Renewing contract and maybe moving home phone to fibre...

[#1]

Hi,

My contract is coming to an end in 3 or 4 weeks time.  I’d previously had an email reminder from Plusnet and spoke to them this morning.  I pay £39.65 (landline/broadband/calls package) at the moment whereas my renewal would apparently be £26.99.  Once I’d got over the pleasant shock of something actually going down I called Plusnet only to be told that the £26.99 didn’t include my call package which bought it up to £39.68.  I’ve seen this before and it’s just a trifle misleading…

Anyway the lady at Plusnet was trying to get me to go full fibre and forfeit the landline.  I could apparently still use my cordless phone but plug them into the router instead of the GPO wall socket.  Although I would not now be paying for landline the price would still be the same which I could not understand.  Presumably this was because she was going to up my FTTC broadband speed from ~65Mbs to FTTP at ~150 Mbs.

The lady I spoke with was charming and helpful but I’m an antique and I find discussing technical things like this over the phone quite confusing - accents and poor hearing don't help!

Obviously Plusnet can do calls over fibre but then I see recommendations on here to use A&A as call provider...  I wish to keep my cordless as we use that more than our mobiles.

I’m confused.

[#2]

@PNnewbie 

Two things before going into detail

Is Full Fibre available to you? Have a look at the following amd see if WBC FTTP is in the left hand column and, if so, what it says to the right. There would also be a narrative below the results window about FTTP.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

A&A is by all accounts a good VOIP provider. Have a look throught the following, especially the FAQ section. Note that VOIP doesn't work in power cuts so back up power is required.

https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile/voip-information/

Brian

[#3]

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@PNnewbie wrote:

I could apparently still use my cordless phone but plug them into the router instead of the GPO wall socket.  Although I would not now be paying for landline the price would still be the same which I could not understand.  Presumably this was because she was going to up my FTTC broadband speed from ~65Mbs to FTTP at ~150 Mbs.

The lady I spoke with was charming and helpful but I’m an antique and I find discussing technical things like this over the phone quite confusing - accents and poor hearing don't help!

Obviously Plusnet can do calls over fibre but then I see recommendations on here to use A&A as call provider...  I wish to keep my cordless as we use that more than our mobiles.

I’m confused.

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PN do not offer a voice service over their fibre service, and the router phone point does not work, so she was telling porkies/misleading you.

You could do that with other suppliers, but not PN.

[#4]

@PNnewbie 

Anyway the lady at Plusnet was trying to get me to go full fibre and forfeit the landline.  I could apparently still use my cordless phone but plug them into the router instead of the GPO wall socket. 

I'm sorry, but you were given incorrect information, the Plusnet router phone port is non-functional.

Obviously Plusnet can do calls over fibre but then I see recommendations on here to use A&A as call provider...  I wish to keep my cordless as we use that more than our mobiles.

I’m confused.

I'm not surprised!. Plusnet do not offer a voip (calls over fibre or Digital voice) service! . If you wish to  take fibre broadband with Plusnet and retain a phone service, you need to port the phone number to a third-party voip service. In order to continue to use your cordless phones you will also need an ATA (Analogue telephone adapter).

edit Mustrum types faster than me , so the above repaets some of the information

[#5]

bmc – thanks for the links.  It appears FTTP is available at this address (I suspected this was so as I think the lady next door had it installed a few months ago).  Looking at the A&A pages I find them quite confusing.  At the moment I get a phone package from Plusnet which allows me unlimited calls for a fixed amount (£12.69 I think) whereas A&A seem to charge by the second.

Mustrum said:->>> PN do not offer a voice service over their fibre service, and the router phone point does not work, so she was telling porkies/misleading you. <<<                       

 Sadly it wouldn’t be the first time.  In their defence maybe it’s my hearing but I do query things I don’t understand or doubt.

MisterW said:->>> In order to continue to use your cordless phones you will also need an ATA (Analogue telephone adapter). <<<

I presume that applies when I eventually move from landline phone?

I have approximately 4 weeks to decide so I suspect that to give myself some breathing space I’ll just renew my present contract (landline/broadband/calls package) and look at VOIP later.

Thanks for your help.

[#6]

I presume that applies when I eventually move from landline phone?

correct

I At the moment I get a phone package from Plusnet which allows me unlimited calls for a fixed amount (£12.69 I think) whereas A&A seem to charge by the second

you can voip packages which include calls 

However unless you make lots of calls then PAYG is likely to be cheaper. For instance A & A is 1.5p/min and don't forget there is no call setup fee like landlines. So you would get the equivalent of around 800 mins for your £12.95.

