Thanks very much, James. I had thought BT wouldn’t “just give him broadband” without incurring extra charges.
Cheers R From: Hampshire <hampshire-boun...@mailman.lug.org.uk> On Behalf Of James Dutton via Hampshire Sent: Friday, September 15, 2023 4:10 PM To: Hampshire LUG Discussion List <hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk> Cc: James Dutton <james.dut...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Hampshire] [OT] BT VOIP On Fri, 15 Sept 2023 at 12:37, rmluglist2--- via Hampshire <hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk <mailto:hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk> > wrote: Hi all Does anyone know anything about BT’s switch from landline to voip? I have a specific question which I can’t google an answer to and BT customer “services” don’t fill me with confidence. The question is very simple: If you’re swapped from landline to VOIP, does this mean you have a broadband connection that you can use for services other than VOIP? Here’s the situation: My Dad (well into his 90s) is being switched over from landline to VOIP. He has never had ADSL / VDSL or anything apart from voice “down” his line. BT have written to him to say they’re switching him over so he’ll get a new phone which he plugs into his router (which they’ll be supplying). This is where I’m not sure what’s going on behind the scenes. Does this mean he’s effectively getting BT broadband? As they’re suppling him a router – is that something I can plug a laptop into (or connect via wifi) and it will work very much as we all have been for years? I wouldn’t be surprised if he has to pay extra to have an internet connection as well as VOIP services – but I may be wrong. Anyone know? Cheers R Hi, VoIP/Digital Voice obviously needs an internet connection. I think BT do a service that allows VoIP but no internet. It will not work with any other ISP, so it locks you into using BT for Voice. The thing to notice is the BT call costs. For example, the old BT line, had a line rental of about £15 + voice package (approx £20) making the bill £35 per month. Then the calls are on top of that. BT per minute call rates are considerably higher than Mobile phones. If you move to a cheap ISP over Fibre, it is probably £25, then add a VoIP service such as "voipfone.co.uk <http://voipfone.co.uk> ", at £5 per month. Note, you don't pay line rental of Fibre to the home. FTTH. Total £30 per month, and still keep your old BT phone number. FYI, I have just done this, and it has cut the phone bill by £100 per quarter. One thing to also consider with moving from old analogue BT line to digital voice/VoIP is that some old devices, like answer phones, alarm systems probably will not work over Digital Voice / VoIP, so you would need to upgrade you alarm system/personal alarm to make it compatible with the new systems. I have asked a few suppliers of personal alarm systems, and it seems that pretty much new alarm systems on the market are compatible with the new systems. A majority of the new ones just use 3G/4G instead of the old BT line. So, in summary, look at what he is paying per month at the moment, and see if there is something cheaper out there now. Kind Regards James
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