Help with Digital Voice switchover

[JG26]

Hi,

First time posting as unable to find clear answers to my queries on the forum and help pages. I hope someone reading this is able to shed some light. 

1) I obviously have FTTP and BT are moving me over to Digital Voice (their decision, not mine) on 8th September, I think. Email says, "We're moving you on to our Digital Voice service. It should start within 48 hours of 08 Sep 2021." So when is it, the 8th, 9th, 10th?

2) The letter they sent says, "You can order either one adapter or a Digital Voice home phone free of charge from bt.com/DVequipment or text the word ADAPTER or HANDSET to 61998." I tried to order the phone online and upon entering my landline number 'to see if you're eligible for a free device and to get your voucher code' it says, "The number entered is not eligible for this offer. Please check you have entered your number correctly." So I texted as above but have had no response (my number is registered on my account with BT). I see others experiencing the same issue have posted, so it's likely a technical issue rather than not being eligible. Will it say I'm eligible after the switchover? Anyone have experience of this happening?

3) I understand the BT Digital Home Phones use DECT to connect to the Smart Hub 2. I have a couple of DECT phones in use at the moment and am aware I can plug in the base station to the SH2. Can't I just pair them to the SH2 instead or is it, as I suspect, only the BT handsets that allow this? BT's help pages don't even seem to mention this. 

4) The letter also says, "Please note that if there is a power cut, or the broadband fails, you will be unable to make calls including those to 999." There is no mobile coverage at my address so my family and I rely on WiFi calling to make and take calls on our mobiles. If there's a power cut or the broadband is down, we have no way of contacting the emergency services if needed. We have the Nokia ONT so no battery backup. Is it now a case of suck it up, make do and hope for the best then? I don't mean to be dramatic but isn't this potentially endangering life? 

Thanks in advance for any answers provided.

[imjolly · Accepted solution]

1. As it says you will be activated within 48hrs of 8th so just need to check. You will see your phone number in hub manager go from greyed out to blue

2. As others have posted it appears you need to have an active DV connection before you can order phone or adapter.  Seems crazy to me as you want phone ready for switch over

3    you can pair dect phones to hub but you may not get all the facilities you had when connected to the normal base station

4  If you are currently using dect phones with cordless base station then you are not able to phone if you get a power cut so DV is no different to your existing setup

[VeteranISPUser]

Deleted, already answered.

[JG26]

Thanks for your help, @imjolly. Thanks for trying too, @VeteranISPUser. 

1. Re the timing of the switchover, I thought as much. I suppose I was airing a grievance about not being provided with a specific changeover time more than anything. 

2. I agree, it doesn't make sense, especially when all literature advertising the offer suggests you can order whenever you want. 

3. That's interesting. I'll give that a try and see how useable it proves to be. Would I initiate the pairing from the hub manager once the DV shows as active or just do it from the handsets? 

4. Yes, quite right. I failed to mention that I do also have a corded phone on standby to be plugged in in case of emergencies. It came in handy just a few weeks ago to check on an elderly relative during a power cut. This will no longer be possible. 

[imjolly]

you would need to unpair the phones from existing base unit and then just pair with the SH2 as the base station once your line is connected to DV.  Bear in mind it is possible some of the facilities available with existing base may not be available with the SH2

[JG26]

Thanks, I'll give it a go. It would be convenient if it does work okay because the SH2 is in a different room to the base station, so it would save running a cable to it. 

[JG26]

So DV was activated yesterday. I paired one of my cordless phones to the SH2 and it worked fine, minus all features provided by the base unit (like you said, @imjolly), most notably the answerphone with call screening (essential in my setup). So that's a no-go and the base unit is now connected directly to the SH2 and all works as before. 

Issue is, the 'Digital Voice Offer' at bt.com/DVequipment for a free adapter or home phone, specifically the 'BT Advanced Digital Home Phone', is still not showing as eligible to me when I enter my landline number. However, on activation day, I received two 'BT Essential Digital Home Phones' I didn't know I was getting (there was no response to the text I sent to request 'a handset', not handsets). Neither of these models come with an answerphone, instead they sync with the 1571 answer service and have a hot key for 1571 to retrieve your messages. So call screening isn't possible. That's fine though, as my current phones can do that job and any BT ones can function as additional handsets just for making and receiving calls. I've tested this with my existing two handsets with one paired to the base and the other paired to the SH2. 

Question is, does everyone migrating to DV automatically get sent a couple of the 'essential' phones and the offer for an 'advanced' one is in addition to those, or is it a choice of one or the other (I wasn't given a choice)? Personally, I would prefer one of the 'advanced' handsets and only really have the need for one extra. 

Any knowledge to clarify this would be helpful before I get on the phone to BT.

[imjolly]

the offer to new DV customers is 2 essential or 1 advanced or 1 adapter

you can always phone 150 and see if you can get them to send an advanced phone