FTTP - What happens about your landline

FTTP is coming to where I live within the next few months. All well and good but what happens about your physical landline? I wonder if anyone can answer these questions:
1) Are you obliged to have a landline?
2) Do you continue to connect your wireless phone to the Master Socket or some thing else?
3) Is it necessary to change the router?
4) Can you switch to FTTP if in contract with a FTTC service provider?
3) If you have a fixed IP, will it change?

1. No
2. Only if you have an active landline on the copper. Alternatively sign up with a third party VoIP provider and use a compatible DECT base or an ATA. Or signup with BT and use this Fibre Voice Access on their hub
3. Depends on your existing router and whom you contract FTTP with - provide more info
4. No you will need to start a new contract
5. Yes, you have no claim over an allocated fixed IP

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

FTTP is coming to where I live within the next few months. All well and good but what happens about your physical landline? I wonder if anyone can answer these questions:
1) Are you obliged to have a landline?
2) Do you continue to connect your wireless phone to the Master Socket or some thing else?
3) Is it necessary to change the router?
4) Can you switch to FTTP if in contract with a FTTC service provider?
3) If you have a fixed IP, will it change?

The answers depend on who your current FTTC provider is, and who you will pick as your new FTTP provider (if different).

Regarding the voice service and copper connection to the master socket:

- Some providers only provide FTTP without voice (Talktalk)
- Some providers only provide FTTP with voice via a port on the router (Sky)
- Some providers offer FTTP with or without voice depending on what you order (Zen, BT - although the BT option for FTTP without voice is somewhat hidden)
- BT may choose to provide the voice part through the router ("digital voice") or continue to provide it as analogue service on the copper, at their option. It varies.

Regarding the router:

- Some providers make it complicated to work with your own router (esp. Sky)
- Most providers' digital voice service won't work unless you use their router

If you need to keep your voice number, you may be better off migrating it to a third-party VOIP provider, although you may need to buy either a new VOIP wireless base station or an ATA.

Regarding static IPs: few "consumer" providers offer static IPs anyway. Zen do. Plusnet do, but they don't offer FTTP. If you want this, then look at Zen, or one of the more business-oriented providers, e.g. AAISP, Aquiss, Cerberus, Talktalk Business, BT Business. If you change provider, your static IP will definitely change (it belongs to the provider, you can't take it with you).

The other thing you should consider is speed. Pretty much everyone offers FTTP speeds up to 150M, but if you want faster speeds (300/500/900), your choices become more limited.

Thank you, I really do appreciate your very comprehensive response.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

FTTP is coming to where I live within the next few months. All well and good but what happens about your physical landline? I wonder if anyone can answer these questions:
1) Are you obliged to have a landline?
2) Do you continue to connect your wireless phone to the Master Socket or some thing else?
3) Is it necessary to change the router?
4) Can you switch to FTTP if in contract with a FTTC service provider?

I've literally just gone down this road. As mentioned above, it all depends on your existing and 'new' ISP.
1. No. The fibre can do it all. This might be of some help
2. My new ISP supplied a 'free' WiFi router which has a socket on it marked VOIP. Apart from the fibre connection (very thin) it looks just like any other router with the usual mix of lan ports, dual band WiFi capabilities. For a one off payment of £15 they would port my existing number over but given I tend to use a mobile for calls I still haven't said I want it yet. One thing they did say was not to cancel (cease) my existing line until I decided whether I wanted my number or not. Once ceased its gone.
3. As above my ISP supplied a WiFi router as part of installing FTTP but there is nothing to stop me adding equipment to it via the Lan ports. .
4. If you have an existing contract, some ISP's might offer to buy out the remaining part of your contract - depends on how long is left on it. (mine did but I'm out of contract already). Again it depends on who you go with.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

business-oriented providers, e.g. Aquiss

The only thing I would say, is we equally aim at both consumers and business, with a 60/40 split towards consumers

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

2. Only if you have an active landline on the copper. Alternatively sign up with a third party VoIP provider and use a compatible DECT base or an ATA. Or signup with BT and use this Fibre Voice Access on their hub

This depends on your ISP. Sky, for example, switch you to their VoIP service unless you have something that requires a landline such as a monitored alarm. They've actually started asking the questions now when you upgrade from FTTC to FTTP rather than automatically switching you.

I’m sure there’s all sorts of nuances, but the question put was simply “ 2) Do you continue to connect your wireless phone to the Master Socket or some thing else?”

The answer to that must be “no” as the master socket has absolutely no connection (literally or figuratively) to the FTTP service - if indeed a voice service desired and thus is being delivered over the fibre - VoIP .

Keeping the copper line running for the other stuff you mention is a completely different matter. Although in reality all existing legacy analogue services could be enabled to run VoIP with an ATA just like an ordinary phone.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

I’m sure there’s all sorts of nuances, but the question put was simply “ 2) Do you continue to connect your wireless phone to the Master Socket or some thing else?”

The answer to that must be “no” as the master socket has absolutely no connection (literally or figuratively) to the FTTP service

Not necessarily: the voice service can still be provided over the copper in parallel to the FTTP service.

Specifically: if you are with BT, and you upgrade to FTTP (not the data-only variant), some users have reported that BT keep the voice service on the copper line, and other users have been switched to digital voice.

Hence the answer is still "it depends".

Over time, I'd expect BT to move fully towards the digital voice option, in support of the PSTN switch-off which is still planned for 2025 AFAIK.

Fair enough. The exception (for the time being anyhow) being only BT and then only in certain cases. By no means the way it works with any other service provider... that is after all the whole point of FTTP.