VM changeover to fibre phone

[Ebcdic_ed]

I've read and re-read VM's intentions and instructions on the changeover from copper wire to VOiP phones.

Our layout is a DECT phone, with mains, connected to an extension socket near the SH4. The secondary DECT is in another room with mains, no extension socket. The third phone is an original analogue with extension socket and no mains in another room and the master socket (openreach I believe) in a mainly unused room on the other side of the house to the hub. All the extensions are wired inline.

VM's set-up policy means the hub has to be switched on 24/7 with mobile backup for emergencies or an emergency line put in. Our policy is to switch the hub off overnight and anytime we're away which can be a few weeks and means no incoming calls saved. In fact we're loathe to leave it on for that length of time because of the power consumed and the heat generated. 

I've been informed once switched over the older analogue phone and extensions will be dead, although since, I've read that the hub can be back-wired to the master socket to keep the extensions alive. Without re-arranging the decoration, walls and flooring that would seem to be a no-go.

Our options seem to be:

1. Go with the changeover and possibly lose the extensions and one phone. Point made above about leaving the hub on suggests this is a no-go.

2. Keep the hub for BB turning it off when necessary, find another supplier for the phone connectivity.

3. Keep the hub for BB turning it off when necessary, dump the landline phones and rely on mobiles.

4. See what another ISP can do when the VM contract expires.

Any thoughts/recommendations from the community would be very much appreciated as would any omissions.

Thanks

[goslow · Accepted solution]

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@Rad1o wrote:

<snip>

In the 20 years we have been in the house I have "extended" the phone network around the house and the BT master socket in the picture has only been installed fairly recently. We also still have a NTL master socket in another room. So I do not buy into this master socket idea too much.

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The matter of whether using master sockets or not is acceptable, is more to do with following the recognised conventions/standards for UK phone wiring and any unintended consequences of deviating from those. Diagnosing and resolving faults, and other issues, on phone connections becomes a lot more difficult if they are in a non-standard setup.

[Ebcdic_ed]

@Rad1o

Thanks for the photos. It's always easier seeing rather than visualizing.

I'm still weighing up the pros and cons of going for the changeover. It would mean doing something similar though not quite the same as your set-up.

As an ex-colleague once said "If things don't change they'll stay the same as they are". Sometimes I wish they would.