Planning for the analogue phone switch-off
Discussion
I believe this is happening in 2028, so no rush yet. But I use a landline a great deal, with four Panasonic cordless handsets. I have Plusnet phone and broadband.
Some say you just plug the phone into the router, which would be ideal, but others say it won't work with Plusnet and you need an adapter. Does anyone know definitively please? I also want to keep the number.
Some say you just plug the phone into the router, which would be ideal, but others say it won't work with Plusnet and you need an adapter. Does anyone know definitively please? I also want to keep the number.
Simpo Two said:
I believe this is happening in 2028, so no rush yet. But I use a landline a great deal, with four Panasonic cordless handsets. I have Plusnet phone and broadband.
Some say you just plug the phone into the router, which would be ideal, but others say it won't work with Plusnet and you need an adapter. Does anyone know definitively please? I also want to keep the number.
BT wanted twenty gazillion pounds to let us keep our lines or go to VoIP. We solved the problem (business) by going to cell phones only.Some say you just plug the phone into the router, which would be ideal, but others say it won't work with Plusnet and you need an adapter. Does anyone know definitively please? I also want to keep the number.
I've just been forced to switch by BT.
It was and continues to be one of the most frustrating things I've done in my life and I've got three kids and one of them is seriously mentally disabled so im pretty good with frustrations and problem solving.
The Internet didn't work at first so that took a few hours to sort out on the phone. The old copper line phone because the Internet phone also didn't work.
Helpfully BTs phone based help system regularly tells you to go online to sort out your Internet problems, im not kidding, it really is that stupid.
Then once you get through to a real person they do some magic and the Internet then works.the phone doesn't work though and then the copper line stops working, on a Monday morning so you have no phones at all in the busiest day in the busiest time of year you are advised to put an app on your private mobile so the Internet phone works through that.
The app doesn't work and needs hours of fiddling to get it to function and eventually it does work.
For about 20 minutes then it freezes regularly and has to be deleted and reinstalled several times.
Again much time is spent on the phone (mobile) to bt to sort it out.
Its now Wednesday.
Amazingly the nice lady at bt has fixed it all.
It all works for three days and then you must turn the roiter off and on again or the person callimg you wont be able to hear you, you can hear them though.
So roughly every three days this is what we do.
The answer phone that used to be a simple one button press to hear the message is now a cloud based robot that tells you loads of useless info before playing the message which 9 times out of 10 is the sound of someone hanging up the phone. This costs a few pence every message. Previously free.
The big bell that was in the warehouse that you could hear above the general noise no longer tolls when a call comes in so you now miss calls and have to pay and fight the cloud robot to access.
All in all i hate it. So hold out as long as you can to your old but functional tech.
It was and continues to be one of the most frustrating things I've done in my life and I've got three kids and one of them is seriously mentally disabled so im pretty good with frustrations and problem solving.
The Internet didn't work at first so that took a few hours to sort out on the phone. The old copper line phone because the Internet phone also didn't work.
Helpfully BTs phone based help system regularly tells you to go online to sort out your Internet problems, im not kidding, it really is that stupid.
Then once you get through to a real person they do some magic and the Internet then works.the phone doesn't work though and then the copper line stops working, on a Monday morning so you have no phones at all in the busiest day in the busiest time of year you are advised to put an app on your private mobile so the Internet phone works through that.
The app doesn't work and needs hours of fiddling to get it to function and eventually it does work.
For about 20 minutes then it freezes regularly and has to be deleted and reinstalled several times.
Again much time is spent on the phone (mobile) to bt to sort it out.
Its now Wednesday.
Amazingly the nice lady at bt has fixed it all.
It all works for three days and then you must turn the roiter off and on again or the person callimg you wont be able to hear you, you can hear them though.
So roughly every three days this is what we do.
The answer phone that used to be a simple one button press to hear the message is now a cloud based robot that tells you loads of useless info before playing the message which 9 times out of 10 is the sound of someone hanging up the phone. This costs a few pence every message. Previously free.
