The Problem with Separate Phone and Internet Providers

[#1]

When Internet access first became available to domestic users it was common practice to keep the telephone service with BT and add Internet access, be it dial up or broadband, from one of the emerging ISPs.

Over the years most have combined the two services into a single contract but there are still legacy users with split services. Before the end of next year those who wish to keep their landline numbers will have to be ported to VoIP (Digital Phone) a digital service carried over the Internet. This is likely to cause major issues for those users with split services unless they are aware of the implications.

The reason for this is that you can only have one company supplying an Internet connection to a property. If the phone company installs its voice only service then this will automatically cancel the other party’s Internet connection, and vice versa. A warning to any who are told that their landline is about to be transferred to ‘Digital Phone’. Such a move should trigger a ‘sorry you are leaving’ email from Plusnet but be aware that if a Plusnet service is ceased for any reason, all emails held on the Plusnet servers are likely to be irretrievably lost.

The provision of both phone and Internet needs a different approach.

There are two options:

1. Most ISPs offer a combined phone and Internet service, unfortunately a BT corporate decision has dictated that, on the assumption that many users no longer use a landline, that Plusnet will only provide the Internet option without a phone.
2. To keep the phone and Internet separate, transfer the phone number to a VoIP provider that offers just the phone service, with no Internet connection. This involves setting up an account and porting the number to them. An adapter is then connected to the existing Internet home router provided by the ISP, so there’s only one connection to the property. This replicates the arrangement provided by a single supplier.

Option 2 is that required if Plusnet is your preferred ISP.

[#2]

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@Baldrick1 wrote:

... Such a move should trigger a ‘sorry you are leaving’ email

Be warned to respond to that email immediately IF IT IS WRONG and you don't want to move.

I recently moved ISP and ported my (different provider) landline number to VoIP.

My 'sorry you're leaving' email from my landline (losing) provider arrived at 15:51 on the afternoon prior to the midnight when my broadband ISP move would automatically cease the phone service.

So virtually no time to react in normal office contact hours, or for them to have done anything about it.

[#3]

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@Baldrick1 wrote:

... legacy users with split services

... you can only have one company supplying an Internet connection to a property.

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Not strictly true IMO, especially in the case of FTTP where it's possible to have multiple Internet services running over a single fibre.  I'd agree it's only possible to have one DSL Internet connection over a copper line.

It'll be interesting to see what the proposals are for converting a PSTN service to digital when a FTTP service from another company is already running, and in my case the two services are presently in different names!

[#4]

@RobPN 

You are of course perfectly correct, this is badly worded.

However in the context of this topic, anyone with a fibre connection is not going to have a landline phone on the same connection. I also concede that a property might have more than one tele[phone line, but I suspect that this is rare..

[#5]

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@Baldrick1 wrote:

... a property might have more than one tele[phone line, but I suspect that this is rare..

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@Baldrick1 

I agree that properties with more than one phone line probably are rare, especially these days with many people using other methods of communication, although pre-ADSL I had a second line installed just for dial-up when those cheap 'all you can eat' services appeared, Freeserve and NTL in my case.  I can think of at least one friend who did the same.  The second lines were ditched as soon as ADSL was available (in 2002 here).