Digital voice installation - what actually happens ?

Monanore

When BT get around to it I assume an engineer arrives.
My phone point and router are in the hall.
What does he install and where ?
Will he have replacement phones if mine don’t work ?
What else do I need to prepare for or know in advance ?
How often do people have problems and what are they likely to be ?
Not that I’m at all worried !

spenderdave

No house call needed. You will receive emails telling you the date, you will probably  be sent a new router and given advice in the email on phones and the opportunity to buy a phone. But virtually all current digital cordless phones will work, you just need to plug it into your router. On the day it goes active it just does, maybe with a short delay.
Installation of full fibre broadband of course is different. Here you will need a site visit, probably two, and the engineer will check your phone and broadband is working.

Peter999_2

I've just got my parents onto FTTP from FTTC with TalkTalk and their phone line has become digital voice.

I received a new router and a small box for the phone.  You plug the small box into the router and wait up to 1 hour - within 5 minutes I could see a confirmation light appeared on the box which as per the instructions means it's live.

I then plugged their wireless phone base into the small box. You get a small adapter with the box which converts the box connection (RJ11 which is what the rest of the world seem to use, it's only us with the white BT connection) into the normal BT connection.      It worked fine - you get the dial tone and can make calls and receive them.  You just can't tell the difference (in fact my parents line is a lot clearer as water used to affect the copper line).

With TalkTalk you also get an app on your phone so you can take home calls on that while you are out and about.  Quite frankly it's great, far superior to the old line (though I have been using digital voice for over 23 years myself so I'm used to it).

The only time you would have a problem is if you have emergency equipment which is connected to the line.  My friend has this and had to have a replacement of the emergency equipment that would work with digital voice.    The other down side is that if your internet goes down then so does the phone.  My friend has bought a small box with 4 AA rechargable batteries which would keep the line working for a while when the power goes down.   I'm not sure how long it would last but they are happy it is long enough for them to do something about it.    Funnily, a couple of years ago their phone line actually went down a few times in a couple of weeks which was annoying so it isn't just internet problems that happen.

Don't read the scare stories in the media, there is nothing to be afriad of, especially if you have a mobile phone to use in an emergency and you don't have any dedicated emergency equipment.

The engineer does not carry any replacement phones with him as it's not required.  If your phone works on the old copper lines then it will work with the new Digital Voice.

Newcad

If you already have a BT SmartHub2 and are getting a BT Advanced Digital Phone then it's just a case of switching on the new phone, pressing 'OK' and following the steps to link the phone wirelessly to the SmartHub2.
(The phone uses it's own channel and not the 'regular' wifi).

Here's a link to the BT Advanced Digital Phone user guide: https://www.bt.com/content/dam/bt/help/digital-voice/advanced-phone/BT-Advanced-Digital-Home-Phone-User-Guide.pdf

If you have an older BT Hub then that may need swapping to a SmartHub2.

If you want to use an existing phone then BT will supply a small adapter that you plug into any electrical socket then plug your existing phone into that. (you can buy extra adapters if wanted).
Here's the user guide for that: https://www.bt.com/content/dam/bt/help/user-guides/Digital-Voice-Adapter-userguide.pdf

They should send you whatever equipment you need (or have ordered extra) before the switchover day.

Here's the full BT 'Moving to Digital voice' guide: https://www.bt.com/help/landline/digital-voice-migration

facade

I could be wrong, as it is so obvious, but the BT Smarthub 2 has a phone socket on the back for you to plug an old fashioned phone (or the base station of your cordless) into, and it is DECT compatible so it will link to pretty much any cordless 'phone made this century.

Newcad

There is such a socket on the SmartHub2, but isn't always convinient to plug directly into the SH2. eg. My SH2 is in a built in cupboard in my hallway, my phone is in my living room.

So if you want to use an existing DECT phone then why not get the FREE adaptor and plug it in wherever you want? (The adaptor links wirelessly to the SmartHub2 so can be anywhere within range).

Hermann

Monanore said:

When BT get around to it I assume an engineer arrives.
My phone point and router are in the hall.
What does he install and where ?
Will he have replacement phones if mine don’t work ?
What else do I need to prepare for or know in advance ?
How often do people have problems and what are they likely to be ?
Not that I’m at all worried !

It will depend on which provider you are using, for example if you are a BT customer you either already have a router you can plug your phone into or you will be sent a new router that will allow you to.
However if you are a Plusnet customer you will not be able to continue using your home phone as they do not offer a Digital Voice service. To keep your landline number and be able to use a home phone you would need to subscribe to a third party VOIP service within 30 days of Plusnet switching your landline off otherwise you lose the number.
Other providers will have varying options.
So it will depend on who your ISP & landline service provider are.