[#7]

Mustrum – “Plusnet do not offer a voice service over their fibre service, and the router phone point does not work”

Does it not work because Plusnet do not offer a voice service over their fibre OR is the actual physical port inoperative?  Plusnet used to use similar routers to BT and I presume the BT router would allow a phone to be plugged in (assuming BT could/can do voice over fibre).

With advice I’ve received on here I’m thinking of moving over to A&A for my phone calls, as MisterW says I’ll get ~800 minutes for what I pay Plusnet now so if the move from Plusnet to A&A is fairly painless that’s probably the way to go.

With A&A do I plug the mobile phone base to the Plusnet router, perhaps with a small interface that I’ve read about or can I just plug it in?

Sorry for appearing so dim…

[#8]

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@PNnewbie wrote:

Mustrum – “Plusnet do not offer a voice service over their fibre service, and the router phone point does not work”

Does it not work because Plusnet do not offer a voice service over their fibre OR is the actual physical port inoperative?  Plusnet used to use similar routers to BT and I presume the BT router would allow a phone to be plugged in (assuming BT could/can do voice over fibre).

Both. Although based on a BT Router the functionality is not included in the PN router firmware. 

With A&A do I plug the mobile phone base to the Plusnet router, perhaps with a small interface that I’ve read about or can I just plug it in?

It's not your mobile phone you use , but your existing standard phone plugged into an adapter (ATA) which in turn would be plugged into one of the routers ethernet ports. …Other options are available, but for now just to keep the explanation simple.

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[#9]

Mustrum - "It's not your mobile phone you use , but your existing standard phone plugged into an adapter (ATA) which in turn would be plugged into one of the routers ethernet ports..."

I'm sorry - I did mean cordless  - Its a BT cordless with call blocker and three handsets and its base is conveniently placed near the router.

If the functionality is not included in the PN router firmware will I need to change the router?  Plusnet are trying to persuade me to go FTTP (FTTC at present) so presumably if I do so the router will be upgraded - and will be suitable for having my cordless base connected into an ethernet port?

So many questions - sorry...

[#10]

If the functionality is not included in the PN router firmware will I need to change the router?  Plusnet are trying to persuade me to go FTTP (FTTC at present) so presumably if I do so the router will be upgraded - and will be suitable for having my cordless base connected into an ethernet port?

@PNnewbie as @Mustrum said earlier, to use your existing cordless base, you will need an ATA (Analogue telephone adapter) into which your cordless base is plugged. In addition, this has an ethernet connection to one of the router LAN ports. All (well almost all) routers provide suitable LAN ports, certainly all the PLusnet supplied routers do.

[#11]

Mustrum/MisterW – thanks for your input – and patience…

I’ll probably ask Plusnet to upgrade my FTTC to FTTP and look around for an Analogue Telephone Adaptor (ATA), they seem to cost ~£50, presumably they all do the same?   I think I’m right in saying that with FTTP Plusnet will supply a different router.  If I understand correctly I should then be able to connect my cordless base via the ATA to a suitable LAN port on the new Plusnet router. 

Reading various threads seems I’m not the only one who is confused – makes me feel a ‘little’ bit better!

Probably a call to A&A in the morning, I wonder if they sell ATA boxes?

Thanks again.

[#12]

Yes A&A sell a selection of kit, including the Grandstream HT801 ATA.

They're not the cheapest, but if you buy from them you'll presumably get all the setup support you'll need. Might even be pre-configured, but check.

[#13]

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@PNnewbie wrote:

Mustrum/MisterW – thanks for your input – and patience…

Seems you are getting there though.

As others have said A&A or others can sort out all the voice elements, and PN or others the broadband/internet stuff.

Or of course you could leave it all to one supplier, but not PN. The choice is yours, and no doubt you will have preferences. BT/EE, Sky, Talk Talk and A&A to name a few would do it all for you.

On a personal note, I find the whole thing very disappointing - over 10 years ago my "work" supplied me a VOIP system that I could answer/make calls from my desk, laptop softphone if I was in another office, another phone if signed in at home or any other phone in a corporate office, or even on my mobile if I was on the move. I know that is available from some suppliers now, but tends to be more for business users, I guess the mobile operators and lower costs have stopped that one - bit like Betamax / VHS maybe!

[#14]

I have worked for a company that used a bit of VoIP. They managed to get calls from Nigeria presented with a UK number.

[#15]

In business (and outside it these days) you can pretty much present any number you want irrespective of the calls origin. VOIP or PSTN.