This topic

Digital Voice Adapters

Oldeafnweary — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 17:39:03 GMT

How much is a Digital Voice Adapter please and where can I buy them?

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

licquorice — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 18:19:58 GMT

As far as I'm aware, one can be ordered free of charge from customer services 0800 800150

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

Oldeafnweary — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 18:21:37 GMT

Yes, you are right, thanks. But I have 4 phones around the house, so need more than one..

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 18:34:28 GMT

@Oldeafnweary wrote:

Yes, you are right, thanks. But I have 4 phones around the house, so need more than one..

Do they all have to be plugged into a phone socket, it would be unusual, as most just have a base unit, and the phones connect to that.

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

imjolly — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 18:47:08 GMT

Did you get a free DV HANDSET when you got DV as you get free phone or free adapter after that you need to buy them

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

Oldeafnweary — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 20:40:59 GMT

Thanks. Yes, all our landline handsets (currently) have to be plugged into a phone socket. I'm moderately deaf. My wife and I are both in our 70s in a large two-storey house. Two of the handsets are (expensive) amplified phones, and one of these is fitted with an (expensive) Oticon bluetooth device so I can hear it through my hearing aids. I use this one to make calls - or pick up calls once my wife has answered a call for me on one of the other handsets. (BT sold us mobile phones and SIM cards falsely assuring us we had a good mobile signal at home.) We are concerned that, once we have been moved over to Digital Voice (DV), in a power cut, we will have no means of communication. So Wifi Calling isn't a solution. We have yet to be moved over to DV but have had 'the letter'. I'm trying to work out options to avoid the situation in which, having been switched, we have only one handset or, in a power cut, none. I have considered battery back up but that seems to have a one hour life - it doesn't seem to say whether that is one hour of use, several hours if on standby or whether it powers the router or just the phone?

The best solution so far seems to be to connect the router to the socket system - disconnecting the faceplate from the incoming copper wires if I am able, and buying SIM cards from a network that gives us a mobile signal at home?

Alternatively I could buy 3 Adapters (to add to the free one) or 4 adapters (to add to the free handset). All our phone sockets have mains plugs adjacent. Hence my question: 'HOW MUCH DOES AN ADAPTER COST'? I guess BT aren't saying what the price is because they want customers to buy new handsets. This may no be a viable option for the deaf and retired. Please excuse the length. Thanks

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 21:08:39 GMT

If you use multiple DV adapters, I do not think you could pick up calls between phones.

The simplest option would be to use one DV adapter, and plug your existing internal phone wiring into it.

You would have to locate your master phone socket, as all the internal wiring should be connected to the back of the bottom front removable section. This would depend on which master socket you have.

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

Oldeafnweary — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 21:41:24 GMT

That's helpful. Thank you. My BT Smart Hub 2 is adjacent to my Master Socket. So I believe I can run a one metre, 'BT631A Plug to BT631A Plug' cable from the green phone socket on the router (Hub) to the master socket having removed the 'external wiring' as you say. My master socket is a BT Openreach Mk3 (with sockets one above the other.) I understand it's cables terminating in A and B that need to be disconnected once switchover to DV has happened?

(I suppose, if that were to work, I'd need neither the free Adapter or free handset? But may as well take the handset?)

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

Oldeafnweary — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 11:22:25 GMT

Thankyou to everyone who responded. You folk are life-savers.

It was this piece of BT advice which misled me: 'If you have a number of normal phones (i.e., not Digital Voice phones) you'll need to use adapters. ' NB 'ADAPTERS', plural

THE COST OF AN ADAPTER IS £14.98.
The (apparently) sole source of this information online is accessed by clicking here and entering an eligible landline number: http://bt.com/dvequipment
I imagine (hope) you can buy additional DV equipment here (i.e. additional to the free adapter or handset)

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

Keith_Beddoe — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 11:34:22 GMT

@Oldeafnweary wrote:

Thankyou to everyone who responded. You folk are life-savers.

It was this piece of BT advice which misled me: 'If you have a number of normal phones (i.e., not Digital Voice phones) you'll need to use adapters. ' NB 'ADAPTERS', plural

THE COST OF AN ADAPTER IS £14.98.
The (apparently) sole source of this information online is accessed by clicking here and entering an eligible landline number: http://bt.com/dvequipment
I imagine (hope) you can buy additional DV equipment here (i.e. additional to the free adapter or handset)

The only issue with doing it that way, is if you have a power cut, you would lose all of your phone connections, however if you connect the internal wiring directly to the smart hub 2 phone socket, then you only have to provide backup power to the Smart Hub 2, (and ONT if you have FTTP).

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

mi1 — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 16:56:44 GMT

I agree. All the literature says is that you will have to unplug your phones from their sockets. Naively I thought that somehow new technology would somehow allow all our phones to run off one adapter.

