Depending on you broadband provider you may not need one as a replacement router may include an ATA such as the latest BT Residential and Sky offerings.

VOIP ATAs are becoming less common - the Cisco, previously Linksys, previously Sipura, models https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/unified-commu... are now all classed as End-of-Sale and after mid-2025 will have no support or firmware upgrades.

Grandstream still manufacture and support their products http://www.grandstream.com/products/gateways-and-ata... and there is also Obihai (part of Polycom) https://www.obitalk.com/info/products#home_section which I believe are much used in the USA as they support Google Voice as well as SIP services.

Standalone ATAs are typically generic with country-specific line characteristics configured via software, and have RJ11s for the phone connection so require an adapter to country-specific phone sockets.

In reply to a post by Banger:

Main reason for the post was thinking ahead and to see if anyone else has already took the plunge into VOIP. Just a discussion post really Zarjaz.

Yes, 12 months now, and in that time I've received only 4 calls over the legacy PSTN number, and made zero.

I moved from the Openreach network to Virgin Media, and decided not to take up their phone line option, and have a data only service. (VM's phone lines are VoIP from their Hub). I bought a Cisco ATA (analogue telephone adapter), and ported my old Openreach based number to A&A (aaisp) VoIP. This is not in A&A's recommended configuration as they want you to not use NAT, and assign a public IP to the ATA. I don't have an option with VM, as they only supply one dynamic IP, but everything works, its just A&A say their support for problems will be limited.

I read the last post with interest that the Cisco adaptors are entering End of Life, which is a shame.

I find it interesting, as Openreach moves to a full fibre deployment with the ONT, the "demarcation point" becomes an Ethernet connection. But for a bundled phone line to work, the consumer will have to use the supplied ISP router, which they may have preferred to swap for something else.

Contrast with Virgin Media whom have the modem mode in their Hub, which keeps any phone services working, but passes the public IP to a consumer chosen device.

Given the digital landline will have none of the benefits of an exchange powered line, I can't see a reason to keep one post 2025.

I also have a BT Equinox - not sure of te underlying brand. From memory, that worked with Gigaset too.

A Gigaset N300 can be picked up new for £35-£40 or used for a lot less.

Buy from a reputable source, try it, if it fails return it ...

MHC - I am looking at replacing my 'Diverse' with the BT 'Premium' - do you know if they also are either 'branded' Gigaset or compatible?

Unfortunately not, although I believe moved away from SImemens/Gigaset a few years back.

Whilst I found that basic functions such as making a call from a Panasonic phone connected to a Gigaset N300 base station did work, advantage functions such as transferring directory updates did not work.

Thanks all given me a good insight and some ideas into it.

As I see it the changeover could be seamless.
Just remove the BT internal phone cable from the master socket and plug it into your VOIP equipped router or ATA using a RJ11 to BT cable adapter and all phones will all just work as before whether DECT or PSTN. Either with a new phone number or the current one ported to VOIP.

Interesting and worrying too for me.

I use a Cisco SPA112 for a second line, mainly for receiving calls with outgoing via BT, sometimes with a 141 prefix if I do not wish my BT number to 'escape'.

Eventually was planning on porting my PSTN BT number to a VoIP provider and using the same ATA.

Since it appears that ATAs are disappearing, a better(?) option would seem to be to use a phone with built in VoIP. However, since we are used to being able to pick up any phone for an incoming call (the SPA112 seems quite happy ringing three phones), is there a way where with one VoIP "number" you can have multiple handsets? These being plugged in handsets, as we are not that keen on cordless phones.

Many thanks.

Cheers!

I have a LINKSYS PAP2, I have had it for years, and it works fine, I use sipgate and have done again for years, been no problem here. Got to be over 8 years.

I was going to connect the phones to my router as that have Voip built in, but where things are at the moment makes it a pain.