OT: Landline or not?

[Customer]

On Monday we'll get the keys to our new house. We had a BT landline for about 38 years at our old place but it can't be transferred because the two properties are both on different exchange areas.

I believe there's now something called "SOGEA" or something like it. It's an actual landline but with no number associated with it so it can't accept incoming calls, and it has no dial tone so it can't be used for outgoing calls either; it's purely a way of delivering broadband to the property.

Almost everyone calls our mobiles if they want us and similarly, due to the inclusive minutes, we use our mobiles to call out. It must be at least five years since we made a landline call.

All this would suggest to me that SOGEA (or whatever it is) would be the thing to go for but are there any 'real world' drawbacks or 'gotchas'that still makes a 'real' landline the preferred choice?

[Chris Green]

It's hardly possible for only one of them to be "on different exchange areas" is it? :-)

[Theo]

You likely won't get any choice soon anyway. On 5th September Openreach will stop selling classic analogue voice, so the only FTTC product on offer will be SOGEA. SOGEA is nothing special, it's just like the regular FTTC broadband many people have had for years, just with the voice part turned off. Everyone else with an analogue landline will get moved onto it by the end of 2025.

So the real question is whether you want landline service or not. If you don't care to have a landline, just take it. If you do want a landline, your options are to either take your ISP's voice product, in which case it's mostly the same as before except you plug your phone into the back of your router. Or you can take VOIP from a different provider, for possibly cheaper calls and more flexibility.

More details here:

Up to you really, but there isn't really any downside to SOGEA if you're not bothered about voice.

Theo

[Andy Burns]

If you've not already ceased the old line, then port it to a VoIP provider, ASAP.

[David Wade]

I agree, port to VOIP provider. You might want to use voipfone.com they are cheap and helpful. You may not wish to do this ASAP as this will cease your broadband, but I think it needs to be complete before you move

I think you will be disappointed with "SOGEA", its hardly any cheaper...

Dave

[John Rumm]

If you want to keep the number, then port the number of a SIP service provider. That will make it accessible as a VoIP service. You can then access it from anywhere you can get internet access.

Single Order Generic Ethernet Access - basically a way of ordering a POTS phone line with FTTC broadband enabled on it as one "product". However unlike the separate order of a phone line and broadband, there is no phone service component.

(if you have ported your number to SIP, then you will be able to access it via the SOGEA service)

Yup.

The phone part of a real landline will work during a power cut. Anything that requires working internet access will take a bit more work to access during a power cut (since you will need to power the router and your VoIP phone equipment via other means)

[Andy Burns]

Which I took as happening tomorrow?

[N_Cook]

Landlines have a bank of batteries to provide service when there is a mains electricity power cut. So if you have someone likely to have a sudden life and death issue requiring dialling 999 , then landline is the lifeline, all else fails (perhaps not satellite phones) in power cuts.

[alan_m]

That's why the emergency panic/monitoring service alarms now need to have backup batteries. One reason to sort this out prior to the your landline telephone provider going digital and or full fibre to te premises.

Many people now rely on mobile phones and have ditched landlines. Also no power on your line is a problem when we switch to VOIP/Digital through a router and/or go fully fibre.

[Peter Able]

I took the plunge yesterday, cancelling my Plusnet Phone and Landline. Have a look at the recent thread:

Time for a re-think about PSTN/POTS?

I'll get a replacement service via a 4G mobile phone acting as a Wifi hub.

Plusnet offered me SOGEA - but at a higher price than for my current phone+broadband package!

The 100GByte SIM costs much less than any Plusnet service.

PA

[Theo]

You now have 30 days from the service ceasing to port out the number, so porting it out to Andrews & Arnold (£1.44pm) or Voipfone (£3pm) should still be possible.

But the OP said they never use their landline, so it sounds like that is not top of their priority list. Only really if they care about incoming calls or want to keep the number for sentimental reasons.

Theo

[Roger Mills]

Not having a landline can also adversely affect the ability of the emergency services to detect your location, but there is a way round that if using VoIP from home - but not if you access the VoIP service from anywhere else

[Andy Burns]

So I've heard.

But what if the incoming owners took it over (or is that no longer possible)?

[Andy Burns]

They do this year, but won't in the near future ...

[N_Cook]

A load of hoo-hah over BT loss of 999 function recently but no comment about the total demise of reliable landline old-tech.

[Brian Gaff]

Besides I know many people have moved their number not only between areas, but providers as well, Virgin to BT. However, here lies the issue, with the crazy rush to rip out the copper, nearly all new landlines are VOIP in any case, so when the internet goes down, so does the phone. There are issues with things like panic buttons etc here, as old fashioned landlines, being dc powered nearly always worked in a power cut and when the network was down.

Brian

[Theo]

From what I've read the number goes into 'quarantine' for 30 days after cancellation, in case you reclaim it. So somebody else can't now take it over straight away, they will automatically get a new number.

(this is a problem if a business wants to transfer a number to another business, because it has to go out of service for 30 days)

Theo

[Andrew]

But don't you need a monthly plan on top of the #3 per month for the number ?. Voipfone 100 is #5/month plus VAT

[Andrew]

Except when BT install a dodgy update to the 999 system :-(

(but this is the first time this has occurred AFAIK)

[Andrew]

If you are on FTTC with a digital phone, then when your power goes off, it is quite likely that the green cabinet has also lost its power.