Landline Termination

[#1]

@bmc Thanks for the pointers to Zen and A&A.

I am aware of both and whilst the costs may be more, I favour an ISP that can provide reliability and good customer service.

Email is not an issue as I have my own domain which I arranged following the loss of my PN email when they deleted my account. Long story which exists in another thread on the forum.

Thank you, Brian.

[#2]

@bazzer 

Couple of things.

If you use house extensions for the phone they don't work with VOIP without some extra work  - disconnect the extension wiring from the Master Socket and install a new extension beside it. For FTTP you simply disconnect the incoming (redundant) copper wire from the Master Socket.

Apart from a phone port the Zen router has a built in DECT Base Station.

Brian

[#3]

Yes the Zen Fritzbox router has an inbuilt DECT base station but you do not have to set that up unless you want to. Otherwise simply plug your existing DECT base station into the Fon port and all the DECT phones will work as before,

[#4]

@bmc @jgb Thanks for the info.

I started think about how I am going to retain the BT Call Guardian phones I currently have as I like the ability to call screen unknown callers and permit the genuine ones to come through.

I currently have 3 of these phones.

If (when) I move to FTTP I believe I can use my existing router which is an ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 AX6600. This is a mesh system and I have two of these.

Assuming this is correct, can I use the phones I currently have with this router (@jgb you mention plugging an existing DECT base station into the Zen router, but can I do the same with my ASUS router?).

The other issue is that my router is not in the same room as the base station, so presumably that means running a cable from an upstairs room to downstairs which is not very convenient. 

As far as routers are concerned, is the ASUS a better more secure device than the Fritzbox that's been mentioned?

[#5]

@bazzer 

Re whether thew Zen router will work with the Call Guardian base station plugged into the Fon socket - I have no knowledge of that router and cannot give a definitive answer but I would think it would as you are effectively only plugging in a phone with the base station doing the lifting regarding communication with the other phones.

Re the location of the router and base station - is it not possible to relocate the base station near to the router and move another phone to "cover" where the base station is now?

[#6]

Hi @jgb 

Yes, I could swap the base station location, but it's just a matter of convenience as the base station contains the answer machine.

However, I believe the other phones can access the answer phone messages, so I will need to look into that.

Alternatively, I assume the VoIP provider would have built-in answer phone services, but do they have call guardian? I need to explore that.

Thanks.