They say you can have one for free, but they don't say you will almost certainly need more than one - at a cost of £14.98 each....and we didn't even ask for DV in the first place.

Or we could buy a set of four handsets with one main base, I suppose, for £100+

Conned, at least a little, I think

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

imjolly — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 18:22:37 GMT

This post and there are others explain how to continue using existing phone sockets with existing phones

https://community.bt.com/t5/Home-phone-including-Digital/Digital-Voice-Change-over/m-p/2166365#M77091

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

Oldeafnweary — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 14:09:05 GMT

Hi mi1,

From what I understand from the helpfully-meant exchanges on this community (which - unhelpfully - often tend to use unexplained acronyms when replying to 'beginners' questions) you CAN indeed run your existing phones off one adapter, or even off the Smart Hub 2 (SH2).

Once you have been switched to BT Digital Voice, simply connect either the green socket on the SH2 - or the socket on the adapter - to your old analog master socket with the double-ended cable illustrated in the conversation to which imjolly helpfully provides a link. If your 'old' (copper) master socket is distant from the new (fibre) SH2 you may need to buy a long double-ended cable or run your DV adapter off a mains power extension lead taking it close to the old master socket so it can be connected with a short double-ended cable.

You may - or may not - need to disconnect the incoming copper (analog) wires from the backplate of your old copper analog master socket. I understand they terminate at connectors A and B, depending on your master socket. Mine is a marked 'BT Openreach Mk3'. I've asked for confirmation of this from the community but have yet to receive a reply.

I plan to buy a (£80+) battery back up (which will power our new SH2 and DV handset (when it arrives) for one hour after the power goes off.
I also plan to switch one of our EE mobile phones to a network which gives a signal inside our home. In our case O2, which means switching from a very inexpensive pay as you go SIM with Virgin (EE) to a SIM-only contract with O2. So we will not be without outside communication an hour after the power goes off.

I'm hoping that the improved clarity of Digital Voice, plus the volume control on the digital handset and the speakerphone facilities may allow me to further refine our current system and dispense with at least one amplified analog phone. Currently amplification of the conversation in our existing phones in the analog system results distorts speech. (I ordered a free handset rather than an adapter because our SH2 is very close to our analog master socket. I plan to plug the green phone socket on the new SH2 directly into the old master socket as I explained above).

I hope that helps. If any of the 'Distinguished Sages' see faults in this approach, or can provide an answer to the query about disconnecting the copper wires from the backplate of the existing master socket, I'd be very grateful to hear from you.

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

licquorice — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 14:07:21 GMT

Yes, the incoming cable terminates on the A & B terminals, it should be easy to identify the incoming cable in any case.

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

Oldeafnweary — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 14:09:46 GMT

Thanks to you both for highlighting these less expensive options than the contract I mentioned.
My point was badly made. It is that shifting networks (and retaining the same number) will incur additional cost because - as far as I'm aware and you may know different (?) - it will involve a contract of one form or another or a mandatory 'regular top-up, with lost credit'.

(My wife's mobile currently has a Virgin SIM card and she has no monthly payment or regular top-up requirement. She has had it for many years and pays as she goes, topping up (£25) roughly once every 18 months. )

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

licquorice — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 14:15:13 GMT

I have a contract phone at £7.50/m but my wife has a PAYG phone. It has no contract of any form and she last topped it up months (if not years) ago.

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

Oldeafnweary — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 14:31:27 GMT

Thanks licquorice , it sounds like we - especially our wives - are in a similar situation.

The issue is 'Could your wife change networks and retain that PAYG/non-contract, low cost facility'?

I have done lots of Googling and those deals no longer seen to be available. So changing my wife's network will mean losing the cheap, genuine PAYG option and involve either a contract or a mandatory top-up with lost credit.

Unless you know different?

(To remind you of the background, either my wife or I will have to change network because neither of us get any signal at home. We are both on EE. In a power cut, when our landline switched to Digital Voice we'd be cut off from the outside world (albeit after an hour with battery back-up. We are both in our 70s)

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

licquorice — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 15:05:10 GMT

@Oldeafnweary I've sent you a PM

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

Oldeafnweary — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 15:10:57 GMT

Thank you very much, Licquorice. Greatly appreciated.

Re: Digital Voice Adapters

Bobsherunkle — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 16:33:00 GMT

I just tried to order a free adapter, using the voucher code given by email. Couldn't find the product. Phoned BT, and the third person who spoke to me (they were all very helpful) told me BT Shop had temporarily removed the item from the list of products because it was out of stock.

Well done my former employer. The adapter or the digital phone is a must have for the switchover, but rather than flag the item as out of stock they just removed it, leaving me (and probably many others) searching fruitlessly.

All I can do is look from time to time to see when it becomes available again.