Phasing out home phones

[#1]

Well, now, I don't know their exact address, but I've looked up the Openreach data for the street they are in.

FTTC shows maxed out 80/20 but no WBC FTTC is available (full up cabinet ?) WBC SOGEA is available (not sure how that's possible ?)

No WBC FTTP, only 'On Demand' FTTP.

ADSL speed range shown as 10- 19.5 Mb/s

So, I think you're right, they've been given an ADSL service (Which given their style of use, will be fine for them)

They are the parents of my sister-in-law, so I'll keep a casual eye on things.......

[#2]

FTTC shows maxed out 80/20 but no WBC FTTC is available (full up cabinet ?) WBC SOGEA is available (not sure how that's possible ?)

TBH that's what you would expect where VDSL (FTTC) is available. FTTC i.e VDSL with a phoneline ISNT available due to WLR stop sell but SoGEA i.e FTTC with no phoneline IS.

SoGEA still requires availability in the cabinet but maybe the availability checker doesnt show that ?

Still not sure how they managed to get ADSL & Phone though ....

[#3]

It also shows G-fast (Not) Available at 308 Mb/s !

Without getting into their router, I don't think I'm going to be able to learn much more !

Interesting stuff nevertheless !

[#4]

My PN phone and broadband contract expired in November 2023 and I could have swapped to a FTTP instead of FTTC which would lose the landline.

I spoke to PN about the potential ceasing of landlines in 2025 as we didn't want the hassle of not having the landline and what happened if I renewed my current FTTC with landline.

I was told I wouldn't be forced off onto FTTP and lose the landline so I renewed it for another 2 years until November 2025. My thoughts were by that time the porting and transferring would be sorted out/easier, or possibly we no longer need the landline as all the people who phone us on the landline would have our mobile numbers as really it is just incoming calls we need to preserve at this time. We shall see if that is the case that we won't be forced off!

So anybody a little nervous on losing their landline at this time I would suggest they just renew "as is" and sit back for now. There are going to be a lot of older people who will struggle who need help if their landline is to to go.

[#5]

My PN contract doesn't run out until June and so to grt used to digital phone I have an A&A phone with my local area code. Itcworks and is inexpensive. I have looked at renewing now and all I am offered is a fibre only package, which seems to change in cost by the day. If I can I will follow your example to extend.

My goodnews is that as my router failed I now the latest version and wifi is excellent. We live in a long house and have to use wifi calling for mobiles. I can walk from one end of the house to the other and not loose the call. It also works in the garden now. So my tp_link router and powerline wifis have been turned off.

As I said previously we use 1pmobile for calls as it is very cheap and so far have most of my £30 yearly subscription after 10 months....but we needed to keep landline in case the wifi calling got screwed....which it did last year.

Progress eh!

[#6]

Had occasion to test the robustness of using the internet as an emergency phone service yesterday, when we (along with tens of thousands of others) lost our internet connection.  Yesterday the landline continued to work, so the problem wasn't serious, but it did illustrate what we're up against come the closure of the PSTN.    I thought I had a robust work around - I was wrong! 

As a test system, in preparation to losing the landline (we have no mobile signal here that works for phones) I've installed a VOIP system, with an analogue telephone adapter (ATA) that accepts two WAN connections.  One is connected to our Plusnet broadband, the backup is connected to a 4G modem and dish antenna mounted on a pole on the roof.

When testing I found that the A&A test phone number works just fine and the ATA automatically falls back from the Plusnet internet connection to the much slower 4G one without any issues.  When we lost Plusnet broadband yesterday I thought this would be a good real-world test.  I was a bit shocked to find that we'd also lost the Vodafone 4G at the same time!

To double check we got in the car and drove to the top of the hill behind us, where we can usually get usable Vodafone and O2 reception (good enough for voice calls, if not great for internet browsing).  Sure enough there was no Vodafone or O2 signal.  Whatever took out Plusnet yesterday afternoon (and, I believe, also took out some BT customers) also took out the only mobile mast we can connect to.  No idea why, when I checked there was a carrier on both the O2 and Vodafone B20 band, but neither of our phones would connect, they showed no signal.  I can only assume that data comms from the mast to the rest of world were down due to the outage.

