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? 

[Rosetta]

Barry, all that suits the providers not the consumers. I am sure if they wanted to they could source parts etc by stimulating demand in industry. 

To my mind, they have instituted thes changes on some very basic and wrong assumptions, firstly that everyone has  or wants a mobile, secondly that  everyone has a mobile signal, thirdly that everyone can easily use the technology comfortably, and finally that there are never power cuts.

Its typical of  arrogant executives (probably young males) sitting in offices in London making decisions that offer no choice to consumers and its discriminatory to us older and sicker individuals

[renegadefm]

I agree with Rosetta, it doesn't suite the customer at all. 

The old infistructure is only old if they call it old. It's lasted all this time, it could go on decades to come yet, and beyond. 

 

It's no advantage at all and a few steps back if you think about it. 

 

One key feature the old ways had over the digital, is you could still contact a loved one when there's a power cut and possibly in darkness or in trouble. 

 

Now there are more ways to lose this. 

 

Routers can play up, only about a month ago we had no Internet, but now that would also mean zero phone for those who have zero mobile signal or don't even own mobiles. 

 

I know quite a few areas around here, whole villages still have zero mobile phone signal. Hard to believe but true. 

 

[Rosetta]

Thanks for best answer renegadefm

[10ClarionSt]

The providers make it sound very simple to switch over to digital. Just plug your phone from the old socket into the socket at the back of the router and hey presto! You're good to go! Er, well, our router is in the box room. And we have two extensions. What do we do about that? An engineer came from Virgin and it took him 3 hours to get it sorted. As others have said, it doesn't seem to benefit the customer, just the provider. 

[barry1010]

That surprises me, 10C, because Virgin doesn't use landline from the box to your house.  That's what makes it so difficult for Virgin customers to switch to other phone providers.  I don't have a BT phone line to my house and if I wanted to switch from Virgin I would have to pay to get a BT landline installed (under the old system)

[10ClarionSt]

Barry, I've been with Virgin for 20 years, since they were NTL in fact. I've had a landline phone with them all of that time until they changed it to digital 6 months ago. I don't think there was a digital system at that time, but I don't know for sure. I'm definitely no expert. 

[bednobs]

"Feel free to reach out to your provider for more information."

well, thanks so much for the permission lancehex!

[barry1010]

10C, I'm the same.  Had Telewest phone and TV before Virgin took them over, well over 20 years ago.  Telewest, NTL and Virgin have always had their own cable phone lines.

[renegadefm]

Just for the record, our village doesn't have fibre cabling yet, so although connecting to the router states the phone is now digital instead of analogue, I am assuming due to the fact we are still connected to copper cables, it's not truely digital. 

 

Plus we have noticed since the phone is connected to the router there is an echo, and our voices to the other person sounds like we are on reverb, and we were told by EE that the clarity should be better, but its the opposite, so could that settle down, or should we complain? 

[barry1010]

Complain

[renegadefm]

It amazes me because only a few years ago we were told to minimise wires and anything connected to the router as it affects WiFi signal. Something to do with other things around the routers can soak up the WiFi signal. 

 

So surely connecting our phones to the router is just an added item we we're told to avoid doing. 

 

I got to say our phone line now sounds awful. It sounds like we are in a tin can, and this is now at both ends whoever rings us, or we ring them. 

[Rosetta]

Yes, complain loudly

[barry1010]

I've had a phone connected to my router for years - a Skype VOIP phone.  It has its own number in the landline format and nobody has ever realised they were not calling a traditional landline.  It's very old now and has been superceded by newer VOIP phones but it still works.

It doesn't interfere with my router or WiFi.