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Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

GARRY_AND_SUSIE — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 22:10:49 GMT

Currently looking to re-contract & debating taking digital voice & how/if it would work with our current FTTC setup as detailed below.

Got a BT Home Hub 1.5 that was issued years ago, a BT Smart Hub Type A that I sourced from e-bay as I heard they had good wifi (still too poor), & a Netgear DG834G v2 - which we're currently using.

The Netgear has 4 Cat 5e cables, 1 to a NAS, 1 to a Smart TV & 2 to other rooms with PC's.
The WiFi coverage is via an external 2.4GHz antenna connected via a cable to the DG834G (5Ghz WiFi is a bit of a non starter here because of the aluminium backed 1950's plasterboard on walls and ceilings & foil bubble type underlay below 1990's laminate floors 2.4Ghz due to the longer wavelength works better.

Phone wise, we've got a BT Freestyle 7110 phone base station plugged into the front of the NTEK 5 master socket with 5 handsets (including the master) dotted around the house.
+ 2 hard wired cable telephones on extension sockets (fed from the back of the NTEK 5 faceplate)
& an external ringer bell & phone down in the shed which is fed via a BT Extension Booster Code 870788 due to the voltage drop / distance not making them ring properly, again the booster is fed from the back of the NTEK 5.

I don't think anything we currently have modem/router wise will support Digital Voice & allow for an external WiFi antenna except maybe the Home Hub 1.5 (which is a bit long in the tooth & probably not that secure nowadays)
& I believe the new "smart hub's" have an in built phone socket which only supports a REN of 2?

So....
1) Does the smart hub 2 (that I might be able to get if I re-contract) allow for an external WiFi antenna cable connection?

2) Can I come out of the Smart Hub's phone socket into a 2 way splitter - one for the main DECT base station cable (REN =1) & the other to connect to the extension booster (REN =1) & then wire all the extension sockets from the booster (which supports REN 8 ) to overcome any REN & distance issues?
Obviously all the existing extension sockets will be completely disconnected from the current master socket & it's existing underground 1950's/60's aluminium BT cable which feeds us from the cab.

I don't fancy my chances running the Freestyle 7100's via the DECT interface built into the router as the router, master socket, and booster currently live in the garage with only the external Wifi antenna & base station phone cables coming through the solid wall into the hall & 1st floor landing respectively. All the other extensions are all cabled externally from the garage & come back in through window frames to the relevant rooms on the top floor and out to the shed.

OK over to you guys, does the above sound feasible? Is there a better way of working it?
(& please don't suggest power-line adapters for anything as we paid for the Cat5 install to get rid of those due to the horrendous RFI they cause to amateur radio users)

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

jac_95 — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 21:47:06 GMT

Hi GARRY_AND_SUSIE,

Thanks for the post and welcome to the Community.

This is an automated response as I can see you have a question about BT’s Digital Voice service. Rather than waiting for a response from the Community, you may find an answer to your question by using the search bar on the Community homepage. We also have a thread that contains a wealth of info related to BT’s Digital Voice, click this link to take a look, Digital Voice FAQs.

To learn more about the nationwide change to this Internet based voice service visit landlinesgo.digital

If you have already looked for the answer to your question and have not found anything that can help, then please ignore this message. One of our Community members will be along shortly to help you further.

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 10:01:34 GMT

If you switch to DV then you have to use the Smart Hub 2, there is no other alternative.

There is no option for external aerials on the SH2, so you would have to look at adding WAPs or a mesh system to cover the house.

I doubt anyone can categorically say the repeater will definitely work, but I'd have thought it should.

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

GARRY_AND_SUSIE — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 17:47:19 GMT

@Anonymous > If you switch to DV then you have to use the Smart Hub 2, there is no other alternative.

What, not even from a third party manufacturer?

> There is no option for external aerials on the SH2, so you would have to look at adding WAPs or a mesh system to cover the house.

Thanks, that's made the decision easy then, I'll stick with my current setup until I'm forced by BT & hopefully by then there'll be a suitable router upgrade available with an antenna port &/or we'll not be here by then.

Do you know if any of the FTTP routers have an external antenna & maybe a Ren higher than 2?

