This topic

How do you change supplier if you have Smart Hub 2 and Digital Voice Adapter

POTS — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 12:51:56 GMT

Previously when you had broadband your broadband supplier would provide you with a router which you would plug into a Master socket. If you changed broadband supplier the new supplier would provide you with the router they used and you would plug it into the Master Socket.

Let's say you now have a Smart Hub 2 and a BT Digital Voice Adapter. What happens when you change broadband supplier. Will the new supplier provide a new hub that replaces the Smart Hub 2? If that is the case what happens with the Digital Voice Adapter will it pair with new hub, because I have the impression that it only works with the BT Smart Hub?

Re: How do you change supplier if you have Smart Hub 2 and Digital Voice Adapter

licquorice — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 13:38:05 GMT

When you change supplier, the BT hub will need to be returned to BT as it is only loaned to you and the new supplier will provide a new router. Many suppliers no longer provide telephony, if they do they will provide whatever is required.

The DV adapter is proprietary to BT and won't work with another supplier's router which would be very unlikely to have a similar capability in any case.

Re: How do you change supplier if you have Smart Hub 2 and Digital Voice Adapter

POTS — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 13:44:35 GMT

That is what I thought. However it means if you use the Digital Voice Adapter you may be tied to BT because it could prove difficult to get equivalent functionality from another supplier. I suppose you could end up with two hubs and two contracts. One for the new broadband supplier and one kept with BT just for Digital Voice so that you can keep whatever is connected to the Adapter functioning.

From other posts I though the Digital Voice Adapter connected to the hub using DECT is that the case and if so why can the adapter not be paired with a DECT Hub from another supplier?

Re: How do you change supplier if you have Smart Hub 2 and Digital Voice Adapter

licquorice — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 13:50:10 GMT

Because (a) it uses a proprietary version of DECT and (b) it assumes the other supplier's router also uses DECT which I don't believe any other routers do.

You wouldn't be able to use 2 hubs in conjunction either. There would be no way that a third party's VoIP system could interface with a BT hub to allow the use of a DV adapter.

Re: How do you change supplier if you have Smart Hub 2 and Digital Voice Adapter

iniltous — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 15:15:58 GMT

A BT DV adapter isn’t essential for IP telephony, it isn’t even essential for BT DV , it simply allows a standard corded phone to be remote from the BT SH2 router , as stated if someone changes provider, the corded phone they used with the DV adapter is still their own phone , it’s irrelevant to BT if it can be easily connected to the new ISP router , that isn’t BT’s problem, the adapter isn’t meant to be universal it’s a BT specific device, usually supplied for free.

TBH , the clue is in the name it’s a BT Digital Voice adapter, enabling a phone to be used with BT Digital Voice , DV isn’t a generic term for all IP telephony (confusingly some providers also call their own service DV when they should have used their imagination and called their telephone service anything else ) but it’s actually BT’s name for their own proprietary telephone service and in essence why do you need a BT DV adapter if you don’t have BT DV , you can’t connect your Sky TV box to Virgin TV cable service and expect it to work , this is no different.

If the new provider does supply a router with a IP telephony service included, but not a way to connect a corded phone to it remotely (in other words the phone has to be connected directly to the router ) thats is a differentiation , not anti competitive, if someone wants to use a different provider but also wants to use an ‘adapter’ that the new provider doesn’t supply , that’s a factor the consumer considers when deciding which provider to use , it doesn’t stop anyone changing provider.

Re: How do you change supplier if you have Smart Hub 2 and Digital Voice Adapter

WSH — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 17:50:32 GMT

People have been conditioned over generations to think BT are the only telephony provider. In fact, that never has been the case. For example, KCOM have always provided it around Hull. Now it is no longer the case for the rest of the country.

Just as there are many providers of broadband, there are now also many providers of telephony. Digital Voice is BT’s proprietary version of a wider system know as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Sky, for example, have their own version of VoIP known as Sky Talk. There are also third parties that specialise in VoIP services but don’t supply their own broadband service. They use your existing broadband. For example, Vonage.

As far as the DV adapter goes, you can use an ordinary cordless base station plugged into the hub to provide DECT around the home. I’ve been using Panasonic cordless systems for 20 years now, including the last 3 years plugged into DV via a Smart Hub 2.