Moving from BT Internet - VOIP Query

irishjohn

My BT Broadband contract matured 12 months ago and I have been paying £39 monthly since. I attempted to move to another ISP but found that the box I am connected to had been designated FTTP only and until recently BT and a few more expensive ISP Companies were selling FTTP so I have held on for a while. The product availability is expanding but in a limited way. Plusnet are offering FTTP but no telephone service so I would have to lose my landline or keep it with BT at more expense. I am now looking at going with another independent VOIP provider and porting my long held landline number to them. If I do this I can then move to an ISP with broadband only. So here's the feedback I need. 

Am I right in thinking I would need to start off by taking out a VOIP contract with another supplier and porting my landline number first. Then once that is sorted arrange to switch my ISP from BT to another ISP and on e switched plug my phone into the new ISP router to use my landline number for VOIP?

Also - I have a BT Premium DECT phone with a base station / answerphone and another handset which connects to it wirelessly. Can I use this hardware for my new VOIP service and do I plug the base station directly into the router. That's it for now - but if this is right I may be back looking connection assistance for VOIP!! Thanks

iniltous

You may find that if you port your landline number to a VoIP provider , it will ‘cease’ the broadband with which it is associated , you ( obviously ) can sign up with a FTTP provider that offers broadband only , but you almost certainly will have a period without broadband, while the FTTP broadband is ceasing and before the new FTTP order can be raised ( it’s only migrating that has minimum downtime)
 There are some OR FTTP providers that don’t offer telephony, ( PN for one ) but the majority do offer a telephony option.
Your existing telephony equipment may or may not be OK when you switch to a VoIP solution, it may depended on the router supplied by who you use for FTTP broadband, and you would need to check with the VoIP provider you chose , what equipment would be needed to access their VoIP service and if what you already have will be usable.

irishjohn

Thank you for that - that's very helpful. 

BUFF

Interestingly, the PN Hub 2 (essentially a rebadged BT Hub) does have a socket for Digital Voice ... 
https://static.plus.net/content/dam/plusnet/images/help/broadband/routers/hub-two-full-fibre/hub-two-diagram.png

matelodave

I moved from BT (with digital voice) to Vodaphone earlier this year. We'd been with BT FTTP for four years and they transferred our phone line from copper to DV in the middle of last year - we didn't have a choice

The VF service is faster, they still offer a phone - connected to the router, I've still got my existing phone number and I get unlimited calls rather than the 700 mins a month BT limit and all for £30 less than BT were offering.

My existing Panasonic DECT phones still work just as they did before - the base station just plugs into the phone socket on the router, the answering machine still functions as before as does calling line identification.

I'm guessing that in some areas they are still operating a hybrid service whereby broadband is offered as FTTP but the phone is still on copper and so some ISP's wont want to (or may not be able to) take over the PSTN phone service as other work may be needed to transfer the phone over to Digital Voice (VoIP).

My mate has a TalkTalk FTTP broadband service, but his phone is still on copper, and I suspect that he'll probably get shifted at some time in the future when OR decide to shut off the PSTN in his area.

iniltous

‘DV’ is BT proprietary VoIP telephony product , if the name isn’t copyrighted there is nothing stopping other providers calling their similar VoIP product ‘DV’ but could cause confusion , DV isn’t a generic term for VoIP delivered by the phone port on a router, it’s BT’s name for its product, it’s unfortunate if the term DV becomes synonymous with VoIP from all providers , Sky as an example call their VoIP ‘Internet Calls , not DV.
BT DV is available on FTTC and FTTP although the numbers with BT telephony still on the copper that have FTTP installed will be vanishingly small, they were the easiest and first group to be converted to DV , all new BT FTTP customers get DV if they want telephony.
TT may chose to keep their punters on the copper pair for as long as they can , TT telephony has nothing to do with BT , they are a LLU  provider, they cannot migrate their customers onto ‘DV’ as it’s a BT product, it’s TT decision to migrate or not migrate their own LLU telephony customers onto  TT’s equivalent of DV , initially TT didn’t have a VoIP offer with (Openreach) FTTP so had to maintain the copper pair service for telephony.

If Vodafone FTTP is on the same Openreach platform as  BT FTTP,  then if the same ‘profile’ is purchased then there is no reason why it would be ‘faster’ than the BT offering on the same profile it’s the exact same Openreach kit, comparing say 500Mb on BT to 900Mb on VF isn’t a valid comparison 

matelodave

I wasn't comparing BT's speed with Vodafone except to show that I got a higher speed for less money.

Likewise my point was that some providers can offer a DV like service, whatever it's called via their routers if they choose to or have the infrastructure available to them to do it. Let's call it a fixed line, as it's associated with the router that you've been provided with by the ISP.

Dunno if you could use the same functions with a third-party router thats equipped with a phone socket (like the FritzBox) or whether those have to use a VoIP provder for phone services.

AFAIK the BT DV or VF's offering aren't the same as VoIP from a VoIP provider insofar you can't make and take phone calls via your computer, tablet or mobile phone using the fixed line phone number

I dont think that BT DV does it and I'm pretty sure that VF doesn't either, whereas you can with something like SIPgate or Vonage etc although I'm happy to be proved wrong.

However, that said, many people nowadays aren't interested in having a fixed phone as they use their mobiles for calls. 

irishjohn

Thanks folks - this has all been very helpful. I am usually a quick changer at the end of any Utility contract but I was really scuppered this time. When I set out to change last year I found that the box I am connected to - by copper - has been designated exclusively fibre and therefore I could only change to BT Fibre as it was the only fibre product I could find at affordable prices. I decided to remain out of contract until there were more products and now seems to be the time. I just have to decide if I really need to keep my landline function at all. I realise if I move to Plusnet I lose it - my head currently says I really don't need to keep it so I am off to price changing to one of the other ISPs. Thanks again