Digital Voice & DECT

[OrchardMike]

Hi

BT is switching us to DV on Monday. I've got a free "Alexa" phone from BT and another from e-Bay. A nice lady at BT is also sending me one of their adaptors, with a view to connecting the base station of our old cordless system is a convenient place (rather than the top of the cupboard where the Home Hub is). She said that would work. (I assume she's right?)

I've read some of the Community posts, from which I understand the DV system is DECT, and the phones and the adaptor aren't connected by wireless. Is that correct? If so a) why do I press the WPS button on the router to connect them? and b) Why can't I connect the old cordless phones directly to the Home Hub, which presumably is a DECT base station? Or can I?

Or am I suffering from "little knowledge is a dangerous thing" syndrome?

[Les-Gibson]

Your are correct that the SmartHub 2 is also a DECT base station and yes, you can  register your old handsets to work with it but from my own experience there is a cost.

1. First you have to de-register the handsets from the existing base station but then you lose your contacts list as that is where it is stored, not in the handset.
2. You then have to register the handset with the SmartHub2 DECT base station which will now perform the basic functions of making and answering calls but it doesn't inherit the contacts list so you will have to enter them manually.
3. Some of those old familiar keys that added proprietary functions to your old system no longer work 

[OrchardMike]

So much for interoperability. And I can see why BT hasn't publicised this facility during the switchover; it avoids me writing to my MP when I lose all my stored numbers; and it helps them sell new kit.

However, in our case you enter contacts into each phone separably, so it might not be so bad. But with the free adaptor bringing my old base station to life again, why should I try to link my old phones directly to the Home Hub?

"For lust of knowing what should not be known, We take the Golden Road to Samarkand".

I'll keep you posted!

[jimbaxt]

The Digital Voice system seems to be a way of locking you into their network, with very little information available. What happens if I switch to another provider?

Also I already have a VoIP DECT phone so should be able to use that to connect to their VoIP system directly and avoid needing their router.

[licquorice]

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@OrchardMike wrote:

I've read some of the Community posts, from which I understand the DV system is DECT, and the phones and the adaptor aren't connected by wireless. Is that correct? If so a) why do I press the WPS button on the router to connect them?

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The WPS button has dual functionality.

[licquorice]

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@jimbaxt wrote:

What happens if I switch to another provider?

You change to their VOIP system or use a third party VOIP provider.

Also I already have a VoIP DECT phone so should be able to use that to connect to their VoIP system directly and avoid needing their router.

As far as I'm aware, BT's Digital Voice is proprietary, but nothing to prevent you using a third party VOIP provider.

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[OrchardMike]

I suppose I should have guessed!

I looked at one of our cordless phones and, under "advanced settings" found the deregister/register part of the menu. It apparently would need a code to register to the new DECT base. Does anyone know where this would be found?

[Les-Gibson]

It won't be anything special, try the usual culprits, 0000, 1234 etc

[plowst]

It says 0000 in the advanced phone instructions.

[OrchardMike]

Indeed it is 0000. The adapter didn't come today (BT hasn't dispatched it yet, due to a "delay" - whatever that implies) so I took my courage in both hands and tried to register a cordless handset (BT Graphite 3500) directly to the Smart Hub. This proved to be fairly straightforward.

First I logged on to the Home Hub. Surprise! Surprise! The "phone" panel, previously greyed out, was now a royal blue, like the rest of it. I then clicked on it to open it (necessitating the use of the Hub password). There's a button marked "Registration".

I then deregistered the handset (Advanced Settings/Deregister on the handset) there may be the need for a code (0000 or possibly 1234 - I tried both) at this stage. Click the " Registration" button on the Hub panel, and you get 2 minutes to register the new handset.

I had to get up close to the Hub and press Advanced Settings/Registration and enter the code, 0000, and Bingo!

As the contacts list is on the phone in the BT Graphite 3500, I didn't lose it, and everything seems to work.

Things may go wrong when I do get the adaptor and hook up the rest of the cordless, so watch this space.