It would be a real chew on to have it installed (including having driveway flags lifted & a 1m vertical external cable run so as not to breach the flood defences) but at least all the mess would be outside & not require any internal redecoration or as much internal re-wiring.

Thanks for the help/insight.

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

licquorice — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 17:56:01 GMT

@GARRY_AND_SUSIE wrote:

@Anonymous > If you switch to DV then you have to use the Smart Hub 2, there is no other alternative.

What, not even from a third party manufacturer?

NO, as explained countless times on the forum and the FAQ

> There is no option for external aerials on the SH2, so you would have to look at adding WAPs or a mesh system to cover the house.

Thanks, that's made the decision easy then, I'll stick with my current setup until I'm forced by BT & hopefully by then there'll be a suitable router upgrade available with an antenna port &/or we'll not be here by then.

Do you know if any of the FTTP routers have an external antenna & maybe a Ren higher than 2?

Did you miss the part where third party routers cannot be used for DV. Why would a third party router even have an ATA giving the opportunity to use an analogue phone let alone a higher REN when it couldn't be used with DV.

It would be a real chew on to have it installed (including having driveway flags lifted & a 1m vertical external cable run so as not to breach the flood defences) but at least all the mess would be outside & not require any internal redecoration or as much internal re-wiring.

Thanks for the help/insight.

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 18:28:32 GMT

@GARRY_AND_SUSIEwrote:
Do you know if any of the FTTP routers have an external antenna & maybe a Ren higher than 2?

As already said, the ONLY router you can use with BT's DV is the SH2. I don't think any version of BT router has external aerials & I doubt that will ever change.

There are any number of third party "cable" routers that will work with FTTP, but none will work with DV. The only other option if you want to retain a landline with analogue phones will be a third party VOIP service with enough ATAs to service them. No idea what REN they support but have a Google.

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

GARRY_AND_SUSIE — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 12:31:07 GMT

@licquorice

> Thanks, that's made the decision easy then, I'll stick with my current setup until I'm forced by BT & hopefully by then there'll be a suitable router upgrade available with an antenna port &/or we'll not be here by then.

>Do you know if any of the FTTP routers have an external antenna & maybe a Ren higher than 2?

>Did you miss the part where third party routers cannot be used for DV. Why would a third party router even have an ATA giving the opportunity to use an analogue phone let alone a higher REN when it couldn't be used with DV.
---------

At this point I was actually meaning other BT products, like a product from their business range or something.
I didn't know if when @Anonymous said "the Smart Hub 2 was the only option", that was because we only had FTTC on a home contract
- I thought that other BT home or business products may exist that would work with BT DV if we were to upgrade our service to FTTP & then maybe buy a business product from e-bay/wherever.

Now you've made it crystal clear that this simply isn't the case - perhaps you might consider adding the wording below to your FAQ (Which I honestly did read first). This would make it absolutely clear to us DV "Duffers" who are just looking at the service for the first time, & save some questions & frustration.

"
The ONLY product in the whole world that is compatible with BT's Digital Voice service is the BT Smart Hub 2.
This is regardless of if you have FTTC, FTTP, a home, or even a business internet contract.
Regardless of anything else, you MUST use a BT Smart Hub 2 if you wish to use the BT Digital Voice service.
"

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

gg30340 — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 13:01:25 GMT

@GARRY_AND_SUSIE

Regarding your request to licquorice to add your comments to his FAQ.

If you check licquorice's FAQ you will see in the first paragraph "The Smart Hub2 has a built in DECT base station, the WPS button is dual purpose and is used to pair the handsets to the hub as well as its traditional WPS role. Hence DV can only be used with a SH2 directly connected to line (copper connection) or the ONT (fibre connection). (My Bold) which I would say is clear enough.

As regard the business contract or business equipment, this is a BT residential customer forum and the users have limited knowledge regarding the working of that company so this is not the place to say what and what will not work on another company's infrastructure. There is a BT Business forum Home - BT Business Community where those questions can be asked.

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

GARRY_AND_SUSIE — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 13:26:39 GMT

@Anonymous

> As already said, the ONLY router you can use with BT's DV is the SH2. I don't think any version of BT router has external aerials & I doubt that will ever change.

