topic Re: Corded VoIP in Digital Home Phone

Corded VoIP

52Mike — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 20:11:02 GMT

My broadband and landline will shortly be moved from Plusnet to EE, so my landline will come through the broadband. Would my landline work on a corded VoIP phone connected to the router by an ethernet cable? (To explain in more detail: actually I want to connect a VoIP phone in a different room via an ethernet cable plugged into a TP-Link Powerline adapter connected to the router via my mains electrical circuit, using another TP-Link Powerline adapter connected to the router by another ethernet cable.) This is because I do not want to use Wi-Fi or a cordless DECT phone, I would like everything to be connected through cables, and I'd like to access my landline from different rooms of the house. I asked EE support who told me it would not be officially supported, but recommended that Community members might be able to advise me whether it would be likely to work or not.

Re: Corded VoIP

JimM11 — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 20:55:41 GMT

@52Mike Not with any EE or BT hub, the Digital Voice DV supplied is proprietary in operation and NO true voip phones work at all. EE/BT will never give up the connection protocol details. You should have stayed with PN gone Fibre and moved your landline to a VOIP supplier. The EE DV system is DECT based and nothing at all to do with WiFi in the slightest...

You should in theory be able to move your landline over and port your number to a VOIP supplier with EE, as to wither it will operate correctly over a Powerline circuit you would have to try and see.

Are you currently copper connected, and any prospect off FF close for new?

Re: Corded VoIP

XRaySpeX — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 21:26:58 GMT

@52Mike : If you have a VoIP provider providing a phone no. for that phone, then it should work as per that provider's directions.

However if you are expecting it to work with EE's DV on a EE phone no., you're out of luck. EE are not delivering its proprietary VoIP (DV) to an Ethernet port but to an analogue phone port on back of router or to an ATA adapter.

You can still have everything phone-wise to be connected through cables, by buying normal analogue corded phones such as the BT 200 Big Button Corded Telephone

Re: Corded VoIP

52Mike — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 10:04:19 GMT

Thank you, that’s very helpful. Yes, I am currently copper connected, but Full Fibre is now available at my address. I’ve not yet been transferred from Plusnet to EE but it is imminent; I can investigate whether there’s still time to cancel my transfer to EE and stay with Plusnet for the broadband, and go to a VoIP provider for my landline, as you helpfully suggested.

Are you recommending that I should upgrade to Full Fibre before a VoIP landline would work? Or could I start by using a VoIP landline provider via my Plusnet broadband-through-copper, which would be easier to organise first, and then upgrade to Full Fibre after that?

I think you are saying that if I am too late and am already committed to EE, I should still be able to change my landline to a VoIP supplier, but you are not sure whether the landline would work in other rooms via a Powerline – do you have a reason in mind why that might not work?

Re: Corded VoIP

Jones01 — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:18:19 GMT

@52Mike ,

I've used a VoIP service via PLAs without any problems.

The only issue could be that PLAs reduce broadband speed, sometimes quite dramatically, depending on your house mains wiring. Having said that, twenty or so years ago I used BT's original VoIP service on, I think, about 4Mbps ADSL broadband without any problems.

Re: Corded VoIP

JimM11 — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 15:52:02 GMT

@52Mike It has to be carefully done regarding keeping your landline and the copper connection and depends on what PN does with copper.... If they require the Landline number on Copper to supply you broadband that is an issue so question best asked of the PN Forum also the VOIP provider you look at will tell you if they have also done/moved/ported the number etc on an PN copper connection....

PN Full Fibre connection will be Broadband Internet only, they may even use the old PN hub no ideas what they do!

Re: Corded VoIP

52Mike — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 21:33:35 GMT

To JimM11: Thanks, that’s a very good point. If I should be told that it wouldn’t work, I wonder if I would be better to migrate to EE anyway, broadband and landline (initially plugging my main analogue handset into the back of the new router), and subsequently transferring my landline from EE to a VoIP landline provider. That way, hopefully my landline phone would only be unavailable for a minimal time while the transfer took place. Then later move EE to Full Fibre, broadband only.

Even though you can’t comment about Plusnet, would you be able to comment on whether it might work to transfer my landline number to VoIP while the EE router was still working on the copper line (which, as you say, might be dependent on my landline number, but perhaps you might know if that was so in the case of EE)?

Re: Corded VoIP

Jones01 — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:26:08 GMT

@52Mike ,

If you decide to stay with Plusnet and full fibre isn't available at your property, they will switch your line to SoGEA, which is FTTC without a landline. When the switch is complete your telephone number will be put in quarantine for 30 days, giving you time to port it to a VoIP provider. If you port your number before the switch to SoGEA is complete, your broadband and your contract with Plusnet will be terminated.

