Bt Landline Going Digital

[JBW1366]

I have been informed that my landline is now going digital and I am to plug my phone into the broadband router. Why do I still pay for landline? when I don't even have a phone plugged into it but you have to have it - is the catch that the router is still plugged into the wall? Curious

[barry1010]

You can choose to have internet only from BT and use any VOIP (digital phone) service - I use Skype if you want to.

At one time you had to have a phone line to get the internet, because broadband used the same cables.  That is no longer the case.

You can opt for BT broadband if you want to, and either use a different VOIP service or rely on your mobile phone   https://www.bt.com/broadband/broadband-without-landline

[bednobs]

having just renewed my services, it was cheaper for a package including landline than withou.  my old 60's bakelite phone does not work plugged into the router

[theshedman]

BT will send you a free connector that you plug into any electrical socket when they switch over.  Then you just plug the phone into that.   We had one off them and bought another.  The problem with this new system is that if your internet goes down or your electric goes off you cannot use the phone.  

[Old_Geezer]

In other words, a ridiculous decision foisted upon the public whether they approve or not.

[barry1010]

bednobs, when you use your 60s bakelite phone and the bot asks you to press the hashtag, what do you do?

[perseverer]

The copper wire based system is becoming less reliable, and less able  to cope with the demands being put on it. Full switchover is now to be by January 2027.

 

[barry1010]

This is interesting.  There is no BT phone line to my house (hasn't been for over 20 years) and as a potential new customer of BT they will not offer me any type of home phone. 

Sky offer me broadband only with an extra charge of £8 or £16 for home phone.  Vodafone much the same.

So for new customers it will be cheaper to have the broadband without a home phone.  That is a very good thing in my opinion

[bednobs]

i dont do anything barry!

[bednobs]

i actually find the dial difficult to use with my disability, so really only use it fir incoming calls, not outgoing, for which i us my mobe

[barry1010]

Pain in the rear when you accidentally dial the last digit and have to start again.  I do miss the satisfaction of slamming the phone down.  Tapping an icon to end the call isn't the same 

[Hopkirk]

Do you remember Mr Angry on the Steve Wright show, always ended the call slamming the phone down?

[barry1010]

I do!

[Hopkirk]

Oh, and get the geese out of here.

[theshedman]

Forgot to put on my earlier post on this that when using this new system from BT you will have to put in the full number including the area code even for local calls which you didn't need to in the past.  So any numbers you have in your memory without the area code you will now need to change.  We had an old type phone in the bedroom, non electric which would work in the event of a power cut.  On this new system this does not work and we have to take a mobile phone to bed just in case the electric goes off and we need to make emergency call.  

[New Judge]

I’m a bit late to the party here.

“In other words, a ridiculous decision foisted upon the public whether they approve or not.”

It’s not as ridiculous as you’d think, OG.

Much of the UK’s digital switching equipment which forms the “Public Switched Telephone Network” (PSTN) is now forty years old. Most was installed in the period 1980 to 1988, with the complete transition from earlier system types being finally completed in 1995. Although these switching systems are digital, the voice transmission system was mainly analogue.

The large scale manufacture of this type of switched telephony equipment has now virtually ceased worldwide. So not only are new installations not possible, but expansion and maintenance of existing systems is becoming increasingly problematic.

The reason that the kit is no longer being made is that there is simply no need for it. It has been possible to switch and transmit voice calls over the Internet Protocol (VOIP) for many years now and there is simply no need to replace the PSTN equipment as it becomes obsolete. When you initiate a voice call is over IP it works in the same way as when you access a website, only the target is identified by a phone number instead of a url.

"Why do I still pay for landline?"

Where I believe BT has erred is to allow the notion that “landlines are being abolished” to gain traction. A landline is a connection to the telephone network over some type of hard wiring. BT (in fact, Openreach to be more precise) is rolling out Fibre (i.e. fibre optic cable) to all customers’ premises and this will facilitate “Digital Voice” (or VOIP). But customers will still have a “landline”.  That's why you need to pay for it.

[barry1010]

Nobody will need to pay line rental in the traditional way when PTSN is switched off.  There are plenty of VOIP services to choose from such as Skype. The downside is you would lose your phone number and your internet provider could (currently many do) charge more for broadband only than broadband and phone. I believe that will change within five years.

I've been using Skype for many years without problems 

[jourdain2]

Don't forget that in any future power cuts you will no longer be able to use your phone.

[perseverer]

Unless you have hung on to a phone that plugs in only to the BT phone socket, and is not actually powered by mains electricity, you are cut off now by power cuts.

[barry1010]

jourdain, I haven't been able to use by BT landline phone in a powercut since I bought it years ago.  It will not work without the base being connected to the electricity.  Many people have phones like that and don't realise until they need to use it in a powercut.

To be realistic, though, my landline has been out of order more times than I've had a powercut

[theshedman]

perseverer, not the case.  We have the old type in the bedroom that just plugged into Bt socket.  Since the change over we have had to plug this one into one of the new connectors that you buy from them as will not work otherwise.  All phones on this new system rely on Broadband and Mains electric including the old type.