Confusing information regarding going to fibre / loosing landline??

Stubod

Lomng storu short, Plusnet advised that copper landlines will become obsolete next year, and advised if I wanted to keep a landline then I would need to go over to fibre, (which I want to do). Openreach engineer arrived to install the new cable, but advised we may need to dig up the porch and drive floor!!

He then asked why as we only had a "short" run of copper to the main box anyway, and our broadband speeds are fine. I said that we were doing it to maintain a landline as "copper" cables would no longer be supported. He advised that this was "nonsense" and copper lines would be in place for another 10+ years, and the broadband providers were only saying nthis to get people to go over to fibre??

I am assuming that if we don't go over to full fibre then the current copper connection will continue to provide all our normal "broadband" services??

…so somewhat confused and not sure what to do now??

The simplest soulution may be just to cancel the landline and get Mrs S a smart phone??

droopsnoot

When my Plusnet renewal came up, I was going to renew it as-is (using the old copper line) until the screen said that it's only supported until January of next year. It was also about £6 a month cheaper to switch to full fibre, and that probably swayed me more than anything. But I rarely use the land line so it's been no hardship to get rid, and no digging was required. Copper is going, over a period of time. Perhaps the installer just didn't want to dig your drive and porch floor up, and figured that if you put off the conversion to next year it might not be him that had to do it.

vacheron

Sounds like total BS from Plusnet if not a downright lie.

At present only about 75% of all homes in the UK even have access to full fibre (FTTP), and out of that only about 35-40% have actually taken up the offer and had it installed.

This means that about 50% of all UK households are still running on copper fed from a local supplier cabinet (FTTC). This includes myself as I get my broadband, (which is capable of well over Gigabit speeds), from Virgin over a coaxial cable from their local cabinet.

It will be decades before every home in the UK has a full FTTP connection, and just because something is considered "obsolete" doesn't mean people can't keep using it.

ISDN was introduced in the 1980s as a faster alternative to MODEM technology, way before the first broadband was available. You could argue that this was obsolete in the early 2000's as it was eclipsed by numerous better and cheaper technologies, yet this service is still used and operational today and is only scheduled to be turned off in 2027.

Hermann

The landlines are being discontinued but you don't need to switch to full fibre.

Full fibre means a fibre cable all the way to your house hence the need to dig up your drive.

However you can use the Fibre To The Cabinet product where the fibre connection goes as far as a street cabinet near you and the last bit of connection uses the existing copper cable from your house to the cabinet.

If you wish to keep your landline number it's irrelevant which product you use to achieve your broadband as any broadband will be sufficient.

Important to understand that once your landline is removed your number is cancelled and you have only 30 days to recover it or it's lost forever.

Also important is that going forward you will not have a landline anymore whatever you do as once the landline is removed you reinstate the landline number using VOIP technology and that is different to your traditional landline although allows you to use a number and handset in the same way.

So you can choose any form of broadband and then set up VOIP services to retain and use your old landline number.

Important to get your head round the difference between your old landline and the new VOIP services as they are not the same and Plusnet were wrong to imply you would 'keep the landline' by using full fibre. You won't keep the landline but could switch to using VOIP and retain the phone number.

Switching to using VOIP and keeping your landline number will involve finding and setting up an additional service as Plusnet do not provide any VOIP solutions.

dnpark38

As I have been on full fibre to my house for quite a while now I find the statements in this Subject and replies very confusing.

Open Reach removed my copper wire from the nearby post and ran the fibre wire exactly as the copper had run.

My old phone of many years still works.

Sky provide the BB and "landline" phone.

vacheron

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81981282#Comment_81981282

The main difference to the consumer is that the fibre cable to your premises can carry data, but not electrical power.

The old PSTN copper network used phones which obtained all their power to ring and operate from that copper wire. This meant that even if there was a power cut to your house, or a fuse blew or circuit breaker tripped, your telephone would still work!

With the new fibre to the premises (FTTP), the call comes in encoded as digital data, but to drive your original telephone, it needs to be converted to analogue "old telephone language".

The telephone also needs the power (which it used to get from BT via the copper line, but now can't) so your new white wall box where the fibre goes now also requires a power adapter which you have to plug in to one of your home power sockets.

This means that if your little white wall box… OR its power adapter… OR the power to your house… OR your internet connection, OR the fibre transceiver were to fail, or be accidentally unplugged, your phone will not work. This is why all the stories were in the news about vulnerable people who had emergency systems that used their old PSTN telephones as that system just got a whole lot more unreliable!

dnpark38

Yes, I have that need to provide 2 mains sockets.

I think I've made provision for phone failure by having a mobile smart phone and also a mobile internet unit.

Stubod

Thanks for all the feedback. I understand that with fibre my current landline phone would be connected (using VOIP) to the new modem using an adaptor that connects to both.

Just don't really understand why I couldn't do this within the existing set up??

Plusnet are adamant that the Open Reach engineer ws wrong, and if I wanted to retain my landline number after January next year they would be right royaly "ripping me off" for the privelidge.

DOn't understand the problem really as there must be thousands of places that will be unable to get full fibre connected for years…if ever!!

bob2302

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81981243#Comment_81981243

Whatever the national numbers, once fibre is available in your area they want to get you off FTTC as quickly as possible. The last time I tried to switch supplier, it was mandatory to accept FTTP; I stayed on FTTC because i got a better offer to stay.

Even if you are able stay on FTTC, that doesn't mean that you can keep an analogue POTS line beyond the switch-off

Yorkie1

I found this thread quite helpful, as I'm in a similar situation to you (as is my mother).

I am currently FTTC (BB and landline) with Plusnet, but could have FTTP. I am moving to Zen internet (BB and VOIP with the same landline number), which will require FTTP for their offer. The engineer will come on Monday and I've had an email to say that a cable will be run to the house from a pole. Fingers crossed all will go well.

Mum is also currently FTTC (BB and landline) with Plusnet. Her property does not have access to FTTP. Zen internet will offer a FTTC (BB and VOIP with the same landline number). The existing copper wires will be used going forward, but they will not carry the old style analogue landline calls. That suits her as change is difficult for her to understand.

Vitor

The OP is probably being offered SoGEA (Single Order Generic Ethernet Access) by OpenReach. With SoGEA, the broadband can still come by fibre to the cabinet, then copper from the cabinet to the house. The difference is that the old 'dial tone' phone service is removed from the copper.

If you keep a “landline” number, the voice part becomes Digital Voice / VoIP and the home phone plugs into the router which emulates the PSTN phone service to the exchange.

The Openreach technician may well be right that the short copper run to your house could remain in use for broadband for years. But that does not mean the old-style landline service continues as before.

I stayed with Virgin Media when they flipped me onto Digital Voice, however my neighbours went with providers using OpenReach infrastructure and both had trenches dug across the gardens to put fibre into their houses.