This topic

Digital Voice migration

BarkingMadBarking — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 17:03:30 GMT

I'm on FTTC and just received an email to say I will be moving to DV within 30 days. No sweat. I know I don't need FTTP for DV.

However, I've found the following:

My question is, could I move my landline to another VOIP provider instead of just cancelling it? It would in effect give me a BB only scenario. I called the number but it was new territory for the advisor.

Thanks

Re: Digital Voice migration

jac_95 — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 17:07:06 GMT

Hi BarkingMadBarking,

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 migration

BarkingMadBarking — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 14:52:40 GMT

This is what I'm thinking.

Call BT and say I want a BB only plan. Hopefully it will be at favourable rates - comparable to my current deal. Hopefully no Early Termination Charges. Cancelling the move to DV will release my current BT landline number.

Under Ofcom rules, I can then approach a VOIP provider and ask them to port by old BT number to them.

Switching - landline - Ofcom

When signing up with a new provider you can also request to keep your old phone number for free by contacting your new provider even if you have already cancelled your previous service (as long as you request this within one month of cancelling).

It looks possible to me.

Re: Digital Voice migration

imjolly — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 14:57:57 GMT

your would need to port your number before changing broadband and this would terminate your existing broadband and phone contract. you may incur early termination cost but you mat be able to negotiate a new broadband only contract remember broadband only is £2/5 cheaper. moving to broadband only will lose your phone number and have nothing to port

Re: Digital Voice migration

BarkingMadBarking — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 15:42:24 GMT

If I move to BB only, I'm moving from FTTC to SOGEA. With the move to SOGEA there is the Integral Number Port option

https://www.pack-net.co.uk/blog/upgrade-your-fttc-to-sogea-and-transfer-your-number-at-the-same-time/

www.btwholesale.com/assets/documents/help-and-support/broadband/broadband-ordering-guides/bz-broadband-order-journeys/sogea-provide-order-with-dn-and-number-port-or-transfer.pptx

Looks as though it is technically possible.

Re: Digital Voice migration

iniltous — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 15:45:16 GMT

If you take the option to convert your BT service to broadband only , potentially saving £2-5 a month by not having any telephony at all with BT ( the saving may be more if you have a calls plan that you pay for ) , your ‘old’ number would simply become a spare number , and potentially another provider could enquire with BT about porting the number , using the supposed 30 day window after the ‘cease’ , but it’s a risk , there hasn’t been much ‘chat’ about this new process and if it’s successful or not , ultimately it’s the VoIP company you use that would be responsible for this , not BT , so if it didn’t work that would pretty much be the end of it .

I suppose rather than asking here , you should be asking the company you would like to provide this number if they guarantee arranging this port, after BT dispense with the number .

Re: Digital Voice migration

BarkingMadBarking — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 15:51:47 GMT

hi @iniltous

I think our posts may have crossed. There appears to be another option.

Whether I save money is up for debate. My BT account shows the prices to be £3 more than what I'm paying at the moment, and are the same whether I have PSTN or not.

Re: Digital Voice migration

BarkingMadBarking — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 17:04:13 GMT

Is there any chance of passing my query to a BT technical expert?

Re: Digital Voice migration

Perceptive — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 18:37:55 GMT

Even better post the contact details for the Technical Expert live on this forum.

According to all of the guidance what BarkingMadBarking proposes is allowed under the OFCOM Guidance and the Telecom Adjudicator says that it is best practice.

Telecommunications Adjudicator update for May 2022 | OTA (offta.org.uk)

If it is a BT Community Board run by BT then the moderators and Gurus should know the answers or they should find out and should post the answer here.

Sometimes I am bemused by the response to legitimate queries on this board:

all too often the answer seems to be send us a message, (with all of your personal details), (off board)), which is at best sub-optimal and we then lose capacity to see what is happening and what the answers are and the self proclaimed Gurus just pass the buck.

Re: Digital Voice migration

imjolly — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 18:43:59 GMT

@Perceptive

Everyone on this forum is just a customer trying to help other customers and only BT employees are the forum mods. The mods get personal information before they can help and last thing anyone wants is to post their personal account information on open public forum

Re: Digital Voice migration

Perceptive — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 18:53:49 GMT

Also:

From OFCOM:

When signing up with a new provider you can also request to keep your old phone number for free by contacting your new provider even if you have already cancelled your previous service (as long as you request this within one month of cancelling).

Switching - landline - Ofcom

Re: Digital Voice migration

-Richie- — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 18:57:07 GMT

@BarkingMadBarkingwrote:
This is what I'm thinking.
Call BT and say I want a BB only plan. Hopefully it will be at favourable rates - comparable to my current deal. Hopefully no Early Termination Charges. Cancelling the move to DV will release my current BT landline number.
Under Ofcom rules, I can then approach a VOIP provider and ask them to port by old BT number to them.
Switching - landline - Ofcom

The cost saving of going broadband only is you will not require a chargeable calling plan, the saving you make will be the cost of the current calling plan removed, there's no additional discount having just broadband as the telephony charge makes up a small fraction of the wholesale and supplier costs.

