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Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

arsie1 — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 11:32:28 GMT

When I built my house new in 2012 the requirement was to remain with BT for 12 months after the new land line was installed. This we did. Subsequently we added two power-line TP-Link AV500s to transmit the internet wifi round the house, one downstairs one upstairs. The BT master socket and land line entry point is in one corner upstairs. Even before that, we installed Panasonic 3 station telephone handsets KX-TGC210E at two BT socket extensions round the house any one of which may be picked up to answer a call. You can also use the handsets for intercomm calls inside the house.

How much of this existing technology if any will continue to function when the BT copper land line is removed?

Which of 3 functions (wifi broadcast; remote call pick up; intercomm) can be achieved without BT land line?

How would this be done on the other hand using BT's 'Digital Voice' or indeed by some other means?

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

jac_95 — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 11:32:39 GMT

Hi arsie1,

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Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

imjolly — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 11:33:57 GMT

you need to use the BT Sh2 after connected to digital voice but you then connect the panasonic base to the green socket on back of hub and your other panasonic extensions should connect to the base as normal the power line adapter should work as they do now

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 12:00:15 GMT

You appear to be saying that you have two sets of DECT handsets plugged into two different extensions?

If that's the case then to work as it does now, you would need to patch your existing extensions into the SH2. Or you could deregister from one base & reregister to the other, subject to any limitation on the number of handsets that can be registered . That would then plug directly into the SH2 as above.

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

licquorice — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 12:01:17 GMT

All of it will work as before. Powerline adapters have nothing to do with your landline, they are Ethernet devices. You simply move your base station connection from one socket to another

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

arsie1 — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 12:15:08 GMT

No, only a single set of 3 x Panasonic handsets. The AV-500 powerline wifi repeaters simply rebroadcast the wifi signal by plugging in to mains sockets they are not handsets at all.

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

arsie1 — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 12:27:21 GMT

To summarise: the AV-500s are ethernet devices and will work as now using the house mains to carry the wifi signal. I just plug the base station into the new BT base station and the 2 x outlying AV-500s function as now as outlier wifi with their own passwords. Of 3 x Panasonic handsets, again the base phone and handset connect to the new BT base station, the other two will function as now.

Sorry for confusing the 3 x Panasonic phone handsets with the 3 x ethernet over mains plugs (no handsets involved).

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

arsie1 — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 08:18:35 GMT

Thank you for replying. My ethernet powerline wifi repeaters of course have nothing to do with the copper land line I just included them to provide the full picture. I thus have 3 x handsets bought as a KX-TGC210E kit. What do you mean "I will have to patch my existing extensions into the SH2"? What is the SH2? Are you saying the existing BT sockets that are wired as extensions from the main socket will no longer work as such? Please clarify.

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

arsie1 — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 08:21:17 GMT

Thank you for replying. My ethernet powerline wifi repeaters of course have nothing to do with the copper land line I just included them to provide the full picture. I thus have 3 x handsets bought as a KX-TGC210E Panasonic kit. I am not sure what do you mean "I will have to patch my existing extensions into the SH2"? What is the SH2? Are you saying the existing BT sockets that are wired as extensions from the main socket will no longer work as such? Please clarify.

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 08:26:56 GMT

SH2 > Smart Hub 2, the router you need for Digital Voice.

In your OP you said:

we installed Panasonic 3 station telephone handsets KX-TGC210E at two BT socket extensions round the house

This lead me to believe you maybe has two sets, which you subsequently clarified.

By default, your existing extensions will no longer work with DV. But this can be rectified by patching them into the SH2 as stated. The exact method depends on whether you will have Full Fibre or not.

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

arsie1 — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 09:07:54 GMT

Excellent advice thanks @Anonymous. Is 'full fibre' going to be quite common or an option/expensive choice? Asking a lot, but can you say what, broadly, the methods might be for patching our remote extensions (both are quite a distance from the master BT socket and wires are buried in the house walls and floors). And am I likely to get some help from BT who support / allow the current setup to work?

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

WSH — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 10:03:00 GMT

Try this:

https://www.draytek.co.uk/information/blog/the-end-of-analogue-phone-lines-pt2

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

licquorice — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 10:49:58 GMT

@arsie1 wrote:
Excellent advice thanks @Anonymous. Is 'full fibre' going to be quite common or an option/expensive choice? Asking a lot, but can you say what, broadly, the methods might be for patching our remote extensions (both are quite a distance from the master BT socket and wires are buried in the house walls and floors). And am I likely to get some help from BT who support / allow the current setup to work?

