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Digital Voice not available ?

westfieldwanderer — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:47:02 GMT

Recently a friend had his business line changed to "Digital Voice" but still has the copper wire connection. A new Smart Hub 2 was supplied. The broadband works fine, but when he plugs his analogue phone into the green port on the rear of the router, nothing is heard ? He has contacted BT to query this, but was advised that "old phones" no longer work with this service / hub ?

Is this service only available to domestic customers, and not businesses ?

Can anyone possibly advise on this please.

Apologies in advance If I've got the teminology wrong !

Many thanks in advance for any guidance.

Re: Digital Voice not available ?

licquorice — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:48:20 GMT

This is the BT residential forum, you need to ask on the business forum as the implementation of VoIP is totally different for business lines.

As an aside, any form of VoIP or Digital Voice is just another internet service and will obviously work over any connection, fibre, copper or wet string.

Re: Digital Voice not available ?

WSH — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 22:00:41 GMT

As Licquorice says, business VoIP is completely different. I believe the Business Hub does not even have a BT type phone socket, so it seems a bit strange they gave him a domestic Smart Hub 2.

As far as “old” phones go, my 10-year-old analogue phone works fine plugged into the back of the Smart Hub 2. It would have to be a museum piece to not work at all.

What you may find is that some old phones need the “bell wire” connected in order to ring, which the Smart Hub does not provide. This can usually be fixed by plugging an old micro-filter in as these simulate the bell wire.