This topic

BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

grahamb-uk — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 18:31:59 GMT

I've learnt from forum posts that, in spite of the use of the SH2 WPS button to pair the BT phones, the phone is fundamentally a DECT phone using the DECT standard and in no way uses WiFi. If so, can I use the phone and link it to another DECT standard base. For background, I was BT with SH2, but as the price has doubled in 2 years, I've switched to Sky. I now have no phone system it would appear and the money I spent additional BT handsets is now e-waste. Happy to be educated on the position.

Re: BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

imjolly — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 18:46:39 GMT

The BT DV phones are not standard DECT and I don't think they will pair to a third party base and even if you managed you would have very limited functionality

Re: BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

VeteranISPUser — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 18:50:55 GMT

Hi @grahamb-uk I considered selling my old HD with Alexa phones on eBay, but the prices were so low I simply gave them away to another BT DV family member. You may consider keeping them just in case you return to BT in the future (remove the batteries).

Re: BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

grahamb-uk — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 21:15:21 GMT

Yeah, that's the conclusion I'm heading towards.

Re: BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

grahamb-uk — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 21:23:36 GMT

Increasing appears that way. The fact that I bought extra phones and all of this was not clear at the point of purchases leaves a very sour taste. I don't think the regulators have done the customers any favours. It appears the current systems mean BT have created something proprietary and the lack of standards has increased the chance of e-waste and customer wasted money. So with DECT, you could mix and match manufactures, but now BT have a functional rich solution, but created a tie-in that penalises me financially when I move on as a result of BT price increases of 100% in 26 months. We need a new (SIP based I presume) standard to protect the customer and solution to retain landline numbers very quickly with the move to DV. I can only see ever more upset and frustrated customers going forwards.

Re: BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 21:29:03 GMT

They should pair to a generic base station but with a basic feature set. ie they'll make &receive calls but little else.

Re: BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

grahamb-uk — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 21:32:45 GMT

I'd absolutely live with that - but haven't found how to do so yet.

Re: BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 21:44:56 GMT

Just deregister from the SH2 & then combine the pairing instructions of the phone with those of the base station.

Re: BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

grahamb-uk — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 22:19:18 GMT

The SH2 is now de-installed - I'm no longer with them! I could re-power it and try, but not sure that works. I have done a factory reset which I presume does the same job. When I use the pair button on the DECT base (Panasonic), the device doesn't pair. Not sure where to go next - has anyone had first hand experience doing this this successfully with a BT. I'm sort of persuaded by @imjolly answer that BT is not standard DECT - which is sort of an oxymoron!

Re: BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 23:15:37 GMT

"Factory reset" seems be be a rather ambiguous term these days in regards to what it actually does. I'd be inclined to fire up the SH2 & try the de-registration process (if there is one!) before trying to pair with the base station.

But having said that, previous posts suggest that a handset can't be paired with the SH2 until DV is active. So it's possible that you can't de-register without an active DV either. Only one way to find out...

Re: BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

licquorice — Sun, 10 Mar 2024 08:30:31 GMT

In true BT fashion for consistency, you can oddly pair handsets to the hub without DV but not DV adapters!!

Re: BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

grahamb-uk — Sun, 10 Mar 2024 11:13:38 GMT

I'll let you know. In fact I have a spare BNIB, BT digital phone which has never been paired. I'll try that too. If that doesn't work, then the BT phone is miss-named as DECT, as it so 100% proprietary to BT. Interesting to note the EE store has them clearly labelled as for BT voice service only. That wasn't clear a couple of years back and for such a fundamental piece of hardware is a backward step. Great if BT want to advance development, but keep compatibility with long standing standards. Further contributions to the e-waste mountain are not good for the planet.

Re: BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

grahamb-uk — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 11:28:23 GMT

So here is the update. Yes, you can turn the old SH2 hub on without internet. Wait long enough and get the pinkish light. At this point you can de-resister the phone. Phone reset does indeed seem to do the same. After turning the SH2 hub off, I have been able to sync to a legacy DECT base. Functionality is really poor and I wonder if it really meets DECT standards. The phone won't let you get to DECT settings. You can't name the phone. It won't even show the time. But, it does work for outgoing and incoming calls and sound quality is fine.

All-in-all a very poor situation. Industry standards need setting up for domestic providers for digital phone solutions, to at least match DECT standards. So when I switched between ISPs, I don't find the standard hardware I have (like the phone) is rendered impaired or completely dysfunctional.

Re: BT Digital Voice phones used as purely a DECT phone

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 11:41:55 GMT

@grahamb-uk

That's exactly as I'd expect. There isn't a DECT standard but rather a Generic Access Profile that requires handsets from different manufacturers to work on other base stations. But as you've found, that's at the most basic of levels. You would find the same constraints between any two manufacturers & probably even between ranges by the same manufacturer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_access_profile