Digital Voice and area dialling codes

badmemory

I too was told that with digital voice I would need the full number.  It doesn't matter now as I've programmed them all in.

iniltous

I suppose it’s possible that Zen are somehow using a ‘wholesale’  version of BTDV , but I don’t think so , especially if Zen use their own router ( probably an ‘off the shelf’ router , simply rebadged as Zen ) rather than a rebadged version of the BTSH2 , but who knows ( apart from Zen ) 

matelodave

AFAIK Zen use the Fritzbox 7530 which is probably more versatile than the BT SH2 and can be used as a DECT base station (so can the SH2 but only with BT DV handsets)

armith

iniltous said:

I suppose it’s possible that Zen are somehow using a ‘wholesale’  version of BTDV , but I don’t think so , especially if Zen use their own router ( probably an ‘off the shelf’ router , simply rebadged as Zen ) rather than a rebadged version of the BTSH2 , but who knows ( apart from Zen ) 

The router Zen supply is a just a Fritzbox 7530 - no Zen branding at all on it. When I look at my settings in the Fritzbox web interface and navigate to Telephony/Telephone Numbers/Line settings I see a few entries that Zen might be using to work out what does and doesn't need an area code. My settings are "United Kingdom", "00, 44" and "0, 1526" - my (theoretical) local exchange code. If BT routers don't have this then that might be why the full number needs inputting?

iniltous

BT DV differs from most traditional VoIP providers, that why BT DV requires the consumer to use the SH2 , with BT you couldn’t simply replace the SH2 with ( for example) a Fritzbox 7530 , adjust a few settings and it’s working , some people, with serious networking knowledge, have apparently have got third party routers to work with BTDV , but it’s a complicated enterprise, outside the ‘ability’ of the average joe.
BT DV is a proprietary VoIP system, not the ‘off the shelf’ VoIP services some ISP will offer , BT would argue their system is more robust from a hacking/billing point of view.
Its possible that Zen , when providing the router for the customer that requires telephony will set up the router for the location the consumer lives in prior to dispatch , a service a niche provider could do that a mass market provider wouldn’t want to incorporate into their business model, presumably if someone moved with Zen ( to a different STD area ) the router would need these settings changed manually , unless of course Zen are able to manipulate this data remotely .

Its probably the case that the Fritzbox , has built into its telephony algorithm / code , that any number entered by the user  without a leading ‘0’ , the device inserts  01526 itself, before the user entered number  , then ‘sends’ the full national number even though  the user didn’t enter it.

Sterlingtimes

matelodave said:

AFAIK Zen use the Fritzbox 7530 which is probably more versatile than the BT SH2 and can be used as a DECT base station (so can the SH2 but only with BT DV handsets)

Indeed, it was a surprise when I discovered that each of my existing DECT handsets could be married to the router DECT base station. It was all easy after I located my handset instructions. The surprise came when we found that we were making simultaneous calls using different handsets.

Sterlingtimes

armith said:

The router Zen supply is a just a Fritzbox 7530 - no Zen branding at all on it. When I look at my settings in the Fritzbox web interface and navigate to Telephony/Telephone Numbers/Line settings I see a few entries that Zen might be using to work out what does and doesn't need an area code. My settings are "United Kingdom", "00, 44" and "0, 1526" - my (theoretical) local exchange code. If BT routers don't have this then that might be why the full number needs inputting?

Thank you, armith. I have empty settings at that location. However, it appears that Zen has done a tidy trick by allowing local numbers to be dialled without the area code.

Sterlingtimes

iniltous said:

Its probably the case that the Fritzbox , has built into its telephony algorithm / code , that any number entered by the user  without a leading ‘0’ , the device inserts  01526 itself, before the user entered number  , then ‘sends’ the full national number even though  the user didn’t enter it.

Thank you, iniltous, for your explanation. Do you know which company wrote the code for BT? Many years ago, Marconi was developing a "Smart Switch", but Marconi went bust, and the initiative most likely died. 

I notice now that several ISPs use the Digital Voice branding, e.g. Vodaphone TalkTalk.