BT insisted I have to buy a broadband package to keep my home phone

[iniltous]

Until the OP clarifies the position regarding their existing broadband supply the situation is unclear ,

personally I suspect the OP has Openreach FTTP from another supplier, it’s pretty irrelevant if they take telephony with it or not , or if it’s a business or residential tariff , if they do have broadband , then clearly they don’t qualify for the ‘no broadband’ discount on their BT telephone only service so should be paying at least £31.20 , the cheapest BT broadband with PAYG is £31.99 that’s barely any different, perhaps the OP will state if they pay the appropriate fee for BT telephony when they have broadband from another supplier .

The OP states they expect BT to supply either PDPL or broadband for ‘free’ to maintain BT telephony presumably at the telephone only  £31.20 price .

PDPL is the default for existing PSTN telephony only customers , it’s arguable the OP doesn’t qualify for this , even if they have currently a PSTN phone only line ,  for potentially one or two reasons , they already have broadband, ( the supplier is irrelevant) and Openreach FTTP is available and could be offered as preferred solution  to PDPL for genuine telephone without broadband customers , this would be the case in new builds with only OR FTTP available for example.

The OP options are far as I see it ( assuming they don’t have SMPF which seems unlikely nor a leased line  ) is to add telephony to their existing FTTP , potentially ending their relationship with BT completely, or take a second paid for broadband from BT and take DV with that broadband service , the cost difference of 79p is negligible compared to what they ought to be paying now .

If they currently have the phone only discount thats fraudulent, ( to be clear I’m not saying this is the case BTW , I don’t know ) but it’s easily confirmed by BT as Openreach show the status of the ONT at the address as active if service is being delivered over it ) , if the OP doesn’t want to pay for BT broadband but maintain a BT telephone service that will be with BT broadband as a second service , the only real argument is over 0.79p and if 79p is really a consideration, logically the obvious money saving solution is to save way more than 79p ( in the order of £25+ ) by adding broadband to their existing FTTP broadband and ceasing the BT telephone service , if the existing phone number is required, that’s for  the new provider to arrange .

[bomb20]

I didn't pick up that leased lines were what was meant by line.
The products are

BT Landline Unlinited Minutes Calling Plan

BT Business Essential Full Fibre 500

And I'm happy with that.
I don't see how it can be argued that adding VIOP to the business product is equivalent to maintaining the existing retail phone lne which has completely different terms and conditions, consumer protextion, packages etc.
I'm not even sure that BT DV woould work with my Ubiquiti router, I have never used BT routers and only last year gave up on the OpenReach modem I had with VDSL (now gone). 
I talked to BT business and they really don't understand how what BT retail does would have any consequences, they did say that their new DV option might work with any router and this could be checked.

Note that nobody said in the past that you can't have multiple phone lines.

I don't see how it is unreasonable to expect BT to provide whatever infrastructure is needed to keep the retail phone line if that is what I want. 
And now I have the Home Phone Standard info that has been sent to people, because my mother on the same exchange 3 streets away is going to be moved to that.

[bomb20]

The OP options are far as I see it ( assuming they don’t have SMPF which seems unlikely nor a leased line ) is to add telephony to their existing FTTP , potentially ending their relationship with BT completely, or take a second paid for broadband from BT and take DV with that broadband service , the cost difference of 79p is negligible compared to what they ought to be paying now .

Do you know if Openreach has a multi-port ONT solution now?  Last time I looked into this there was a trial.
As for prices, I really don't know, that is something I have yet to check, I tend to just go with whatever products seem to make sense at the time for various reasons.  The DV with broadband has some downsides, not least having an extra router and losing phone connection if power goes out (mobile is not very reliable).

[garybs29]

Lets be blunt here, doesn't matter what you think is reasonable, fact is things are changing & you need to make a decision o keep the phone number

The response from BT business is laughable too tbh they should clearly.know whats happening

[imjolly]

@bomb20 

DV will only work with the BT residential router no third party or BT business

openreach no longer supply multi port ONT  link from another recent post

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/no-more-multiport-ont-from-openreach-with-its-full-fibre-service...

[bomb20]

I know I have to make a choice and by 2030 it seems the copper option will be gone.

I entered into this based on media reporting over some time (this is where I got the impression that you would not have to pay any extra for broadband needed to deliver a phone service).  What makes it complicated is the mixed ISP situation and that most reporting write BT and then is it not clear if that just means BT retail.

