Digital voice and manual updates- is this normal?

rhialwencomp

For reasons I won't bore you with, we still use our landline as the primary phone. Supplied by Vodafone.
Got reluctantly switched over to digital voice at the end of 2023, and since then there have been a couple of times when the phone just stops working. I have to go to Vodafone's online chat and go through all that rigamarole only for them to mysteriously update something, and then it's fine again.
Problem 1: because DV doesn't work with digital voicemail (nobody told us this beforehand btw, had to buy another phone) there's no way to know how long it's been off and if someone's tried to contact us.
Problem 2: because we don't use the phone much it's usually something pretty important. We have options for actual 999 situations, we're talking at least a couple of tiers down from critical to life but still. I'm prone to migranes and anxiety attacks and it's been quite unpleasant both times.

Basically what I'm asking is are they all like this? When my contract's up should I look elsewhere, or is it just going to be broken at random every few months no matter what? 

littleboo

There is nothing inherent in a VOIP service that means it will stop working periodically, so yes, you may need to look elsewhere if they cant resolve it properly

DullGreyGuy

Have used VOIP since 2005 and never once had to change any settings etc to get it to work again etc... we've chosen to make changes occasionally when adding new call line identifications or new extension etc but thats different.

Not sure I understand the second point on 999?  Both traditional calls and VOIP require certain things to be present and working to be able to make a 999 call, realistically those for VOIP are more likely to have problems than traditional phones. There are things that you can do if you are concerned though like getting a UPS for the router so you keep having internet during a local power cut and having a 4g/5g fallback router if something happens to your fibre connection. Not sure how many call 999 for a migraine though. 

molerat

My daughter's phone light on the router went red one day - she didn't even notice - then went green again a couple of weeks later.  Looks like it could be one of those things that happen !