Don't Lose your Line - BT's New Policy

littleboo

Mister_G said:

littleboo said:

No, they wont need to, the copper will still be used, you will get a router with an analogue voice port 

So I assume that when there's a power cut you loose your telephone?

Yes, unless a battery backup is provided

Mister_G

littleboo said:

Mister_G said:

littleboo said:

No, they wont need to, the copper will still be used, you will get a router with an analogue voice port 

So I assume that when there's a power cut you loose your telephone?

Yes, unless a battery backup is provided

My router uses 30W, that's going to need a very large battery!

brewerdave

littleboo said:

Yes, PSTN switch off is not the same a copper replacement. 
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/02/openreach-reveals-price-of-new-0-5mbps-fibre-broadband-tier.html

Seems to be at odds with what I've been told locally - that once all our village is FTTH "enabled" they will be "persuading" everyone off of ADSL/FTTC solutions with a target completion by 2025 - presumably by aggressive marketing/ no new copper instals/ financial inducements etc - and in the later stages - no choice!!

MalMonroe

Mister_G said:

Browntoa said:

Do it now or mandatory migration over the next few years . 2025 is the completion date so most of the copper lines will be switched over , without choice , over the next couple of years .

Traditional phone lines are in terminal decline with call volumes way down year on year . Given the option most people would not retain the fixed line . 

I cannot personally remember the last time I made a landline call , I use my mobile or my VoIP app on my mobile.

You need to bear in mind that not all of us, especially those in rural areas, have sufficient mobile coverage for a reliable service.  Coupled with the fact that in rural areas the electricity supply is also less reliable, you could find yourself being unable to make a call in an emergency.  VOIP needs a power supply which, in a power cut, disappears.  Yes, you could run it off of a UPS, but that's another expense.

I rely on wifi calling, as our mobile coverage on any network is almost non-existent.  When we have one of our frequent power cuts, the landline is my only method of communication with the outside world.  So certainly I would not want to loose this until there is a secure alternative.

I also live out in the sticks and my mobile phone here is worse than useless. I rarely use my landline but have been doing so recently to keep in touch with a very sick relative. If I had to rely on my mobile I'd be stuck. 

We must be lucky, though as we rarely have power cuts. For which I am truly grateful.

matelodave

Our Optical Network Termination is fitted with back up batteries, although only four AA NiMh so I'm not sure how long they'd last However that would rely on the phone being connected via the ONT rather than the router to maintain a telephone service during a power outage. We've still got copper for the landline

Our last two major outages were in excess of  eight hours each, both due to overhead line faults but we do have quite a few short term 5 minutes or less drop outs here in the Cambridgeshire fens.

Perhaps there's an opening for some enterprising suppliers to provide battery-back up units to maintain the router for several hours. I'm seriously contemplating knocking something together to keep the router going.

Browntoa

The BT modems have rechargeable batteries built in to provide backup in case of power cuts and Keep your phone line working . It's the customers responsibility to make sure the batteries are working and replaced as needed

matelodave

AFAIK BT were planning to not fitting back-batteries to their ONT's - https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/10/openreach-to-stop-providing-battery-backup-for-fttp-broadband.html. Dunno whether they've implemented it yet

fraserross

littleboo said:

Why can't you use the VOIP service?

Because the phone is in a different room from the router. The router is situated to give the best WiFi signal, and the phone is situated to convenient to pickup.

fraserross

Yahoo_Mail said:

Why does it matter?  Were you upset when POTS was replaced by PSTN?  Or when you had to have actual human beings route your calls?

"I can't believe it!  I can't speak to those lovely dolls on the end of the phone to make a telephonic call nowadays!  I need to enter a number on this magical device and it connects me straight to the person I wanted to call... What heresy is this?"

It is mainly the spinning dial I will miss, along with the clicking sound it makes

fraserross

brewerdave said:

littleboo said:

No, they wont need to, the copper will still be used, you will get a router with an analogue voice port 

Are you sure about that ? I thought that this only applied for FTTH systems so no copper involved. Ultimately all Cu/Al lines will be replaced by fibre as far as I understand. They have a target date of 2025 but targets have a habit of slipping ......

Nope, this is a cost reduction exercise by OpenReach, they will not be rewiring your street with fibre anytime soon.