Changing to full fibre and losing the landline - what does it actually mean?

[#1]

So I guess like a lot of people around the country who've had a landline from the year dot, I'm a bit confused by the so-called 'options' when it comes to upgrading my broadband service - ahead of the compulsory demolition of the reliable, copper wire telephone service that's seen us though world wars etc. "Oh, my broadband is down and I can't get a signal on my mobile, I can't contact anybody" is how I see the brave new digital future. 

Anyhoo...

I'm on 10mb 'Unlimited' broadband with a landline. Had it ever since I've been with Plusnet. And before. It's now more expensive than 'Full Fibre 74' that I can select with a click of the mouse on my laptop computer. 

Question - What happens after I do that? 

Do the copper telephone wires passing through my front door frame that finish under the stairs at the old BT phone socket get taken out? 

Do I end up with a new 'fibre' connection point installed in the house somewhere?

If 'yes' to that, have I got to live with new fibre cables running along the skirting board to the old router location below the stairs, or do I have to chose a new location for my new router, closer to the 'full fibre' point of entry to my house, and pick another power socket to run it off?

And, most important of all, with the 'Full Fibre 74' package at the advertised price, do I get the option, like I keep hearing in BT commercials, of plugging in my vintage landline telephones to the router, and expecting them to work? Or is that a whole new level of complication and pricing? 

Cheers, Mick. 

[#2]

I can answer some of the questions:

The copper is still left at your house, as is the original phone point. At some stage, BT will probably remove them. The fibre at my house runs alongside the cable from the pole to the box on the outer wall.

You will need to have an ONT installed, which is the new internet connection point. Some people have reported Openreach are pretty flexible in where the box is installed outside (within reason). The the fibre cable from the external wall needs to be routed into your house .

Depends. I am lucky mine came in at the same point of the house and there is minimal duplicate cabling.

Plusnet are stopping supporting phone lines. IF you are able to renew with a phone line, my understanding is the PN router does not support VOIP and you will need an adaptor. 

Mark

[#3]

@mickthefitter 

If you get full fibre installed then an entirely new fibre optic cable is run to your house. The copper wires may or may not be removed.

If you choose PN FF then you you lose your landline service as PN do not offer the service with FF. If you wish to keep your landline then you need to "port" your number to an independent VOIP provide imeediatey after FF is installed and working.

The alternative to this is to move ISP to one who offers both internet and a phone service. Note this would still be a digital line ie VOIP.

Whichever way you you go note that VOIP doesn't work during pwoer cuts unless you have poer back up.

Brian

[#4]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Home Phone to Everything Else

[#5]

---

@mickthefitter wrote:

...have I got to live with new fibre cables...

---

No, not if you have a SOGEA connection. See if it is available in your area.

It's basically FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet), so you will retain the copper connection from the cabinet to your home.

[#6]

@mickthefitter you mentioned Full Fibre 74. I'm confident that is the fibre to your premises version that would require the new powered "ONT" and make the old copper cable totally redundant.

Confusingly there is also "Fibre 74" (which I have) which is the Fibre to the cabinet version delivered from the local cabinet to your house over the old existing copper cable. Switching to that will also terminate your landline number.

[#7]

I can't say that I would be keen to have FTTC, it's what I have now, and it tends to go off or run slowly when it rains. There are 7 "copper pair" junction boxes, under the pavement, between the cabinet and our house (said one of the many BT/Openreach engineers that we've seen over the past 35 years).

Yet I can't help feeling that PN have missed an opportunity here, to just act as an agent and arrange (or direct us to) a VOIP provider that can use my Hub2. BT can do it, but that would mean migrating my emails from Plusnet to somewhere else, and most of my friends are pretty dumb about computers, some I might never hear from again!

I want to keep a landline number, I don't want every damned chancer and salesman who doesn't respect the TPS list phoning my personal mobile. Nor do I want people phoning me, when they want "the house", as it were.