copper landline. contract renewal

[e_james]

I have fttc. I don't want to lose my copper landline. Can I renew my contract?

[e_james]

I have received notifications that both Openreach and Virgin "Full Fibre" (FTTP) service is available to me. I don't know if my friend has received the same, but both BT and Virgin are happy to offer him full fibre. BT definitely uses the term "landline" for the digital phone service.

I don't expect to negotiate with TalkTalk on behalf of my friend. I will leave that to his daughter once he has decided what he wants from what is available. As for myself, if I decide I want to retain a "landline" phone, I will probably switch to a specialist VOIP service before I go full fibre.

Curiously, in their website, TalkTalk appears to be "currently unable to provide broadband" anywhere near where I live. For my friend's location, the website is broken in a different way.

On your smartphone, you can change the "ringtone" for your notifications. For email, I use a recording of my letterbox in operation.

[Gliwmaeden2]

It's all developing rather too fast, @e_james!

I don't think that the telecoms companies are fully on top of it all and the ramifications  .... so how we are expected to cope, I don't know!

Ordinary Fast Broadband is simply copper, and I have no option to have  FTTC. If you or I want to renew now, it should be simply more of the same, unless there's been a decision to stop it from that particular exchange and move everybody onto Full Fibre.

There are even some hybrid arrangements with Talktalk, not always available, but some customers can keep the copper for the landline while Fibre65 I'd switched to digital. 

But ultimately, all the phone options will be digital, not copper.

To see what Talktalk has available in your area, you do need to talk to them for advice for your particular situation.

It's very hard for you to do this on behalf of a friend due to needing to pass security checks - best if you have Authority Act etc set up.

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Articles/Power-of-Attorney-Authority-to-Act/ta-p/2205181

Some of us are going to bury our heads in the sand a bit! I might just make do with a smartphone, but I keep it on silent most of the time, as I can't bear all the noise of texts and emails coming in etc....!

"Progress" doesn't always equate with improvement!

However, in the short term, if you haven't heard otherwise, contracts should be renewed with landline as before (copper). Whether it remains like that for the duration of the contract remains to be seen.

Once it's decided that an area can be "upgraded" to Full Fibre, you'll get an email telling you when it's likely to happen, and some customers find they have to persist proactively in saying "no" if it's extremely inconvenient to have the technology switched right now.

[e_james]

It might be useful to add some details. I am a retired electrical engineer. My first use of a computer was in 1966. i have a friend who is older than me. He started computing with the ZX Spectrum. We are both TalkTalk customers. Mine is a business service and his is residential. We both have FTTC at this time. He is out of contract and appears to be paying significantly more than necessary for his current service. Unforunately, with his age, my friend is hard of hearing and has difficulty adapting to new ideas such as digital telephones, smartphones and 2 factor authentication. I expect that there are many people in a similar situation. I heard or read something in the news about BT Openreach pausing their digital rollout for that very reason.

One problem here is the definition of the word "landline". 10 years ago it meant a telephone service provided by copper wires from the telephone exchange to a house or other building. Today it might mean a telephone service provided to a fixed geographical location like a house. By that new definition, a fibre optic cable and a VOIP service is still a landline. Looking at the deals on offer from various providers, they say plenty about broadband and very little about phone service. I get the impression that almost all new offers are full fibre with no copper wires. I phoned 03451 720088 and I think I have an assurance that my friend can renew his contract without losing his copper landline but I am not 100% confident that the TalkTalk representative understood the question.

The world is changing rapidly and change will happen whether we like it or not. As change progresses, there are often unexpected consequences. For example, I suspect that the common use of VOIP services will finally kill off the residential telephone directory. Those people who still have a landline need to ask themselves some questions. "Do I want a landline?". "What functions do I want from a landline?". "Will the new VOIP service provide those functions or will it let me down just at the time when I really need it?"

[Helen007]

Beware if you try & renew via chat. 4 Chats, one month and over 4 hours of my time later, I am still waiting for TT to give me the contract renewal we agreed in the 1st chat!

You are probably better off calling.

[Gliwmaeden2]

We will all lose the copper landline eventually, @e_james, period.

Meanwhile, phone 03451 720088 or renew via Chat.

Check the comparison websites and Talktalk's own for the going rates.

http://community.talktalk.co.uk/contactus