Full fibre and Phone

Hi,

Going to move to FTTP and quite few providers do not offer a landline.

Done some reading and looks like I will need VOIP?

Any recommendations for a cheap service, keeping number as still used by family and friends (some elderly).

Thanks

AAISP: https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile - £1.20 setup plus £1.44 per month ongoing line rental

This is worth a read https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/12/summar... it has a list of quite a few providers and covers the potential pitfalls of migrating.

Can be £10 to £15 to port a number in to AAISP.

Voipfone is another supplier. I have used them for the past 8 years.

There is also the issue of hardware. For Dect phones, the Gigaset N300 base station works well with Gigaset phones. For wired phones you need an ATA such as the Grandstream HT801 or the Cisco ATA 191.

The suppliers mentioned should be able to help you configure these devices

I have a VoIP number for recieving calls and use no additional hardware, just an app on my phone.

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

Voipfone is another supplier. I have used them for the past 8 years.

There is also the issue of hardware. For Dect phones, the Gigaset N300 base station works well with Gigaset phones. For wired phones you need an ATA such as the Grandstream HT801 or the Cisco ATA 191.

The suppliers mentioned should be able to help you configure these devices

Your ISP of choice will supply a new router with ports to plug in an analogue telephone phone which could easily be your existing hardware. The downside to this arrangement is that the VoIP ports might be nobbled only to be usable for the ISPs VoIP service. Many geeks on here prefer to use their own purchased router which gives you complete freedom to mix and match ISP and VoIP provider.

But by far the most popular choice is a Gigaset Base Station without an answerphone facility. It just uses a spare port on your router. Migrating your current phone number is generally successful but needs an understanding of the timing of when you kick the process off - Plenty of help and advice will flood into you if you ask here,

Migration fees are often no longer charged. My recommended VoIP provider is Voipfone but it is not a bargain basement service but there support is second to none on a free VoIP number.

I personally use a VoIP IP phone as it suits my unusual needs and gives me easer access to all the bells and whistles that VoIP offers. If I am not at that phone, calls are auto diverted to a VoIP app on my mobile phone and therefore there is no charge for that leg of the call.

Although I am using 4G internet rather than full fibre (not available here) the the VoIP setup is similar to full fibre.
I am using an AVM Fritzbox 7590 (had that already) as the main router. This has a DECT base station built in (works well with Gigaset handset), also a lot of phone functionality: answerphone, call blocking, phone book, support for wired phone etc. You could use the 7530 instead, which is easier to get hold of on ebay.

I ported my BT number to A&A, so £1.44 pcm "line" rental This is used for incoming calls. For outgoing calls, I use Freevoipdeal which has better rates for calls to mobiles and international calls and is PAYG, so you don't have to worry about someone else hacking your account and running up a massive bill.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

Voipfone is another supplier. I have used them for the past 8 years.

There is also the issue of hardware. For Dect phones, the Gigaset N300 base station works well with Gigaset phones. For wired phones you need an ATA such as the Grandstream HT801 or the Cisco ATA 191.

The suppliers mentioned should be able to help you configure these devices

Your ISP of choice will supply a new router with ports to plug in an analogue telephone phone which could easily be your existing hardware.

No, *some* ISPs do this. This includes BT, Sky and Vodafone. I presume EE too, but definitely not Plusnet. Talktalk only do it for FTTP customers AFAIK. Zen do it as an add-on service.

If you go with a completely separate VOIP provider, this has a bunch of benefits:
* You can change broadband provider as often as you like, without risking losing your number
* You have a wider choice of ISPs available, including those which don't provide any voice service
* You are not locked into using the ISP supplied router
* You can make and receive "landline" calls when away from home
* You can move to a different area of the country (or even a diferent country) and keep your number

And you can have several VoIP providers at the same time, e.g. one for incoming calls who hosts your landline number and one or more for outgoing calls with cheaper rates than just one provider for all. A little more work to set it all up in the first place, but saving £££ in the long run (in particular if making calls abroad or to mobiles)