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BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

raymond1234 — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 12:41:42 GMT

Have been advised by BT that I will be switched to digital service, so for-warned is fore-armed as they say.

Got in touch with BT and this is what seems to have transpired

I have ordered a BT advanced digital phone with Alexa and assured that it also included a answering machine - no mention of this in the phone details as far as I can see, this will be supplied free of charge.

Can anyone confirm there is an answering machine function?

Ordered 3 addition essential hand sets at a cost of £19.99 - seems like a bargain as I was thinking of updating my phones anyway.

As my line rental saver is up for renewal this month asked about this and both call advisors have told me once I have changed over will no longer have to pay line renal - is this true ?

Glad to hear from them that there seemed to be general confusion over the change, expect a lot of people will suddenly find their phones stop working and then being unable to telephone BT to try and sort out!

;

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

imjolly — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 13:09:38 GMT

you will still pay line rental and advisors are wrong

with the alexa handset you can link that to your mobile if it also has alexa added and that way you can your your existing contacts in your mobile phone. it give ability to voice dial contact and save having to add your contacts to your DV phone

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

raymond1234 — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 13:17:53 GMT

Strange that both of them said the same thing, will have another go another day. Need to see if I can get Alexa on my iPhone now.

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

licquorice — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 14:23:25 GMT

Line rental is inclusive of whatever package you have, it is not a separate item. Broadband doesn't arrive by magic, a line is still needed 😀

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

NeilO — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 15:18:32 GMT

Hi @raymond1234 it doesn't have a built-in answering machine but it has a voicemail button for the 1571 answering service.

Does the BT Advanced Home phone with Alexa built-in have voicemail?

Digital Voice customers have free access to BT 1571. It answers your phone when you can't. Callers can leave a message, which you can hear by pressing the Voicemail button on the handset or dialling 1571. If you’ve got messages waiting for you to listen to, you’ll see an icon on the home screen of the phone, showing the number of messages and depending on your settings, you can also hear an alert.

Thanks

Neil

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

raymond1234 — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 16:05:30 GMT

Thanks for the reply, so far 1571 for me is a pain, I need to pick up phone to hear tone, will be interesting to see if the icon is enough to alert me.

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

jonstatt — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 06:00:04 GMT

BT have lowered the cost of the two primary handset types (there is a third type, advanced without Alexa). 20 pounds for 3 essential or 30 pounds for one Alexa.

What is silly though is the Alexa one has access to your contacts from your mobile phone, but can't sync them to its own contacts book. This means no way to get the contacts onto the essential models.

These phones badly need a way of mass transferring contacts unless I am missing it.

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

VeteranISPUser — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 07:03:04 GMT

@jonstattwrote:
These phones badly need a way of mass transferring contacts unless I am missing it.

Hi @jonstatt

Apparently there is a work-a-round but I don't know if Alexa gets in the way, i.e. you may see all contacts twice on the Alexa phone. I tried the first steps which worked. I exported all my Outlook contacts and imported them into Google Contacts. I then exported the Google contacts to a VCF file. I haven't got DV yet but apparently you can then import this file into your SH2.

Re: BT Advanced Digital Home Phone vs BT Advanced ... - BT Community

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

jonstatt — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 07:18:12 GMT

@VeteranISPUser Excellent. Thanks. Will give it a try.

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

VeteranISPUser — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 07:26:21 GMT

Hi @jonstatt Please let us know how you get on 😀 For most of us just planning on what works when I replace my premium phone which does sync with my mobile phone.

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

raymond1234 — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 07:37:34 GMT

Well I have received my new BT Advanced with Alexa handset with three basic handsets as extras, don't seem too bad, when I get switched. looks like you cant replace batteries when they go, but of course I could be wrong.

I am going to have to find some way of attaching the base to side table or it will be going everywhere.

What I am going to miss.

Calling 999 when power goes/Broadband down

Being able to contact BT when broadband goes down

I have extended ringers as I am a bi deaf . if I buy the adapter for HUB can I still get these working

Now see why they are promoting the ee link so you can maintain telephone service.

Decided all in all not very happy about change.

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

jonstatt — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 10:46:42 GMT

@VeteranISPUser It works. It doesn't clash with Alexa because the Alexa bit relies on the contacts stored within the Alexa app on a mobile phone and doesn't display them on the handset, strictly voice control only.

I had to edit the vcf file from Google contacts to replace + with 00

Samsung contacts has a vcf export but half my contacts didn't show after importing.

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

jonstatt — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 22:58:34 GMT

Another note. There seem to be two very different versions of the essential phone. One has x42 firmware and the other has v3. The x42 display is only lit from the top. The v3 is evenly lit. The v3 is much much faster at syncing the phonebook. The x42 has a better speakerphone. Battery is much poorer on the v3.

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

Dabber_D88 — Sat, 25 Sep 2021 11:29:22 GMT

I must have the v3 then, as I've seen the online reviews saying that the handset had an impressive 240 hours on standby. Well I've had mine a few days now and so fave have only managed 90 hours on standby.

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

mikecham — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 09:02:36 GMT

Can the Alexa Advanced Digital Phones be used without the SH2 by using another DECT Base station.

Re: BT advanced digital phone with Alexa

licquorice — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 09:25:26 GMT

You have already asked that question on a different thread, please don't post the same question on multiple threads it just causes confusion.

The answer is no.