Any given package is the same price regardless of being delivered via copper or fibre.

I'm not entirely sure why you need to do anything with the extension sockets if you have a cordless system. However if you do need them, you simply need to backwire the green socket on the hub to the telephony side of the master socket. How this is achieved is dependent on your master socket type.

You will get no assistance from BT regarding this as your home wiring is your responsibility. However, if you provide exact details of what you have and what you wish to achieve, a precise method can be supplied.

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

arsie1 — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 13:04:36 GMT

@licquorice thanks for replying. On inspection of Panasonic KX-TGC the 1 x main phone sits in a cradle with jack plug power supply and a small green telecomm connector plug showing 3 copper wires, it fits into the right hand socket of two on my BT 'Master Socket SC' on the wall. The SC left land socket goes to the separate wifi router. My 2 x remote Panasonic phones each sit in a self recharging socket and connected via similar small green telecomm connector plugs to the wall. I can see 3 copper wires in the connectors. Lifting one of the remote phones or unplugging the telecomm connector gives a tone. I am at a loss to say if 2x remote phones are wired or wireless, certainly once a call is picked up you can wander about & don't lose the call connection, so the handset itself is wireless? But I'm not so sure about the link. You can use the 3 phones as a small direct inter comm system when the system is free i.e. when not taking a call.

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 13:19:00 GMT

@arsie1

You seem to be confusing the power connections for the remote handsets. They appear to use a variation of the RJ11 phone connector but do nothing but carry power to the cradle.

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

arsie1 — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 15:05:14 GMT

@Anonymous I admit to being easily confused! My remote cradles are labelled 'PNLC1042 battery charger output 4.6v'. So are remote handsets wireless as such? And will they continue to function even after BT remove the land line? Likewise the inter comm capability?

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 15:10:46 GMT

Yes they're wireless & as @imjolly said in post #3, they will continue to work as before. once the base is plugged into the Hub.

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

WSH — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 15:35:46 GMT

OK, let’s try and clarify this.

Looking on the internet the KX-TGC210E is a single handset cordless phone. From what you have said, it sounds as though you have three separate cordless phones, rather than a single base station + 2 handsets.

What is confusing people is that this is a very unusual configuration for cordless phones. I myself have Panasonic cordless phones but the KX-TGS660E, consisting of a base station and 3 satellite handsets. In my case the base station plugs into the back of the SH2 and the handsets communicate with the base station by DECT. (DECT is a type of wireless used for cordless phones. It is not the same thing as Wi-Fi).

If I’ve understood you correctly, what you have is 3 base stations plugged into extension wiring around the house. Each handset will communicate with its own base station wirelessly and through the extension wiring to the master socket and the outside world. Essentially, this is just like having non-cordless extensions around the house.

If this is the case you will need the extension wiring to connect to the SH2 instead of the master socket. If this is the case you must be careful not to disconnect the incoming line from the master socket, as you still need this to communicate with the outside world. Your broadband and digital voice will still be delivered via this line. Your internal extension wiring, however, will need to connect to the SH2 if you want to continue to use all three base stations around the house.

I must stress that this is a highly unusually configuration for cordless phones, so I may well have pick you up wrongly in which case what I have said simply does not apply.

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

arsie1 — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 15:42:47 GMT

Apologies to all for a confusing question and thanks for making me go look see what I have actually got!

Throwing in the ethernet powerline wifi extenders was a complete red herring, in effect. Sorry again.

The Panasonic kit I have is KX-TGC210E which comprises 1 x handset plugged into the BT master socket, it's wirelessly connected to 2 x remote handsets sitting on cradles connected to low voltage connectors, the end plug being an RJ11 (hope I got that right) which looks like BUT ISN'T a telecomms connection. All it gives is power, being used to charge the handset in the cradle. Remote BT phone sockets were just in my imagination though might have been there originally.

With thanks to all who answered and your tolerance, imjolly and rbz5416 in particular.

Re: Will my existing phone system accessories still work when land line is removed?

WSH — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 15:53:25 GMT

Right, it's essentially the same configuration as my own then.

So, the base station plugs into the back of the SH2. You should not need to make any alterations to you existing wiring. You just unplug the base station from the master socket and plug it into the green socket on the back of the SH2. Everything will work as before.

One point, though. BT usually send you a text to confirm the transfer to DV (Digital Voice) has gone through. You may well find you need to reboot the SH2 before it picks up the new settings, however. If it is working, your phone number should be shown on the management page of the SH2.