There are quite a few VoIP providers. I have an account with A&A. They took about five days to port my number after I had full fibre installed.

You could rent a temporary number from your chosen VoIP supplier and get your phones working in your house in advance of the switch taking place. Then you would be ready to port your number to your supplier as soon as the switch has been completed. VoIP works on ADSL and part-fibre broadband as well as full-fibre.

Re: Corded VoIP

JimM11 — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 12:04:17 GMT

@52Mike It's looking best to get on the VOIP with the Temp number, and gives you a little time to see how it is all going to work and if you are going to be happy with the operation of it all, but do check with the VOIP provider about requesting you will later be calling about PORTING your own landline over to them in the future, some will have an additional charge to do so and will advise what that will be so you have the full picture....

Re: Corded VoIP

Jones01 — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 17:30:33 GMT

I looked back at my A&A bills. They charged me £12 to port my landline number. Ten quid plus VAT, I think.

They are good at answering the phone, but it isn't necessary for a number port. It's done online. Other VoIP providers are probably similar.

Re: Corded VoIP

52Mike — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 12:03:13 GMT

Jones01 and JimM11: Thank you for your recent replies and advice, which I have been following up.

Yes, I’m planning to test things first with my current broadband using a temporary VoIP phone number, thinking of using Plexatalk, and I have ordered a VoIP phone and a Powerline Adapter in order to try it.

I spoke to Plusnet who said it will be a couple of weeks before they will initiate my move to EE, so I can cancel my move to EE and upgrade to Plusnet Full Fibre broadband with no phone line, if I tell them soon. (Full Fibre is available at my address.)

As you both suggested, they said I could not port my phone number to a VOIP provider before I have upgraded to Full Fibre: Plusnet wrote “With regards to staying with PlusNet, and going with a VOIP only provider, you will need to move the broadband over first, because if you change the landline to VOIP then this will cease the broadband completely.”

Plexatalk said that whether I stayed with Plusnet or moved to EE, I couldn’t avoid losing my telephone number for about 3 days, during which I would have to use my temporary trial VoIP phone number. (He said the gap might be reduced to 1 day if I moved to a completely different broadband supplier rather than EE who are part of the same set-up as Plusnet, but I’m not keen to do that.)

However, the Plusnet advisor thought I might be without my original telephone number for a full 28 day quarantine period after changing my Plusnet to Full Fibre broadband only (though she wasn’t sure). And I saw some comments online from people who had problems like that. So I will re-contact Plexatalk when they re-open on Monday to check the right sequence to do things, to ensure it’s only about 3 days that my number doesn’t work.

By the way, having looked at a few VoIP suppliers, I thought Voipfone or Plexatalk looked the most suitable for what I want, both reputed to have good UK-based customer service. Voipfone were very helpful but said each phone in each room would have to count as a separate extension so I would need a Business plan, paying separately for each extension, which would work out quite expensive. Plexatalk would be happy for me to have four extensions under a Residential plan, therefore a lot cheaper, so I’m thinking of going with them (even though they seem to be a relatively small outfit).

Re: Corded VoIP

Jones01 — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 17:13:14 GMT

@52Mike ,

I looked at Plexatalk. I don't think that you'll regret going with them. Their pricing is very competitive.

The Plusnet advisor was incorrect about your number not being available during the quarantine period. Quite the opposite. The number is available for porting at any time during that period, after which it enters the pool of available numbers.

Re: Corded VoIP

52Mike — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:55:58 GMT

Update: I bought a VoIP phone and a Powerline Adapter, and signed up with Plexatalk for a temporary landline number. It didn’t work at first, because when the VoIP phone was described as Power over Ethernet (PoE) enabled, I didn’t initially realise that I also needed to buy a Power over Ethernet Injector to supply power to the phone via the ethernet cable; it worked when I did so (I got one that I could plug into the passthrough Powerline Adaptor).

I managed to contact Plusnet only just in time to cancel my move to EE, because they had already set things up, and an EE router was on its way to me. But fortunately I managed to cancel all of that and order Full Fibre broadband (with no landline) from Plusnet.

I have signed the Customer Letter of Authority (CLoA) supplied by Plexatalk for my existing landline number to be ported to them within a few days of Plusnet discontinuing it on my move to Full Fibre. For those few days I’ll have to use the temporary landline number that Plexatalk supplied.

Thanks again to @JimM11 and @Jones01 for their interest and very helpful advice.