This topic

router for digital voice

petere — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:24:46 GMT

Can anyone confirm the following:

I am on FTTC, and have a smart hub 2, new in 2023 when our green cabinet was upgraded to fibre (still copper to the house). It has the green phone socket on the back. I have been notified that i am being switched to digital voice next week (10.2.25). BT have also placed an order for me for a ... Smart Hub 2.. i queried this and at first was told i was registered as having an older hub, which is wrong, which would explain the order. They then found that they had supplied me already with a SH2, but the cust service operator was very diligent and went to double check. He came back and told me that there are three types of SH2, and that mine will not work when DV is activated. He wasn't clear if that meant no internet or just no DV. I can find no reference to this anywhere on line. Has he got this right? Shouldn't i just be able to plug my phone into my existing SH2 when the switchover is made, and shouldn't my SH2 just carry on working? Very confused. Thanks

Re: router for digital voice

jac_95 — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:27:39 GMT

Hi petere,

Thanks for the post and welcome to the Community.

This is an automated response as I can see you have a question about BT’s Digital Voice service. Rather than waiting for a response from the Community, you may find an answer to your question by using the search bar on the Community homepage. We also have a thread that contains a wealth of info related to BT’s Digital Voice, click this link to take a look, Digital Voice FAQs.

Got some questions or want to learn more about BT’s Digital Voice rollout? BT are running localised events as part of the regional rollout of Digital Voice - Click here to view the Digital Voice events

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Re: router for digital voice

imjolly — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:31:27 GMT

does ethernet port 4 double as a LAN/WAN connection? if so SH2 will be ok

Re: router for digital voice

petere — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:37:17 GMT

i an not on Full fibre, so i don't use port 4 in that way. Are you saying that some SH2's don't have that facility? My dashboard has the toggle to go to full fibre, but it's not activated. Thanks

Re: router for digital voice

imjolly — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:42:08 GMT

yes the ethernet port 4 doubles as LAN/WAN if you can toggle on/off then SH2 should have no problems with DV

Re: router for digital voice

gspearson — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:42:55 GMT

I'm in the same position. I was sent a SH2 a couple of years ago which I kept in its box as I was using a modem and mesh. At the beginning of this year I was sent a flurry of documents telling me to get ready for DV so, with help from here, I removed the modem and conected the mesh to the SH2. This brought no obvious changes, other than swapping a neatly mounted hidden modem for a wobbly lump of the SH2. I've been offered, free, a DV adapter, which has arrived but not a peep since. I don't mind - once I'm out of contract in 12 months, I'll rethink my system - perhaps joining my neighbours on a CityFibre provider: OpenReach has no current plans to lay fibre here.

Re: router for digital voice

petere — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:45:52 GMT

i have checked, the toggle is blanked out, so i can't move the slider, what does that mean?

Re: router for digital voice

imjolly — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:49:25 GMT

your ethernet port 4 is LAN and cannot change until FTTP

Re: router for digital voice

petere — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:50:48 GMT

thanks, but what exactly does that mean? will my current router still work when DV is activated?

Re: router for digital voice

imjolly — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:54:12 GMT

as I posted already I don't see any problems when DV activated

Re: router for digital voice

petere — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:57:09 GMT

ok, thanks, so can i just confirm then that my current SH2, currently configured on FTTC should work , giving me internet access and DV when i plug my phone into the green socket) and that i shouldn't need to swop routers over? Apologies as i am finding this rather confusing..

Re: router for digital voice

imjolly — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 16:08:00 GMT

yes

Re: router for digital voice

petere — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 16:12:17 GMT

thanks, appreciate your help. i've noticed that the latest SH2 routers have a red sticker above port 4 (which my 2023 model doesn't have). Asume that is just to avoid confusion when people do switch to full fibre, and doesn't indicate a hradware or software change on the SH" itself ? Would that be the case? Thanks again.

Re: router for digital voice

WSH — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 16:25:27 GMT

I was moved to Digital Voice (DV) 18 months ago. Provided the SH2 has a phone socket on the back it should work. Personally, if they insist on sending you a new one, I’d take it. A spare is always useful.

The confusion with the port 4/FTTP toggle is that Openreach are very keen to move people to Full Fibre at the same time as DV, where possible, so they have allowed people to think the two go together. In fact, they are separate issues. DV will work just fine over FTTC/ copper to the cabinet. That’s how I’m running it myself. In this case the Lan port 4/FTTP mode is completely irrelevant.

You only need port 4 as a WAN port for Full Fibre/FTTP. In the meantime, you can turn FTTP Mode off and use it as LAN port 4.

Re: router for digital voice

petere — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 16:49:03 GMT

thanks, appreciate your filling in the background. Looks like my cust service rep, who was trying to be helpful and going the extra mile, might have just got the wrong story about different types of SH2. BT's own info says the hub will be configured for your own service, but they might need you to change that - to my mind that means flicking the toggle to FTTP when you get full fibre and using port 4 to interface with the fibre modem. Obviously i won't need to do that as i will still be on FTTC as you are. As i said in my first post i cannot find any reference to different SH2's being required when you go to DV, as he suggested.

Re: router for digital voice

WSH — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 17:12:37 GMT

I think, (and I might be wrong on this), that the original SH did not have the phone socket. The SH2 did but the early SH2’s did not have the WAN port. That was added later, (through a firmware upgrade), and then they started marking the 4th port as the WAN port. In a sense he is right. There where three versions of the Smart Hub/Smart Hub 2.

While on the subject, I’ll also add that the hub will need a reboot after DV is activated, for it to pick up the right settings, and then your phone number should appear on the home page. For some reason, they seem to forget to mention that to customers.

Re: router for digital voice

petere — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 17:21:15 GMT

Thanks, yes, i agree with what you say about the three types of smart hub, one being the firmware update. After spending a few hours trawling the net i came to the same conclusion. i think also he tried to explain about the hub not being recognised, forgetting to add that it just needed restarting. Eventually i came to the conclusion that if your SH2 has a telephone port then it should be ok, either through fibre (port 4 at WAN) or copper (port 4 as LAN).

Re: router for digital voice

licquorice — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 17:23:51 GMT

There were initially 2 hardware versions of the SH2, one for FTTC with 4 Yellow LAN ports and one for FTTP with 3 Yellow LAN ports and a red WAN port.

Latterly, the 4 LAN port version has had a firmware upgrade to toggle port 4 between LAN and WAN.

Re: router for digital voice

petere — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 17:56:40 GMT

thanks. I have the one with 4 x yellow ports, my firmware is v0.44.00.04123 and was updated 11th december 2024, so if i understand correctly i should be ok in terms of both internet connection and DV when i am switched to DV. I will be staying on FTTC, we have only fibre to cabinet where i am (Norfolk). Is that correct?

Re: router for digital voice

WSH — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 18:13:21 GMT

Yes, that's exactly what I've got.

As I said, the WAN port only comes into play with FTTP/Full Fibre. Then you get a box on the wall called an ONT (Optical Network Terminal), that converts the optical signals into ethernet. An ethernet lead then connects that to the WAN port and the DSL port becomes redundant.

With FTTC/copper to the cabinet you just carry on with the DSL port connected to the phone socket on the wall and the phone plugs into the back of the SH2.