Voip after FTTP, the practicalities.

[#1]

I have been a Plusnet customer for many years and want to stay with them, however I also want to keep my landline number after my transfer to a FTTP  package (two weeks time). I was told that would only be possible if I moved to EE but I didn't want to loose my EMail, so that means Plusnet & a seperate VOIP supplier. 

I am a little confused as to the practicalities of this. Where & how do I connect any VOIP/Dect phones if the Hub2 router does not do VOIP?  Would I be better with a different router or would I have the same problem with Plusnet not 'doing' VOIP? I was hoping to sort some things out, like phones etc, before the engineer arrived. Cheers Les

[#2]

Moderator's note:
Thread moved from Full Fibre to Tech Help.

[#3]

Different people have different perspectives on this but I'll give my 2p (or 2d) worth.

Firstly, the email migration to a third party service may ease the email tie in but Plusnet is still a good choice for broadband so let's assume you stay with Plusnet for broadband.

You need to get a VoIP service from someone else (as BT have made a policy decicion that Plusnet won't offer phone services).

For low running cost (and if you have low usage) Andrews & Arnold are a popular choice, I think if I were choosing a service now I might go for the Voipfone residential service.

You need a competent supplier because they need to be able to retrieve your number from "quarantine" shortly after your copper broadband service ceases.

Personally I had the move setup for the day after my fibre install (I wanted minimum outage for various reasons) and it was just like moving a number on a mobile phone, at some stage in the morning it ceased working on the copper and in the afternoon it went to my VoIP setup.

I went for Gigaset DECT equipment (replaced the Panasonic DECT phones I had) and that has been good.

You can get various adaptor boxes and some router manufacturers have a product with a built in VoIP adaptor but the Gigaset worked for me.

Now I might look at a similar setup from Yealink.

[#4]

Thanks, Voiphone offer a two handset Yealink (which is all I need) but it's £180 which is a bit pricy. I still can't figure out how and where are they connected.

[#5]

I still can't figure out how and where are they connected.

The Yealink DECT base unit connects to the router using an ethernet cable. So in the case of the Plusnet Hub 2 it connects to one of the three LAN ports.

[#6]

Thanks, so a voip phone connects via a Lan port on the Hub2 even though a Hub2 doesn't have a VOIP capability?

[#7]

The basestation has an Ethernet (network) connection and plugs into one of the network ports on Plusnet's router.

With full fibre, one Ethernet connection is used by the incoming Internet (WAN - Wide Area Network) connection. That gives you 3 ports for cabled devices including the Yealink base station.

I can't find a better link but this shows a Hub 2 in "full fibre" mode.

https://static.plus.net/content/dam/plusnet/images/help/broadband/routers/hub-two-full-fibre/hub-two...

If Plusnet had offered a phone service it would have come out of the green "phone port" but they don't so ignore that!

[#8]

Thanks, so a voip phone connects via a Lan port on the Hub2 even though a Hub2 doesn't have a VOIP capability?

A voip adapter or base unit such as the Yealink, has the voip capability built in. All it needs is a connection to the internet, which it can obtain via any routers LAN port.

[#9]

@Sandgrounder119  The Hub2 does not need to have any VOIP capability it passes the VOIP data stream to your chosen VOIP hardware by a LAN Ethernet connection.

Edit: As @MisterW @has already explained.🙄

[#10]

@Sandgrounder119 

You will have some downtime on the phone service until the number is "ported" in. Note you cannot initiate the port until your Full Fibre is up and running. You then have 30 days to port the number.

You have two issues - which VOIP provider and what equipmet to use. The first is the primary concern - get the number ported so you don't lose it.

As for equipment there are all sorts out there - you just need to find what suits you. Note your existing phones may continue to work if you get an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA). This uses ethernet to the router and your phone plugs into the ATA.

A&A is a good low cost choice if you don't make many outgoing calls. As important, they have a good FAQ section.

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

Brian

[#11]

---

@Sandgrounder119 wrote:

Thanks, Voiphone offer a two handset Yealink (which is all I need) but it's £180 which is a bit pricy. I still can't figure out how and where are they connected.

---

I got Yealink T41S handsets from eBay.at around £40.  There's lots coming out of commercial systems these days and setup for that type is fully covered by the A&A FAQ.

Just plug into the router with a network lead.

As noted above, DECT base stations would be the same.

The difference between 'real' VOIP and BT-EE 'digital home phone VOIP' are:

Real VOIP uses LAN devices that plug into a router using a network cable.  Either phones, base stations or ATA (analogue telephone adaptors) 

With BT-EE 'VOIP' connection is with a BT phone cable into a green BT 'home phone' socket.  The routers have the analogue to network conversion electrics and software inside the router. "Just plug your old phone in" goes the marketing ****

So apparently like a built in ATA but to proprietary BT design.  There have however been cases where EE are incapable of making the green socket work at all. Weeks of faff and lies before giving in.

Just to close off, there are a few 3rd party routers that have 'real VOIP' ATA built in and present with a BT socket.  Versions of Fritzbox get mentioned.

[#12]

Just looking on 'the bay' , if you don't mind the odd scratch, there's some Gigaset N300 DECT bases on offer for £14.99 inc postage https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/236265894743. Should have basic functionality with any GAP compatible handset.

[#13]

Also, with A&A you get a voicemail service, which is emailed to you when a message is left. You can set that up straight away once your account is active. Therefore incoming call downtime is minimal

[#14]

Thank you to everybody,  you have all been so helpful.

Now I just have to decide whether it's worth the effort & expense. ( I bought my wife a new mobile in preperation for this, but she doesn't get on with a mobile & doesn't really want to try ☹️). Cheers Les 

[#15]

@Sandgrounder119 

Do you have a good mobile signal? Many users go with A&A purley to keep the number active for a small number of historic users. With A&A you can get the voicemail by email and use the mobile to phone out.

Do you have DECT phones? If so there is another, reasonably easy way to set up phones for VOIP. Have a look at

CEX - https://uk.webuy.com/

Search for a FritzBox 7530 router. There's one currently there for £32 - note the AX version of this unit has better WiFI but costs more.

This is a highly regarded router and may well have better WiFi than the Hub2. I have one, as do others on this Forum. I mention this for two reasons.

1) It has a built in ATA

2) It has a built in DECT base station.

Plusnet have always been happy for users to use their own equipment. It is (or was) the current router of choice for Zen Internet. There is plenty of help available both to set up the unit for Internet and for VOIP phones.

Brian