The End of Analogue Phone Lines

[Dorset Diver]

I have been told that BT Openreach intend to switch off analogue phone lines by 2025 and landlines will switch over to VOIP which means they will work through the Internet.

That is the extent of my knowledge and I am hoping that someone can explain to me (in the simplest of terms please) how my present setup will be affected, if at all. At present I am with a well-known internet provider to whom I pay a monthly fee for a so called superfast internet service and an annual fee for landline rental. In the area we have FTTC and a copper line comes from the cabinet to our home. I have a landline phone and internet through a router. Both come from a single wall plate with two plugs one for the phone and one for the internet.

 

[dunnah01]

You probably won't notice much difference in the hardware and wiring in the street and to your house but if your landline handset doesn't support VOIP you'll have to change it. We may all be on mobile data by then so wires to the house may be a thing of the past

 

[Tombola]

My work internet connection is low and cant be upgraded yet, we switched to VOIP and had a lot of drop outs and gappy breaking up calls due to the bandwidth of the internet.

Your home connection will be fine(certainly by 2025) and in basic terms it just means your voice calls will now be carried via internet hardware and not just copper BT wires

 

[rod_vw]

Fibre to the house is already in and some developments are only installing that. I have a colleague who has just purchased a new house that is so equipped.
In these cases the only option is a VOIP phone -- remember that these don't work if you have a power cut! The fibre router needs 240v to work so it's either dead with the power off or you supply it (and the handset (or base station)) via a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply).

VOIP is much the same as Skype, Zoom and many others with or without the video.

 

[Sandancers]

Big question is then, will the phone line providers WANT you to still have a home phone for which they will charge you, or should everyone say, "stuff it I don't need a home phone my mobile phone is fine."

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[68c]

I have kept a simple landline handset that is powered by the phone line. I have done this in case of a fire or some other accident killing the 240v supply to my answerphone handset. Use your mobile you say, that will be the day it has no charge with my luck. So come 2025 we seem to become even more heavily reliant on hi-tech solutions, no FM radio only DAB if they have there way. Everything having its own computer guzzling energy and vulnerable to large solar flares or, God forbid, a high altitude nuclear burst and EMP wiping half of our equipment out.

 

[Kannon Fodda]

I don't know if there has been a change in regulations but for years it was at least a recommendation that you had a properly wired phone to your home, separate and additional to any of the cordless handsets. This was for emergency as with a power failure your cordless / wireless would go off. The plugged in traditional type phone would still work from the power in the phone line for which BT or the cable companies had to have a backup battery, often with batteries in the street cabinets for the cable cos.

VOIP works OK, if you have enough bandwidth over broadband. You actually don't need that much bandwidth at all. All VOIP is doing is converting the phone signal to a digitised data. It's been working fine in offices for years, simplifying wiring in the offices as you only need one type of cabling, ethernet, to each desk that can be used for both computers and phone, far easier to swap stuff around, and in many cases integrate. A lot easier to also reprogram the systems to reflect staff changes and other needs, than need someone to come in and mess around with electronic panels.

For home, there hasn't been a great advantage of VOIP when you have to pay for separate line rental. But it does seem some of the telcos are now able to drop that separate line rental charge. My current deal with Sky, I had to have a new Openreach connection (there was no cable as I'd been with Virgin Media for years), Sky then enabled the connection for broadband. The phone line is now VOIP. The Sky Hub box supplied has a phone socket outlet (just like the standard BT wall points), my 1990s cordless phone plugged straight to that. Unless you have a positively ancient phone that dials by sending pulses, rather than tone, I would expect it to be able to work with the VOIP systems.

 

[EuroTrotters]

I use VOIP from BT for my Business.

The good thing about it is. I can ring a client from Spain from my mobile app and it comes up on their phone as 0161 XXX 016X Landline number. They have no idea where in the world I am. Saves them thinking, bloody hell, no wonder they charge so much.....etc etc.

We also have VOIP in Spain, though I don't use it.

Love it.

 

[Trevor Wbm]

Unless there is a massive drive to deliver Fibre cable to all, you'll be running you VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) on the existing copper wires using the same sort of technology as you do now for the internet. That being the case, from a users perspective, you'll need to get a new phone that will plug into your internet router, and that's about it, in a perfect world. Your number will stay the same, if you want it to.

