Migrate to VoIP without losing broadband?

Two altnets are building fibre where I live, and I had hoped to be able to get FTTP within a few months. However, the cost will be iro £50/month once any sign-up discounts have expired, and one altnet has an 18-month contract. This is getting on for twice what I pay for my unreliable FTTC connection now.

I'm a pensioner on a fixed income. I'm looking at a £500/year increase in my energy bills over the next few months, plus general inflation currently at around 5%. Economies are going to have to be made, some luxuries are going to have to go, and I fear my dreams of FTTP soon will have to be one of them.

I had a plan to install FTTP, migrate my phone number to a VoIP provider, and then cease my copper line entirely, assuming FTTP was OK. I've had my landline phone number for about 30 years now. Tracking down everyone who has acquired it over that time would be a nightmare, so I planned to phase it out over a period of a few years, eventually discontinuing the VoIP service once nobody used it any more.

If I don't do FTTP, I'd still like to migrate the phone to VoIP, and just have broadband/FTTC. But if I migrate the number to VoIP, that will cease the broadband service too. My ISP says the standard time to restore it would be 14 days. It might be less, but they couldn't guarantee it. It might be longer if things don't go smoothly. I also understand that if there's a waiting list for FTTC slots in my cab - I don't know whether there is, how can I find out? - I might not be able to get a new FTTC connection at all.

My wife and I do voluntary work which needs a good internet connection. We could get by for a couple of weeks with mobile tethering, if it were the right couple of weeks in the month, but that would likely to be too difficult to arrange. Anything longer would be painful. 4G signals aren't brilliant here.

The only way both to migrate the phone no and maintain broadband that I can see would be to install a second physical copper circuit which I don't need, with another hole in my wall and second NTE box, and set up broadband on that before ceasing my current line. But that seems nuts, and expensive. Anyone got any better ideas?

In reply to a post by Thaumaturge:

I also understand that if there's a waiting list for FTTC slots in my cab - I don't know whether there is, how can I find out? - I might not be able to get a new FTTC connection at all.

Run an address check on the BT Broadband Availability Checker

If FTTC is showing available then there's no waiting list. If it showed waiting list then... there's a waiting list and the cabinet is full.

It's important to use the address check as if you already have FTTC and use your phone number then it will show available even if the cabinet is full and there's a waiting list.

Ah, thanks for that. FTTC shows as available, so at least full cab is not an issue. But it's still a pretty ugly solution. Installing copper I don't want in 2022 when fibre is just around the corner doesn't seem like a very smart thing to be doing.

(Edit) I should have added for completeness that where I live is not currently on OR's fibre build plan out to the end of 2026.

Edited by Thaumaturge (Fri 14-Jan-22 17:34:02)

One possibility is to order a new FTTC service on your existing line and then port the number to VOIP a few days before the new service is due to start.

It is poor that Ofcom have not imposed any requirements for seamless porting out of the underlying PSTN number on communications providers, especially as more people will run into this situation if they are in areas where the PSTN stop sell and subsequent switch off is before FTTP becomes available.

As you say getting a second FTTC connection installed is less than optimal. If you have an older installation, back when the drop cable had two pairs as standard, it may only be a second NTE rather than a new drop cable.

The 'end of 2026' for Openreach FTTP is the very latest date, they do change as their plans develop - some areas which also had this date have suddenly been brought forward to Feb 2023 in the latest round of FTTP priority exchanges.

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

One possibility is to order a new FTTC service on your existing line and then port the number to VOIP a few days before the new service is due to start.

I believe the order of a new FTTC service on the same line (basically a migration) would block the number being ported.

The long and short of it is that it just isn't possible to migrate a landline number to VOIP without it ceasing the broadband service that's bundled with it.**

**It isn't possible without using Openreach's "renumber with number export" service, which very few providers offer.

In reply to a post by tdw42:

It is poor that Ofcom have not imposed any requirements for seamless porting out of the underlying PSTN number on communications providers, especially as more people will run into this situation if they are in areas where the PSTN stop sell and subsequent switch off is before FTTP becomes available.

I didn't think this would happen . This OR page (last but one bullet under key points to know) says copper won't be retired until full fibre is available. I've seen something similar on the Ofcom site, can't locate it at the mo.

In reply to a post by tdw42:

The 'end of 2026' for Openreach FTTP is the very latest date, they do change as their plans develop...

I should clarify.. there is no date for my area for OR FTTP. The OR build plan map covers up to end 2026, and doesn't include my area at all. My exchange is not on the Full Fibre Build Programme list (download link on that page).

Although worth bearing in mind that the PSTN can be switched off and copper used for broadband only, as far as I know FTTP being above a certain coverage level just brings the 2025 date forward a little

In reply to a post by Thaumaturge:

Installing copper I don't want in 2022 when fibre is just around the corner doesn't seem like a very smart thing to be doing.

(Edit) I should have added for completeness that where I live is not currently on OR's fibre build plan out to the end of 2026.

When I look at FTTC options for my address I only have SOGEA available (no FTTP here nor plans). So in you situation I would order a new FTTC using SOGEA if available. You'll probably get the FTTC delivered via the second pair on your existing copper connection but you won't get a phone number or line to make calls on. Once that's up and running port your 'old' number to VoIP thus ceasing the 'old' FTTC.

So, you won't really be installing copper, just using the existing!