You do have the option of wifi calling. Modern day broadband is generally very reliable if you don’t choose a trash ISP. And if the broadband is down so is the landline…
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Digital voice - had the email...
- Thread starter Pickers
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Please let us know if "ze Bluetooth dewise iz connected Succesfoullay"
Depends on phone/network.
Then choose a network and phone that does. It has many more benefits than a landline offers, and probably works out cheaper in the long term. Plus there’s no constraints on broadband provider.
Agreed but having a landline also doesn’t help? If you have backup power for the ONT and router (which doesn’t take a huge amount of power) then wifi calling will still work. Assuming the supporting infra isn’t also taken out but then that also takes out the phone line.
the Sky digital voice is fine, and their fibre package w/dv, turned out cheaper than bt , quality is as good as my previous plusnet analog,
and whilst not as good as voip, it's better than crappy volte/4g;
4G hd/hd+ calling might be better, but I don't make calls to people that enables that.
earlier discussion in below thread V
maybe BT digital voice is as good as sky, but I have told my parents (who don't have great hearing) to switch to Sky when they get the email, rather than risk continuing with BT.
and whilst not as good as voip, it's better than crappy volte/4g;
4G hd/hd+ calling might be better, but I don't make calls to people that enables that.
earlier discussion in below thread V
maybe BT digital voice is as good as sky, but I have told my parents (who don't have great hearing) to switch to Sky when they get the email, rather than risk continuing with BT.
I faced a similar situation a while back, I have family who are late 70's and early 80's and have grown up regarding fixed line telephony as 'the standard', the properties they live in are either a tiny little hamlet in the middle of nowhere or a rural village that's regularly cut off/looses gas/water/elec. in winter. I made the choice to pay for mobiles for them as a convenience because it made sense. Between medical emergencies and breakdowns on rural roads, I pushed the issue. Initially they were very indifferent, neither really wanted a mobile and in the early days and finding a suitable network required a little bit of trial and error. Now both use them daily, friends either message or call and in a world where unlimited minutes and texts are a thing, it's actually been embraced, the only minor issue was when they decided to donate £50 to charity by text without thinking about who paid the bill 
I was expecting a similar resistance when VoIP became a thing, so discussed it ahead of time, only to be told that really they weren't that bothered about the phone lines anymore, mobile coverage on the network each is on covers pretty well and honestly, it just means fewer cold calls. First property dropped landline and went over to fibre last year, next is due some time this year, neither are bothered about losing the landline.
If fixed telephony is absolutely a requirement (red care/alarm/change is completely impossible or similar), move the number to a 3rd party provider for £2/m and buy an adapter for the existing handsets along with a UPS to cover the router, adapter and phone(s). Most OEM UPS batteries seem to do at least 5 years from new, 'equivalent' seem to do less, but even if you regard it as a total loss rather than replace the battery, you're still saving hundreds of pounds going this route. Of course there will be extreme fringe examples, but people living in those situations generally have a generator, food, water and everything else they need to survive a few weeks anyway because they know that's a thing - if the mast UPS or the PSTN phone supply goes down, it doesn't matter what you do anyway.
I was expecting a similar resistance when VoIP became a thing, so discussed it ahead of time, only to be told that really they weren't that bothered about the phone lines anymore, mobile coverage on the network each is on covers pretty well and honestly, it just means fewer cold calls. First property dropped landline and went over to fibre last year, next is due some time this year, neither are bothered about losing the landline.If fixed telephony is absolutely a requirement (red care/alarm/change is completely impossible or similar), move the number to a 3rd party provider for £2/m and buy an adapter for the existing handsets along with a UPS to cover the router, adapter and phone(s). Most OEM UPS batteries seem to do at least 5 years from new, 'equivalent' seem to do less, but even if you regard it as a total loss rather than replace the battery, you're still saving hundreds of pounds going this route. Of course there will be extreme fringe examples, but people living in those situations generally have a generator, food, water and everything else they need to survive a few weeks anyway because they know that's a thing - if the mast UPS or the PSTN phone supply goes down, it doesn't matter what you do anyway.
My parents wont do away with the landline as they are in there 70's and been using the same number for 40+ years. I hated the digital voice as it had to be used with the providers own router and not third party ones. The BT provided equipment was proper pants. Did not play well with SKY, Ring or Phillips Hue. In the end kitted them out with a third party router, ditched the BT kit and moved them to Vonage. Almost 12 months later zero issues with Vonage or any of the equipment that did not play well with the ISP router. I think they pay £9.99 for unlimited minutes on Vonage
think that is just the base fee and calls are on top ? https://www.vonage.co.uk/unified-communications/campaigns/vbc-brand
yes it's proprietary but already interfaces with existing analogue phones, but, that's interesting if they tried BT dv and it was rubbish, as the Sky DV seems good, so far.
I'd just like a VOIP system on the head unit in the car , to avoid the poor quality Bluetooth hands free pipeline from smartphone.
Yeah i was wrong i just logged into there account and checked, its not unlimited but it is 1000 minutes to mobiles and landlines for £9.99 all in, which i think is reasonable and certainly suits there needs
yes you're right , 1000minutes, which I hadn't seen would do my parents too ... and I'd consider it myself for renting a permanent VOIP number
(currently use localphone for outgoing) as long as they don't roll you over for international calls.
I gave one of my old relatives an old iPhone a few years ago when they were in a not dissimilar situation. They’d never used a smart phone before and had an old PAYG phone with a black and white screen for emergencies that was never switched on and lived in a draw (aka pointless).
Mind = blown and they wouldn’t be without it now and haven’t even muttered the works ‘land line’ since.
Mind = blown and they wouldn’t be without it now and haven’t even muttered the works ‘land line’ since.