The upside is that, at least on current deals calls to the UK and UK mobiles are inclusive in the package also should you want it, you will be able to direct your land-line calls to a mobile device that has an internet connection and maybe subscribe to an answering service.

From a travellers point of view, you could get a data-only SIM for a mobile phone or tablet, install the app that allows you to make and take calls from your UK VOIP number anywhere using the data allowance, and not use mobile 07#### telephony at all.

I said 'in a perfect world' at the begining because good service is entirely reliant on bandwidth: If you're a long way from the exchange, or using really old copper cables, you'll aleady be suffering from low bandwidth and should really get in your suppliers ribs about the call quality you'll get - if Zoom is painful now, VOIP will be too.

Mobile users will also experience the occasional difficulty if a lot of them affiliated to the same mast are running VOIP calls. The more rural, typically the less bandwidth there is, but with luck the capacity will get expanded where congestion is frequent as congestion loses revenue.

 

[Janine]

Big question is then, will the phone line providers WANT you to still have a home phone for which they will charge you, or should everyone say, "stuff it I don't need a home phone my mobile phone is fine."

There are probably a lot of elderly people who don't have mobile phones.

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[Speve]

Our land line rental is free with Vodafone provided we don’t use the handsets, we can still receive incoming calls,so we just use our mobiles over WiFi calling when at home and it works well.

 

[Dorset Diver]

Thanks people. I'm still confused but that seems to be my near permanent state at present. I will wait and see what happens and if something needs changing I will look around for a handy 4-5 year old, most of whom seem to understand these things, who can sort it for me.

 

[Brains]

If you still have one of these, it won't work !

after the changeover.

Pulse dialling, designed for Stowger switch Telephone Exchanges
(Amazing machines if you ever worked in a GPO exchange up until the mid 1980's)

 

[Dorset Diver]

What about this

If you still have one of these, it won't work !

View attachment 456894
after the changeover.

Pulse dialling, designed for Stowger switch Telephone Exchanges
(Amazing machines if you ever worked in a GPO exchange up until the mid 1980's)

What about this?

 

[Clipgate]

I ditched the fixed phone line a couple of years ago, only use my mobile to call stream, and cast etc.
wonder why I paid a line rental as long as I did, plus support BT who year by year gave indifferent service and certainly knew how to charge.
Had few outages, however as a precaution keep a cheap mobile charged just incase of a faulty or flat battery. Easy to swap over a SIM

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[rod_vw]

If you still have one of these, it won't work !

View attachment 456894
after the changeover.

Pulse dialling, designed for Stowger switch Telephone Exchanges
(Amazing machines if you ever worked in a GPO exchange up until the mid 1980's)

As I did!

 

[cmcardle75]

You won't need to change your phone. They'll provide an adapter. However, your house wiring might need rewiring direct to the wifi router rather than the old copper wires coming through the wall, or you can plug your only phone (i.e. a cordless one) directly in. Alternatively, you don't even need to get phone service from your provider. I use voipfone and have a proper VOIP cordless phone set that enables multiple simultaneous calls at once (and intercom etc) for a lot less than paying the cable company the extra for a phone line. It also gives me a national 0330 number instead of a local number (this is optional, you can choose whatever local code you like, even international) which means I don't get spam calls.

 

[cmcardle75]

As I did!

Old pulse dial phones can be converted to tone dialling, too. I've got an old 1930s phone thusly converted. I would guess someone has now released similar kits for VOIP, although you could just daisy chain converters.

 

[EdwardFT]

If you still have one of these, it won't work !

View attachment 456894
after the changeover.

Pulse dialling, designed for Stowger switch Telephone Exchanges
(Amazing machines if you ever worked in a GPO exchange up until the mid 1980's)

Amazing machines for their time which by the 1980s ought to have gone. I remember when I first used a phone in the USA in 1981, a push button phone (wow!) and I was connected the instant that I pushed the last digit. I reflexively hung up, because I "knew" that it couldn't have connected so fast, it must be a mistake. But it really did work that fast, I was just accustomed to the GPO whirr-click connections. Mind you I grew up in a place where the exchange was manual only. That was something else, you would pick up the phone and wait for the operator to say "number, please?". And when my mum and we kids went up to her parents in the Highlands once, my dad called from the south of Scotland and got through to the sub-postmistress. He asked to talk to Mrs X, and the sub postmistress said, "Oh no, she has just left the post office, she won't be home yet, she'll probably be at the baker's by now, I'll put you through there".

