- Phone lines used to be a necessity to hook up to the Internet
- Sometimes, an active phone line indicates your house hasn’t been added to the NBN
- Most homes are connected to the NBN and use VoIP to make calls
Ensuring you have an active phone line in your new residence used to be important if you were using it to connect to the Internet. You can still use a phone line checker to see whether you have one today.
With the NBN, almost every home in Australia doesn’t need an active phone line to have the Internet - or a landline. Still, you might need to use a phone line checker to see whether your phone line is still active, especially if you move somewhere rural where you may not have an NBN box.
The easiest way to check if your phone line is active is by plugging your landline phone into the wall socket and listening for a dial tone. If you hear the dial tone, your phone line is active. If not, you'll need to troubleshoot to identify the issue. Here are a few things to consider:
Check your bill
If you are using the Internet, you can check to see whether you have an active phone line by checking your bill to see if you’re paying for one.
Phone lines aren't free, so if you don’t have one listed, you probably don’t have an active line.
No dial tone?
As radically changing as technology can be, dial tones have remained fairly consistent over the decades, so plugging your phone in and listening for a dial tone is an easy way to verify whether or not it's connected. A phone line checker at your address can also help you to tell whether your socket is active.
However, in terms of VoIP, you don’t really need a dial tone to know if your phone is working or not. You just need to check whether it is connected to the Local Area Network and if so, you will be able to make a call without any problems.
Call your provider
Alternatively, you can call your service provider to verify if your line is active or not.
This is always a good place to start and some providers offer a live chat option to connect with someone and ask.
NBN home phone bundles
The likelihood is that you don't need an active phone line in your house anymore because the NBN means that you can connect to others via Voice over Internet Protocol - or VoIP. Some providers offer customers the chance to bundle their Internet plan with other services like local and international calls.
Contact Compare Broadband
You may be one of the many people asking about an active phone line because of the area you live in and the options available to you there. Though the NBN is now Australia-wide, there are still many areas where it isn’t the best option, in which case you may find yourself weighing up other ways to get online and make calls.
Not convinced? Give our team a call and we’ll help you to get connected in your area. If you need a plan that offers home phone calls, let our team talk you through the best ones.
Loading...