VOIP phones

[Trophy92]

I have just upgraded my broadband and Vodafone have upgraded me to VOIP which means my old phones no longer work. Can anyone recommend a 3/4 handset which will allow me to phone in and out using VOIP.  I live in a 3 storey house and my router is on the bottom floor but we live on the second and third floors. I borrowed an old twin set phone and the base unit works but the other phone will only phone out it will not receive calls. Only the base unit will receive calls and can be answered. Vodafone are no help even if I can speak to them. They just at go out and buy new phones and Curry’s cannot say which phones will work and just say buy a set and try. However if they don’t work I cannot take them back if they have been opened. 

[Jayach]

Your old phones should still work. They just need to be connected to the router instead of the BT phone socket.

Are you on FTTC or FTTP? There are ways of using the existing phone wiring in your home to still connect the phones via the old wiring, but it will be different if you are on FTTC or FTTP.

An alternative is to just use DECT phones, and connect the DECT base station to the router.

[Trophy92]

My old phones don’t work as they are not cordless and are about 30 years old 🤔. Not certain what you mean by Fttc etc but I am copper wire from the house to junction box and then fibre. Old phones will not work if connected to house wires as standard phone wire as house is over 30 years old. 

I probably need dect phones but none of the phones I have looked at say they are dect in the specs, just list what they will do. As I said I borrowed a very old set of digital phones, probably 10+ years old. The base accepts calls in , records messages and phones out. The other phone just clicks when the base rings and I can’t accept the call the base just keeps ringing. However I can use that phone to phone out. Are all modern digital handsets dect and will all phone out and accept calls on any handset?

[Jayach · Accepted solution]

Yes, you are on FTTC. (Fibre to the Cabinet)

Vodafone only seem to have started using digital voice with FTTC recently. although some of the other ISP's have been doing it for a while.

Most digital phone sets will be DECT (Digital enhanced cordless telecommunications) and will be the easiest way to get the phone service working with the Vodafone router with multiple handsets.

The problem you describe with the borrowed set sounds like a fault with the phones, nothing to do with it being used on the Vodafone router.

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[Jayach]

I should just add, for easy connection of the base station to the router, without having to swap the cable, you could use one of these: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rhinocables%C2%AE-Socket-Telephone-Adaptor-White/dp/B00EVS5UZ2/

I'm sure you would find any of your old phones would also work if you use that adapter.

[Trophy92]

Vodafone supplied one of those for the router. It doesn’t work on phones with a cord I have tried. It does work on the cordless base unit though. I tried to reply to your last email but kept on getting an error message. 

[Jayach]

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@Trophy92 wrote:

Vodafone supplied one of those for the router. 

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Ah, they never used to supply one. Perhaps now that everyone is getting digital voice they have started to supply it.

Strange that your corded phones don't work with it. I would have expected them to.

Vodafone don't officially post on here, so not sure who you are trying to email.

[Trophy92]

Meant post on here not email. Old cord phones just dead when I plug them into the router. No dial tone and nothing when I put in a number. 

[CrimsonLiar]

It sounds as though your phones use pulse dialling rather than tone (DTMF) dialling - they must be seriously old (but they did have a reputation for being reliable).

Any modern (DECT preferably) phone should with the correct adapter (I assume @Jayach has already suggested the correct adapter) should work.  If you've a phone set with a base station and satellite handsets in charging cradles, but only the base station phone is working then, that's a problem with the phone set.  It could mean that the satellites need re-pairing with the base station, that rechargeable batteries need replacing, or simply that the handset is too distant from the base station.  When using cordless phones, especially older ones, the range may not be great to start with, and ideally, place them as far from the router as the cables will allow - less necessary with newer models.

[Trophy92]

Yes they are 30 years old 😂. Went to Currys yesterday and they told me none of the phones they sell will work over the internet when plugged into a router. When I asked if they were DECT compatible it was as if I was speaking a foreign language. He went off to ask an expert and came back and said that definitely none of their phones would work via a router and none were DECT. I just said OK looked at the ones I liked went to M&S for a coffee, googled the two sets I was interested in found the were both DECT and bought the ones I was interested in from Argos £10 cheaper. How are people going to cope if this is the sort of advice people are getting from shops like Currys. Now need to plug in my new phones, charge them up and keep my fingers crossed as everyone has said once I have opened the box I can’t return them. 🤔

Thanks everyone for all your help.