VOIP will not do that for you.

 

[Happy Jim]

If you stay on copper then when the time comes you will be “moved” onto a product known as SOGEA, your internet supplier will send you a new router and if you want a landline you’ll need a new one that connects via wifi (BT currently give them away free, but fleece you on the package!). Your box on the wall won’t change and you’ll bin the filter.

If you want more speed and are in an appropriate area then you will move to FTTP (fibre to the prem), Openreach will drill a hole in the wall and fit a box (optical termination), then run a cable to your new router (phone as above).

Shorter version, do nothing for a year or two ;-)

Regards

Jim

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[ShaKen]

I really don’t think you need to worry yourself about it.

They will not make sweeping changes overnight - and all that will happen is there may be a change in the household handset over time (or the addition of a little black box in between).

Remember when mobile phones went from Analogue to Digital - same concept. Or when Analogue TV broadcasts were switched off. The world didn’t end.

And I’m sure they will run “legacy” infrastructure for a while for those not able to change.

 

[tonyidle]

Big question is then, will the phone line providers WANT you to still have a home phone for which they will charge you, or should everyone say, "stuff it I don't need a home phone my mobile phone is fine."

They don't care whether you have a phone or not but they do charge for the landline infrastructure 'cos BT charge them for it (unless you're with a cable supplier). Whether you take on a call package from them is up to you. The cable infrastructure doesn't have to change in future but if it does there'll still be a 'line rental' charge. What you hang on the end of it won't be the same as it is now but the choice of whether to make calls over it will still be yours.

 

[tonyidle]

I really don’t think you need to worry yourself about it.

They will not make sweeping changes overnight - and all that will happen is there may be a change in the household handset over time (or the addition of a little black box in between).

Remember when mobile phones went from Analogue to Digital - same concept. Or when Analogue TV broadcasts were switched off. The world didn’t end.

And I’m sure they will run “legacy” infrastructure for a while for those not able to change.

No one will be unable to change. It will never make economic sense to fit a conversion from a tone dial phone to a VoIP connection - that would cost at least as much as a new phone. The change will have to be by 'exchange area'. When I began my career with the GPO (as was) they were taking on people to cope with STD conversion. Many areas, particularly rural areas, didn't have dial phones never mind STD. The conversion then was instantaneous - over a day everyone needed a dial phone, several dozen (or several hundred) telephonists were re-deployed to Directory Enquiry centres, and the Local Manual Exchange closed. By the end of that day the only way to make a call was to use a dial. Every Kiosk needed a new mechanism - and they were around in large numbers. A swap to VoIP from a customer perspective will be seamless by comparison.

 

[Landy Andy]

Big question is then, will the phone line providers WANT you to still have a home phone for which they will charge you, or should everyone say, "stuff it I don't need a home phone my mobile phone is fine."

Many many people are, or have got rid of their landlines, us included. We then just use the line for broadband, but if mobile signal was good enough would also do away with the broadband. No one wants wires anymore, and being tied to a single place.

 

[tonyidle]

Many many people are, or have got rid of their landlines, us included. We then just use the line for broadband, but if mobile signal was good enough would also do away with the broadband. No one wants wires anymore, and being tied to a single place.

Just using the landline for broadband means you still have line rental to pay. The only difference is you don't pay for a call package and you don't hang a phone on the end. VoIP in itself won't remove the need for a landline.

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[Landy Andy]

Yes, that’s correct, and if 5G is as good as they say it will be people will be leaving BT in massive quantities to avoid that line rental. Data and mobile is so cheap, and unrestrictive in comparison.

 

[Coolcats]

Telcos including BT have been involved in the development of communications, Busines VOIP is something that has been worked on over the past couple of decades, Companies such as whilst Cisco has only offered a VOIP based PBX, the traditional suppliers such as Siemens, Avaya, Mitel and others moved their old Digital PBX’s to VOIP platforms these are either on-premise, hosted or a combination of both. Years ago companies would buy analogue circuits to connect to the PBX’s then it moved to digital ISDN 2 or ISDN 30. Bt over the past 10-15 years these have slowly moved to SIP (Session Initiated protocol) trunking which is VOIP service.