Now having a re-think as I'd assumed that, with the backup generator at this mast, it was a robust fallback.  Now I know it's not and will fail if the broadband fails I'm considering switching to Starlink.  It's a lot of money, and I detest Musk, but it does look as if Starlink may work when terrestrial connections fall over.  I don't much like the idea of not being able to call the emergency services once we lose the landline.

[#7]

Yes I would kind of expected that in that the telephone masts use the internet to communicate to a tower near you.

Its amazing that they are being allowed to remove a service that works especially when they will be leaving much of the copper in place. I wonder how long fibrer will last before the wires deterioate as they are probably of chinese origin.

After the Post Office mess I wonder how well this has been thought through from a technology and software aspect.

I am sure it will be fine for the townies

[#8]

Surely there's an arm of the Government/Civil Service that looks at such resilience issues, basically stopping the country "Putting all its eggs in one basket"? 🤔

And I'm also wondering whether to proactively install a VOIP phone system in parallel to my existing BT copper.....

BUT what provider and device? A&A seem to be well-regarded but you need to buy a new phone, though I've also found Vonage who are not that expensive and include an interface box that you can plug existing POTS phones into - if I've read their web site correctly.

[#9]

I opted to use A&A as a test and the service is very good and easy to set up.  No need for any change to your phone, but you do need an analogue telephone adapter (ATA).  I found this pretty straightforward and thought that as the ATA had a second WAN connection that it automatically switches to when the main one fails it would provide a simple way to keep the phone working when the broadband internet goes down.

[#10]

@HPsauce @JSHarris
The awareness of network resilience issues have stirred OFCOM into action, a chance to have your say.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2023/ofcom-proposes-updated-guidance-for-telecoms-network-resil...

[#11]

@HPsauce 

though I've also found Vonage who are not that expensive and include an interface box that you can plug existing POTS phones into - if I've read their web site correctly.

Vonage basic plan seems to be £6.99/m with a 12m contract. I'm pretty sure it does include an adaptor but can't find details of that.

Cost effectiveness depends on how many outgoing calls you are likely to make and to what type of numbers ?

Vonage includes 1000 minutes to landlines but mobiles are 10p/min with a 19p/min setup charge

A & A is PayG , basic cost £1.44/m , landline calls 1.5/min , mobile 4p/min but you need to buy some equipment...

In terms of number porting, Note that Vonage state that a number must be active , which conficts with Ofcom's 'right to port'

When I get my Vonage number, should I cancel my old phone service?

No. Your original phone service needs to be active for the number transfer to take place, and if it is cancelled, you will lose your original number. When your number is transferred, your original service will automatically be cancelled.

[#12]

Thanks @MisterW that pretty much explains what I found.

For now I'm keeping my BT line and (semi-memorable) number so this will be an add-on. I've plenty of POTS handsets!

The A&A plus ATA route seems most cost-effective as we rarely use the landline for outgoing calls and the price already includes way more calls than we make.

ATAs don't seem to be particularly cheap though I'd only need a fairly basic one.

[#13]

ATAs don't seem to be particularly cheap though I'd only need a fairly basic one.

No, they don't seem to be and there's not many available used.

If you've got any existing GAP compatible DECT handsets then it may be worth looking at the Gigaset N300IP base unit. They can often be picked up for around £25-35. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=gigaset+n300&_sacat=0&_sop=15

They will support multiple SIP accounts and a dialplan, so you can route calls via the least cost routing. For instance have an A & A account which is used for incoming calls and then e.g a Localphone account for outgoing (0.6p/min to landlines & 1.5p/min mobiles). The localphone account isnt used for incoming calls but it presents the CLI of the A & A  number on outgoing ones.

[#14]

You could choose to use an app on your mobile phone as your VOIP handset. Then you need no hardware other than your mobile and router. It will also work when away from home - provided you have internet access on your mobile.

Note - though I have an app on my phone which seems to work when tested My A&A "trial" number gets so little use I can not vouch for whether using a phone app is a robust solution.

[#15]

Thanks @MisterW every day is a school day! 😀

I didn't know about the Gigaset unit, that is a good call.  I've plenty of GAP DECT handsets as I used to have both a domestic and business number here; the latter is now long-defunct.