Landline only for aged relatives

southsidergs

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82020132#Comment_82020132

Then you need to speak to the suppliers about the switch happening by end of january 2027. It's happening & you need to accept it & speak to them

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82021090#Comment_82021090

Not really as the change to internet phones will still mean there is a landline phone that can be plugged into.

Should be easy for Mum as she actually has broadband.

Will be more interesting for me as the phone line is just a phone service and we don't have the broadband / router.

MouldyOldDough

My Relatives do not have a careline system - they simply want to carry on as they've always done and phone using a landline !

iniltous

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82021281#Comment_82021281

You said your relative has Talk Talk FTTC broadband, so for them nothing changes yet , the Jan 2027 PSTN switch off doesn’t necessarily affect TT LLU customers, TT may also have a program to convert their customers to IP telephony, but it doesn’t need to be the same dates as BT/Openreach , when TT do take their customers like your relative off their current Talk Talk telephone network and convert them to TT IP telephony ( requiring them to plug their phone into the router instead if the wall socket ) , they will be advised, and will pretty much continue as before apart from this minor change to where they connect the phone instrument (router instead of wall socket ) , that’s what you now say they want to continue as they are (with this minuscule difference) , FWIW , TT seem to be only doing IP telephony for TT FTTP customers not TT FTTC customers, so chances are for quite a while nothing will change fir them probably way past January 2027 .

You post has changed though , you originally said they don’t want broadband from TT or anyone else either, and just want to have an ordinary phone service connected to the wall socket , (that’s not possible ) but now your question has changed , you now say they want to continue as they are (that’s with broadband presumably ) so which is it ? continue as they are ( that’s a simple thing to do , as nothing is proposed yet for TT customers ) or they don’t want to continue as they are , and ditch TT broadband , not take broadband from anyone, but keep telephony either with TT or someone else , that isn’t simple and probably not possible unless TT will agree to turn off the broadband service while keeping the telephone service alive , and that’s not likely at all , and no new provider (if they switch away from TT ) will supply a telephone service based on equipment that’s getting switched off in 7 months , they will need broadband to deliver the phone service if mobile is not to be considered.

mta999

As I understand it…

1. landlines as they used to be are ending
2. landlines will still be available over broadband VOIP
3. the cost will be the cost of the broadband plus the cost of VOIP

so yes, landlines will still be available but will be expensive

Stuart_W

Can I ask why the option for a GSM landline phone (like this) and their existing number ported to someone like ONSIM to give them a landline on their existing phone number with unlimited called for £10+VAT per month is really "not an option" ? This would also give them a landline that works in a powercut, which a VoIP landline will not. Others phones and providers are available, this is purely an illustration.

It does mean plugging the phone into a power socket, not the current phone socket, but that will need to change regardless. As others have made clear, if you stick as you are the phone will need to be connected to the router once it is transferred from PSTN.

My elderly inlaws have Virgin and do not have broadband, just TV and a phone line. Their phone line is now connected to their router (they don't understand that they have a router or really understand why the phone socket in the hall is redundant) The router is even a wifi one (Virgin don't bother offering non-wifi routers any more), but router permits no data other than voice calls via the phone socket on the router. They have no phone line in the event of a powercut and even unplug it all every night (because they always have) so have no ability to make an emergency call without plugging it back in and waiting 2-3 minutes for it all to boot up. It's not safe but unfortunately they won't change what they've always done, which is a shame, but I completly get why the GSM phone/SIM card option might not be wanted, but they will end up being switched over to an VoIP service regardless, even if they stay put so change is coming.

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82021896#Comment_82021896

I am actually interested how this roll out will be completed and when, given January next year is meant to be the date.

I currently have a landline only plugged into the BT socket (from which we also have extension sockets). Our tariff is cheap and there is no broadband or TV or anything bundled with it.

Our provider does send a monthly e-mail suggesting we sign up to a broadband service, which is always more expensive.

We have not received any communications about the landline service ending and needing to change to VOIP. Whenever that does happen, we will also want to have our extension sockets still functioning - I don't even know if that is possible.

We will also want the alarm to keep functioning. I am not sure what will happen there?

iniltous

Who do you have your phone only service with ? , BT are converting their phone only customers to something called PDPL , Pre Digital Phone Line , the work to this is done entirely within the exchange building , the customer is advised of the day its taking place and to expect a few hours without service, when it comes back on apart from having to use the full national number for calls , nothing changes in the home , the sockets still work , no mains power is needed for telephony unlike proper DV that needs a broadband router ( and obviously mains power ) , apparently some ‘on line’ account management is reduced for customers on PDPL , but if the customer doesn’t have broadband (and they shouldn’t have it as a phone only customer ) that’s a little irrelevant anyway .

How other providers that supply phone only service ( so no broadband ) is up to them , but the Jan 2027 date is not likely to get moved again , some companies like TT , who use LLU connections are supposedly keeping their current services going after Jan 2027 , so TT customers may not need to plug their phones into the TT broadband router ( that’s if they have a TT router because they have TT broadband ) presumably the number of TT residential customers with phone only (so no TT broadband) will be very small .

If you are sent an email how do you read it if you don’t have broadband, if you do have broadband you shouldn’t get a cheap phone line but pay the full amount and that’s no cheaper than a combined broadband and phone package , unless you pick up your emails by going to the public library or something like that , or perhaps on a mobile phone , but it shouldn’t be on your own broadband in the same address as a subsidised phone only product from BT .

If you have an alarm of some type connected to a landline then it’s your alarm provider responsibility to make it compatible after the PSTN switch off , ( which was delayed until Jan 2027 from 2025 because of the alarm industry ignoring the original date then complaining about it ) they did nothing about making their customers compatible with IP telephony, forcing the delay in the switch off , it won’t be delayed again .

Grumpy_chap

I think our service is now with Talk Talk. It was Post Office then became Shell and then Octopus and maybe someone else but the latest seems to be Talk Talk.

Maybe I'll end up with the magic LLU connection you suggest. Though I am not even sure I am on that connection as the original service was just BT.

iniltous

You are already on LLU , nothing magical about it , TT have their own MSAN’s in the exchange ( the equipment that gives TT customers dialtone over Openreach copper pairs ) , these are not necessarily affected by the Jan 2027 PSTN /WLR switch off , so your service may continue for some time as it is , that’s something you would need to speak to TT about ,but it is just kicking the can down the road as eventually it will need to disappear, especially if FTTP becomes available as there is no Local Loop Unbundling (LLU ) on FTTP , which is what TT take advantage of at the moment on copper infrastructure.