Who knows. Maybe an equinox incentive.

In reply to a post by jpm:

Is a copper stop-sell relevant to TalkTalk being able to renew a contract though? It's just a billing operation on TalkTalk's side, and no order gets placed with Openreach.

I can understand if they are using this as an opportunity to move customers to FTTP as they need to get on with the process, but everything I know about this process would say that this is a TalkTalk decision.

Not sure but I notice that the 'service withdrawn' date is exactly 2 years after the 'stop-sell' date, presumably to allow any last-minute 2-year contracts to expire.

The TT person did say "I see you are in an FTTP-only area" which I disputed (based on what I knew at the time). Twice they put the order through and twice they cancelled it (it appeared and then disappeared from her account). The first time, they gave me the new £28 price for the higher Fibre 65 package (I was quoting rival company prices so they were trying to add value) so that would have been a regrade of the service and not allowed I believe. The second time I left it at the current Fibre 35 level and it still failed to go through,

Re ''A few months back her contract expired'' Just leave it do not doing anything and just keep paying for it.

My Eclipse contract expired 13 years ago, I will not do anything about it and just keep paying the monthly bill (I have FTTP now with 'Trunk Networks') and I am just keeping the Eclipse one for a short while why I change over my emails on Eclipse.

Except that the larger ISPs have a greater in-contract to out-of-contract price differential than the smaller ISPs to encourage recontracting.

In reply to a post by Glenn2:

Regarding the FTTP-only + separate VoIP provider; I have a Fritzbox 7530 (I have Zen FTTC) so I could presumably take that round and set up Sipgate on it. She has a bunch of Gigaset phones around the place, so the base station can (I think) plug into the Fritz or maybe even use its built-in DECT facilities. If I spot a cheap FTTP deal I could pursue that. Vodafone seem to have a cheap offering but it appears to not be available at her postcode (RM10 7AB).

Check your Gigaset base, it may well have VoIP capability built-in. Not sure if you could use the Fritz with third party VoIP if it’s running Zen firmware, even though it has the requisite ports etc.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

In reply to a post by Glenn2:

Regarding the FTTP-only + separate VoIP provider; I have a Fritzbox 7530 (I have Zen FTTC) so I could presumably take that round and set up Sipgate on it. She has a bunch of Gigaset phones around the place, so the base station can (I think) plug into the Fritz or maybe even use its built-in DECT facilities. If I spot a cheap FTTP deal I could pursue that. Vodafone seem to have a cheap offering but it appears to not be available at her postcode (RM10 7AB).

Check your Gigaset base, it may well have VoIP capability built-in. Not sure if you could use the Fritz with third party VoIP if it’s running Zen firmware, even though it has the requisite ports etc.

It's the Gigaset E370 which doesn't have VoIP.

My Fritz is de-Zenned. I run OpenWRT on it now but I know from previously flashing back from OpenWRT using the manufacturers recovery tool, that it's no longer Zen-flavoured once this is done. (I.e., there's no longer a default 'Zen' provider option and you have to set the VLAN ID to 101 manually if you use the internal modem, etc.). I think I've read of people using Sipgate on the Fritz.

Sounds like the Fritz will be a good option. Otherwise if that dent work out another Gigaset DECT base, VoIP native, would be a good alternative given you have Gigaset handsets.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

2. Is there a good mobile signal coverage in her area? I think it's possible to get a mobile broadband router with a POTS port. Or: you could simply give her a mobile phone, and put a few charging ports at strategic places around the home - but then she'd have to remember to carry it around. You can get unlimited minutes on mobile for less than £5 per month (and without long-term contract). Even if you have a landline, using the mobile for calling *outbound* is much cheaper than buying a landline call package.

Note you can get a "normal" phone that takes a SIM card and uses a mobile signal. You can even get "retro" styled ones like this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074FTWS29/

though that is a bit pricey. You can get much cheaper more modern ones

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224558399382

My mother in law was in the same position and it actually puts people in these areas at a disadvantage as most of the ISPs are not offering their deals over FTTP yet - you are really stuck with going with BT or staying with your existing provider.

Does she by any chance claim any pension credits? https://www.bt.com/exp/broadband/home-essentials - my MIL does claim a little so was eligible for this. Did need Openreach to install the FTTP but she lives in a flat where the equipment was outside the front door already so very simple. It is digital voice but the 2x supplied simple WiFi phones are perfectly usable or you can plug in your existing handsets to the BT router

In reply to a post by sammyg901:

Does she by any chance claim any pension credits? https://www.bt.com/exp/broadband/home-essentials - my MIL does claim a little so was eligible for this. Did need Openreach to install the FTTP but she lives in a flat where the equipment was outside the front door already so very simple. It is digital voice but the 2x supplied simple WiFi phones are perfectly usable or you can plug in your existing handsets to the BT router

Wow - thanks for this! Yes she does get pension credits, so I'm sure she is eligible. That's £15 a month for the lowest 38Mbps package that has 700 minutes of phone time and only £20 for 76Mbps with unlimited minutes. So that will do nicely as she uses the phone a lot.

I don't know where the fibre actually is (beyond the cabinet) as she only has copper at the moment, but if it is 'FTTP priority' and you can no longer order FTTC anyway, I assume this is no barrier and they just come round and do whatever needs to be done.