Correct way to enable all BT sockets after Digital Voice

[Starwire2]

Ah right, they were short lived then. Wondered why I hadn’t seen any for some time.

[gspearson]

easy enough to make though? Unless there is some pair reversal or similar?

[DavidSC]

How many extensions does this method support?  Will there be enough power in the SH2 to ring two handsets?

[gspearson]

Telephone bells used to need diesel generators to provide enough power to drive the clapper - I'm guessing that the REN was based on that high power demand - and I think you could have 4 one REN sets.  These days, with electronic sounds from phones, the power needed must be small (although all of my 4 BT Decor 1300s have batteries - each marked REN 1 but they don't ring without batteries).  In short, I guess that modern phones don't need much power.

[DavidSC]

Thanks for that - it'll be interesting to see.  Otherwise I shall use a DV adapter.  I have a supplementary question.  If I plug a conventional phone into the back of the SH2, will I get a dial tone?  I know that in the new digital world it's only a sound effect, and not a "real" dial tone, but it's still a reassuring sound that the phone's working and not on open circuit.

[gspearson]

More importantly, is the sound any better than the burble/swish/stutter noise you get from a mobile or a DECT set?  You know the sort of thing you get from a VOIP call with a bank or helpdesk..  I'm sticking with copper until the bitter end by which time I will be deaf and it won't matter. 

[Keith_Beddoe]

@gspearson 

If you have FTTP or FTTC, you will have no choice but to move to Digital Voice, as those customers are going to be the first to be "disconnected" from the PSTN equipment in the exchange, as part of the PSTN shutdown scheduled to be completed by 2025.

What is going to happen to ADSL customers, its not clear at the moment, but I suspect that they will be sent a SH2, or similar, assuming that they want to keep their phone service, and the service will be delivered over ADSL, just as the old Broadband Talk service was.

[gspearson]

I do have FTTC now and OpenReach came last year to prepare the way to take fibre to our street telephone pole (it's on an embankment covered in trees).  The blue rope hangs marking the route.  Meanwhile City Fibre is digging up adjacent streets.  It's all go here.

[Stevek1311]

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@Keith_Beddoewrote:

@jonstatt 

There is nothing to stop you linking the phone socket on the back of the SH2, into your existing phone wiring.

You just need a lead like this. Ignore the reference to the ONT on the picture

Lead to link ONT TEL port to phone socket

Farnell Telephone Modular Cable, BT631A Plug to BT631A Plug

There are other places.

Ebay have the 4 wire one, which works just as well.

BT 4 Wire 431A Plug to Male Plug Telephone Cable Lead

You would need to disconnect the existing master phone socket, from the external network.

That would then extent the phone connection to all of the existing sockets.

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Thanks for that as I'm contemplating doing something similar

A question though:  do you or does anyone know please what REN (Ringer Euivalence Number) load the SH2 output can support?  If someone has multiple phones on their current BT sockets they might easily have an REN load of 2 or higher so there could be a problem.

A variant of the 'plug a double male' cable into the SH2 might be to use the Digital Voice Adapter BT offer so again if anyone knows what REN load that can support I'd be glad to know the answer please

[licquorice]

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@Starwire2 wrote:

I did have a photo of one on my old work iPhone SE but recently upgraded it to an iPhone 11 so don’t have it anymore. If I see one next week at work I’ll get photo for you.

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Just found this on a Draytek site. https://www.draytek.co.uk/information/blog/the-end-of-analogue-phone-lines-pt2