BT to switch all Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)

Tringa

Tringa

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This was announced last year but I obviously missed it - https://telephone-europe.com/bt-switch-off/

I don't fully understand what will happen(and by 2025 seems very ambitious) but does this mean that every home and business in the UK will get FTTP by 2025? If so, I wonder if it means people who do not have(or want) a mobile will have to get FTTP even if they don't want it.

At present landline phones work if there a power cut. Does the FTTP equipment in a home/business need an electrical connection? If so, there could be a problem if there is a power cut and emergency services are needed.

My lack of knowledge/understanding of this could mean I the wrong end of the stick here.

Can anyone enlighten me?

Dave
 
I dont know what FTTP is but our work phones use the broadband connect and yes if there is a power cut they dont work, or if they loose connection with the server, or the router needs rebooting or they just when they feel like it.

Just googled FTTP - Fibre to the Premises. So yes it would to answer your question.

My house phone is a cordless model which requires the base unit to be plugged into the mains for it to make and receive calls. So most households probably already have the power cut issue. I do have a desk phone that I can plug in if the need arrises but I also have 2 mobiles in the house and other than my parents and junk calls the house phone is never used. I have the line because i need it for the broadband.
 
We have two phones which don't need connecting to the electrical supply so they would I assume work if there's a power cut which doesn't affect the phone line. We also have the cordless base station type which would stop working.

To be honest I do dread the day when everything is internet or smartphone based because of the times it doesn't work well or even at all.
 
AgentOrange76 said:
but I also have 2 mobiles in the house and other than my parents and junk calls the house phone is never used.
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Same here but if there is a power cut that knocks out the mobile area aerial you can't us them either
 
Gremlin said:
Same here but if there is a power cut that knocks out the mobile area aerial you can't us them either
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true although i have yet to have that happen, but im in an urban/suburban area which might make a diference
 
We are already in the process of going over to FTTP ,it’s only me that uses the land line and due to old habits . Hopefully it will be a seamless transition..
 
I was wondering how people who only have a landline - they do not have(or want) broadband or a mobile - will cope.

Dave
 
Tringa said:
I was wondering how people who only have a landline - they do not have(or want) broadband or a mobile - will cope.

Dave
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I suppose these decisions are taken by relatively young people in the major cities so the thought that some people wont have broadband or smartphones is completely alien to them.

Virgin media has provided appalling service here recently. We heard a whisper they couldn't cope with broadband demand so had cut speeds. Whatever the cause the internet has been slow and patchy and the on demand services on the TV repeatedly unusable. They still charge the same though. Obviously. Of course.
 
I've been using ISDN30 for about a decade and it's incredibly reliable, but apparently very expensive for BT to maintain and the shutdown has been in the pipeline for a while now. So last year I moved to BT VOIP and it's excellent, especially with the hard phones. The app is pretty good to, but it does have a few glitches. It's run through Virgin high speed broadband but I've also got a BT fibre line in place to back it up, plus there's a 4G dongle as a third backup.

None of this helps in the event of a power cut though, but calls can then be routed through a mobile phone if you call BT up. If the ISDN30 line went down (like when a truck tears the line down which has happened three times) then there's no backup other than rerouting to a mobile. VOIP backend is very good, lots of options.
 
When I was in the IT/Comms industry we knew about this 3 or 4 years ago. Whilst they may not get FTTP to every dwelling, they may well pull the plug on traditional telephone systems area by area until it's completed.

Mind you, I used to sell BT's IP voice service, and when it was running it was quit reliable, but getting it set up was a real pain. No matter how many times you filled their forms in, they still got it wrong at the point of delivery!
 
gman said:
I've been using ISDN30 for about a decade and it's incredibly reliable, but apparently very expensive for BT to maintain and the shutdown has been in the pipeline for a while now. So last year I moved to BT VOIP and it's excellent, especially with the hard phones. The app is pretty good to, but it does have a few glitches. It's run through Virgin high speed broadband but I've also got a BT fibre line in place to back it up, plus there's a 4G dongle as a third backup.

None of this helps in the event of a power cut though, but calls can then be routed through a mobile phone if you call BT up. If the ISDN30 line went down (like when a truck tears the line down which has happened three times) then there's no backup other than rerouting to a mobile. VOIP backend is very good, lots of options.
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When Lancaster flooded a few years ago, it knocked out the mobile phone masts. They had to walk out of the city centre to the nearest hill to get a mobile signal, but the landline still worked.
Weirdly the wife had insisted her son had a landline handset (he couldn’t see the point), and it became a lifeline in their shared house.
 
woof woof said:
I suppose these decisions are taken by relatively young people in the major cities so the thought that some people wont have broadband or smartphones is completely alien to them.

Virgin media has provided appalling service here recently. We heard a whisper they couldn't cope with broadband demand so had cut speeds. Whatever the cause the internet has been slow and patchy and the on demand services on the TV repeatedly unusable. They still charge the same though. Obviously. Of course.
Click to expand...

