Telephone

[Simon]

This is looking very complicated and concerning, especially given that it seems to be something we're not going to have any choice over. 

[zappaDPJ]

I'm not trying to muddy the water and I'm generally not a Luddite but more I read about this the less I understand.

[Simon]

How do you even call somebody on this new system?   

[robinc]

This is still one of the better articles on the subject

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2019/04/swapping-to-broadband-voip-from-a-uk-copper-home-phone-line.html/3

[L2020]

I've been on VoIP and ditched the landline some 18 months ago and on FTTP so the copper line is dead.  People will keep their same landline number (if they wish) when moving to VoIP. 

If everything works perfectly, then VoIP should be indistinguishable to a normal landline, even down to using the same phones.  In many ways this change has already happened, just the VoIP part happening in the telephone exchanges and our calls sent around as digital data from there.  Most businesses we might contact over the phone are VoIP already having no traditional landlines.

If a person only has a landline now, then to continue that "landline" they will need an Internet connection, so a box plugged in all the time.  Openreach have cheaper Internet products that only provide a very slow data speed, enough for VoIP but nothing else, for those that only want a "landline" and not the Internet. 

The trouble is, a normal landline is pretty simple at our end, just two wires, we can even have a dodgy connection and it still works just with a few crackles.  The power to operate our corded phone is sent over the same two wires and it is just a case of plug a phone in and that's it.  The telephone exchange has back up power, so in the event of a power cut we can still use our landline.  Major exchanges have back up diesel generators so even extended blackouts still see our phone working.  Running a telephone system however is pretty complicated and requires some major hardware and expense, and with traditional landlines all that complication is at the telephone exchange and looked after by someone else, it isn't our responsibility.  Trouble is, we aren't making enough landline calls to cover the costs of all that equipment and upkeep of the exchange buildings.

So welcome VoIP.  Essentially the telephone exchange is moved into our own home.  We now have to host the equipment, power it, provide back up power if required, and have all the complications of looking after more bits of kit.  The ultimate aim of Openreach is to decommission all copper lines and have everything on fibre, and they don't see voice as part of their product range, they will solely deal with moving data, this means VoIP and a "landline" is the responsibility of our ISP or other third party to provide us with.

There are a few ways VoIP will be supplied, one way is the ISP provides us with a modem/router that contains a normal phone socket (the BT HomeHubs have a normal BT style phone socket so you can just plug a phone straight in https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/learn-about-the-ports-on-your-bt-hub).  These supplied routers are preconfigured (or remotely configured on first plugging in) and just work providing the modem/router also has a working internet connection, then plugging in the phone will give a normal dial tone and work in the same way, and it will also be possible to plug the router into the master socket which back feeds any wired extension phones.  Openreach have new faceplates that have a switch to disconnect them from the incoming landline for the voice part to prevent back feeding into the entire network.

Another way is the ISP (or which ever provider a person uses) provides an adapter or ATA (Analogue telephone adapter), a small box that contains a processor, software and electronics to do VoIP with a socket you plug a phone into, this is the same kit built into routers that come with a phone socket, just sold separately, again it can be automatically configured.  These are likely to be the most troublesome as they are reliant on the router they are connected to handling the connection correctly.  The router may not work well over NAT on IPv4.  IPv6 makes things better as the ATA can have a public facing IP address but that can still require the routers firewall to be opened up to all incoming connections, so the person may need some knowledge on how to do this, and so it may not be plug and play.  Issues seen with separate VoIP kit is often only getting audio in one direction, calls dropping after a certain amount of time and not receiving incoming calls.  Similar to an ATA, a person can also buy a DECT cordless base station and handsets, where the base station has a built in ATA, these have the same potential issues.

As a nod to how we are now housing and running the telephone exchange, a dial tone on VoIP is actually created by the router/ATA itself, it's a false dial tone, means nothing really, just makes us think it is a normal landline.  In many cases the dial tone may sound American or different, as it often not set up to sound like a UK one.  The ringing tones, again, are generated by the router and will often sound like we are calling an international number.

If we want the phone line to work in a power cut it will be down to us to supply backup power to all the kit in the chain, although it is expected those selling VoIP services will supply a backup power supply for vulnerable people.  However these will have nowhere near the length of runtime of a diesel generator at an exchange, and the VDSL cabinets that many will be connected to for some time (until all copper is gone) only run for 8 hours or so before they stop. 

Really the landline as we know it is being discontinued and is being replaced by a pseudo landline, something that tries to replicated a landline but has none of the reliability aspects we've come to expect from one.  Like most bits of kits these days, our "landline" will need software updates, tinkering with, and turning off and on again on occasions. 

[dudwell]

Thank you for all that L2020. Literally minutes before your post I learned that FTTP will arrive shortly in my postcode and I'm invited to say whether I'm interested in having it. Hopefully IDNet will make it all as simple as possible but for the moment I'm quite befuddled