Corded VoIP

[52Mike]

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.

[52Mike]

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).

[Jones01]

@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.

[52Mike · Accepted solution]

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.