Contract Offers

[#1]

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@pvmb wrote:

.. after seeing the June SOGEA offers I was mulling things over. i.e. Putting it off until my current contract was near ending in September.

There is no need to try to coordinate an upgrade (preferably to full fibre), with your existing contract coming to an end.

If anything you risk paying out-of-contract prices if the upgrade gets delayed (perhaps due to unavailability of engineers etc).

The best option would be to upgrade to FTTP sooner rather than later, wait for the install to complete, then consider retaining your landline phone number by porting it to A&A.  Then in the coming months, decide whether you need your home phone after all - and either convert your phone handset to be able to plug in to your router's LAN socket,  or close the VoIP account and lose the number forever.

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[#2]

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@outcast wrote:

SOTAP is for lines that DON'T also carry broadband, AND are in areas that don't have VDSL or FTTP.

For existing VOICE ONLY customers with analogue phones currently connected to the local telephone exchange

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I admit it, my knowledge is based on what I read, such as, from here: :https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2023/11/openreach-launch-all-ip-solution-for-uk-adsl-broadband...: 

After a long pilot, Openreach has today revealed that the commercial launch of their Single Order Transitional Access Product (SOTAP) for UK ISPs will take place on 1st December 2023. The new product makes it possible to offer a standalone ADSL broadband line with optional IP-based (digital) phone services.

My understanding is that it is intended to provide a temporary fix for area that have no FTTC or FTTP provision.

[#3]

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@Baldrick1 wrote:

"The new product makes it possible to offer a standalone ADSL broadband line with optional IP-based (digital) phone services"

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Hmm, I can see the confusion with that ambiguous wording by ISPreview, which could be read as providing broadband and VoIP.

SOTAP uses a "standalone" line, i.e. it only exists to provide one function, in this case to emulate an analogue phone line.

The SOTAP connection uses the existing ADSL digital signals to/from the telephone exchange to perform it's single emulated function, but does not additionally provide broadband to the end user.

In the case of "SOTAP for Analogue" which is specifically the emulated analogue phone line replacement, all calls will be "IP-based".  By default this will be "Digital Voice", however my understanding is that you can use any third party VoIP service with it.

SOTAP is the abbreviation of  "Single Order Transitional Access Product"

Be aware that SOTAP is the generic name of various single purpose devices that allow Openreach to remove the analogue signals from copper lines, by using digital ADSL signalling and far end emulation of voice and other analogue signalling - such as DTMF alarms, and remote analogue monitoring of water levels, etc).

The emulation of analogue voice lines, is a specific variant of SOTAP, referred to as "SOTAP for Analogue",

but other SOTAP emulators exist for other specialised purposes.

All SOTAP variants are temporary fixes on ADSL only lines, until the emulated service can be transitioned to FTTP,

or terminated around 2030 if the end user hasn't found an alternative solution by the time the phone exchanges are decommissioned and the copper wires removed. 

Unfortunately moving to FTTP isn't the answer to everything,  for example remote analogue water monitoring devices use the DC line voltage on the existing analogue phone cables to power the electronics, as there is no other power source nearby.  As FTTP uses fibre-optic cables that don't conduct electricity, these remote monitors will need replacing with perhaps something that has a solar panel, etc.

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[#4]

@outcast 

Now I'm totally confused. From my reading there is two products, SOTAP and SOTAP for Analogue.

However, that woud make SOTAP the same as what I believe you call SoADSL. Are these just two different names for the same product? Both services would be transitional.

[#5]

I think (though it's been a while since I paid too much attention to it!) that SOTAP and SOADSL are the same thing, ie an ADSL type service without a phone service, whereas SOTAP for Analogue is basically a phone service run over ADSL, without the ADSL being available to the end user.

[#6]

ADSL :

Has long been the direct copper landline connection between the local telephone exchange and the end user, supporting the legacy analogue voice telephone service, and relatively low speed digital broadband signalling (typically using G.992.1, G.992.3, or G.992.5 standards). The copper line also has a DC voltage present (48V off-hook, or 3V to 9V on-hook) sourced from the exchange equipment, which can by used to power end user's electronics if the current draw is low enough.

SoADSL :

Is the same as ADSL, but without any analogue capability, although it does retain the DC voltage - which can be used to power SOTAPs

SOTAP :

In the process of Openreach switching off the PSTN network, there have been unanticipated uses of landlines (other than voice calls) which have been found to be a technical challenge to migrate away from using analogue signalling, as previously it had been assumed that simply moving all analogue lines to VoIP would be sufficient.

To overcome these difficult to migrate usages, Openreach introduced the concept of SOTAP,  where SOTAP is the generic name for a category of function specific transitional line emulating devices, custom designed to overcome specific edge cases.

Typically a SOTAP device, uses a function specific box of electronics at the user's end, where the existing user equipment can be plugged in (examples being an analogue phone, alarm system, analogue fax machine, analogue environment monitors, etc).  The user's SOTAP box, which can be powered from the line voltage, then digitally communicates specifically over an SoADSL connection back to the exchange, where the digital data is passed on to wherever it is going (for example emulated analogue voice call would be sent on as VoIP,  but other services might be passed on as digital data for an upstream equipment to translate).

Because there are different SOTAP emulator devices for different applications, they then get specific names,

such as "SOTAP for Analogue" which is the most widely known device used to replace analogue phone calls via SoADSL.

For other use cases, there are likely to be other SOTAP names (I'm making these up) -

"SOTAP for alarms", "SOTAP for fax", "SOTAP for monitoring", "SOTAP for sex robots", or whatever.

Therefore :

SoADSL is the transmission medium (copper landline with DC voltage, digital G.992.x signalling, but no analogue signals)

SOTAP is the generic name for transitional technologies that replace analogue signals using function emulation via SoADSL

"SOTAP for Analogue" is the name given to a specific variant of SOTAP, used to facilitate non-VoIP handsets to work where the analogue signals have been removed from a previously ADSL connection. In effect it is a landline powered VoIP ATA and ADSL modem combined in one box.

I think due to imprecise journalism, SoADSL and SOTAP have been used interchangeably, hence causing confusion.

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[#7]

"In the process of Openreach switching off the PSTN network, there have been unanticipated uses of landlines (other than voice calls)"

Inadiquate knowledge and research caused assumptions. I may be little harsh.

[#8]

Yes, you would think that Openreach would be aware of things like landline powered analogue water level monitors located in the middle of rivers, which might not work over VoiP.  They can't claim "inadequate knowledge" as Openreach would have installed the landline telephone wires in to those difficult locations in the first place ?.  It's not like the engineer turned up and left the line terminated with a NTE5 master socket in a waterproof plastic bag and chucked it in the river.

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[#9]

@outcast 

I would suggest it's not OR's job to keep track of what their lines are used for.

It's up to whever has a line to research alternatives and speak to their provider to see what can be done. Presumably If necessary the provider will speak to OR about solutions.

Brian