For example from one of the recent Which? articles...

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/broadband/article/digital-voice-and-the-landline-phone-switch-off-wh...

What if I don't have or want a broadband connection? 

Those who currently only have a landline won't be forced to pay for broadband services that they don't want or need. 

Until 2030, landline-only customers using the Openreach network will be provided with a 'dedicated landline service'  that will work using a service similar to what they currently have (it uses the copper network to the telephone exchange). Beyond that, landline-only services are likely to work using a special dedicated broadband connection. 

BT has made a specific commitment to telecoms regulator Ofcom that its landline-only customers will pay the same amount,

I'm still not clear what all the options are:

1. Change analog phone line to broadband+DV as BT are telling me I would have to do  (but comments here seem to be saying it is not clear you can have two broadband connections, which would be connected on the same pole.
2. Migrate the home phone number to the business broadband with their 'new' DV product. (Essential is £15).
   But would this work with my router and not a BT one.
3. Add a generic VIOP plan to the current broadband I have.
4. Keep trying to get the Home Phone Standard BT offering which I think would not affect the business connection but in the end is likely to be only temporary unless we get more media stories of people in storms not being able to use their phones in remote areas.
5. Give up on landline

[garybs29]

Don't know where you got 2030 from it's happening by January 2027

Also you're focusing on "if I don't have broadband" options but you do so they don't apply in this situation

[iniltous]

Do you qualify for the social tariff ( so are in receipt of a qualifying benefit such as pension credit ? ) if not then you are required to pay the full price , and as you clearly already have  broadband at the address you don’t qualify for the phone only discount ( even if this particular line won’t have broadband on it , it’s if the address has broadband from any source not just BT )

Without seeing the actual letter you received it’s not known what BT are suggesting , but I suspect the choices are .

Cease this telephone only service .

Port your number to a third party VoIP supplier 

both of the above would be your choice , not necessarily BT’s choice.

I suspect any BT choices on offer will be , 
Convert this telephone only service to BT broadband with BT Digital Voice ,£30+,  it’s irrelevant if you pay for broadband and DV , or BT supply broadband for free just so you can get for DV , as you pay £30+ anyway , or you get a PDPL , and  you pay full landline price £30+  , so these are different without any real distinction, they all cost you about the same , if you buy the broadband instead of BT at least you can use it , if you get ‘free’ BT broadband just to run telephony if you use that free broadband for anything other than telephone it becomes chargeable.

If you migrate your number to VoIP (a third party provider) then you use your own router , BT wont be supplying your telephony ,(apart from your current BT business telephone) if want BT to supply the phone service then you use a BT router (not your business router ) or if it’s a PDPL there no router needed , it’s as close to a traditional line as you can get .

In my opinion you don’t qualify for PDPL ,I don’t know if you qualify for the social Home Essentials tariff but I suspect not , because you have FTTP , you don’t qualify for any telephony price reduction as you have broadband, but if you do get PDPL , expect to pay £30+, confusingly the basic FTTC broadband is also called BT Essential 

I think you need to compare your situation to what the benefits you are seemingly trying to obtain are aimed at , 

Say a BT customer , that has historically only ever had telephony , no interest in having broadband and no use for it from any source , currently gets a discount from BT for being a phone only home , possibly qualifying for the social tariff needs moving off PSTN ( this is required ) so BT introduces PDPL to satisfy this type of  customers  need for maintaining a telephone only service, you don’t seem to ‘match’ that profile, yet you seem to have an expectation that you should get the same benefits as them .

[bomb20]

First, thanks for the replies so far, unfortunately I'm extremely busy at the moment so can only address one thing here.

The 2030 date came from the Which? post I quoted which simultanously says copper telephone service will end in january and it will not (as I now know from 2 relatives).

The 2030 date has been mentioned much earlier, for example: https://voipinsight.com/what-is-happening-with-bt-digital-voice/?_sm_nck=1

I'm a bit confused with the terminology

Above article uses SOTAP
People responding to me are using PDPL 
BT Retail say their option is Home Phone Standard

I'll reply to other points this evening.

[licquorice]

To clarify once and for all. The Analogue phone service (PSTN) is being ceased at the end of this year. 

Clearly any medium that can support Broadband can obviously support DV (VoIP).

There is currently no set date for copper connectivity to be ceased and is likely to be well into the future for many communities.

The 2 things are entirely independent.