Progress... how did people cope when we ditched gas lamps, or horse and carraige?
 
Tringa said:
I was wondering how people who only have a landline - they do not have(or want) broadband or a mobile - will cope.

Dave
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They will have to make some provision for this surely? My mother is 96 and relies on a landline not only for talking to friends and relatives but also for her fall alarm, which is connected to the landline. She’s got no idea about, or inclination to use, a mobile phone. She’s got no use for broadband either, so a fibre connection would be a waste of time.
 
boogie man said:
They will have to make some provision for this surely? My mother is 96 and relies on a landline not only for talking to friends and relatives but also for her fall alarm, which is connected to the landline. She’s got no idea about, or inclination to use, a mobile phone. She’s got no use for broadband either, so a fibre connection would be a waste of time.
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My basic sim only plan with Asda costs far less than making calls on a land line.

For £5 a month I get unlimited calls and unlimited texts +1gig data. this could be using as basic a phone as you like.
BT will still charge for their connection/ fibre/line. as they do now.

I am sure that there will be a plan tailored to the needs of people like your mother.
I am equally sure that there will be a fall alarm solution.
However many old folk like myself, at 86, are perfectly happy using technology.

It is easier to get the phone out of my pocket than having to find the nearest one. I have landlines in the bedroom sitting room and kitchen and a spare for roving. I have made zero calls on them in the past few months, and almost no one bothers to call me on them now.. It is no wonder BT has given up on them.
 
boogie man said:
They will have to make some provision for this surely? My mother is 96 and relies on a landline not only for talking to friends and relatives but also for her fall alarm, which is connected to the landline. She’s got no idea about, or inclination to use, a mobile phone. She’s got no use for broadband either, so a fibre connection would be a waste of time.
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Likewise Mrs Nod's Mum. No mobile reception in the house, just at the top of the road about 200m away. Great if she falls over and needs her red button (if her landline is to be ditched.)
 
cambsno said:
Progress... how did people cope when we ditched gas lamps, or horse and carraige?
Click to expand...

What?

Progress is being able to do things better, easier, quicker, but I just can't see relying on Virgin being progress. Going on the quality of their service in recent times pigeons or the pony express would be more reliable some of the time as when it doesn't work there's sweet FA you can do except drive to the person you're trying to call on the phone or send them a letter.
 
Just makes me wonder how small business like taxi offices will cope without a landline , when I was on the taxis all jobs came in via landline ,jobs normally went out over the radio , texts with special jobs ( good payers ) went out to whoever was shagging the desk girl at the time
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
My basic sim only plan with Asda costs far less than making calls on a land line.

For £5 a month I get unlimited calls and unlimited texts +1gig data. this could be using as basic a phone as you like.
BT will still charge for their connection/ fibre/line. as they do now.

I am sure that there will be a plan tailored to the needs of people like your mother.
I am equally sure that there will be a fall alarm solution.
However many old folk like myself, at 86, are perfectly happy using technology.

It is easier to get the phone out of my pocket than having to find the nearest one. I have landlines in the bedroom sitting room and kitchen and a spare for roving. I have made zero calls on them in the past few months, and almost no one bothers to call me on them now.. It is no wonder BT has given up on them.
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Well Mum actually has a mobile … an ancient Nokia 3310. She only turns it on about once a year to see if it still works :D but I’m pretty sure she has no idea how to make a call on it. She has also never sent a text in her life. This is despite me attempting to teach her how to use a mobile numerous times. She’s completely stuck in the past…I think she’d still prefer a rotary dial phone given the chance. Actually even better if she could ask the operator to connect her ! Some (most I’d guess) of her friends are the same, this is the sort of customer that will still need a conventional landline.
 
All this speculation - essentially if you have a landline, you will still have a landline, it's just that you won't have a traditional analogue line, Openreach have already created a product where you get a very restricted digital subscriber line with a voice adaptor.

For those who have ISDN2 & ISDN30 connections the replacement is SIP trunking (and there are ISDN/SIP adaptors for those with equipment that doesn't support native SIP trunking)

I'm in a very rural area, we already have SIP trunking offered here.

Edit to add: the plans date from 2018 (publicly) https://www.theregister.com/2018/04..._to_switch_off_traditional_telephone_network/
 
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oh well , thats it all done ..fully changed to FTTP this morning land lines x3 all gone .. much faster down/up load speeds (so i'm told) will take time for a old fart to adjust hopefully no problems occur .luckily everyone in the house has i.macs/i.pads/i.phones so calls and FaceTime comes through whatever room we are in
 
quick update for those that understand these things (I don't) after my lad spent most of the afternoon tinkering with it we apparently now have 915,meg download speed and 107,meg upload whatever that means ,it does seem faster though to be fair
 
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