They might be expecting it to be a lot quicker, but if something goes wrong they're covered without anyone being able to complain ie under promise & over deliver.
I'm glad they aren't, but you'd think that as old equipment comes to the end of it's life they'd just switch people over to VOIP.
I hope my phone doesn't start doing weird things on the middle of the night whilst they're testing it out- in the late 80's before we went digital, I was with BT and my phone suddenly started making one long tone whilst the handset was down. It sounded like it was being generated from whatever creates the electronic ringing sound.
I called the operator & explained that my phone was making a weird noise, but she obviously thought it was a wind up as she disconnected the line
It never happened since so all was well, but i'm curious as to how that could happen.