The big bell that was in the warehouse that you could hear above the general noise no longer tolls when a call comes in so you now miss calls and have to pay and fight the cloud robot to access.
All in all i hate it. So hold out as long as you can to your old but functional tech.
We switched to digital voice with Zen a few years ago, it was simple, the DECT base just plugs into the router, although I believe you can use a mobile, or connect directly to the router. We were able to keep our number - it has been in my wife's family since telephones were installed to this house.
richhead said:
Im also a little worried about this, not for me as i dont have a landline, but for my elderly mum , she has a bt landline and bt broardband,
Any one know what i need to do to make her old phones work, she has 3 cordless phones and one non cordless old phone.
The cordless phone base station plugs into the telephone socket on the router so those phones will work fine. We’ve got that and still use that for answerphone. Any one know what i need to do to make her old phones work, she has 3 cordless phones and one non cordless old phone.
I also have a BT supplied wireless adapter that my old desk phone plugs into. That is iffy - doesn’t always ring and the voice of the caller can come in and out.
BT also sent us two cordless VOiP phones - they connect wirelessly direct to the router and work fine.
My mum is with BT for phone and broadband. She is sort of stuck with them as she has an old BT email address (there is no way I could get her to change). She was on a stupidly high monthly cost, I looked at upgrading online but it wouldn’t go through. Ended up calling them, chap on phone found a better deal than any of the online ones but had to go digital.
They supplied new router, one mesh disk and a wireless digital to analogue converter.
I did the install, don’t remember it being particularly bad.
I think the line was out for about an hour after I swapped the router.
The new mesh disk seems to give the same coverage as 4 of the old BT units.
I plugged her fall alarm monitor into the analogue converter and her big button Dect BT base station into the pass through socket on the monitor.
She has quite slow broadband ,about 20mb, I think we have had only one instance of the landline phones not working in the last 6 months, probably caused by a power cut, just had to turn the converter power off and on again. The manual for the converter says you shouldn’t plug alarms ( no choice as other end of house to router) into it but so far it has just worked and the alarm company are very quick to call me if there’s any issues.
I did deliberately stick with BT for the digital upgrade as they appeared to have the most help.
They supplied new router, one mesh disk and a wireless digital to analogue converter.
I did the install, don’t remember it being particularly bad.
I think the line was out for about an hour after I swapped the router.
The new mesh disk seems to give the same coverage as 4 of the old BT units.
I plugged her fall alarm monitor into the analogue converter and her big button Dect BT base station into the pass through socket on the monitor.
She has quite slow broadband ,about 20mb, I think we have had only one instance of the landline phones not working in the last 6 months, probably caused by a power cut, just had to turn the converter power off and on again. The manual for the converter says you shouldn’t plug alarms ( no choice as other end of house to router) into it but so far it has just worked and the alarm company are very quick to call me if there’s any issues.
I did deliberately stick with BT for the digital upgrade as they appeared to have the most help.
I decided to just get fibre installed and did the land line via voip with A&A.
The princely sum of £1.44pm keeps my existing number and unlocks a million features I may never even learn about, never mind use.
Needed to get a voip phone (some DECT phones are already compatible) but most of my existing gigaset cordless phones connect to it.
No way BT are charging me through nose when I can keep my old number for such little outlay.
The princely sum of £1.44pm keeps my existing number and unlocks a million features I may never even learn about, never mind use.
Needed to get a voip phone (some DECT phones are already compatible) but most of my existing gigaset cordless phones connect to it.
No way BT are charging me through nose when I can keep my old number for such little outlay.
I recently transferred broadband, landline and mobile from BT to EE on their recommendation, including full fibre-optic. The broadband and mobile transfers did not go well, and they forgot to mention that the landline also had to be connected to the router. I did this last week, and they then gave me a new temporary landline number as it will take 9 days to port over my old number!!
