Swapping to Broadband VoIP from a UK Copper Home Phone Line
The way people use home phone services is changing and many of us will eventually end up replacing our old analogue voice service with a Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) alternative, which uses your broadband ISPs internet connection to make calls. But how do you set it up and move (port) your number? We explain.
Firstly, a little context is required. According to Ofcom, during 2012 UK people made a total of 103 billion minutes of landline calls and this has since fallen to just 54 billion in 2017 (here). Much of this change, which has had a negative impact on fixed line call revenues, is due to consumers making greater use of Mobile phones, internet messaging (Whatsapp, Facebook etc.) and VoIP services.
On top of that the roll-out of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / FTTH) based ultrafast broadband networks across the United Kingdom will eventually result in the retirement of old copper phone lines, which for many decades have been used to carry analogue phone (voice) signals (PSTN / POTS).
As a result of all this many operators around the world are now in the process of switching to a broadband-by-default approach. In other words, in the future you will only buy a new fixed line for broadband and the voice service will become optional (i.e. supplied via VoIP over an internet connection).
Why VoIP?
Aside from the fact that fixed lines will all inevitably adopt an all-IP network approach (as above), there are also plenty of other reasons for why you might want to use VoIP. The biggest one is cost because the price of making a call over an internet connection tends to be significantly cheaper than via a traditional fixed line or even mobile plan, particularly if you’re contacting somebody in a different country.
For example, the standard charges for calling Pakistan from a normal UK landline or mobile can vary between around £1 to £2 per minute (less with special discounts). By comparison the same call over a VoIP network may only cost you around 10-12 pence per minute and it could even be free if the end-user is using the same VoIP platform as you are (VoIP to VoIP calls on the same platform are usually free).
A good VoIP platform will also give you a wide selection of different ways to access their network. For example, you may be able to install special Software (Apps) on your Smartphone and Laptop, or you could even make VoIP calls over your old analogue phone handset (requires SIP details – see further below for details). In short, you can use your VoIP phone number almost anywhere there’s an internet connection.
The other reason is that many VoIP platforms will throw in a lot of useful features for no extra cost, which might otherwise attract a cost on an old copper landline. A good provider will thus give you access to things like Caller Display, VoiceMail, Call Divert, International Call Barring, Anonymous Call Blocking and much more.
However for home broadband users the best advantages is that you’ll no longer need to worry about the inevitable admin hassle of having to tell everybody your new phone number, which often occurs when swapping between certain fixed line networks or during house moves into a different telephone exchange area. By porting your home number to VoIP you can keep it separate from all that.
Finally, most VoIP providers won’t lock you in to a long contract term (standard 30 day contracts are much more common).
The Confusing State of VoIP
The concept of VoIP is easy to understand. Sadly the market and terminology that exists around it, which is filled to the brim with a plethora of sometimes wildly different choices, can easily create confusion. As if to make matters worse, the process of moving an existing home phone number to VoIP isn’t well understood by ordinary users and can even vary, depending upon the network platforms involved.
Continued over the page..
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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If you transfer your broadband and phone to Virgin Media, you’ll pay line rental of £19 a month even if you get VoIP via the hub 3.0 – which seems a lot.
Thanks for that, did not know VM did VOIP at £19 that for a start will be a £11 a month saving over my BT Cloud Collaborate which costs me £30 with VAT per month. Will also have to check out all the other MarkJ mentions.
While it’s true that the VM hub 3 has phone ports, but not all VM areas support this yet.
Mine has the ports disabled at present. I was led to believe this is for VM new build areas where PSTN is not supplied with a view that it might be enabled in the legacy areas eventually when VM decide to close the original PSTN network down.
I’m happy to be corrected on this.
Id likely be a business customer as i am with BT and take their solution which only requires “broadband connectivity”.
https://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/applications/voip/
Not interested in residential internet or Hub 3 i have my own equipment for VOIP.
