This topic

FTTC

Endersby23 — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 00:17:26 GMT

Just hoping that someone with BT FTTC and Digital Voice knowledge can explain the following for me.

I'm currently awaiting an FTTC with Digital Voice install. I explained that my Home Hub2 is located a long way from the Master Socket that has no nearby mains power. Nevertheless, I've been told that a new faceplate would l be used on my Master socket so as to segregate the Voice and Data elements. Given my circumstances, how could this be a benefit ?

Surely, the voice and data elements are delivered to an FTTC customer within a single VDSL stream with the router sorting out what element goes where???

Re: FTTC

licquorice — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 08:06:51 GMT

Yes, exactly that. Voice is delivered via the green socket at the rear of the hub for analogue phones or a cordless (DECT) base station. DV handsets connect directly to the built in DECT base station within the hub.

Re: FTTC

iniltous — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 08:39:05 GMT

If you already have FTTC , with the router located remotely from the master socket and the master socket has no mains outlet nearby is irrelevant, your phone connects to the router , so your phone (if it’s corded) is positioned (or repositioned) close to the router .

If the existing master socket is currently used (it has your phone connected to it )and the router is connected to an extension cable socket , and for some reason you don’t want the corded phone near the router , then it may be possible to use a second ‘pair’ in the extension cable , to wire back from the router location socket to the master so a phone can continue to be used there , but as far as I know , this is not BT or Openreach’s responsibility but yours , so it’s a DIY job or a case you employ a tradesperson to do it , the visit you are getting isn’t to do this work , search voice reinjection for online guidance .

If you don’t want your corded phone connected directly to the router located remotely, but don’t want to reengineer your existing cabling , BT will supply a DV adapter, a mains powered box that your corded phone connects to , you can have this in any room where there is power , so possibly not where the phone is now but positioned away from the router in another room .

Most people can do this simple change , moving a phone cord from the wall socket to the router socket without a home visit .

Re: FTTC

Endersby23 — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 16:07:24 GMT

Thanks for the earlier replies.

My concern was generated when I ordered Digital Home Phone to be added to my existing Fibre Essential line (which has a cable presentation at the home).

As I said previously, my HomeHub is a long way from the master socket although the arrangement works ok for me. My confusion arose when I was told that a filter faceplate would be necessary for the upgrade, although I could not understand why...would 2 filter outputs need me to run a 2nd cable HomeHub to Master Socket etc?

My uncertainty led me to ask the community if this was common practice ????

Re: FTTC

chrisjp — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 21:06:02 GMT

"My confusion arose when I was told that a filter faceplate would be necessary for the upgrade.."

I'm afraid whoever told you this was talking rubbish. No change will be necessary to your master socket - it will continue to supply your FTTC broadband service to your Homehub. If this "HomeHub2" is actually a SmartHub2, no change to this will be necessary. If it isn't, BT will need to send you a SmartHub 2 which has a green phone socket on the back.
The only change then will be where you plug your phone into. If it was previously plugged into a filter plugged into your master socket, then instead you'll need to plug it into the green socket at the back of your SmartHub2.
If you don't want your phone located near the SH2 then, as iniltous has said, you can get an "adapter" from BT that is actually a portable phone socket that plugs into a electricity socket and connects wirelessly to the SH2.

Re: FTTC

Endersby23 — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 23:21:37 GMT

Hi chrisjp,

Thanks for your info, it's really made my day! While this area is relatively new to me, I just couldn't see a logic for what I'd been told.

My router is indeed a Smart Hub 2 with the green "Phone" socket. I've got a few aged Dect phones around the house with their base currently plugged into an ADSL filter. I guess these will still work if I adapt the plug somewhat.

Thanks again,

Enderby23

Re: FTTC

WSH — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 09:31:37 GMT

The DECT base station will still work if you just plug it into the hub.

I have a Panasonic quad set. When I was moved over it literally was just move the base station connection from the wall socket to the hub and reboot the hub. Nothing more.

The wall socket needed no modification. (Although, I could have replaced the faceplate with a single socket version, if I wanted to tidy it up).

Re: FTTC

Endersby23 — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 21:57:16 GMT

Hi WSH,

Thanks for your guidance regarding the way you simply "nudged" your Panasonic DECT base station back into life after your DV conversion. I can just imagine myself fumbling around on changeover day wondering why some simple aspect of it doesn't work! So tips are welcome!

My equivalent is a BT8600 Trio set that I seem to have had for "ever".

As you've been through the DV changeover process, I'd be interested to know at what stage of the OR conversion does the job get declared as done?

Thanks

Endersby23

Re: FTTC

licquorice — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 22:01:01 GMT

I've no idea why folks make such a song and dance about this.

Unplug phone/base station from master socket. Plug it into green socket on hub. Simple as.

Re: FTTC

WSH — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 22:32:30 GMT

Not sure what you mean by “declared as done”.

The long-held advice with cordless phones was always to keep an old, corded phone for emergencies anyway, (as cordless never did work in a power cut). I just plugged the corded into the hub and left the cordless in the wall socket as usual. Then I checked which had a dial tone periodically, until the change went through.

They usually send you a text, (assuming you have a mobile), but in a nutshell, on the day the old phone socket stops working, you just move the phone plug to the Smart Hub and reboot*. The phone should then work and the display on the management page of the hub will show your phone number and say 'service ready'.

*Even a reboot may not be necessary, but some people have found it needs one to download the settings.

Re: FTTC

Endersby23 — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 23:25:07 GMT

Hi WSH

In my previous, I was blindly assuming that an OR person would check that the DV changeover was OK at some or each of the properties, given the age of some of the folks around here. I guess that this didn't happen in your case (!) and therefore my "declared as done" theme is irrelevant.

Nevertheless your response was interesting.

Endersby23

Re: FTTC

iniltous — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 08:20:11 GMT

Obviously not everyone is the same and have different levels of mobility etc , but I’d be embarrassed if as an abled bodied person I watched someone visit my home specifically to move a phone cord from one socket to another socket …I find it astonishing that some will be so entitled that they feel no embarrassment, and consider it their ‘right’ to have this done for them , a customer of Sky or Vodafone for example would get no such assistance if they were required to connect their phone to the router .