ADSL Broadband after changeover

[WSH]

I would have to agree with iniltous.

When I was switched to FTTC/VDSL from ADSL, (many years ago now), no visit to the house was required and the only difference was plugging in a new router.  Speeds immediately went from 8Mb/s to 58Mb/s.

I can also confirm that when I was changed to DV, back in September, the only change was to move the plug for my cordless base station from the master socket on the wall to the socket on the back of the Smart Hub 2 and reboot the Smart Hub.

Both exercises were a piece of cake and well worth the effort.

[iniltous]

It’s understandable in a way that someone on a copper pair service may not want the ( relatively small ) upheaval of FTTP , but a change to FTTC from ADSL doesn’t even require an engineer visit , the relevant work is done externally, so the change could be done without even realising it’s been done , the downtime likely to be a few minutes.

As far as DV , when ADSL customers are advised that DV is imminent, all that’s needed is the phone instrument plugging into the SH2 router instead of the wall socket , if a SH2 has never been provided by BT , then one is supplied….obviously the OP is happy to continue with ADSL , but most I would suggest making the  simple change to FTTC  is worth it for the increased speed , and reliability, however if FTTC were available and now FTTC and FTTP are both available, then FTTP becomes the default upgrade path and FTTC effectively not available 

[Keith_Beddoe]

In most cases, ADSL is delivered from a port on an MSAN (Multi Service Access Node). These are used to deliver a wide range of services, and form part of the 21cn network, so are unlikely to be de-commissioned.

Its possible that DSLAM`s (Digital-Subscriber-Line-Access-Multiplexer) are still used in some smaller exchanges, that are not part of the 21cn network, but I do not know what the current situation is.

[wkirkman]

As far as I am aware they aren't removing the equipment for ADSL2 signalling. So, there is no reason for you to upgrade to VDSL2 unless you wanted to take advantage of the speed increase. The only thing being systematically removed at the moment is the Public Switched Telephone Network. If you were on Dial Up, then Dial Up relies upon the PSTN in which case I would say you would need to move, but xDSL is still a sold and working technology. Openreach already have the technology ready to go to offer Digital Voice over ADSL (you can search online for it from ISPReview recently — I don't have the link to hand), but when/how they implement I'm not sure. If you hang on to the bitter end you will at some point have the face the choice of VoIP or no phone… but most people will have changed over way before the bitter end because they are making it easy to do so for the majority.

[HHGTTG]

So what would have happened had you been in my position and was sticking with ADSL (hopefully) for the time being, just ignore pressure sales guff from BT and set up my phone/s and  plug into the green socket on the SH2 (or via a DV adapter) when the day comes?

[wkirkman]

The idea certainly is that you will go to FTTP when available, though until mandatory, you would have to 'choose' to move to it when available. The DV change is a prelude to this, because it is a lot easier to get all phones onto IP first, because then it doesn't matter what the mode of delivery is… copper… fibre… doesn't matter, they can decommission the PSTN equipment at the exchanges. THEN, once they know there are no PSTN connections still, they can quite happily know that swapping someone from copper to fibre, then pulling out the copper, will not deprive anyone of a phone service — theory, of course, though in practice not far off. (Excepting those who it would appear have disabilities and all live on the edges of cliffs in places where they need extreme medical attention but have no mode of communication with the outside world except for a copper phone line that they always use during very frequent power cuts… as exampled throughout this community forum.)

[chrisjp]

BT's own publicity about the switch to DV also talks about "getting rid of the outdated old copper network", so it's natural to assume that when you are told that your conversion to DV is imminent, BT is going to run a fibre optic cable to your house to give FTTP.
I'd had FTTC and an analogue phone line for a number of years and, when I got my DV conversion letter, I assumed I was going to be upgraded to FTTP. Quite disappointed when I realised I would be staying with FTTC and it was just the phone line that was moving to digital!

[iniltous]

ADSL/ADSL2 or VDSL ( FTTC ) is almost a distinction without a difference when it comes to the PSTN switch off , BT Digital Voice is Internet Protocol ( IP ) and only needs a small amount of bandwidth to operate, so even a relatively small bandwidth product like ADSL can easily handle DV , BT ADSL will continue in locations where there are BT customers with no FTTC or FTTP alternatives.

When  December 2025  comes  around there is no reason for any BT customer to fear being ‘disconnected’ there are legitimate worry’s some may have about a phone service being dependent on ‘broadband’, but this is really a  worry about failure of mains power in the home  , and that can be addressed for those fearing this and who genuinely have no mobile coverage, by using a battery back up ( BBS ) (UPS ) uninterruptible power supply , and if that will not supplied free by BT because the customer doesn’t qualify for ‘free’ , they can always purchase one themselves.

[HHGTTG]

Thanks for all your expertise using technical language with which I'm not fully familiar though better informed than I was a few weeks ago thanks to you folks here. The information is gratefully received and I appreciate that. On the positive side and being nearly 86 I might not be around for some of these events, who knows? 

Anyway keeping ADSL running for a while yet would certainly make my life easier with placement of my existing telephones and the BT Hub 2 when it eventually comes through my letterbox. 

[iniltous]

The PSTN switch off by the end of December 2025 ‘may’ require some consumers to be migrated to SoTAP , (single order transitional product ) , in areas where FTTC isn’t available ( E/O lines , or cabinets with so few customer that would make FTTC uneconomic ) then SoGEA wont be available but DV landline or broadband service needs to be provided.

In majority of cases after PSTN switch off , those still on copper , will be SoGEA ,  only using the copper pair ( the D side ) from the cabinet to the property, the E side to the exchange redundant, those on SoTAP will be using the exchange based ADSL/ADSL2 equipment, so  the E side copper cable to the cabinet as well as the D side from the cabinet to the property will be used , but as with SoGEA , the telephony will be DV .

As stated , there is quite a lot of incorrect information on line , some of it , presumably designed deliberately to get customers to switch before December 2025 , basically ‘frightening’ them to switch using  nonsense about after 2025 your phone  line won’t work , unfortunately there are some that even with constant reassurance, chose to believe the B.S