About 2600 premises, mainly around Glenroi and East Orange, will be disconnected from the existing copper network on February 9.

A further 9173 homes and businesses will be disconnected in April, followed by 1380 in May and 3208 premises in June.

The dates correspond with the 18-month time limit from when the NBN network was installed.

The head of NBN Local NSW Amber Dornbusch said many of the first group had already changed over but some had not done so.

She said they needed to contact their phone or internet provider to switch over to the NBN network.

“While the majority of households have switched to an NBN powered plan there are those yet to do so and they risk being disconnected once the copper network is decommissioned later next month,” she said.

“People do have a choice.

“They can switch to an NBN powered plan or they can choose to make do with mobile solutions.

“Making the switch to an NBN powered plan is not automatic which means people who want to maintain their landline phone and internet access must contact a phone or internet provider to place an order as soon as possible.

“We are particularly urging people with special equipment, including EFTPOS terminals and medical and security alarms, which operate using a landline phone connection, to check with their preferred service provider about their compatibility and assistance in moving these services across to the NBN broadband access network.”

She said about 10,500 homes and businesses in Orange had connected to the NBN since June 2016.

She said 2681 premises would be initially affected.

An NBN spokesman said she did not know how many had not connected to NBN.

“Most of them have [connected],” she said.

She said houses on the outskirts of town or in rural areas would remain on a separate network.

“[Around Orange] 3685 premises are connected to the Fixed Wireless network – for satellite and fixed wireless, you can keep your copper line and existing ADSL [asymmetric digital subscriber line].

People using a medical alarm have been advised to contact their provider to ensure it would be compatible with the NBN network.

“If you have a medical alarm, it’s important to register it with NBN [call 1800 227 300 or go to www.nbn.com.au/medicalregister] before your landline is disconnected and call your medical alarm provider for advice and to find out if your device will work on the NBN network,” she said.