Digital voice and retirement properties

Sterlingtimes

I am thinking about retirement properties where each retiree owns or rents an apartment within a block.

Would Open Reach (or similar) replace the copper leading to each apartment with fibre?

What would be the way forward with landlines and alarm systems?

marcia_

 I was just reading this yesterday. May have some answers https://www.bt.com/help/landline/digital-voice-phones

iniltous

Every single copper pair replaced with ‘fibre’ is still a very long way away , MDU’s present an additional set of problems compared to ‘regular’ dwellings,( like getting permission from the leaseholder , managing agents , etc ) so many retirement apartments will continue using the copper pair for many years , the PSTN switch off by December 2025 isn’t the same as every address having access to FTTP , that will be ongoing probably for decades.
Landlines will be IP , which means that a broadband service will be required, even those that simply have a landline may not realise it , but it will be using a cut down broadband service , as far as alarms etc, that’s between the alarm provider and the consumer, alarm companies have known about the PSTN switch off for years and should be ensuring their customers alarms will continue to work.

marcia_

 Roll out dates according to BT are here https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-announces-regional-rollout-schedule-for-digital-voice/#

Sterlingtimes

iniltous said:

Every single copper pair replaced with ‘fibre’ is still a very long way away , MDU’s present an additional set of problems compared to ‘regular’ dwellings.

Thank you, iniltous, for your kindness in answering my question. I had to Google MDU: multiple dwelling unit.

It would appear therefore that Digital Voice (or similar) will be provided to customers over extant copper. That helps me to manage my elderly mother's issues moving forward. 

iniltous

Correct, DV is the 21st Century replacement for PSTN telephony and it’s rollout is separate to the fibre to the premises rollout , so in essence when advised, the customer simply unplugs the phone from the phone socket on the wall , and plugs it into the phone socket on the broadband router , making and receiving calls is the same as it was before , although some features are included with DV that were paid for options on PSTN , DV is the BT brand name for IP ( internet protocol ) telephony other providers may call their version something different, some won’t bother offering telephony and only provide broadband.

brewerdave

Be aware that not all ISPs are offering an equivalent to Digital Voice - for instance ,if you have broadband and a phone service from Plusnet ,when Openreach switch off PSTN service ,their customers will have no easy alternative.

Sterlingtimes

iniltous said:

Correct, DV is the 21st Century replacement for PSTN telephony and it’s rollout is separate to the fibre to the premises rollout , so in essence when advised, the customer simply unplugs the phone from the phone socket on the wall , and plugs it into the phone socket on the broadband router , making and receiving calls is the same as it was before , although some features are included with DV that were paid for options on PSTN , DV is the BT brand name for IP ( internet protocol ) telephony other providers may call their version something different, some won’t bother offering telephony and only provide broadband.

This helps. Thank you. Presumably, transferring many homes to fibre will free up DSL copper equipment for digital telephony use.

My mother had a fall earlier this week and managed to pull the cord in her apartment. Unfortunately, the "falls detector" working over GSM failed to work.

Sterlingtimes

brewerdave said:

Be aware that not all ISPs are offering an equivalent to Digital Voice - for instance ,if you have broadband and a phone service from Plusnet ,when Openreach switch off PSTN service ,their customers will have no easy alternative.

Thank you. My mother uses BT so this ought not to be a problem. Personally, I use Zen at my home and the product sold to me is branded Digital Voice. Presumably, Zen resells the BT product.

littleboo

Sterlingtimes said:

iniltous said:

Correct, DV is the 21st Century replacement for PSTN telephony and it’s rollout is separate to the fibre to the premises rollout , so in essence when advised, the customer simply unplugs the phone from the phone socket on the wall , and plugs it into the phone socket on the broadband router , making and receiving calls is the same as it was before , although some features are included with DV that were paid for options on PSTN , DV is the BT brand name for IP ( internet protocol ) telephony other providers may call their version something different, some won’t bother offering telephony and only provide broadband.

This helps. Thank you. Presumably, transferring many homes to fibre will free up DSL copper equipment for digital telephony use.

My mother had a fall earlier this week and managed to pull the cord in her apartment. Unfortunately, the "falls detector" working over GSM failed to work.

The end game of full fibre rollout is retirement of the copper network.

brewerdave

littleboo said:

Sterlingtimes said:

iniltous said:

Correct, DV is the 21st Century replacement for PSTN telephony and it’s rollout is separate to the fibre to the premises rollout , so in essence when advised, the customer simply unplugs the phone from the phone socket on the wall , and plugs it into the phone socket on the broadband router , making and receiving calls is the same as it was before , although some features are included with DV that were paid for options on PSTN , DV is the BT brand name for IP ( internet protocol ) telephony other providers may call their version something different, some won’t bother offering telephony and only provide broadband.

This helps. Thank you. Presumably, transferring many homes to fibre will free up DSL copper equipment for digital telephony use.

My mother had a fall earlier this week and managed to pull the cord in her apartment. Unfortunately, the "falls detector" working over GSM failed to work.

The end game of full fibre rollout is retirement of the copper network.

True, but in some areas that may be many years away because of the cost/difficulty of fibre installs.