Our Landline Just Went Digital

[renegadefm]

Had a text out of the blue from EE this morning saying that your landline has just gone digital and needs to be plugged into the green socket at the back of your broadband router, otherwise it won't work. 

 

We assumed it was a scam at first, but then noticed the phone line was dead if plugged into the normal socket, but now works from the router. 

 

Problem is our wireless extension phones in the kitchen and bedroom no longer work. I don't understand why they won't work as they pick up the wireless signal from the base phone. 

 

Plus what concerns me if the phone runs from the router, if we have a power cut we won't have a working landline phone.

 

Problem is my parents only use their landline phone to ring us on our landline phone as they can't use mobile phones, so in the event of a power cut, they won't be able to get hold of us. 

 

Is this digital roll out happening all over the UK? 

[Barsel]

Yes I did omit the link just to see who was paying attention.🤣

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5523939?clickSR=slp:term:corded%20phone:7:65:1

[Buenchico]

^^^ No, that wouldn't work in a power cut with the new Voip technology.  

Voip relies on a broadband connection, which means that there must be power to a router, rather than to a phone.

[Barsel]

I saw someone had asked if this phone needed a mains socket and they said

The Binatone 410 Spirit Corded Telephone - Single does not use a mains power supply. To use all functions you will need to install 3 x AAA batteries.

I thought it might have done the trick, but if the phone needs to be plugged into a router, then the router needs to be plugged into the mains, so that doesn't help.

[Canary42]

According to one of the Q&As in that  item Barsel, it doesn't need mains so provided the landline stayed active then it would appear to be OK.

[Canary42]

Crossed post Barsel, you got there before me 🙂

[Barsel]

From the OP.

 

//Problem is my parents only use their landline phone to ring us on our landline phone as they can't use mobile phones, so in the event of a power cut, they won't be able to get hold of us.//

Doesn't say why they can't use mobile phones so it's difficult to say. 

[Barsel]

Canary, it would be ok for now, but not when we are all on fibre.

It would be helpful to know why the parents can't use a mobile phone.

 

[JinnyJoan]

Barsel - haven't read all the posts but I cant use the mobile phones as they are very much not suited for Oldsters, Deaf Oldsters and other problems  who just cant simply understand the wiki and broadband scenerio.  

All I wanted is a landline to pick up make a call to a landline and SPEAK.  That's all I am asking.

[Barsel]

JJ my neighbour is 93 and wears a hearing aid.

Doesn't have broadband but has had to go on fibre.

Her mobile phone isn't a smartphone but it has big buttons and is a chunky size, not like those ultra-thin phones.

When she holds it, it's just like holding a landline phone.

[Rosetta]

Barsel, it doesnt matter one jot what type of phone you have, if there is a power cut and you have no mobile phone signal, under the v.o. i.p  system you are stuffed as it all relies on having mains power  

[renegadefm]

Both my parents are 90, and they never got their head around how to use mobiles. 

 

They are just so acustomed to picking up the handset and dropping it back down to end the call. 

 

But going back to the power cut issue. The ironic thing is during a power outage, which admittedly is rare, but my parents are quite isolated and their phone is a real lifeline, so the irony is if they had a power cut, the first thing they would be doing is trying to ring us to let us know they have no power. But they wouldn't be able to if their phone relied on a router and broadband, both of which they don't have as they never needed it. 

 

So from what I can see this change will leave an awful lot of people cut off. 

[Canary42]

I am 83 and I find modern mobiles difficult.  For example several times I've accidentally brushed the screen on my iPhone and instigated an action. 

And don't get m started about on-screen keyboards.

 

But I did have a fruitful chat with a nice lady in an O2 shop the other day about my last-century Nokia which Virgin screwed up when they changed their network system and the new Simcard they sent didn't work (as did any more they tried). This lady said that if I took it in they could provide a SIM which would work.  That will be wonderful as it's easy to use and has a user-friendly keyboard.

[bednobs]

my point was atm they still have landline. the landline can call mobiles, but rfm indicates they can only use landline to call landline and i wondered why

[Redhelen72]

Bednobs i am with you. 

[Buenchico]

>>> "But they wouldn't be able to if their phone relied on a router and broadband, both of which they don't have as they never needed it."

If a household doesn't already have a router then, when the switchover to Voip services occurs, their landline service provider is obliged to provide one, free of charge.

If that landline service provider is advised that the householders won't have a way of contacting the emergency services during a power cut (e.g. because they've not got any mobile phones), the provider is obliged to provide a back-up solution (which is typically a battery than can be used to power the router).

[barry1010]

All this stress and worry reminds me of the national forced change to natural gas.  Some were imagining all sorts of horrors.  There were public information broadcasts to reassure folk.

[Rosetta]

The battery is the size and weight of a car battery, hardly easy for a 90year old to connect in the dark whilst having a heart attack, stroke or bleeding to death

[renegadefm]

Just to clear up something, the reason my parents only dial landline numbers is they can remember them easier, plus you only need to remember 6 numbers, no need to dial the area code you are inside of. 

Plus I think its cheaper for them to ring landline numbers, or that's how I remember it. 

[renegadefm]

The way I see it with landline phones going digital is a step too far if people are relying on them as their lifeline. 

 

Or if you have a small business like a hairdressers, Chinese take away etc, it would be disaster if you have a broadband issue, and customers can't contact you. 

 

There are several ways to lose your digital landline, off the top of my head power cut being the obvious one, then if you have a broadband fault the phone won't work as its running from the router. 

 

Too many negatives to this issue in my mind. Plus I can't see why they are doing it? 

 

 

[barry1010]

Here's the explanation, renegade:

"The current analogue landline network needs to be replaced because it's old and is becoming difficult to maintain. The new digital landlines use the internet to make phone calls – this offers better quality calls as well as some additional features such as protection from scams. "

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/consumer-issues/changes-to-landline-telephones/

"Why the old network is being replaced

Analogue networks have been in operation for decades and have reached the end of their serviceable life. The telecoms industry is finding it difficult to source the parts required to maintain or repair connections as suppliers are no longer manufacturing them.

New digital phone lines will allow communications providers to offer consumers and businesses clearer and better quality phone calls, as well as new features such as anonymous caller rejection or three-way calling."

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-transition-from-analogue-to-digital-landlines#why-the-old-network-is-being-replaced