@StevenNT
All new installs of VM will be VoIP & they’ll soon be converting all current traditional landlines to VoIP.
Great article! I’m in the process of moving away from Vonage to Sipgate ( no charge for leaving but Sipgate wants £30 to port in which isn’t too bad because I won’t have a monthly fee with their basic option ); I’ve written an article about my experience of porting away my previous landline number to Vonage a few years back, scary moments. Please forgive my atrocious English as it’s my third language.
https://hubpages.com/technology/Is-the-UK-market-competitive-enough-for-Voip-Decoupling-my-phone-number-from-a-BT-line-experience
Good choice! I’ve been a happy Sipgate customer since 2014 and they’ve been brilliant with me. No monthly costs and I have my basic account linked with my PBX on a raspberry pi.
Glad to hear it Jack 🙂
On our fibre network the majority have gone with Vonage or Sipgate, no real issues as long as the instructions are followed. We do find however that many are just using their mobiles and not bothering with a landline. Great article Mark, thanks.
Mark, You don’t mention that now that many mobile phones support WiFi Calling, using your mobile as if it were your landline phone, makes the old landline redundant. Many of us who use one of the altnet fibre broadband suppliers (Gigaclear, BARN, Hyperoptic etc) can not only dump the old copper landline, we don’t even need to use a VOIP service provider and can just use the one mobile phone for all calls, even in areas where the mobile phone signal is poor. In my experience however, the mobile networks and mobile manufacturers do not do a good job at telling customers which mobile phones support wifi calling and the networks make you jump through a couple of hoops to get wifi calling enabled on your account. (Same applies to VOLTE – the ability to make make voice calls over the 4G network rather than only using it for data)
Good point, although I’ve found WiFi Calling to be quite patchy on my phone and the voice connection wasn’t always stable. In any case this article is about VoIP rather than alternative methods.
I have a Samsung Galaxy J4+ (Android) which has never failed to offer wifi calling from my home wifi powered by Gigaclear fibre. When out and about it also offers wifi calling (by showing a handset symbol with the wifi symbol above) when ever I am logged on to a free wifi service in cafe’s, shops etc. If you find wifi calling patchy Mark it is likely to be because the wifi service you are connected to is patchy.
In this case it’s more likely to be an issue with the phone / settings itself or my strict network security controls.
@Mark Think we’ve all hit the proper security breaks stuff dilemma 🙂
@Graham Long
I’ve had several issues with Wi-Fi calling with EE but now they seem pretty stable.
Trouble we find if only using a mobile phone is you only have one mobile, whereas the home phone we have 3 (DECT) in order to hear the phone over the entire house. This means if I leave my mobile in another part of the house and someone calls my mobile, I don’t hear it ring and miss the call. Often, family if failing to get an answer on a mobile will ring the home phone as a backup. Also some more elderly relatives can’t bring themselves to ring a mobile number under the assumption its more expensive, even if that isn’t the case with their call plan. Admittedly as time goes on this becomes less of an issue.
So I understand why people like to keep a home phone even if it isn’t strictly necessary, and overall it just seems more reliable, although that will not be the case with VoIP as you have more things to go wrong. When your internet goes down and you pick up the VoIP phone to call support, that isn’t going to work, and if you are on Wi-Fi calling, neither is that! So off to the phone box if you can find one, then the problem is out to make an outbound call using a defibrillator 🙂
vonage – one to avoid…. port 5060 potentially pricey….. having tried both these providers with mixed results i decided to try sipgate basic…… support is via messaging system only but they are cheaper than the vonage equivalent. Costs me £9.95 monthly for unlimited land line and mobile calls anywhere in the UK 01,02,03,07 can also access the emergency services. Set up is a bit convoluted as they send an activation code by post (in order to confirm your address for the emergency services) which can take up to 4 working days to arrive; web based user interface is basic but does the job. I wanted a cheap way to call mobiles and this service ticks all the boxes in that regard ….. have got rid of my mobile (android) as a result (bye bye google)
The obvious Q is what is AAISP doing that others can’t replicate?
