I've had Fiber Installed - Ditch the Landline?
Discussion
I've had Fibre Installed - is it customary to physically remove the Landline and switch permanently to VOIP?
It seems that my new router does VOIP and is therefore intended to replace both my old broadband and landline, is that correct? Should I remove the BT box from my sideboard, rip the old cable out and cut it off outside? Vodafone have just told me I can do just that but I have some vague recollection that BT own the cable as far as the box in the house so I'm not sure they can allow me to do that. (and it's very clear Vodafone customer service are clueless.)
Vodafone tell me there will be no landline after 2025 because "SOGEA" if that makes a difference.
It seems that my new router does VOIP and is therefore intended to replace both my old broadband and landline, is that correct? Should I remove the BT box from my sideboard, rip the old cable out and cut it off outside? Vodafone have just told me I can do just that but I have some vague recollection that BT own the cable as far as the box in the house so I'm not sure they can allow me to do that. (and it's very clear Vodafone customer service are clueless.)
Vodafone tell me there will be no landline after 2025 because "SOGEA" if that makes a difference.
I kept the old BT cabling when we moved to Vodafone Fiber. It runs to the comms cabinet in the utility room just in case.
We have a Voda landline number direct to the router (and even have a handset plugged in) but have never received a phonecall on it - And I couldn't easily tell you what the number is for it.
Landlines are dead in my world.
We have a Voda landline number direct to the router (and even have a handset plugged in) but have never received a phonecall on it - And I couldn't easily tell you what the number is for it.
Landlines are dead in my world.
When Openreach installed fibre into our house a few months ago they removed the copper line.
Unfortunately we couldn't make or receive calls using BT's Digital Voice service and it took them 2 weeks to sort it out. We live in an area with iffy mobile coverage so we always give the landline number and I was worried about the number disappearing, but it didn't.
Unfortunately we couldn't make or receive calls using BT's Digital Voice service and it took them 2 weeks to sort it out. We live in an area with iffy mobile coverage so we always give the landline number and I was worried about the number disappearing, but it didn't.
As a 'vulnerable person' BT have to ensure that I have 'reliable' communications.....
Living in an area (in town!!) with a crap mobile signal, and using wi-fi calling, I normally use my landline.
Using a Voip phone is fine until..... we have a power cut (which does happen ocasionally) then I have no comms except the good old landline.
I think BT will have to keep the landline system in place until a viable, reliable system can be provided.
Living in an area (in town!!) with a crap mobile signal, and using wi-fi calling, I normally use my landline.
Using a Voip phone is fine until..... we have a power cut (which does happen ocasionally) then I have no comms except the good old landline.
I think BT will have to keep the landline system in place until a viable, reliable system can be provided.
tivver500 said:
As a 'vulnerable person' BT have to ensure that I have 'reliable' communications.....
Living in an area (in town!!) with a crap mobile signal, and using wi-fi calling, I normally use my landline.
Using a Voip phone is fine until..... we have a power cut (which does happen ocasionally) then I have no comms except the good old landline.
I think BT will have to keep the landline system in place until a viable, reliable system can be provided.
They're supposed to give you a battery backup but apparently they're very reluctant to do that. I have a UPS on ours.Living in an area (in town!!) with a crap mobile signal, and using wi-fi calling, I normally use my landline.
Using a Voip phone is fine until..... we have a power cut (which does happen ocasionally) then I have no comms except the good old landline.
I think BT will have to keep the landline system in place until a viable, reliable system can be provided.
I recall reading there was a bit of a problem in Cumbria during storm Arwen a couple of years ago as many people were cut off from contact for days.
We went full fibre in December and once Openreach sorted out the initial installers mistake (Morisons managed to fit the optic fibre upside down at the pole outside) every thing has been fine.I removed the indoor wiring and sockets as it was no longer needed except the original line box which was used as a junction box for the incoming copper.I also kept our landline number on voip as that is the number our friends and family know.We do however as advises by BT keep our mobiles well charged as the voip won't work in the event of a power cut and of course we now have to use the area code every time even for local numbers.Forgot to mention as well that yes according to BT/Openreach as they own most if not all of the cables copper should be a thing of the past after 2025.
Edited by oldagepensioner on Monday 18th September 15:42
JQ said:
Apologies for interjecting, but if you ditch the landline is it possible to retain the telephone number via VOIP?
Yes. I used SipGate https://teamhelp.sipgate.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/2...and installed https://www.zoiper.com on my iPhone.
Edited to fix weird formatting on the URLs.
Edited by boxst on Monday 18th September 20:26
Thanks all.
So anyone know if Vodafone will automatically assign my landline number to my VOIP?
Although, I'm seriously wondering why I'd buy a dedicated landline phone...
...and I'm going to take the bolt croppers to the copper wire becaise it gets rid of the box and the cable. That's a valuable number of square CMs in my house that I want to be mine rather than BT's!
So anyone know if Vodafone will automatically assign my landline number to my VOIP?
Although, I'm seriously wondering why I'd buy a dedicated landline phone...
...and I'm going to take the bolt croppers to the copper wire becaise it gets rid of the box and the cable. That's a valuable number of square CMs in my house that I want to be mine rather than BT's!
JQ said:
Apologies for interjecting, but if you ditch the landline is it possible to retain the telephone number via VOIP?
Yes. When we moved here we got FTTP. We have VOIP via Vonage and kept our old BT number. Flat fee of £10 PCM including all UK calls.The thing to watch though is that, if you rely on wifi calling on your mobile (we have no EE or Vodaphone signal) and your internet goes down you have no means of calling the helpline. I have to get in my car and drive 3 miles to the nearest EE signal.
I haven't had a landline for over 5 years - although BT insisted I have one (a copper wire) when FTTP was installed. So the house (which previously had no telephone connection) had to have an optical cable AND a copper wire installed. Crazy. I don't pay for the landline and nothing is connected to it.
Sheets Tabuer said:
I live in a village with zero mobile coverage but use wifi calling for whatsapp and normal calls, works a treat.
Not sure why people are talking about iffy mobile networks.
We do have that but it misses some incoming calls - I think because “Wi-Fi calling” disappears off the phones from time to time. Turning fight mode on and off restores it.Not sure why people are talking about iffy mobile networks.
Of course it also wouldn’t work in power cuts unless the optical modem and router were battery backed (mine are).
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