one, though many providers still offer a digital voice option that can be added.
Can I add a VoIP number to SOGEA?
Yes. Because SOGEA carries data, a provider can layer a Voice over Internet Protocol service on top so that calls travel over the broadband connection. Many providers bundle a digital phone service with their SOGEA packages, delivering a number and a dial tone through the router rather than the old copper voice path, and an existing number can usually be kept under Ofcom portability rules.
Who offers SOGEA broadband in the UK?
SOGEA is a wholesale Openreach product, so the providers that resell Openreach connectivity can offer it. The large retail brands operating over the Openreach network sell SOGEA-based packages, though they often market them simply as fibre or broadband-only plans without using the acronym.
