Moving to plusnet from BT - phone number porting questions

[#1]

Hi there

My mother in law who is fairly elderly is looking to move from BT to plusnet fibre (full fibre not available)

I understand plusnet no longer offer a phone service and we will need to switch to VOIP, however I was wondering what the process is to port the data connection to plusnet and port the number to a voip provider?

Obviously we want to keep the same number she has had for years and we want to minimise downtime with both the phone and the internet connection.

Thanks for any pointers!

[#2 · Accepted solution]

@elite 

To move to PN you simply sign up for a service and they handle the rest for the internet connection.

As for VOIP you need to do all the work I'm afraid. You have 30 days to "port" the number once you are certain the internet transfer has happened and the PN account is up and running. You CANNOT port the number before this.

Once you have chosen your VOIP provider you simply sign up for an account and state your wish to port in a ceased number. Note that there may be work required to ensure phones work. You'll probably need to get ab Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA). Depending on your VOIP choice they may offer one as part of the package or offer to supply one.

Also, there will be some down time on the phone while the number is ported.

Brian

[#3]

A warning that should the transfer be done over the phone, the situation of 'elderly' and 'uses the phone' and 'keep the number' might result in a suggested / forced transfer to EE depending on the PlusNet employee on the other end.

If you do it on the web you can just 'select this upgrade'.

You can get the 3rd party VOIP up and running anytime but *** ON A NEW NUMBER *** as a temporary fix and to keep a 'phone' line live while waiting for the porting of the old number.

[#4]

@elite 

I would think very carefully about this.

A move to Plusnet and using a VoIP supplier will offer a reasonable financial saving but the overall solution isn't as "simple" as the BT/EE digital voice solution.

If your mother in law will be able to adapt to a bit of change (and also has a mobile to use as backup) it should be fine.

If technical change is more challenging I might go down the BT/EE route. 

[#5]

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@markhawkin wrote:

A move to Plusnet and using a VoIP supplier will offer a reasonable financial saving but the overall solution isn't as "simple" as the BT/EE digital voice solution.

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That rather depends on how close to reality the BT-EE claim of "you just plug your old phone into the Green BT socket on your new router" is.

On the two slam-instals of EE FTTP I have been called on to advise (as village guru / idiot), in neither case could EE get the 'Green BT socket" to work.

4 weeks of no phone, perfectly good wired and DECT kit in the bin, both eventually given free EE wifi handsets

[#6]

@mwwagain 

A very good point.

The green phone socket SHOULD "just work" but it assumes one phone plugged directly into the socket.

It doesn't make extensions etc. work without rewiring.

I've not got the BT/EE solution myself, but my understanding is they have "add on boxes" to cover extensions and also can come with cordless handsets.

I've a premonition that I may be dealing with a BT digital voice setup shortly and I will note your observations.  

Incidentally, the first thing I might be thinking about with the green socket not working might be bell capacitors.

I wonder if the green phone socket is 2 wire (thus likely to work with modern phones) or 3 wire (with a bell capacitor).

I had to use a master socket with a Draytek VoIP capable router to get my 746 phone to work. The Draytek wouldn't however do the loop disconnect....   

[#7]

@markhawkin

Indeed adding internal wiring is a customer issue, however I tested with a single known good wired handset, which also worked on my own 'real VOIP' ATA, direct in the green socket.

It was not just a case of not ringing or dialling out, the phone line was simply dead.  No dial tone.  

As their DECT set was also dead it was not a handset powering issue either.

The comments posted on BT & EE forums point to something 'back office' that is down to possibly just a handful of 'DV activation specialists' that can fix it remotely. 

The EE CS just kept sending out 'engineers', eventually resorting to sending the wireless handsets you mention, which connect via wi-fi.

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[#8]

I wonder if the green phone socket is 2 wire (thus likely to work with modern phones) or 3 wire (with a bell capacitor).

The usual solution to that is to connect the phone via a DSL filter, they have bell capacitors built-in

[#9]

If BT/EE can't enable their own "walled garden" VoIP service it's difficult to excuse.