Landline retention - VOIP doesn't work

[pcwood]

I live in a rural area (actually in a  wood). I have copper wires (laid through the wood from fibre off a road) for my broadband and landline. My EE contract is up in June and I believe that I will not be able to continue with my landline. Upon checking with EE staff in one of your shops, they stated because my house does not have fibre broadband, the VOIP option would not work over the existing copper wires, unless fibre is laid to the house.

There are two issues with this - firstly, we can't get a mobile signal at home (I receive calls on my mobile via Wi Fi, and the quality of calls isn't brilliant and doesn't always work ), and secondly, we're prone to power cuts. The last big one (storm Arwen) lasted for 5 days. We were only able to contact the electric company via the landline (we were waiting for two hours on a call, so couldn't hang around taking or waiting for a call some way away  from the cottage).

Not having an analogue landline is therefore a problem for us - we will have to buy another new smart phone that we don't need at present (we currently use one between us), and during a power cut will find it difficult to contact the electricity  provider (as the Wi Fi calling won't work - the other option is to tramp 400 yards away to get a signal possibly in a raging storm).

Is it physically impossible for us to keep our existing landline, or are EE and other suppliers just making things difficult for customers like me (and I appreciate there must be very few in our position)?

I hope this is clear - sorry for the length!

[JimM11]

@pcwood If you read XraySpex reply earlier, leave alone, your out of contract price will probably go up, or call EE CS before to get your new price. Nothing is 100% reliable but what you have has worked for a long time, sure i would not rely on a ups backed voip system from anyone, and even your mobile over wi-fi connection is not brilliant also. Too many RED flags!!!!

[Mustrum]

@pcwood  Thanks for that, that is not a filtered master socket. Do you have any extension sockets? If so they could be reducing your speeds.  The BTW suggests you should be getting near double the 30 it shows you are getting, so worth getting that sorted before you do anything else.

As @XRaySpeX  has already pointed out, you could carry on as is, but sooner or later, sometime between now and 2027 the analogue phone service will stop. Unless I missed it I did not see what you would be paying if you did nothing, I suspect somewhere around £50.

[JimM11]

@Mustrum Seems like most ISP's like to change the line as soon as they can and use the new contract as the first opportunity to do so, looks like EE don't even want to do the line from the OP's post. I have an fttc line, and resisted tooth and nail with sky my previous ISP to not go digital with there version which is similar to BT/EE, the OP does not want to change his operation at present and cannot blame him, eventually there will be no choice but at least now a couple of years away. 

[Mustrum]

@JimM11  Your bias is not helping the op here.

They do not have a couple of years, it will depend on where in the country they are and when their exchange is due to close. Where they have had the technology available some ISP’s have moved people to a digital solution for a while, EE has been more recent. Others have decided not to offer a VOIP solution, broadband only. And as already said, since the Stop Sell Sept last year, no ISP using BTW exchange equipment could offer a new analogue voice option. LLU suppliers may be different.

The OP got told the wrong info at an EE store, but as I see it has two options - pay out of contract prices until the inevitable exchange closure, or save money on broadband and go with digital voice.

There are other waysfor the rural community to exploit other available technologies

[pcwood]

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I've put my concerns in writing to EE customer service and will see what they say, with an eye to sitting tight unless forced to do to otherwise.

[JimM11]

@pcwood Just some more info for you, and call 150 to register as vulnerable customer.

Vulnerability policy | Accessibility support | EE

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