Digital voice 'phones only work near your hub!

[imjolly]

the A&B terminals are on the back of the backplate which is probably screwed to box in the wall

[HovelintheHills]

I agree 100% with the concerns on DECT Hub range. I am now in the position where I can't connect to the hub, at one end of the house in my office, and the kitchen at the other. We've used an adapter as supplied. The DV handset won't work with this as the adapter is out of range. I plugged in a legacy Dect basestation and this is intermittent and we can't handover calls when they come in. A giant leap backwards IMHO, why didn't they base the phones on WiFi? Added to this i've had to purchase a UPS to battery back up the hub because BT were out of stock..

Given the choice i'd revert to copper straightaway (and i'm a techno nerd).

This could be solved with a DECT range extender. I checked with liGo about their range extender capabilities and they confirm they don't support Digital Voice as 'BT is non standard'.

Digital Voice - Badly thought out.

[Speedyshark]

I also had this very same problem and have just solved it in a different way. 

Problem: The fundamental issue here is that BT do not disclose the fact that they are still selling DECT technology under the guise of "Digital Voice". I didn't find this out until it was too late and I had purchased five of these shiny new digital phones when in fact they are just like my old ones. I thought, like many others on this forum, that I was buying Internet-connected phones, that work (like everything else these days) using 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands.

I have a home office halfway down the garden and a Digital Voice handset is just out of range. I had already spent time carefully positioning my Wi-Fi extender discs so that the Wi-Fi reception in this home office is perfect. Imagine my dismay when I realise that these new phones don't use Wi-Fi at all and still use the old  1.9GHz DECT protocol with the base station hidden in the SH2. Why would a supplier ever do that after getting everyone Internet connected?

Solution: I asked BT for a Digital Voice Adapter (free of charge). This effectively adds a second standard BT telephone socket at another location. I set this up in a back room, halfway between the HS2 and my home office.  I plugged my original DECT master station into this and hey presto, I have both DECT systems working simultaneously as a bridge to the garden. The disadvantage is that I can't use a new Digital Voice handset in the home office but I can still use the other four in the house with the very nice advantage that two lines are available.

[HovelintheHills]

Absolutely right. Unfortunaytely in my house there's no convenient place to position the legacy DECT phone.

BT need to introduce a DECT digital voice extender for people with larger homes (or in my case very thick walls).  Standard DECT extenders fon't work with DV.

[imjolly]

@HovelintheHills 

you can get a DV adapter which you plug in and it connects to hub/dect base station allowing you to connect your existing dect phone base unit

you can also with little effort if on FTTP try the suggestions in this post

https://community.bt.com/t5/Home-phone-including-Digital/Correct-way-to-enable-all-BT-sockets-after-...

[HovelintheHills]

I've tried that. The pace where we use the phone the most, opposite end of the house, is marginal on range so traditional DECT is very marginal. My FTTH terminates in my home office on first floor, at the far end of a long house on three floors and one floor is partially underground and there's a 3 foot thick stome wall in between.

Ideally an DV extender that is linked to the hub by wifi qould be best..I have wholehome discs and they are excellent.

[Vidman51]

What is the official name of this patch cable? Tried to Google it and found many but not this type.

[Devon_Dave]

Try an Internet search of this. 

BT 4 Wire 431A Plug to Male Plug Telephone Cable Lead 1m/2m/3m/5m Black/White

[DaveRo]

What are the pinouts for this patch cable? Straight through - pin 2 to pin 2 etc.?

I've had the postcard about Digital Voice, got the free phone, and am waiting for the changeover.

I have a powered BT Paragon 500 Answering Machine* and an unpowered BT Decor phone on the home wiring.

I have a couple of cables - a 431A plug to RJ45 plug, and a RJ45 socket to 431A plug - which when plugged together connect pin 2 to pin 5, and pin 5 to pin 2 (no others), effectively a crossover cable. I suspect this will reverse the polarity of A and B. If so, will this matter?

(I have FTTP so I can disconnect the incoming copper completely.)

* I'm not sure whether 1571 is free with my PAYG landline; if it is I'll ditch the Paragon.

[imjolly]

@DaveRo 

1571 is free when you move to DV