This topic

Digital Voice Issue

capsticksbarn — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 14:11:01 GMT

Have recently been converted from copper landline to Digital Voice. Fttp to SH2 to DV adapter to BT Premium phone.

When I ring my home from external source, I hear 3 rings before my home phone actually rings. This means that although I have the Premium phone set to 10 rings before the Answer Machine cuts in, we hear only seven rings before the ANS cuts in. This was not the case when on copper. The issue is that those missing 3 rings cuts the manual answering time which is extremely annoying.

Is this and issue with how DV is implemented?

Thanks

Re: Digital Voice Issue

imjolly — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 14:18:10 GMT

Does it work if you leave out DV adapter and connect phone direct to SH2?

Re: Digital Voice Issue

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 14:29:33 GMT

The ringing tone is generated by the network, it does not mean that the phone at the receiving end is actually ringing.

With a normal copper PSTN connection, there would be virtually no delay between the two, as the exchange line card would send out ringing current right away,

With a VOIP service, there would be a number of elements that would introduce delay between the ringing tone and the actual phone ringing at the receiving end. So if you hear 10 lots of ringing tone, its quite possible that not all of them will result in the phone ringing.

Re: Digital Voice Issue

capsticksbarn — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 14:43:02 GMT

Thanks for the explanation. So to be clear: the source would hear more rings than the recipient (me). In this case 3 rings. Could this not imply to the caller that the call may not be answered and therefore hang-up? (as has happened more than once). Is this not a slight design flaw? It seems a backward step to me.

Re: Digital Voice Issue

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 15:20:32 GMT

@capsticksbarn wrote:

Thanks for the explanation. So to be clear: the source would hear more rings than the recipient (me). In this case 3 rings. Could this not imply to the caller that the call may not be answered and therefore hang-up? (as has happened more than once). Is this not a slight design flaw? It seems a backward step to me.

Many years ago, BT had a residential VOIP service called BT Broadband Talk, which gave users an extra phone number they could use.

This had the same issue with the ringing delay, and sometimes even the ringing tone itself was different, for some reason.

Th delay was present on the supplied hub phones, and on any phone plugged into the home hub socket. It was not really an issue, as the BT supplied hub phones did not have an answer machine facility.

In your case, I suspect that the answerphone feature is implemented in the network software, and will count the number of ring tones heard by the caller, and not the actual times the phone rings at the distant end.

If you have a wired phone, you could try plugging it into the phone socket on the back of the Smart Hub 2, and see if you still get the delay. That would prove whether its the DECT base station within the home hub which is causing the lost rings, or whether it is actually a network related issue.

Re: Digital Voice Issue

capsticksbarn — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 16:15:04 GMT

Thanks for the suggestion. Sounds good. Unfortunately I have not had a wired phone for some considerable time. As you may know, my Premium phone is wireless with a base station connected via the DV adapter. So, nice idea, and I wish I could test as you suggest, but I can't. So, I guess I'll just have to live with it.

Thanks again for your swift responses.

Regards

Mike

Re: Digital Voice Issue

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 16:26:24 GMT

Actually the DV phones use DECT, which is not quite the same as normal Wifi. Any communication between the DECT base station which is inside the home hub, and the handset, it going to be subject to delays. If you are using a DECT repeater (DV extender) then this is likely to introduce more delay.

What phone did you use when you had a copper landline, which you mentioned on your first post?

Re: Digital Voice Issue

capsticksbarn — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 17:13:20 GMT

The same one - a BT Premium wireless phone.

Incidently, I think all the software (answer phone, call lists, contacts etc.) are contained within the base station (the software is call Truecall - originally Call Guardian?) , and not within the network.

Re: Digital Voice Issue

imjolly — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 17:16:53 GMT

Did you not get a free DV phone when you got DV?

Re: Digital Voice Issue

capsticksbarn — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 17:24:10 GMT

No. Was not offered one. Had to buy the adapter.

Have to say that I would have kept the Premium anyway since I have a master and two extensions. So, to replicate with DV phones I would have needed to buy 2 more DV phones even if the first was free - an expense I couldn't justify.

Re: Digital Voice Issue

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 18:30:45 GMT

@capsticksbarn wrote:

The same one - a BT Premium wireless phone.

Incidently, I think all the software (answer phone, call lists, contacts etc.) are contained within the base station (the software is call Truecall - originally Call Guardian?) , and not within the network.

So you are introducing a double delay, one from the home hub to the DECT adapter, then another from the DECT adapter to the phones, via the DECT base station in your own phone base.

This is probably what is causing the loss of the three rings.

I vaguely remember a similar issue with the old Broadband Talk service, which was reported.

Re: Digital Voice Issue

capsticksbarn — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 18:35:38 GMT

Sounds like it. Shame BT don't make this clear when they offer the kit. Still, I guess I don't really have any choice as the DV system was foisted on me within the last two weeks (having had the fttp installed last year).