This is a bit of a pain for incoming calls. I hope the quality is OK, as so far the full fibre optic broadband is proving to be slower and less reliable than the BT copper cable. 6 weeks after installation they are still working on it.
This is a bit of a pain for incoming calls. I hope the quality is OK, as so far the full fibre optic broadband is proving to be slower and less reliable than the BT copper cable. 6 weeks after installation they are still working on it.
Tymb said:
My mum is with BT for phone and broadband. She is sort of stuck with them as she has an old BT email address (there is no way I could get her to change).
Just as an FYI, she can keep here bt email address after moving to another provider.Its free if she is happy to use their basic email service and access via webmail.
Otherwise its £7.50 a month to move to their premium email service where you can access via an email app.
I'm with Virgin (on the ridiculous) and they supplied a little adapter to plug into their router. But I don't use their phone service at all and instead opt to keep my old pre-VM landline going using Voipfone. I can use the Voipfone softfone app on my mobile but I also like to use old physical phones for which I use a Cisco SPA112 analogue telephone adapter (ATA) which connects via ethernet to my VM router. You can pick them up for about £20-£45 and they support two lines and multiple numbers. The service from Voipfone costs me £3 a month plus calls which inevitably barely cost a thing even international. You can use Voipfone's portal to see all your calls and to use their online voicemail service if your landline equipment doesn't have an answering machine/voicemail.
I've got an ancient Panasonic cordless phone plugged in, as well as an even ancienter bakelite rotary phone for that nuclear hotline vibe.
If you want a landline for an older or vulnerable person, then one thing to be aware of is that unlike a proper old-fashioned copper landline which powers your phone, this stuff won't work in the event of a power cut. You could use a cheap uninterruptible power supply to power your router and ATA but if the power cut also affects the exchange or your street cabinet gets flooded, then you'll likely be without service no matter what you do at home. In which case I would recommend a simple mobile phone over a landline setup, or better still both. When my mother was alive, I also had her wear a Vodafone V-SOS band on here wrist. She could call for help by pressing a button, or it would signal for help if it detected a fall. Which it would do every time she clapped her hands when someone said something she agreed with on Question Time.
I've got an ancient Panasonic cordless phone plugged in, as well as an even ancienter bakelite rotary phone for that nuclear hotline vibe.
If you want a landline for an older or vulnerable person, then one thing to be aware of is that unlike a proper old-fashioned copper landline which powers your phone, this stuff won't work in the event of a power cut. You could use a cheap uninterruptible power supply to power your router and ATA but if the power cut also affects the exchange or your street cabinet gets flooded, then you'll likely be without service no matter what you do at home. In which case I would recommend a simple mobile phone over a landline setup, or better still both. When my mother was alive, I also had her wear a Vodafone V-SOS band on here wrist. She could call for help by pressing a button, or it would signal for help if it detected a fall. Which it would do every time she clapped her hands when someone said something she agreed with on Question Time.
We were forced to go to BT digital voice over a year ago. (FTTP).
My wife is disabled and recovering from stroke. The mobile coverage in the is village is rubbish, so bad that often 2FA texts don't get through without wifi calling, and that's outside as well.
I've built myself a standby battery box to drive the router and the fibre termination point when there's a power cut. It gives 9hrs stand by. The main phone is battery driven as it needs to be a speaker phone.
My wife is disabled and recovering from stroke. The mobile coverage in the is village is rubbish, so bad that often 2FA texts don't get through without wifi calling, and that's outside as well.
I've built myself a standby battery box to drive the router and the fibre termination point when there's a power cut. It gives 9hrs stand by. The main phone is battery driven as it needs to be a speaker phone.
As has been said above, use a provider like https://www.voipfone.co.uk
You can buy a pre-configured adapter to use your old phone, or buy a new pre-configured phone.
It really is plug-and-play. It won't matter who your internet provider is. You could take your phone to someone else's house and plug it into their router, and it would work there. You can also pick up calls on your mobile if you want.