For example if you pay £5 per month for the pay as you go calling plan, you'll save £5 per month by going broadband only.
Other discounts will depend on a number of factors, typically being out of contract gives you the most haggle room, your last 6 months is your renewal window.

As for porting your number, that would be down to your VOIP provider to arrange, once you go broadband only your current number is released and made available after a short qurantine period, this is usually 6 months but numbers are allocated to the exchange, some exchanges have limited numbers available because new housing has been built for example, which creates more demand.

I hope that answers your questions, feel free to reply if you have anything else to ask 🙂

Re: Digital Voice migration

licquorice — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 19:23:26 GMT

I suspect cost is not the issue, rather the ability to use third party equipment with a third party VoIP provider instead of the Smart Hub and DV.

Re: Digital Voice migration

iniltous — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 19:48:56 GMT

Also:

From OFCOM:

When signing up with a new provider you can also request to keep your old phone number for free by contacting your new provider even if you have already cancelled your previous service (as long as you request this within one month of cancelling).

You make the point so well , you ask the new provider ( not the losing provider ) , so the question can I port my number after I have taken the offer of converting to a broadband only BT service instead of migrating to DV , should be addressed to the new provider .

Re: Digital Voice migration

Perceptive — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 20:29:36 GMT

I suspect that the reason why clarification is needed on this board is not the way in which the process should be followed it is how BT will actually follow the process.

My view is that most of the BT complaints stem from Ooereach and that BT is now a far better company than it was previously, (ignoring the ridiculous game pass system), but in previous times when a person tried to port the phone number away from BT it meant that the broadband was prematurely cancelled by BT who then tried to charge the customer, (who was by then without any internet), an early termination fee.

Due to the major contract change by BT forcing the customer to go onto Digital Voice, (mid-contract), he now has the opportunity to go broadband only, as per BTs own guidance information, but the customer is obviously concerned that BT will be unaware of how the system is designed to operate and could create chaos by reverting to the old cancel the broadband as well system even though after the customer goes broadband only there should not be any link between the removed phone service and the broadband.

It is only sensible that the customer want clarification from the BT Employees on here.

Regarding his desire not to have Digital Voice; it is fairly obvious that it has nothing to do with cost and has everything to do with being forced to use a less effective BT Supplied Router if you take up Digital Voice.

Digital Voice itself may be good and if so it would be better to sell it separately with a rolling one month contract the same as other VOIP providers have and allow BT customers to use their own equipment to access it.

Re: Digital Voice migration

licquorice — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 20:56:08 GMT

@Perceptive wrote:

Digital Voice itself may be good and if so it would be better to sell it separately with a rolling one month contract the same as other VOIP providers have and allow BT customers to use their own equipment to access it.

Digital Voice is proprietary, ergo a BT Smart Hub is required to access it.

Re: Digital Voice migration

Perceptive — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 22:42:31 GMT

We all know how Digital Voice works and that why there are so many alternative VOIP Providers that BT Broadband customers have chosen use instead of it.

Let us not get bogged down as to how Digital Voice works/operates a it is just a standard VOIP system that BT have locked down to it's own routers and to which BT choose not to make the SIP details easily accessible but this could be changed at the flick of a switch.

Re: Digital Voice migration

BarkingMadBarking — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 13:44:19 GMT

Would any of the moderators like to give the BT company view in relation to my queries? Please

The first option, would be to move to BB only with BT (which would involve [I'm assuming] a new 24 month contract). my old PSTN number would be free. I've approached a VOIP provider and asked would they be able to claim my number within 30 days under the Ofcom https://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice-for-businesses/switching/switching-landline rules. Their reply has been is they are not sure whether I'd be able to use the OFCOM process in that scenario.

The second option, would be to move to BB only and for BT to use the SOGEA Integral Port capability Upgrade your FTTC to SOGEA and transfer your number at the same time - Packnet (pack-net.co.uk) and sogea-provide-order-with-dn-and-number-port-or-transfer.pptx (live.com) With this approach, I'd get the CUPID from my new VOIP provider, pass to BT and then BT would raise an order to port my PSTN to VOIP. There are PlusNet FTTC + PSTN customers that are moving to FTTP. When this occurs some are being given to move their PSTN to VOIP and it is arranged by PlusNet. PlusNet do not offer voice with FTTP.

Mods, please?

Re: Digital Voice migration

garybs29 — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 14:05:37 GMT

@Perceptivewrote:
We all know how Digital Voice works and that why there are so many alternative VOIP Providers that BT Broadband customers have chosen use instead of it.
Let us not get bogged down as to how Digital Voice works/operates a it is just a standard VOIP system that BT have locked down to it's own routers and to which BT choose not to make the SIP details easily accessible but this could be changed at the flick of a switch.

So who's going to pay for all the BT employees to have training to support all the routers out there? It's much easier to have 1 system which can be fully supported

Re: Digital Voice migration

-Richie- — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 14:30:09 GMT

@BarkingMadBarkingwrote:
Would any of the moderators like to give the BT company view in relation to my queries? Please

I'm not a moderator but I have answered your question, which would be option 1 you last referenced, option 2 I've not heard of before.

Moving to DV does involve changing to SOGEA as you won't have a telephony service from Openreach.