Had Fibre installed but paying for line rental and unlimited call package?

[#1]

So my current contract copper broadband and phone line 12mo with Plusnet contract ends in the middle of this month, the Openreach engineer came to finish the connection and put a new fibre box in the house yesterday.

There doesn't appear to be a way to connect the landline I have to the router (different socket).

Do Plusnet send out an adaptor in such circumstances, or is it up to the customer to but their own adaptor (assuming this would work) or find an IP phone to tide them over?

At the moment I'm paying for a phone line I can no longer use, not sure whether this will get resolved in a final bill or whether I should have waited until around the middle of the month for the engineer to complete the work, so that I may have a working landline up until that point?

Wondered what other people's experience is when changing over to Plusnet full Fibre from Plusnet copper wire broadband.

Thanks!

[#2]

Full Fibre with Plusnet does not include a phone service. When you change to Full Fibre your copper based broadband & phone are cancelled.

[#3]

@the1974me 

You'll be on a new contract for the Full Fibre product - your old contract is cancelled.

If a phone line matters to you you need to get a VOIP account and, if you want to keep your number, you need to do it urgently. Your number is in quarentine for 30 days fro mthe dat of cease to allow you to port it out.

There are many VOIP providers out there but A&A seem to offer good deals and have good FAQ pages to give you an idea of what's what. Note that as your number is "ceased" the port may fail as several providers can't handle a ceased number. This will happen with A&A but their Support is happy to then phone and arrange a manual port.

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

You need to do this sooner rather than later. Note that VOIP doesn't work in power cuts.

Brian

[#4]

Okay, well, a little advice for those changing from copper wire to full fibre based on a 'facepalm' moment I recently had: I recommend keeping your old master socket that the router currently plugs into as live, so you *still* use your phone line up until the end of your current contract? If you have to have another hole drilled through your wall for the fibre cabling for your new Optical Network Terminal, so be it. At least you won't be paying for a service for a couple of weeks you can no longer use.

[#5]

Thanks Brian, great information and some good advice there 🙂

[#6]

@the1974me The suggestion you make above won't work - when Full Fibre is installed, your copper line is redundant.

[#7]

@the1974me didnt the Full fibre upgrade process make it clear that you would lose your phone service ?

I'm pretty sure that the online process does, I've seen the warning. If the upgrade was done over the phone, then the agent should have made it clear.

[#8]

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@the1974me wrote:

Okay, well, a little advice for those changing from copper wire to full fibre based on a 'facepalm' moment I recently had: I recommend keeping your old master socket that the router currently plugs into as live, so you *still* use your phone line up until the end of your current contract? If you have to have another hole drilled through your wall for the fibre cabling for your new Optical Network Terminal, so be it. At least you won't be paying for a service for a couple of weeks you can no longer use.

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There should be an adjustment to your next bill to account for the number of days on the old contract and the number on the new.

There is a case to be made for keeping the Master Socket if you wish to use house extensions with a VOIP service. In this case you get the installer to disconnect the old incoming copper cable.

Brian

[#9]

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@the1974me wrote:

Thanks Brian, great information and some good advice there 🙂

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With regard to VOIP during power cuts FTTP is better that FTTC. The cabinet will only have limited backup itself but the fibre goes back to a main Exchange which should have better backup (and may need even be suffering from a cut.

However, you do need to power the ONT, the router and any DECT phone unit.

Brian

[#10 · Accepted solution]

Thanks Brian, I will keep a lookout for the adjustment on the next bill. I wasn't sure of the exact procedure and detail when starting thie new service contract. When I moved away from Virgin to Plusnet a few years ago, the master socket went in the same position as the old phone socket, different providers and networks that time of course, but it meant that I was still in my notice period to Virgin, the cable was snipped to use the same cable route into the house, and then I lost the use of the landline. In that particular case, it would have been better to have had the new Openreach socket next to the old Virgin phone socket to allow for a smooth swapover. Hence me thanking I've made the same mistake twice.