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Forum Discussion
google1901
Jul 04, 2023Aspirant
BT (UK) landlines migration to Digital Voice supporedt by Netgear?
I'm just hearing our UK landline will transition to Digital Voice sometime (this year). Support for current phone handset is a direct connection on back of BT router (smarthub2). But they offer a Dig...
Bubbles61
Jul 08, 2023Tutor
I would suggest that Ofcom might be interested in this apparent monopoly of VoIP for BT customers. A complaint would be recommended. Competition is healthy and this seems like restrictive practice at work.
michaelkenward
Jul 08, 2023Guru - Experienced User
Bubbles61 wrote:
I would suggest that Ofcom might be interested in this apparent monopoly of VoIP for BT customers. A complaint would be recommended. Competition is healthy and this seems like restrictive practice at work.
That had occurred to me. Sadly, the UK's regulators have an appalling record. But still worth trying.
BT OpenReach has already imposed a surreptitious hardware monopoly by insisting that ISPs supply customers with combined modem/router devices. (I got that from an experienced BT engineer when they were trying to fix my line.)
It may be a coincidence, or the gradual decline of DSL, but it was around then that Netgear and other brands abandoned the DSL modem market.
If BT piles its own hardware on to the the VoIP sector, then we can expect to see another decline in then brands of network hardware out there. The UK is just too small to make it worth fighting for. And we no longer have the EU to insist on decent consumer protection.