Thank you for that, it seals it up nicely. If you're interested, the plan now is.....

If they offer me a Smart Hub 2 with my re-contract I will turn off the DHCP server on the DG834G & connect it to the new SH2 via an Ethernet cable & I'll configure it as a WAP. This means I can then take advantage of it's existing external connected antenna for providing indoor coverage. I'll leave the WiFi turned on for the SH2 (as long as I can manually select a non conflicting channel - see below) & I may even get coverage down the garden if it's 7 antennas are any good.
Re. Phone/DV I'll plug a BT 2 way splitter into the new SH2 with the BT freestyle 7110 base unit on one port & the 870788 Extension Booster into the other & feed all my cabled extensions via that. If that fails I'll just plug the booster into the hub & wire all phones through the booster instead.

Question:-
Do you happen to know on the SH2's which WiFi channels are available AND can be manually selected & locked in?
Sniffing shows strong local signals of -50dBm to -70dBm on channels 1 & 11 for the 2.4GHz range (+ I have the DG834G running on channel 7 giving me - 30 to -60dBm in the areas I need coverage.)
For the 5GHz band there are -60 to - 80dBm local signals on 36 & 48.
I'd like to try and lock the router out from using any conflicting parts of the range if possible as my tests with the HH2's "Smart Scan" feature showed it to be anything but "Smart" for it's channel selections.

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

licquorice — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 13:35:10 GMT

2.4Ghz has choice of 1, 6 or 11 only

5Ghz has choice of 36, 40, 44 or 48 only

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

GARRY_AND_SUSIE — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 13:54:58 GMT

@gg30340

Sorry I thought that the breadth of knowledge shared on this forum encompassed all of BT's products.

I'll go check out the BT business forum & see if there is a solution to be sourced from their range which can offer compatibility with BT DV + an external antenna connection.

If not then I'll go with the plan detailed in my post to rbz5416 using a wired 2nd WAP + booster.

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

licquorice — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 14:08:09 GMT

Digital Voice is a BT residential product. BT business has its own VoIP solutions but not DV.

It is not, of course, necessary to have BT DV at all and use a third party VoIP provider with your third party kit.

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 14:14:55 GMT

@GARRY_AND_SUSIE

I've never had a SH2 so will bow to others knowledge re WiFi channels.

But I'd suggest upgrading the ancient Netgear for something dual band, & preferably a proper WAP/mesh according to your needs rather than doubling up routers.

BT Business doesn't use DV but a completely different cloud phone service. So there won't be a business product to solve your issue.

As for another router with ATA, the Fritzbox routers have inbuilt DECT & analogue ATA similar to the SH2, but no good for DV as previously stated.

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

GARRY_AND_SUSIE — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 15:56:37 GMT

@licquorice Thanks, I think I can work with that & set it to 1 or 11 & hope that the SH2 has channel sharing software on board to play nicely with the neighbours routers on 2.4Ghz, if not I'll tun off WiFi all together on the SH2.

Re: Digital Voice HELP Req'd - best use of current equipment / compatability etc.

GARRY_AND_SUSIE — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 16:42:55 GMT

@Anonymous
> BT Business doesn't use DV but a completely different cloud phone service. So there won't be a business product to solve your issue.

Thanks for the confirmation, I'll not waste any time on the business forum then, & maybe it could still be added to the FAQ before anyone else drags themselves down the same rabbit hole that I did.

If not - I've bolded your reply above & marked it as accepted just in case anyone stumbles this way in the future

> I'd suggest upgrading the ancient Netgear

Yeah the Netgear is a bit long in the tooth, (a bit like me) & since retiring the Mrs is in house browsing mode so all this may become moot if she decides on a shift of location so I'll hold off buying anything new just yet but I sincerely appreciate the advice.

Thanks must also go to @licquorice & @gg30340 for their valuable input & info.

This place really is most helpfull to those of us stumbling through something new & BT related.

I helped out driving the testing & providing conclusive proof back on the old Fon usage overcharging error thread that got locked after BT admitted the fault & (long since archived)

& it's great to see so many of the old guard who stood with us then are still here providing the depth of knowledge & years of experience that the "kids on the end of the phone" haven't yet gained.