BT PSTN Switch Off (2025)

[i.h]

You can get DECT repeaters, BT themselves have made a few, though I don't know if they work with the Smart Hub 2 (in theory it's standardised so maybe it would work, but I wouldn't spend money on a guess). About to send a Gigaset one to my 'rents (matching their phones) as they insist on making calls about 10 miles away from the base station. I can imagine coverage varies slightly from model to model, so those Panasonics could genuinely be better

Virgin seem to be using the hub's phone sockets now. I assume that for now it's actually for the areas where they have rolled out FTTP and don't have the legacy cable/PSTN equipment in place. It seems it's the "purple zone" in their colour scheme, e.g. https://www.virginmedia.com/help/home-ph...ine-issues

[Mute]

Virgin seem to be using the hub's phone sockets now. I assume that for now it's actually for the areas where they have rolled out FTTP and don't have the legacy cable/PSTN equipment in place. It seems it's the "purple zone" in their colour scheme, e.g. https://www.virginmedia.com/help/home-ph...ine-issues

I believe that Virgin Media have stopped installing new copper phone lines in HFC areas now as well, so the VOIP service that's provided using the phone sockets on the back of the hubs is used for all new phone connections.

[Markymark]

Apart from one 90 year old relation, the only other incoming landline calls we get now are from scammers
(several per week) . We use our mobiles to make all outgoing calls, so actually I'm inclined to let our landline phone to quietly die when BT ditch PSTN.

Both our sons never use their landline phone lines (and neither does anyone else of their generation that I know) I have however persuaded them to leave cheap 5 quid Argos phones connected, with the ringers switched off for emergency use and/or when they next lose their mobiles. One of them is FTTP, 2017 built flat.

My mother never uses her mobile to make calls, she only does Whatsapps on it, though she always now rings my mobile to ensure she gets hold of me quickly. So, I will need to sort her landline out, and some sort of UPS style backup as she has a fall alarm too.

[BBC TV Centre]

Have got to say for quality and stability of audio, a good traditional landline cannot be beaten. That or a similar business IP phone system (Cisco, Polycom etc) with a good internet connection.

Very often these days if you tune in on phone in shows they will always have someone on their mobile with the reception dropping out, or someone on skype/zoom with a ropey connection.

Although what happens to those places that use fax machines or card terminals connected to the PSTN?

Depending on your ISP you'd see a dramatic voice quality improvement. BT's version supports HD voice, similar to how mobiles have done it for a few years now. Don't know if Sky's version does.

I wouldn't bet on it necessarily working when calling across networks, on mobiles it still seems very hit and miss whether you get HD voice or not, and it has been around for some time. I recall Orange introducing HD voice about this time 10 years ago.

[i.h]

Virgin seem to be using the hub's phone sockets now. I assume that for now it's actually for the areas where they have rolled out FTTP and don't have the legacy cable/PSTN equipment in place. It seems it's the "purple zone" in their colour scheme, e.g. https://www.virginmedia.com/help/home-ph...ine-issues

I believe that Virgin Media have stopped installing new copper phone lines in HFC areas now as well, so the VOIP service that's provided using the phone sockets on the back of the hubs is used for all new phone connections.

Makes a lot of sense, their phone network is in dire need of consistency anyway (with features and services being different depending on which cable company originally built it)

Have got to say for quality and stability of audio, a good traditional landline cannot be beaten. That or a similar business IP phone system (Cisco, Polycom etc) with a good internet connection.

Very often these days if you tune in on phone in shows they will always have someone on their mobile with the reception dropping out, or someone on skype/zoom with a ropey connection.

Although what happens to those places that use fax machines or card terminals connected to the PSTN?

Depending on your ISP you'd see a dramatic voice quality improvement. BT's version supports HD voice, similar to how mobiles have done it for a few years now. Don't know if Sky's version does.

I wouldn't bet on it necessarily working when calling across networks, on mobiles it still seems very hit and miss whether you get HD voice or not, and it has been around for some time. I recall Orange introducing HD voice about this time 10 years ago.

Well, that's the key difference with the ISP supplied services - QoS is used to prioritise the voice traffic ahead of anything else. This means it's more comparable to those Cisco/Polycom systems than it is to Skype.

The phone port may or may not support modems - will be interesting to see. Fax machines are on their way out anyway (unless you're the NHS) and pretty much any modern card terminal can be reprogrammed to work over the internet. BT has a facility where they allow third parties to test this stuff against their "digital voice" product - https://www.bt.com/about/special-service...ws/new-lab