I’m sure it will fix itself in time but atm I do think swapping to VoIP is a pain for average users.
Being both a VoIP provider and broadband ISP no doubt plays a role, although not every provider does both.
Fair point; I’d expect all the fibre providers to see an obvious synergy in providing bb and VoIP. The old copper resellers of OR or LLU copper I can see the issues or even disinterest atm…
Did this in February, ported from BT to Voipfone, painless process and the Cisco ATA that Voipfone provided (GBP40) was already set up.
The only challenge I have noted is that if you put the softclient on your mobile, it takes precedence over the VoIP connection to the house. What is useful is going on holiday and still being able to take calls to the house line and also use it to make calls with no surcharges.
Great article and appreciate the explanations, it is interesting to note that Voipfone also spend a lot of time in the ‘tech side’ of VoIP, which is great if for instance you have both a business number and home number on same VoIP connection and use the PBX features. Works well, and all setup is via web browser but its still wrapped in tech language.
A good article and a useful basis for those considering the leap from POTS. One recent development is that Google have started to offer Google Voice numbers in the UK to their GSuite business users. I’m tinkering with it now and am impressed so far. Otherwise we use SIPgate team which is pretty reliable and relatively low cost. We used to use Vonage but on some of the international calls we get poor voice quality, scarily it was our clients telling us our voice was choppy even though they sounded okay to us.
Great article.
I’ve been waiting for naked xDSL/FTTP(C) for years but all ISP’s seem agnostic or ignorant to it, one even said it is not possible!
Not all VoIP are the same (both functionally and technically) and the direct comparison of the general VoIP providers with the new services that will be offered instead of the PSTN (BT, Virgin, Talk Talk) may not be totally valid. Latency and network congestion will play a big part in the quality of voice calls and it will be easier for ISPs to manage QoS of voice and hence the use of the term VoBB is now being used. Clearmode cannot be guaranteed over IP but new standards will minimise issues. VoIP providers independent of the ISP will still need to route via general IP networks. So whilst VoBB will use VoIP there will be a difference.
All the main providers already have both TDM and IP platforms. These will be consolidated overtime along with mobile. Longer term mobile/fixed will merge in their use and functionality.
As Landline call use has fallen over the years the costs have migrated to the “Line Rental”. The physical line is now invariably included in the BB charges and PSTN facility differs in cost and package. BT include their Weekend Call package in their BB product. Other ISPs do similarly and the package content can differ widely. Much will change when BT launch their Consumer Digital Voice products and Virgin/TalkTalk etc announce their equivalents. The main suppliers will be in a better position to peel off VoBB traffic to their switching platforms for interconnection UK and Internationally. I also see Mobile converging with the fixed phone service as a single offering.
The issue for the consumer will be how each ISP approaches the issue. BT is initially proposing the SOGEA faceplate and a cable from the ATA socket on the router back to the existing house wiring and existing phones. Whilst for business it is more likely to continue to be IP Phones connected to the router. OR are likely to continue to support VFA on the ONT. So each ISP will have a number of options and will need to explain to their consumers exactly how it will work going forward.
The current cost comparisons above may be completely different as we enter the PSTN closure period. But I agree using Mobile only may suit certain lifestyles and 4G data can now be competitive particularly on poor broadband service.
If you are interested in a very economic worldwide VoIP provider with the additional benefit of being based in Canada, I highly recommend voip.ms. They have been my residential and business provider for many years. Excellent support throughout and servers located in all the major continents.
Having been granted the opportunity to ditch BT in it’s entirety by a combination of B4RN and some hard work, we decided not to opt for the simple Vonage box solution.
Instead we’ve had great service and a very flexible interface (suitable for business/home/handset differentiation and call routing) from Yay.com.
It’s worth checking them out – reliable service (last three years no outages) and good customer service.
