This topic

How good are Digital voice adapters

Shepherdess — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 19:36:05 GMT

I have just signed up to full fibre with telephone and, as yet, nothing has been done and the external and internal boxes have to be fitted. Where I want to have my phone is not where the boxes will be so I was thinking of purchasing a digital voice adapter . I cannot find any way that I can get one for free and suspect that my line will not show this to be possible till my service has started but I want one to have to hand from the start so my phone is conveniently located. But my real question is, how good are they and do you loose any strength in the signal by using one? As we live in a bungalow the router would not be miles away and there are no solid walls (just some kitchen tiles on the wall) between where the two would be placed. They are not that expensive so would buy one if they were efficient as it would make life a great deal easier.

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

jac_95 — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 19:37:06 GMT

Hi Shepherdess,

Thanks for the post and welcome to the Community.

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Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

licquorice — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 20:18:20 GMT

Digital voice phones are cordless DECT handsets and don't need to be connected or near to the hub. The hub is a DECT base station. If you wish to keep an analogue phone, then the adapters are simply Analogue to Digital (DECT) converters. The range of the DECT signal is better than WiFi but may not be as good as any existing DECT base stations you may have.

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

AndyJD — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 21:16:35 GMT

So the new digital voice Alexa handsets are just connecting to the SH2 which is acting as a dect base station?
I have a twin pack dect set only a couple of months old, the hub is upstairs in an office while the dect base station is downstairs in the kitchen, I’ve bought the digital adapter in the expectation that the dect base/answer phone can remain in the kitchen, is this correct or is the adapter only for analog phones ?

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

AndyJD — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 21:27:20 GMT

Ok sorry I can see this is answered in the faq’s , looks like I’m ok.

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

Tim123 — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 19:12:36 GMT

How good are the Digital Voice adapters? Not very, judging by many posts on here. Problems with ringing and caller display being the main issues, but I think someone said that fitting a micro-filter between the phone and the adapter restores ringing.

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

Shepherdess — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 20:13:53 GMT

Thanks for your response. What kind of microfilter is needed?

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 20:40:37 GMT

@Shepherdess

Any microfilter will do.

The DV adapter only presents a two wire connection, and some phones need the additional "bell" wire to ring, i.e. three wires.

The missing third wire can be emulated by plugging a microfilter into the socket of the DV adapter, and then plugging the phone into the "phone" socket on the microfilter.

The microfilter has an internal capacitor which extends a third wire from the existing two wire connection.

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

Shepherdess — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 20:54:43 GMT

Thanks. So I assume I can use one of my existing microfilters.

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 21:34:29 GMT

Yes.

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 07:07:09 GMT

@licquorice

In post #3 you said "The range of the DECT signal is better than WiFi but may not be as good as any existing DECT base stations you may have."

Do you know if this is deliberate, or just a known issue with these DV adapters?

Any info on expected range? My existing iDect cordless phones are spec'd as: "Up to 300m outdoors; Up to 50m indoors". (I accept that "Up to" makes those figure pretty meaningless though!).

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

licquorice — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 08:12:13 GMT

I have no facts or information on the range of the adapters, I'm afraid. The statement was made based on the subjective views of a few posters that didn't think the range was as good as it should be, hence my use of the word 'may' rather than anything definite.

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

Check — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 17:11:43 GMT

1) What is the expected energy cost of running the Digital voice adapter monthly/annually?

2) I have paired up an adapter with my downstairs phone. Because of where it has to plugged in, my phone cannot be returned to its original position. This phone and the upstairs phone are older corded phones. If I want both phones in there original positions I will need longer adsl cables. Looking at the jack points on the phones I thought I needed RJ45 cables, I have been told by BT that the phone extension cable RJ11 will suffice. Is this correct?

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

licquorice — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 17:22:48 GMT

1. No idea

2. I don't understand the question. The DV adaptor is simply a a device to convert a corded analogue phone into a pseudo DECT handset. It just has a standard phone socket that you plug an analogue corded phone into. It just requires a mains socket, nothing else.

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

AndyJD — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 17:31:22 GMT

You can plug digital dect phones into it as well rather than the back of the router

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

licquorice — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 17:36:38 GMT

Indeed, it's simply a portable phone socket.

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

Check — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 19:42:43 GMT

I apologise, not being technical I'm poorly explaining the positioning of the phone in my living room. The long and short of it is, the power point where the adapter is plugged into is on the opposite wall to where the old bt wall socket is. The cable on my phone is just over one metre and the result is I cannot put the phone back to where it was previously. I can see only 2 solutions either I have an electrician install a new plug point, or find a suitability long extension cable from the phone to the adapter. Which would you advise and if it is a cable what should I be looking for? Many thanks.

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 20:12:56 GMT

According to a label found by Googling, the DVA draws 60mA. So that's roughly 10p a day. Could well be less when idle.

Rather than extending the RJ11 from the handset, just extend the other end with a standard phone extension lead.

Replacement long RJ11 to BT cables are available if you don't want to use an extension lead, but you have to ensure you get the correct wiring (straight or crossover).

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

Jane2018 — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 07:05:18 GMT

Thanks for this thread. That extension lead thing looks very useful. In my case I am hoping my office digital voice will be simple as BT send me the fancy new hub 2 (I have an old hub) and I plug the landline in my home office into back of hub and that's it - that line has the landline number and hub on it, no position problem or anything. Our second telephone number/account 2 flights up with a different hub, second bb account and with 2 numbers on it one used for cal will be a different kettle of fish but bit by bit thanks to the help on this forum I am trying solve my issues well in advance of the London Autumn 2023 roll out. I like the fact my landlines use no electricity at all, not even a battery, and are corded.

Re: How good are Digital voice adapters

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 07:47:26 GMT

@Anonymous

"Replacement long RJ11 to BT cables are available if you don't want to use an extension lead, but you have to ensure you get the correct wiring (straight or crossover)"

I thought that straight / crossover only applied to RJ45 ethernet cables?

I have never heard of "crossover" RJ11 / "BT" cables - when might they be used?