Re: Digital Voice Issue

Chainsaw — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 15:14:07 GMT

The DVA should have been free.

I recently had FTTP300 installed and they ~~forced~~ switched me to Digital Voice a few weeks ago but I had the offer of a free Advanced Digital phone or a DVA. I opted for the DVA as I have 4 dect phones around the house with the base station having an answering machine (which is downstairs and the SH2 is upstairs).

We never use the landline for outgoing calls anymore too be honest, mainly incoming.

A problem I have though which I think is related to yours is that I missed a call the other day and now I have the pulsing dial tone as if to say I have a message. I dont pay for voice mail.

Going online, my BT account says that 2 messages have been sent to my junk voice mail box. I dial 1472, select Option 3 (junk voicemail) and it says no messages but my dial tone says otherwise???

I have logged it as a fault so lets see what they do.

While I was online, I extended my rings to 10 ( from 7) and now, my base answer machine kicks in before the any BT Junk one does so hopefully fixed the problem myself.

Still need to get shot of the pulsing dial tone though.

Can you not plug your current phone into the rear of the SH2 instead of the DVA to try it out? I thought if it plugs into the DVA and works then it should work in the rear of the SH2?

Cheers,

Re: Digital Voice Issue

capsticksbarn — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 15:50:10 GMT

Interesting.

I also missed a call. Upon reading your issue with the pulsing dialtone, I checked my line and guess what: I also have the pulsing dialtone. I wonder what it means? Who did you log the fault with?

With regard to plugging the phone into the SH2, like you I also have some wireless phones slaved to my base station, and it is not in a place where I can easily connect.

Re: Digital Voice Issue

capsticksbarn — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 16:11:58 GMT

OK. Discovered whats going on (I think).

When you get the DV service, it seems you are automatically enrolled on BTs voicemail service. Messages waiting are signalled by a pulsing dialtone. By dialing 1571 you can hear them.

So the voicemail cuts in before you own answer machine.

You can't turn the service off (why not?), but you can set the ring count to 10. Then set your answer machine to a ring count of 9 and hopefully yours will work first.

Haven't proved it, but good luck.

Re: Digital Voice Issue

capsticksbarn — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 17:18:24 GMT

Hi Keith,

If you've been following this thread, you'll see there is an associated problem. Unbeknownst to me, it seems DV customers are automatically enrolled in Voicemail. This interferes with my own answer machine in the Premium base station. If I set the Voicemail ring count (in my BT account) to 10, and my answering ring count to 7, my answering service cuts in before Voicemail (good). But actually 7 rings is sometimes not enough to get to a phone (I would normally set it to 10).

The solution is easy: turn Voicemail off.

Unfortunately I can't see any way of doing that. Is it a service I have to cancel by order? Indeed can I actually get BT to turn it off?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Mike

Re: Digital Voice Issue

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 18:27:56 GMT

https://www.bt.com/help/landline/all-about-voicemail-for-digital-voice-

Also, this applies to mobile, but I would expect it to be the same for Digital Voice.

Turning voicemail on and off

Dial 15710 from your phone (it's free) to turn this off. ( You'll hear a message: "Your request to turn off conditional diverts to your BT Mobile voicemail has been confirmed")
Dial 15711 to turn it back on.

Re: Digital Voice Issue

Chainsaw — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 21:30:05 GMT

@Keith_Beddoe

I just tried this from my landline and it just goes to my voicemail main menu, nothing about turning the feature on or off though.

There are 2 messages waiting for me which would account for the pulse dial tone.

I have not played these messages as I am worried that this will sign me up to the voicemail services that I don't need and do not wish to pay for.

Its all got a bit confusing since being switched to DV!

Is this voice service free as I never had it before the switch. Is it the same as the junk voicemail?

Confused. 😞

*EDIT*

Just read your link.

So as DV users, we automatically get signed up to voicemail for free.

No mention how to turn it off though as we use the answer machine in our dect phone.

Also, the webchat guy who logged my problem as a 'known glitch' was talking twaddle!

Re: Digital Voice Issue

capsticksbarn — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 07:04:21 GMT

Update.

Ring 1571 to hear your messages. This will get rid of the pulsetone. Because of the delays incurred to using DECT phones and DV adapter, I've set the voicemail ring delay to 10 (online account), and my base station answer machine ring delay to 7. This worked for me. My base station answer machine cuts in before voicemail. Not ideal, but working.

Maybe we have to raise an order on BT to cancel the Voicemail service. I can't see any other way of doing it. I'm going to wait a bit to see if the new setup is practical before attempting Voicemail cancellation.

I'd be interested to hear how thing pan out for you.

Mike

Re: Digital Voice Issue

DanielS — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 08:48:32 GMT

Hi All,

You are right that voicemail is for Digital Voice Customers and it's also pre-enabled.

If you want to turn it off, log in to your MyBT and access the Digital Voice - Calling Features

You can find more info here: Digital Voice Voicemail.

We can also turn it off for you over the phone 🙂

Thanks

DanielS