No problem, Ivonne. Just as background, I think the problem BT and other traditional telecommunications companies have is that, firstly, most voice calls are made from mobile phones these days so there's not too much revenue income from the PSTN, secondly, as it ages the PSTN equipment becomes expensive to maintain and will eventually become obsolete and fail with no available replacement products. It's a lose, lose situation for telcos. Plus the government is pressing BT and others to rollout fibre to the premises FTTP which cannot support the PSTN. But, of course, many started using VoIP because it's cheaper. I used it to call my mother from the US c15+ years ago: free across the Atlantic then just a local call from the breakout point in London to Essex. (I had a long conversation with a BT representative at a trade show recently and, although I know he was biased, he was upset that everyone was blaming BT for something the government wanted them to do - it was an event where a number of other companies supplied alarm systems that are affected by the PSTN to VoIP transition; I think he was pleased to find an understanding "ear" even though I wasn't a prospective purchaser!)Yes, one needs options - many financial services companies run dual networks and have extensive power backup for that reason. Mobile phones are a good start, you can also by booster packs in places like Robert Days to top up smartphones - although you need to keep those topped up! (I use them frequently at taking lot of pictures kills the phone's battery.) One assumes the local cellnet facilities has good power backup so blackouts don't affect them.You can get battery backups for hubs - power cuts can be domestic: fuses, circuit breakers, etc. We're used to reliable power supplies in the UK, we have friends in Miami who have a backup generator: hurricanes often knock out the power in Florida, and remember the problems in Texas from the extremely cold weather last year?I'm sorry I can't answer your question regarding the length of ring time. I'm sure my Sipgate service keeps ringing until I answer or, more likely, let it go to voicemail (which then get emailed to me :-) I would have thought there would be a setting to change that but it might be hurried somewhere in the instruction manual; perhaps BT have an F!Q online? However, I note somewhere it says some of BT's VoIP solution is proprietary and other VoIP phones don't work with it - WTF did they do that for? (Excuse my language)!Having said all that, it must be a problem for those who can't afford options of elderly people confused by these changes and with no one to assist them. For the record several times I called my late mother when I was fairly certain she'd be in and got no answer I was obviously concerned. Fortunately, the caretaker in the block of flats and offices was very accommodating and would check she was ok - one time she was in his office chatting to him! On all two or three occasions it turned out someone installing a new phone circuit in the block',s frame room had inadvertently disconnected my mother's cable ... so the PSTN can have its issues too …
Michael Ixer ● 1183d