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Digital Voice Contact Issues

David339 — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 14:08:44 GMT

I believe I have solved a range of issues that can occur with the importing of the Digital Voice Contacts. (BT were not able to solve the problems). Is it possible to post my solutions as a pdf on this forum? Others may find it useful.

Re: Digital Voice Contact Issues

jac_95 — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 14:10:03 GMT

Hi David339,

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

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Re: Digital Voice Contact Issues

imjolly — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 14:33:25 GMT

@David339

there are already solution on the forum for importing contacts to digital phones yours may be different or maybe even better

Re: Digital Voice Contact Issues

licquorice — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 14:24:07 GMT

Its not possible to post the PDF I'm afraid, you will have to copy the text and paste it.

Re: Digital Voice Contact Issues

David339 — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 15:08:05 GMT

Re: Digital Voice Contact Issues

David339 — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 15:08:22 GMT

Yes, I know, thanks. But having spent ages searching through them I realised that none of them deals with all the problems in one post, and some of the key issues aren't dealt with at all.

Re: Digital Voice Contact Issues

VeteranISPUser — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 15:12:31 GMT

Hi @David339 Everything depends on where you keep your central contacts. In my case, in Outlook. What works for me, quick and easy (nothing special). Outlook -> CSV -> Gmail contacts -> VCF -> SH2. In your central contacts, no spaces (or any other formatting) in the telephone numbers.

Re: Digital Voice Contact Issues

David339 — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 15:37:53 GMT

Issues Importing Contacts into BT SmartHub

It is important to note that, with the digital voice handsets, contacts are stored in the BT SmartHub and not in the handsets. The handsets synchronise anew with the hub each time the contacts are called for.

Inputting contacts via the digital voice handsets is a slow business. (It requires 4 presses of the number 7 key simply to enter the letter ‘s’, for example).

For those who use Google contacts on their smartphone/computer, exporting contacts from Google contacts and then importing them into the BT SmartHub would seem a better option, but it can be problematic, and some of the issues outlined below may well be the cause of disappearing contacts and failures of the hub to communicate contact details with the handsets properly. So, what are the issues, and how might they be solved?

The file format has to be vcard format (.vcf).
[Shame BT don't include a .csv option.]
Exporting from Google Contacts is straightforward.
Importing into the hub is a little trickier, but is documented at:
https://www.bt.com/help/landline/digital-voice-phones/migrating-contacts.
Note: importing a vcf file into the hub replaces all the previous contacts in the hub, so if contacts have already been added/changed via the handset, those changes would be replaced/lost.
Google usually exports to vcf format with a lot of data, and as you might expect, much of that data is stripped out when you import into the hub.
The hub only accepts telephone numbers labelled ‘Home’, ‘Cell’ or ‘Work’. Customised labels (eg ‘Mobile 2’ or ‘London Flat’) created in Google are not imported.
Google allows more than one number under one type (eg two work numbers) but the BT digital voice handsets will only handle one.
Telephone numbers will likely be imported with spaces or hyphens within the number. That can cause problems such as not showing on the digital voice handsets, or not triggering caller display.
Numbers that were stored with a ‘+’ at the start in Google (often used for international numbers and mobile numbers) are imported into the hub without any replacement of the ‘+’s with ‘00’, and those numbers starting with ‘+’ are then not usable on the digital voice handsets contacts lists.
One solution is to edit the vcf file before importing into the hub, but vcf files are tedious to edit. There is software available to make editing vcf files easier, but the vcf file is a text file and can be edited with Notepad on a windows computer. (Right-click the file and select ‘Open with’ and choose Notepad). The aim is to:

(a) Replace all ‘+’s with ’00’. For phones being used in the UK, the whole of ‘+44’ can be replaced with a single ‘0’.

(b.) Remove all the spaces, hyphens and non-numeric characters from within the telephone numbers.

(c). Ensure there is a maximum of one ‘home’ type, one ‘cell’ type and one ‘work’ type of telephone number per contact, in the format TEL;TYPE=HOME:01234567890, or TEL;TYPE=CELL:07123456789 or TEL;TYPE=WORK:01234123456. Those formats should be imported correctly, though the hub may add extra details (such as TEL;VALUE=uri;TYPE=home:tel:01234567890).
Another option is to import the contacts into the hub, then export from the hub, edit the exported file, then reimport that back into the hub. The vcf file is probably shorter and easier to edit after it has been through the hub, but the downside of this option is that some numbers may have been lost if they are of a custom type (see 5 and 9c above).
If you are editing a vcf file exported from the hub, ignore the apparently misspelt MEDLODY: apparently the melody type won’t be read if you correct the spelling!

Hope this helps.
GOOD LUCK !!!

Re: Digital Voice Contact Issues

Bretwalda — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 13:01:35 GMT

I am an 85 year-old with limited computer knowledge, but normally manage as a basic user - handling MS Office facilities, sending and receiving messages, saving and recovering files etc. However when trying to back up the contacts list stored on my Smart Hub 2 (using the Export facility), the .vcf file created contains only the detailis of a single contact {the first contact in alphabetical order on the list) From the handset, I am able to recall and use all of the stored contacts {entered laboriously by hand because the installation engineer said that was the only way he knew of) so I know that they are stored correctly within the hub. But I am so frustrated at my inability to download and save the information against loss. Clearly I am doing sonething wrong.

Can you help, or point me in the direction of someone who can?

Ron

Re: Digital Voice Contact Issues

VeteranISPUser — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 13:51:54 GMT

Hi @Bretwalda Open the exported .vcf file using Notepad and you will see all your contacts. The default program used in windows only displays the very first card.

Re: Digital Voice Contact Issues

Bretwalda — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 16:03:32 GMT

Many thanks, I'll try that first opportunity.

Ron

Re: Digital Voice Contact Issues

Bretwalda — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 11:53:16 GMT

Thank you for that information. Eventually managed to create and store the file on my PC. That was successful when using Handset 2 but didn't work with the handset that I normally use, Handset 1, (which was subsequently replaced to correct another problem). The replacement for Handset 1 worked correctly, and now all is well).

Re: Digital Voice Contact Issues

David339 — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 12:12:02 GMT

Excellent...I'm pleased to hear it helped. I've had a couple of faulty handsets which BT replaced for me 👍

Re: Digital Voice Contact Issues

JohnGPennyworth — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 17:46:52 GMT

I, too, have been perplexed by this matter but I have now found a solution (well, one that works for me). I keep my list of contacts in an Excel Spreadsheet (the format of each number needs to be very specific (include a leading ) and do NOT leave a space between the area code and the number; also note that I have not found a way to import multiple numbers (e.g. cell and home) for individual contacts, so I have multiple lines in my spreadsheet per contact (one for each number). Once the Excel spreadsheet is ready, I save it as a CSV file. Then I go to the Windows "Contacts" folder and "import" the CSV file - this creates contact forms for each person. These then need to be converted into VCF files by "exporting" those same contacts back into the "Contacts" folder. This creates multiple VCF files which then need to be merged into a single VCF file (I use the web site vcf-file-merger.com). This single VCF file can then be imported into your digital phone using the facility on your Hub Manager. A very complicated process, but at least it works and, for a large number of contacts, is easier than manually entering each one. The Master XLS file can easily be edited to add new numbers. But, remember, the whole list must be re-imported into your Digital Voice phone (as an import overwrites all existing numbers). I hope this helps