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VoIP phones and how to connect

padmeister101 — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 15:04:25 GMT

Good afternoon

I’m looking for some advice on VoIP phones.

My parents have recently switched broadband to BT from another provider and, as part of the switch they were moved to digital voice.

Currently they have the BT provided emergency phone plugged into the back of the router. I understand that this has a SIM card which should keep the phone line available if the broadband were to fail.

Their main house phone, which has an answerphone and a second handset in another room, is connected via a VoIP adapter which BT supplied.

The problem we have is that the adapter has disconnected twice since I installed it about six weeks ago. This leaves us unable to contact them as the emergency phone will ring out but they don’t hear it as it’s too far away from their living room. It then goes through to BT voicemail which they don’t use. They also can’t make outgoing calls.

As the adapter seems a bit unreliable (I suspect as it’s trying to connect through three cinder block walls) I thought of running a line from the back of the router to where the house phone currently sits and using a splitter to plug this and the emergency phone into the back of the router.

Is this feasible or is there a better way to do it?

Re: VoIP phones and how to connect

WSH — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 15:11:57 GMT

Yes, should be quite feasible.

How did they have the phone connected before? If there is an existing extension, we can give you advice on how to reconnect that.

Re: VoIP phones and how to connect

padmeister101 — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 15:20:17 GMT

Thanks for your help.

There was an existing extension but it’s a weird arrangement where the original master socket is in the loft of a bungalow. The had a fly lead running down behind the kitchen cabinets from there.

I think it might be easier all round if I run a new cable from the back of the router up into the loft and down using the same gap behind those cabinets. I can do it fairly easily and tidily. It was just the splitter that was concerning me as I wasn’t sure whether it was ok to use one with a home hub.

Re: VoIP phones and how to connect

WSH — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 15:29:44 GMT

Are they on part-fibre (FTTC/VDSL) or full-fibre (FTTP)?

Just so you're aware, if it is full-fibre, the Smart Hub 2 does not need to right next to the ONT (Optical Network Terminal). The cat 5e ethernet cable between the two can theoretically be up to 100m long.

Re: VoIP phones and how to connect

padmeister101 — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 19:05:21 GMT

Unfortunately it’s part fibre so not an option.

Thanks for the advice though. That’s helpful to know.