This topic

Digital voice without broadband

lostandsearching — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 11:13:24 GMT

I am asking on behalf of my 2 elderly sisters-in-law. Neither of them has broadband or any wish to have broadband. Both have health problems , live alone and rely on their phones for help and company. Both are with BT and have been for many years. Nowhere on the FAQS can I find the answer to what do you do if you do not have broadband and are being switched to Digital voice. The soothing message says we understand not everyone has "this ability" with regard to equipment but it does not explain anymore about not having broadband. Is moving to another provider their only option? Will that even work? Can they opt out of Digital Voice? For that matter, can I? I do not like the sound of being totally dependent on the internet. In view of the big IT outage recently this sounds to me like putting all our eggs in one basket.

Re: Digital voice without broadband

WSH — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 11:50:50 GMT

I myself was moved to digital voice last September and the phone has worked exactly as it did before ever since.

I’m perhaps not the best person to answer your questions. There are more knowledgeable people on here but as no one else has done so, I’ll try to give you some answers. I’m sure I’ll be corrected if I’m wrong.

In reverse order:

The recent outage was more an industrial thing and hyped up by the media. Myself, (and I’m sure the vast majority of ordinary users), did not even notice. Certainly, there was no disruption to digital voice that I was aware of. The biggest problem is that it will not work during a power cut. Whether that’s a problem depends on where you live and how often you get power cuts, of course. It is possible to get a battery backup for it.

Can they opt out is a little more difficult to answer. I believe BT will not proactively move anyone against their objections but the reality is that the old phone system is obsolete, falling apart and becoming difficult to get spares for, as no one makes them anymore. Eventually, everyone will have to move, if you still want some sort of phone service.

Moving to another provider is a waste of time. This is not just a BT issue, although they’ve taken most of the flak for it. The same situation applies to all of them. Sooner or later, they will all go the same way. At least BT have provided some sort of alternative solution. A lot of providers are not providing a phone service.

As I understand it, essentially, they won’t have “the internet”. What they will have is a box that plugs into a power point. The phone then plugs into that box and the box plugs into the phone socket. It should work on the defaults and be no more difficult to setup than changing a light bulb.

Re: Digital voice without broadband

licquorice — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 13:00:09 GMT

Phone only customers without broadband will be the last customers to be moved to Digital Voice and probably won't be until 2027.

By that time, a definitive solution will be in place but will probably consist of a low bandwidth box to plug a normal phone into as described by @WSH or it may be the 'box' is simply provided at the exchange and the phone will work as now as far as the customer is concerned.

Re: Digital voice without broadband

lostandsearching — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 17:05:24 GMT

Thank you. That is re-assuring.

Re: Digital voice without broadband

lostandsearching — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 17:06:49 GMT

Thank you. I did not understand they would not need to pay for broadband they would never use. If there is a magic box to get round the problem then we are sorted.

Re: Digital voice without broadband

chrisjp — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 22:16:49 GMT

"By that time, a definitive solution will be in place but will probably consist of a low bandwidth box to plug a normal phone into as described by @WSH or it may be the 'box' is simply provided at the exchange and the phone will work as now as far as the customer is concerned."

That's interesting - if the box is indeed provided at the exchange then presumably it could be backed up by batteries in the same way that the old analogue system is/was. That would remove the objection from some people that DV phones won't work in a power outage.

Re: Digital voice without broadband

WSH — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 22:29:07 GMT

Yes, that thought occurred to me. Fewer exchanges will be needed for FTTP, however and I'm not sure how it tallies with most of the exchanges facing closure in the long term. As fibre can travel further, it might even help to have fewer but better provisioned centres? We will have to wait and see.

Re: Digital voice without broadband

licquorice — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 07:20:19 GMT

The ATA in the exchange solution would only be for copper connections, not fibre.

Re: Digital voice without broadband

WSH — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 07:58:16 GMT

So presumably, with exchange closures, distance would be a limiting factor then?

Re: Digital voice without broadband

SouthWest1 — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 15:52:27 GMT

How is a voice only line provided by BT in a fibre only home?

Re: Digital voice without broadband

WSH — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 16:08:20 GMT

You get a very limited broadband connection just for the Digital Voice.

Re: Digital voice without broadband

iniltous — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 16:16:13 GMT

By providing broadband, albeit a version with very low bandwidth ( 0.5Mb ) download that’s priced the same as the existing standalone telephony product , the customer gets a ‘router’ wether that’s a standard SH2 or a ‘cut down’ version that has no broadband facilities, WiFi , Ethernet ports etc , remains to be seen.

AFAIK , no BT customer has posted on this forum of having this phone only service provided in a FTTP home , but Openreach have a FTTC/FTTP 0.5Mb profile for this purpose , TBH there’s not likely to be many takers , it’s much more likely customers don’t want telephony but do want broadband

Re: Digital voice without broadband

Clarkatron — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 20:40:15 GMT

Any up to date info please? I've had a letter saying I'm being moved to DV in a couple weeks. I have no broadband connection. BT say they don't require access to my house. So no additional box or whatever needed?

Re: Digital voice without broadband

licquorice — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 21:20:39 GMT

That has already been answered on your own thread.

https://community.bt.com/t5/Home-phone-including-Digital/Digital-voice/td-p/2454055

There is no need to cause confusion by posting in multiple places.