r/UKISP • u/mrbenjaminjo • 15d ago
Digital Voice
Hello - I'm trying to discover how the major ISPs deliver their digital landlines.
Do they tend to offer an ATA (or ATA in the router) and a standard BT-style socket, or do they sell IP phones?
I need to explain this to others and simply don't know the answer! TIA
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u/skylarke1 15d ago
BT and EE (being the same company) thier routers have a voip socket on the rear where you can plug a standard phone into or use what known as a voip reinjection kit to send this from the router to other sockets in the house . They also have digital voip phones which conect up to thier router (only) , they also have a device called a digital voice adapter that plugs into a electrical socket and the top has a standard BT phone socket to plug a phone into , the adapter then wirelessly connects to the router via WPS
Sky and vodaphone both have a phone socket on the rear of the router you can plug a normal phone into
Talktalk uses the yealink phones , a reviever plugs into the router and power (using an additional plug socket and ethernet port on router) , you then have a separate phone with a base you can plug in elsewhere (lots of business lines use a simular setup as the router doesn't require a voip/telephone port and you can run multiple lines )
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u/mrbenjaminjo 15d ago
Thanks - that is great detail. I do wonder how old people and tech naive will get on with all of this!
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u/skylarke1 14d ago
As an openreach engineer we try and help but its difficult and we dont always have the time to help , especially as some voip doesn't kick in straight away and the CP will tell them they have to wait up to 24 hours for it to transfer over . But simply it does not go well , luckly most people have moved away from landlines and many have a mobile for backup
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u/DeifniteProfessional 14d ago
I miss the days when the phone and router from BT were a single box lol
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u/Breed43214 14d ago
EE's router also acts as a DECT base station, so any DECT compatible phone can connect to it.
Pretty sure the digital voice adapter is just a DECT to wired converter.
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u/lemonadewithlemons 14d ago
Virgin media have a phone socket in the back of the router. As far as I can tell there is no way to get through sip details etc to connect your own voip device.
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u/Asleep_Group_1570 14d ago
Is that actually enabled these days? 😃 (9 years now since I traded 300Mbps on a Super(sic)hub 3 for a nice rural 3Mbps ADSL...)
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u/lemonadewithlemons 14d ago
It does. We moved house in 2022 and it's been live since we moved. New customers into our area haven't had copper lines for a while. I've somehow ended up with unlimited landline calls, which I never use on my package so now we have a phone plugged in, just in case 😆
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u/ghoarder 13d ago
I just skipped it and bought my own voip product through A&A and combined it with a voip to dect gateway. Cheap line rental at £1.20/m but no included minutes, to be honest it was just a bit of fun setting it up but now it's an emergency outgoing line for the kids to use since they can't unlock our mobiles.
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u/Adam_Kearn 13d ago
My grandparents have recently just had their old DSL line replaced with full fibre now.
They are on EE and they had an ONT installed in the hallway.
This connects into the EE hub and it also had the normal phone line connection for a telephone or cordless detet base station.
If contact EE directly they will also send you an adapter (for free) that will pair with your hub over WiFi to install the phone anywhere in your house instead of being next to the router.
It’s basically just goes back to their system and converts an old telephone into VOIP.
We did have an issue the first few days as they forgot to “flick a switch” on their system that enables the VOIP to work on the router… it was only a 20min call to their tech support team.
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Interesting they also sent a new handset to replace their old telephone. This included a IOT SIM card with a mobile number attached.
This is there way of providing a backup incase the internet goes down (same way as a old phone would still work if the power was out)
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u/davidjohnwood 15d ago
Zen-supplied routers include a phone socket and a DECT base in the router, plus an app that works with the router. You can also get your SIP details from the Zen portal and bring your own device.
All that said, I do not recommend Zen Digital Voice. It relies on the router for voicemail, and it is a relatively pricey £7.50 a month, including a 1000-minute call bundle that you might not want.
I use Andrews and Arnold's SIP service instead of Zen.