Change Home Phone to VoIP with new number

[#1]

I have existing PN Unlimited Fibre Extra BB FTTC with no home phone plan.

As we are continually receiving nuisance calls I want to change my home phone number.

Which has raised the question should I switch to VoIP with a new number and not port my existing number.

Not sure what the implications of doing this are, I have read if you port your number you lose your BB if not FTTP.

I have HUB2 router with the line socket, if I apply to say A&A for VoIP how will this work as far as PN are concerned?

I have read many posts on VoIP on here and there seems to be a lot of unknowns as far as what PN are intending to do.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[#2]

have read if you port your number you lose your BB

you do.

I have HUB2 router with the line socket, if I apply to say A&A for VoIP how will this work as far as PN are concerned?

the phone socket is non functional on the Hub 2

[#3]

@Richchad 

First of all check your number here - https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

You're looking to see if SOGEA is available. If it is you can change your account to internet only (might need a new contract!!).

If your old nemuber is not important to you you can simply set up a VOIP account with a new number which won't affect your current phone / internet.  You need to do this before you change your account type to ensure continuity of a phone service. A&A details are here - https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile/voip-information/

As the phone socket on the Hub2 is non functional you may need to buy an Analogue Telephone Adaptor (ATA). You also have work to do if you use phone extensions in the house.

Brian

[#4]

@Richchad  If you want a new number no need to port your existing one so forget that. Get a voip service which gives a new local area number, you will also need a Voip phone system such as the Gigaset models or a voip ATA adaptor which could you use to connect your existing phones. I would prefer the Gigaset devices

The other thing you need to do is re-contract on Plusnet's SOGEA product, they call it Fibre which is confusing. It's FTTC but no phone service so your troublesome number goes away. It should be a little cheaper than your existing FTTC.

I wish the Plusnet Forum would flag up new replies but I'll post this anyway.

[#5]

@bmc @RealAleMadrid 

Thanks for the replies, I can get SOGEA but I gather that to use VoIP I cannot use my PN set up as I have to lose the existing phone connection before VoIP will work?

When I look at options and upgrades on offer, I can see the option for Fibre and no phone for £26.99pm

But as I am now only paying £23.99pm with the phone line, that doesn't make a lot od sense to switch...😕

Maybe I should just change my existing phone number and wait until end of contract and maybe by then PN will have sorted out what they are going to offer as far as VoIP...🤔

[#6]

@Richchad

I suspect a change of number would involve closing your current account as PN systems work on the phone number.

As your number doesn't matter you can set up a VOIP account totally independant of your current phone service. Once up and running you could simply unplug your phone from the BT network and no more spam / cold calls even though your landline is still active.

One thing to note is that with VOIP those phoning you need to enter the full area plus number to get through.

Finally you could phone the PlusNet Customer Options Team on 0800 013 2632 to see what they offer.

Brian

[#7]

---

@Richchad wrote:

... but I gather that to use VoIP I cannot use my PN set up as I have to lose the existing phone connection before VoIP will work?

---

@Richchad 

No, you don't need to lose your existing phone connection before VoIP will work.  VoIP is independent of your existing phone service and just needs an Internet connection (but as has been mentioned by others, you will need some additional kit).

[#8]

Thanks everyone for all the info, it looks like I can do what I wanted to do as I don't need to keep my number for reasons mentioned before.

I just need to sort an ATA adaptor and VoIP service, possibly A&A as they seem to be the cheapest.

There seems to be a lot of ATA adapters when I googled it, need to read about them a bit more..

Our existing home phones are Gigaset SL400 handsets, not sure if I can get these to work with VoIP.

Thanks again.

[#9]

Our existing home phones are Gigaset SL400 handsets,

Get a Gigaset N300 IP , your handsets will work fine with that. Your only problem will be that (I guess?) one of the handsets is cradled in the base unit. You will need to disconnect the existing base unit and so that handset will be without a changing station.

Plenty of used N300's available on ebay. You dont need the one with answerphone (  N300A) as your voip account will give better voicemail facilities.

[#10]

@MisterW Thanks will take a look, my base station isn't a cradle, I have 4 phones with own bases, so should be okay  🙂

[#11]

@Richchad  there is also an N510 IP Pro base station that should work fine with your handsets.

It differs from the N300 in that its purely voip only whereas the N300 has a landline connection capability as well

[#12]

Probably not relevant here, but the N510 IP Pro also has the option of being powered by the included adaptor or by PoE.  

Edit: typo

[#13]

@RobPN  didnt know that. Does that mean that it doesnt come with a power adaptor as standard ?

[#14]

@MisterW 

I can't say for certain, but mine which I bought from eBay included an adaptor.

It was sold 'as new' and arrived in its original box which included a small section for the adaptor.

I bought it for the PoE function, but I'm still using the N300 IP ATM because of the necessity of using the landline socket.

EDIT:  I just dug the box out, and can confirm that in the small print on its end listing the contents it includes "1 Power supply".

[#15]

Recently done exactly this, got a new number and am using it over VOIP.  Works with any internet connection.  I bought a new local number from Andrews and Arnold (costs £1.44/month plus call charges of typically 1p to 1.5p/minute).  I also bought an analogue telephone adapter, a Cisco SPA112 (cost about £40).

The Cisco SPA112 was set up with the Andrews and Arnold settings (very easy to do) and the home phones were plugged into that box, rather than to the phone master socket.  The Cisco SPA112 plugs into any router with an internet connection and just works.  I've tried it with both our Plusnet broadband and also with a 4G gateway.  Works the same with both.

You can do this without making any changes at all to your Plusnet account, although it makes sense to get rid of the unused Plusnet analogue phone service and switch to a SoGEA service from them.

My reasons for opting for a semi-stand alone solution for our landline phone were primarily so that we would not be dependent on our broadband staying up.  We get a lot of power cuts (three in the past two weeks) and our Plusnet broadband fails about 35 minutes after the power goes off (the local cabinet dies).  I have battery backup in the house, so wanted a way to maintain an emergency phone connection (we have virtually no mobile signal in the house).  The 4G gateway I installed has a couple of big mobile antennas on a tall pole, that just about gets enough signal to give us a relatively slow emergency internet connection, one that seems fine for a VOIP phone.