Can I Keep my landline number without a landline?

[#1]

I presently have Plusnet fibre to the house (as part of the initial trial) with landline - which we never use.

i want to upgrade to Fibre 145 to get faster speeds but this will lose my landline. This is not a problem but losing the landline number would be a problem.

Can I keep the landline number but diverted to my mobile (with Three) or do I need another landline only provider?

Thanks.

[#2]

@knappettg 

You will need to port your landline to a VOIP provider to keep the number.

The good news is you can do this before you upgrade to FF145 because you're on the Trial. You do however need to get the nod from a Staff member on here so they can keep an eye on things. Porting the number has been known to close an account.

The first thing I did when I FTTP through the Trial was to cancel my phone line as did 3 of my neighbours. My phone number was changed to 00000 00000 on my account.

Brian

[#3]

Can I keep the landline number but diverted to my mobile

if that's all you want tomdo then this may be worth a look

https://www.virtuallandline.co.uk/tariffs

[#4]

@knappettg  You can do what you want. I would go with the advice that @bmc has given you. I use a PAYG Sipgate VOIP service but that is no longer available to new users, they now charge £10 a month which is not good. There are many cheaper VOIP providers, the Broadband supplier A&A offer a standalone service for a good price. There are phone apps available that can enable you to get VOIP calls on your mobile, I have not used this facility so you may need to do some research.

@MisterW Not sure what that outfit do but it looks expensive and somewhat restricted, I would give that a miss.☹️

[#5]

Thanks.

Does Plusnet offer a ‘ Pay as you call’ landline offering that could be added to the Fibre 145 package?

That would give me the added security of a backup if fibre goes down.

[#6]

In a word, no - the PN FF offerings are FF only, no phone option at all.

[#7]

Not sure what that outfit do but it looks expensive and somewhat restricted, I would give that a miss.☹️

AIUI  is basically a voip service but with preconfigured options to forward calls to a mobile. Yes you could do the same with the likes of A & A probably cheaper, but you need to understand how to configure a voip account to do it.

[#8]

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@knappettg wrote:

Thanks.

Does Plusnet offer a ‘ Pay as you call’ landline offering that could be added to the Fibre 145 package?

That would give me the added security of a backup if fibre goes down.

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Back in the day when PN were setting people up on the FTTP Trial they offered both landline and phone only services. This changed a couple of years back to a combined only offering. Now with Full Fibre availabe commecrcially they are doing internet only with no phone service for this.

If you remain as you are PN will leave you on your legacy product (for the time being anyway). However, to upgrade you need to sign a new contract and move to the current terms and conditions ie no phone offering.

As mentioned before, because you're on the Trail you can port your current number out so long as you have staff monitoring you account to ensure it isn't closed as part of the port. If you wish to keep your number it is highly recommended you do so before beginning the upgrade process.

You might well be able to find a landline only provider but given that POTS over PSTN is being withdrawn in 3 or 4 years jumping to VOIP might well be worthwhile.

Others have recommended Andrews & Arnold for VOIP - can't comment on that. However they do have a reasonable Help page explaining how their VOIP works.

VOIP doesn't work during power cuts so have a look at battery backup solutions to keep you running for a short time if required.

Brian

[#9]

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@RealAleMadrid wrote:

@knappettg  ... the Broadband supplier A&A offer a standalone service for a good price. There are phone apps available that can enable you to get VOIP calls on your mobile, I have not used this facility so you may need to do some research.

I am with A&A (having ported my number when I was on the Trial).  it's £1.20 pm for the line, outgoing calls are cheap, even to mobiles.

I use a mobile phone app called SessionTalk, As with any of the apps it is pretty much essential to pay for the "push" processing feature (only a fiver or so) which registers a Sessiontalk agent on the A&A servers to push incoming calls to your mobile. This avoids the need to keep the app permanently open, which kills the battery.. Incidentally this should provide some protection from local power cuts - as long as your mobile phone is charged and there is mobile signal and the Sessiontalk and A&A servers are up your "landline" will still work.

I don't think A&A do inclusive call packages, which is fine for me as I don't make many "landline" calls. If you need inclusive minutes then compare with eg Voipfone, Sipgate etc

[#10]

If I keep my contract as it is what will happen in 2025 when the old copper wired landlines disappear?
Currently my landline is corded with two plug in corded extensions.

Will I be provided with a different kind of phone for the two extension sockets and main socket?

Or will the copper landline just stop working and I have to sort something out for myself?

[#11]

@knappettg 

We are yet too learn how Plusnet will handle the widespread switch off of the PSTN.

However in answer to your question you can continue to use your current analogue phones after the switch over to digital.

You simply fit an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) to your network. This will feed all your phones as at present. Some hubs including those from, for example, BT and Sky, have a built in ATA.

[#12]

Thankyou for sharing.

i have decided to stay on my present contract with landline and leave it until Digital changeover in 2025 to make changes. I

[#13]

@knappettg

Very little is known about exactly how the PSTN switch off will work. OpenReach are trialing it in at least one Exchange to identify problems and work with ISP's to move people to ditigal. The following has a bit more information.

https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/retiring-the-copper-network

https://www.openreach.com/upgrading-the-UK-to-digital-phone-lines/for-my-home-or-business

As mentioned previously PN, like I believe all other ISP's, have not shared their plans. Indeed, I suspect no ISP knows for certain what is going to happen or what is required.

As you're on the Trial I suspect you will be on a 30 day rolling contract. If so, I would suggest PN will have no reason / interest in replacing your current phone equipment. Indeed I would be surprised if any ISP is. Supplying an ATA would the the limit of their ambitions.

You should also consider the possibility of PN requiring all of us still on the Trial to "move" to their current management system for FTTP at some point in the future. As such you would need to recontract and lose your phone line / number or change ISP.

Given this I would have a good look round VOIP providers to see what's available and what might suite your needs. This would ensure you have an idea of what to do if or when the time comes. The comments from @beeceegee  seem to suggest A&A would do the job for you but I did see on their site a comment about a charge for each call diverted to your mobile.

Brian

[#14]

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@bmc wrote:.
The comments from @beeceegee  seem to suggest A&A would do the job for you but I did see on their site a comment about a charge for each call diverted to your mobile.

Brian

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You can indeed set up specific numbers to "also ring", or divert the call. With the app however you are not diverting the call to your mobile, your mobile becomes a SIP softphone with your voip "landline" number. The call is going to the softphone not your mobile number. As far as I can see the only possible charges you could incur are for mobile data usage in excess of your allowance; can't imagine voip calls are massive data hogs

BrianG

[#15]

@beeceegee 

Thanks for the clarification.

Brian