Excellent technical support when setting up our Snom hardware too.
Naims.net have been providing a basic VOIP solution for £2.99 per month plus extremely low cost calls inc Voice mail which can be sent to your email if necessary for at least 5 years. You can port your existing landline number over to the VOIP service or select a new geographical phone number. The VOIP service can also be set up on a Smart phone via Apps like Bria so calls can be made and taken over Wifi or 4G. I made a call to my local council in the UK whilst in the US, I was on for an hour to them and the call cost be 30p. When they called back on my local number they thought I was actually at home.
Originally I had BT Phone and Internet. I took out a Virgin Media internet only connection (no phone or TV) to start with and ran it in parallel for a month. I tested SIPGate using a Siemens Gigaset VOIP to DECT box. It worked well, so I then I ported my BT Landline to SIPGate Basic and cancelled my BT Phone and Internet.
I was quite ready to ditch the landline but you do still need a land line number for some things.
As far as SIPgate goes, I like the way that I get emails on my iPhone when there is a missed call or voicemail (with the voicemail as an attachment). Part of the number transfer and registration process was to set up the geo-location for the number so it can be used for emergency calls.
I run the Virgin Media Router and the Siemens Gigaset VOIP-DECT box from a small UPS, so I still have telephony if the power goes off (for a while).
One year on, I’d say I’m very happy with it. The £20 credit at SIPGate seems to last forever.
I am with Sipgate now that I have dual WiFI and a 3 sim card in a router. No issues at all, one phone plugged into a B525 and a second into a Cisco SPA112. Emails when a call is missed and can listen to voicemail on the mobile by clicking on recording.
Another happy sipgate basic user here.
If you only use the landline to contact a few people then you might consider changing phone number. With sipgate you can get an new VOIP number in any UK area code with no monthly charge.
I use a linksys/cisco pap2t to reuse a DECT handset. <£20 on ebay and lots of guides on how to set it up. Ensure you buy one with a UK plug. You don't want the phone to turn off easily if the plug is knocked.
Anyone noticed all the spam/scamster calls nearly stopping as soon as you transfer from BT to Voip. I thought they would continue at the same rate as I kept the same number and I thought they called numbers sequentially from a block but nothing at all on the new sipgate number and 1 in 3 months on the old BT number ported across. It was several a week before.
Just switched to Vonage from my copper Post Office service. Very impressed with Vonage’s efficient tech support for their advice and number port only took a week. £ saving of £20 per month. Thank you ISP Review for the helpful article.
In rural north wales working from home is difficult and we would benefit from Voip but unfortunately BT will not supply it – mobile phone cover is non existant. We cannot transfer to another supplier as BT will not release the Fibre cable. Result is £62 per month – anyone got a solution other than move?
Same scenario here, but I switched from a VERY shoddy BT service around 5 years ago after they had an “incident” at the exchange, dropped my service and then couldn’t get any higher than 25kbps line speed to the homehub = no service.
I switched to a Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) provider who went into administration, but were picked up by Bogons.net. There is also Airband who are moving into residential service after delivering business services for some time now.
All very affordable, and although not as high performance as FTTC/FTTH Services, pretty good all round.
I am mulling over moving to VoIP to remove BT landline from the house, as have had nothing but poor service and high costs from them over the years.
Recently, I changed my home phone and switched to VoIP. I’m seeing that mobile companies are working on providing the facilities of cloud telephone system to their users at cheaper rates. It will be an innovation for the world to use cloud telephone system, It uses internet protocol or broadband ISPs internet connection.
https://www.voipbusiness.com/voip-features/cloud-pbx/
Great topic,
I swapped from copper to FTTP with BT, which I love but when I took it I was not given the option to not have the copper too, with line rental etc.(which I have not used for years).
I have my voip with Voiptalk on a call package which is great, never had any issues with them and bill never over £5.99 a month. with geographical number.
K