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[tickmike]

We still use our PSTN phone with No Mobile signal in our village and classed as Vulnerable and we get power cuts.

I know the PSTN system is supposed to be turn off January 2027.

I also know I could port my number that we have had for 42 years to a VOIP provider (but why should I    ).

My setup at the moment =

BT paid Phone line ( calls go through an ISP )

ADSL2 over the BT line with a separate ISP with who we get 1000 minutes of free calls a month, then if they are used up we pay any other calls through them Not BT..
Still have large amount of email addresses with them.

FTTP (over BT Openreach) with a small ISP.

We have our Own domain for emails etc.

I intend to wait and see what BT will do about my set up and I will not have another BT broadband account to work the Digital VOIP phones (Unless it's free ).

Any Idea's what could happen. ?

Anyone else in similar situation. ?

[z1ts]

My gut feeling is that you will be unceremoniously 'turned off'!!!!

I could be completely wrong though!

There are lots of broadband only (no line rental/call packages included) deals out there which is what I've done & ported my number to A&A with a Linksys PAP2T that allows me to use all my existing phones.

My set up has actually saved me money as the cost of the A&A subscription is lower than my old line rental fee per month! Plus the amount of calls I make on landline are fairly low.

[tubaman]

My understanding is that if you registered with BT as vulnerable then they will still migrate you to DV and will provide a small UPS to keep the service running in the event of a power cut (only for about 1 hour though).
You could use a larger UPS of your own but if your service is provided via VDSL (ie FTTC) then from my experience the cabinet batteries only last about 90 minutes anyway so having your own UPS is a bit pointless.
Also, you say you have no mobile reception, is that on all networks or just the one you use as if there is any reception at all they do expect you to make use of it?

[tickmike]

My gut feeling is that you will be unceremoniously 'turned off'!!!!
I could be completely wrong though!

Not sure they can do that at our age, I think it could make national news if they did.

My understanding is that if you registered with BT as vulnerable then they will still migrate you to DV and will provide a small UPS to keep the service running in the event of a power cut (only for about 1 hour though).

I do not know how that would work as we have No broadband with BT and I do not want a third isp.
Most of Mobile networks are very poor.

Do you know how this trial is going   for  SOTAP   https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2024/03/openreach-to-pilot-alternative-uk-analogue-phone-line-in-may-2024.html

[tubaman]

...
I do not know how that would work as we have No broadband with BT and I do not want a third isp.
...

The standard method is to send you a new router that has a built-in analogue terminal adapter (eg BT Smart Hub 2) that you plug your phone into but your situation is more complicated as you already have an ISP that is not BT on your phone line so I don't know what the solution is in that case, but doubtless one will be available by the time it needs to be.

[tickmike]

Just got back from Cold Wet Windy Scotland 

Looks like I am too late to get a Free SIP number from sipgate 
Is there anywhere else to get a free SIP Local number ?, I just wanted to try VOIP.

If I did get a Number and a ATA box I believe I could test it out ?.

Also if I got a VOIP router with VOIP and phone socket could I feed that via a LAN cable only from my pfSsense firewall / router would it work ? or does it only work with a internet connection straight to the router (in my case can not happen).

[tubaman]

From my experience with BT's Digital Voice the only difference to my old POTS line is that it doesn't work if the power fails. I've wired mine from the ATA (BT Smart Hub 2 in this case) back into the old telephone sockets so my wired phones still work just as they used to.
BT's service does require the phone to be plugged into their router and will not work if their device is not the primary one but I believe most other VOIP services are not fussy like that.
I'm puzzled as to why you say you can't have a VOIP service directly connected to your router, what is the issue with doing that?

[broadstairs]

I had Digital Voice from BT and wired it to my old house phone cable so my phone is downstairs (router upstairs). I have migrated to Vodafone still with digital voice and wired to their router, however I believe Vodafone are reluctant to give out details so you could use another router and ATA. If/when I migrate again I may consider migrating the phone separate from my ISP.

Stuart

[tickmike]

I'm puzzled as to why you say you can't have a VOIP service directly connected to your router, what is the issue with doing that?

What I am trying to say, with my set up the two isp feeds go into the pfSense box and that does the routing so I could Not have ''an-other's'' router (that provides the phone service with phone socket on there router) in front of my pfSense box to work there VOIP service.

But yes if I have VOIP from a provider that does not require a router with a phone socket on it eg BT smart hub then I would think if I have an ATA box after my pfSense box that would work.

I am still thinking about getting rid of the ADSL2 isp, But it's taking a lot longer for my family to move all the isp emails over to our household domain emails.

It will then enable to us to have SoTAP phone service from BT and I would not have to port our number.

[meritez]

ATA would work fine.

[tickmike]

ATA would work fine.

That's good to know    so on my LAN after my pfSense box ?.

Any recommendations, maybe a two or more port type. 

[HPsauce]

What sort of ATA will very much depend on what sort of phone handsets you have or want to have and what you need them to do.

Without, at this stage, saying what I have/recommend I know that when I migrated to VOIP I initially tried reusing my existing handset(s) but in the end just replaced absolutely everything. I used it as an opportunity to rethink how we would use our "landline" phone.

My VOIP main unit happens to sit right next to the router but could go anywhere on my house network.

[tickmike]

Another main thing I have to consider is the phone set up has to be simple 'plug and play'
something that my wife could easily use (who now's what's around the corner  ).

porting the BT number is an option, but it looks having another VOIP provider you have to configure some of the settings, even configuring an ATA box, something my wife would not be able to do if it stopped working.

[meritez]

That's good to know    so on my LAN after my pfSense box ?.

Any recommendations, maybe a two or more port type.

I'm quite happy with a Cisco SPA112, easy to configure, can auto provision, has little lights to confirm everything is working.

[HPsauce]

Another main thing I have to consider is the phone set up has to be simple 'plug and play'

If that's important you probably need to stick with an "all-in-one" supplier who preconfigure everything ideally in a single box. BT is the obvious "one stop shop" but there are alternatives that I'm sure people here can advise on.