Full Fibre and Home Phone

[#1]

Just had an email from Plusnet informing us that we are going to be switched to full fibre, and we will no longer have a landline ?. Have I got this right ?. I don’t think we would cope without a landline, ok we both have mobile phones, but the landline phones are still used, mainly from incoming calls, some of these calls are from the Hospital and Doctors. It’s really annoying if they are going to cut the  landline off. I don’t really want to move to another network, we  have been with Plusnet  for a very long time. Any advice appreciated

[#2]

@denwyn Unless this  is a new policy, and I doubt it, as it should/would have been publicised before now, are you sure it says you are 'going to be transferred'. AFAIK, moving to a different product/service is still a decision a customer makes.

[#3]

Moderator's note:
Thread moved from Full Fibre to Everything Else 

[#4]

@denwyn 

I suspect it's a badly worded e-mail.

PN are withdrawing from providing phone services and OpenReach are shutting down the PSTN so in the reasonably near future you are going to have to do something about your phone.

First, lets check to see if you can get Full Fibre. Put your number in the following. You're looking for WBC FTTP in the left hand column and Available to the right of this.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

You have 2 basic choices (assuming you're not near the end of your contract). PN will transfer you to EE free of charge if done through them. Your phone service will be provided over Digital Voice (the BT VOIP version). This is the easiest way of doing things though perhaps not the cheapest. Do you use PN email?

The other way is to transfer your phone number to an independant VOIP provider like A&A. I mention them because they have a good reputation and are pretty cheap (apart from outgoing calls). They also have a good FAQ section on VOIP.

https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile/voip-information/

Brian

[#5]

@bmc Without seeing what the email actually says, I think you are jumping the gun/worrying the OP  unnecessarily.

[#6]

@denwyn has not provided a clear context for the communication.  If they are approaching the end of their contract and they are in a fibre priority area and Plusnet have stopped renewing as is, then the options are likely to be...

• Continue service at the out of contract rate
• Take out a new contract which will force a switch to FTTP

Regardless of being a fibre priority, if Plusnet has stopped re-contract as is, going SoGEA (the least painful) still loses the voice service (as a combined package) unless the user moves to EE with Plusnet assistance (with waiving the ETCs) or the user makes their own arrangements with a third party such as Zen who do an excellent all in on service ... which from my own experience was utterly seamless.

Bottom line is hence forth, Plusnet will not be doing voice services.

[#7]

@denwyn 

A copy of the e-mail (with personal details hidden) would be a great help.

Brian

[#8]

I'm trying these folk:

https://www.voipfone.co.uk 

So far its super complicated to setup and I've yet to make it work !

Also, I'm not sure my telephone number has transferred over, since when I ring it, I get a Plusnet answerphone, should that happen ?

Ordered a pre-configured gizmo from them:

https://www.voipfone.co.uk/hardware/adapters/grandstream-ht801-voip-adapter 

Hopefully that works, then I can clone the settings from that to the other one I have which I got cheaper off Ebay, and maybe make a YouTube video on how to set it up, since I couldn't find one !

Waiting for that to arrive to have another go.

Note you also need a special telephone cable adapter too.

[#9]

I highly recommend Voipfone, especially as A&A weren't able to transfer my ceased phone number. Voipfone sorted out my number and set me up for £6 a month. It can be simple to set up if you're happy to just use their Softphone app on your phone instead of going down the ATA adapter route or setting up an actual voip phone.

[#10]

I have the house wired up with half a dozen phones in various rooms, so wanted a simple way to keep all those working without needing to use a mobile phone, their Grandstream-ht801 is a REN 5 device, so hopefully has enough grunt to make all the phones ring !

I'll give setting it up on my mobile to test its working though, I hadn't thought of that !

Tried that, and it appears to work !

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.uk.voipfone.softphone.android

I notice now when phoning the landline number, I get a voipfone answerphone, and not the Plusnet one, so that is an improvement.

At least now I can answer incoming calls.