You can keep your old number, etc. From what I remember, the customer service is quite good, but I haven't needed to call them for years; the service just works.
You can buy a pre-configured adapter to use your old phone, or buy a new pre-configured phone.
It really is plug-and-play. It won't matter who your internet provider is. You could take your phone to someone else's house and plug it into their router, and it would work there. You can also pick up calls on your mobile if you want.
You can keep your old number, etc. From what I remember, the customer service is quite good, but I haven't needed to call them for years; the service just works.
I moved my in laws from BT (they were being charged £67/m) to Community Fibre.
The speed was incredible - 500 up and down and only £20/m
Failed to move the phone line (I haven't had one for the last 8yrs).
Called them up and they added the phone line for £10/m and the change would take up to 12 working days.
They received an adapter that plugs into the modem and I have plugged in the main Panasonic cordless line into it, and now await the transfer.
Reading here it may NOT be as simple as above. Do I need to do any more / buy DECT phones for them?
Issue is that i am 500miles away and was there over the Easter break to help them......
The speed was incredible - 500 up and down and only £20/m
Failed to move the phone line (I haven't had one for the last 8yrs).
Called them up and they added the phone line for £10/m and the change would take up to 12 working days.
They received an adapter that plugs into the modem and I have plugged in the main Panasonic cordless line into it, and now await the transfer.
Reading here it may NOT be as simple as above. Do I need to do any more / buy DECT phones for them?
Issue is that i am 500miles away and was there over the Easter break to help them......
We were due to be forced onto Digital Voice by BT in the next few months.
I phoned BT and asked for a battery backup (UPS) for the router, as we have very poor mobile coverage - no comms in a power cut.
While I was on the phone, they offered to upgrade me to full fibre (fttp) at no extra cost.
I agreed.
They sent me two UPS units and a wifi phone.
I bought a wifi adaptor for my existing DECT phones, so that I could keep the base station inside the house where I could see the answerphone LED blinking.
New fibre installed, router moved into the integral garage, new phone paired, wifi adaptor paired and connected to DECT base. All done in a few hours, and works perfectly.
I just have to remember to enter the area code when I make a call - there are no "local" calls on Digital Voice..
I phoned BT and asked for a battery backup (UPS) for the router, as we have very poor mobile coverage - no comms in a power cut.
While I was on the phone, they offered to upgrade me to full fibre (fttp) at no extra cost.
I agreed.
They sent me two UPS units and a wifi phone.
I bought a wifi adaptor for my existing DECT phones, so that I could keep the base station inside the house where I could see the answerphone LED blinking.
New fibre installed, router moved into the integral garage, new phone paired, wifi adaptor paired and connected to DECT base. All done in a few hours, and works perfectly.
I just have to remember to enter the area code when I make a call - there are no "local" calls on Digital Voice..
Cupid-stunt said:
I moved my in laws from BT (they were being charged £67/m) to Community Fibre.
The speed was incredible - 500 up and down and only £20/m
Failed to move the phone line (I haven't had one for the last 8yrs).
Called them up and they added the phone line for £10/m and the change would take up to 12 working days.
They received an adapter that plugs into the modem and I have plugged in the main Panasonic cordless line into it, and now await the transfer.
Reading here it may NOT be as simple as above. Do I need to do any more / buy DECT phones for them?
Issue is that i am 500miles away and was there over the Easter break to help them......
No, it should just work as is when the number transfer is complete. No need for new phones at all.The speed was incredible - 500 up and down and only £20/m
Failed to move the phone line (I haven't had one for the last 8yrs).
Called them up and they added the phone line for £10/m and the change would take up to 12 working days.
They received an adapter that plugs into the modem and I have plugged in the main Panasonic cordless line into it, and now await the transfer.
Reading here it may NOT be as simple as above. Do I need to do any more / buy DECT phones for them?
Issue is that i am 500miles away and was there over the Easter break to help them......
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