For companies that have invested in this technology its known as a managed network in that Voice and video is prioritised over data. The reason is that the voice (Video) data packets have no grantee in what order or how long they take to arrive but if it’s an email or down loading a film it does not really matter. You will notice an issue if the packets arrive in the wrong order, if the packets arrive longer than 100ms and then there is something called jitter.

So when BT and others change out the Digital exchanges it will be a managed service which means the quality of that VOIP call will be reliable so as little johnny is playing that all important video game and the rest of the family are streaming a film your voice or video call will work and the data packets arrive in the right order and time.It also means that very few switching nodes will be needed:

Broken Link Removed

When the property is sold off and overheads reduced it would be reasonable to assume that Broadband will get cheaper. The new world of VOIP will mean new marketing packages and would not be at all surprised to see Line rental disappear.

If you look at the back of the BT Smarthub 2 (im sure other products have will do to), there is the connection for both fibre and analogue plus there is a VOIP phone socket already to go

Regarding 5G I suspect that it will play just as an important part for BT (EE) as will the fibre to the home will it will mean a more seamless transition for people to stay connected

 

[tonyidle]

Telcos including BT have been involved in the development of communications, Busines VOIP is something that has been worked on over the past couple of decades, Companies such as whilst Cisco has only offered a VOIP based PBX, the traditional suppliers such as Siemens, Avaya, Mitel and others moved their old Digital PBX’s to VOIP platforms these are either on-premise, hosted or a combination of both. Years ago companies would buy analogue circuits to connect to the PBX’s then it moved to digital ISDN 2 or ISDN 30. Bt over the past 10-15 years these have slowly moved to SIP (Session Initiated protocol) trunking which is VOIP service.

For companies that have invested in this technology its known as a managed network in that Voice and video is prioritised over data. The reason is that the voice (Video) data packets have no grantee in what order or how long they take to arrive but if it’s an email or down loading a film it does not really matter. You will notice an issue if the packets arrive in the wrong order, if the packets arrive longer than 100ms and then there is something called jitter.

So when BT and others change out the Digital exchanges it will be a managed service which means the quality of that VOIP call will be reliable so as little johnny is playing that all important video game and the rest of the family are streaming a film your voice or video call will work and the data packets arrive in the right order and time.It also means that very few switching nodes will be needed:

Broken Link Removed

When the property is sold off and overheads reduced it would be reasonable to assume that Broadband will get cheaper. The new world of VOIP will mean new marketing packages and would not be at all surprised to see Line rental disappear.

If you look at the back of the BT Smarthub 2 (im sure other products have will do to), there is the connection for both fibre and analogue plus there is a VOIP phone socket already to go

Regarding 5G I suspect that it will play just as an important part for BT (EE) as will the fibre to the home will it will mean a more seamless transition for people to stay connected

I agree entirely with that summary. I'd only add that mobile data won't be a mainstream alternative for a long time. 5G is a transmission protocol that shifts data faster than 4G. Existing bandwidth won't allow very many simultaneous users (compared with wired or fibre broadband) and 5G will make that problem worse not better. A lot more mobile infrastructure is needed before mobile can usurp wired (fibre-ed?) if indeed it ever will.

 

[Coolcats]

I agree entirely with that summary. I'd only add that mobile data won't be a mainstream alternative for a long time. 5G is a transmission protocol that shifts data faster than 4G. Existing bandwidth won't allow very many simultaneous users (compared with wired or fibre broadband) and 5G will make that problem worse not better. A lot more mobile infrastructure is needed before mobile can usurp wired (fibre-ed?) if indeed it ever will.

Agree with you regarding 5G but of course satellite broadband will become a challenger and will possibly be quite a favourite of MoHo owners. The issue here of course is that all the money paid to the Satellite Broadband will probably go to the US rather than a UK Business which also places us at the whims of a foreign power.

 

[busby]

If you still have one of these, it won't work !

View attachment 456894
after the changeover.

Pulse dialling, designed for Stowger switch Telephone Exchanges
(Amazing machines if you ever worked in a GPO exchange up until the mid 1980's)

What's that?? BUSBY.

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