Discontinuing PSTN lines

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/12/18/bt-and-rivals-told-to-stop-forcing-digital-landlines/

BT and Virgin media have announced a stop on the rollout.


www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2023/12/major-uk-home-phone-providers-commit-to-protect-vulnerable-users.html

in note also a comment that 2/3 of local Authorities across the UK have systems that rely on 2/3G, given the state of finances the solution will be a cheap stop gap not a proper solution.

Lots of people don't want to be reliant on their broadband for phone - and lots of people don't have any mobile coverage.

54% of businesses still on PSTN or ISDN, 46% of households still on PSTN, and remember as always that the 54% of households moved will be a lot of low hanging fruit ie large metropolitan areas rather than rural villages. Virgin and BT have again been told to stop the rollout, as they are ignoring customers.

Well, give us a similarly reliable alternative, then we'll be happy to move...

UPS isn't good enough. We've had 47 days of multiple-property fibre outage, three instances, in this village since August alone. Two houses had no broadband (and therefore no telecomms AT ALL) for 27 days in the last one.

My experience of working for BT on network expansions, albeit some 16 odd years ago, is that the staff will push back on a lot of this but in the end BT management will be on big bonuses to ensure this happens sooner rather than later!. I think the current leader if it hasn't changed recently is someone who pushes hard against the technical push backs too.

The biggest issue has got to be that battery backup, if needed will not be very long as people might be told it is. If people live in Mobile deserts too then they will could have no connection for some time.

I seem to remember that the one thing that BT always had to provide is emergency connection - the old system losing the internet still supplies the ability to make calls. The old system uses 50v connections from premises to exchange and there are huge generators in the exchange that supply the 50v system for the telephone networks when a power fail occurs. (I think local outages can also affect the cabinet equipment too but not sure about that)

Whilst BT will press ahead with many different approaches the battery backup they will supply will almost certainly not be capable of lasting as long as they could be required. 

We get regular power outages in our area, in a small Wiltshire town, thankfully they are quite short but none the less they are quite regular. Not sure we are on the pathway that BT keeps saying is expanding but i guess its inevitable at some point. A nearby bigger town - Salisbury - has been one of the experimental sites but not sure how happy people there have been. 

This link from September seems to detail quite a bit including some of the work around's but still not sure they are going to be adequate for rural places like Wiltshire. Despite being in a reasonable sized town, our power is usually out every few weeks for short times usually but i guess it depends on the work being done that throws the power out.

newsroom.bt.com/bt-announces-regional-rollout-schedule-for-digital-voice/

I wonder were you able to get compensation other than the normal stuff they would give based on the outage time they would presumably at least pay back for the days missing. I seem to remember something about 5 or 10 quid per day but don't quote me on that. I'd take them to the ombudsman at least if I was not happy with their possible offer.