Digital phones are coming! Can I still have BT landline with EE Broadband?

Annemos

Good evening 

I currently have an old telephone with BT landline service. It is plugged into the little adaptor in the wall. 

Also plugged into that little adaptor is my broadband which is EE. It is an old Brightbox. I will attach a photo of the back below. 

(I have always loved my EE Broadband. My BT landline has also been fine. And I like having the two separate. If one was to fall out with one of them, one would  only have to change the one thing.) 

1)  However, with the new digital phones coming in. Will the BT Landline now only connect through a BT hub?   What happens if you currently have an EE hub? 

2)  Do EE even do their own landlines? 

3) If I can still use EE Broadband, I presume I would have to ask them for a new EE hub, as I do not think there is a telephone connection on this old one. (See below.)

Thanks very much for help. (Yet another thing to worry about!) 

Browntoa

On upgrade to fttp you will be given everything you need .

Everything will work as before 

The requirements for a phone line for broadband will no longer be mandatory, I plan to lose mine at that point as I never use it 

littleboo

But the issue for the OP is, FTTP may not be available before the PSTN switch off and they seem to have a legacy SMPF arrangement with landline from BT and the BB from what would have been at the time, a separate entity EE. It might make sense to consolidate both services under one of the BT brands, either BT or EE.
Annemos - EE is now a BT brand, BT purchased EE some time ago

Annemos

Thank you for comments. 

Yes I am also thinking that I should perhaps lose the landline. (As we shall not need it for the broadband.)

The only time I found it really useful, was when Vodafone started playing with our mobile signals and I lost a mobile signal for 2 weeks. They were hideous to deal with, as you could only reach them through the mobile, but the mobile was not working 95% of the time. (I was so fed up, that after years with V, I switched to O2 which has been just fine.)

Then the landline was invaluable, as I was in the middle of a big Insurance claim. So I do like the thought of that back-up system.  

I suppose I can perhaps hope that EE will indeed offer the landline option, eventually. I googled and they seem to be thinking about it. 


PS Another thing.... when you lose your mobile in the house... it is great to ring it from the landline and locate where the thing is!

iniltous

There are a few things to consider, first , you will be a pretty low priority for a move to BT DV , albeit it must happen before the end of 2025 , chances are the very few remaining SMPF customers will be done later rather than sooner .
You are correct in thinking that your SMPF ( shared metallic path facility ) cannot exist after BT telephony is all IP ( Internet protocol ) so eventually your choice would be move both services to the same provider ( BT or EE ) but BT Group ( that both EE and BT Consumer are both a part of ) intend to make EE the mass market residential ‘brand’ and BT to become a business brand , so probably makes sense to prioritise EE.
Once you chose , it will make a difference how you approach this , if you ‘cease’ your BT phone line independently , your SMPF EE broadband cannot exist on it own so would by default also cease , leaving you without any service for a while , you could get EE to take over your phone  line rental , this would effectively mean your phone and broadband ceasing and re-provided by EE on the same day, and should only have a short downtime , but sometimes things go wrong .
If you don’t want or need telephony , you could order a second standalone broadband ( from whoever you like , stressing that it has to be completely new service ) and once it’s in and working , cease the original SMPF line , this obviously is a little more expensive as you would be paying for both for a while , but should ensure no break in service.
what is your current EE broadband , if it’s ADSL ( exchange based ) it could be that changing to FTTC at the same time will give much better speed ( upto 80Mb rather that the average 17Mb that ADSL gives ) depending on how far away your address is from the cabinet .

Annemos

Hello again everyone. Thank you very much for all your help and advice. You have given me the kick I needed. 

I have bitten the bullet.   I called EE and they advised me that EE is now aiming to ask customers to move their EE broadband over to BT. 

She said that the ultimate aim is to have the landlines and broadband under BT... and the Smart phones with EE. 

Then the ultimate ULTIMATE aim will be to have it all called EE. 

So she has started the process off for me to move to BT Broadband and also have a new digital phone. I am also in one of the areas that has fibre. I do not do much, so I am being put on Full Fibre 100. 

This combined package gives me 3 times more speed and will cost me 22 pounds less per month. (Set up fee is 22.99 pounds. )

First they will send someone around in about 2 weeks to check the outside and add the box outside. Then after that they book an Engineer to come and do everything inside. 

I hope I shall not have too much of an interruption during the change-over. 

(All this is a big step for me, as I love my old trusty things that still work. But they are not going to work for much longer, so I needed to do this.) 

Thanks again everyone. 

Browntoa

I've swapped to a VoIP line , I can use it anywhere in the world I can get WiFi .

It's set up on my mobile via an app and via an adapter connected to the hub via lan cable.

I use a standard home phone on it 

Annemos

Er,  I hardly dare admit it... but I still have a non-smart phone! 

I shall go over onto a Smart Phone, when I have to. But for now, it suits me. (I am retired and do everything on my home Computer.)

My family are always teasing me!!