BT Digital Voice: UPS and Other Questions

[Paul608085]

This week I received an email from BT advising that my line will "soon" be converted to Digital Voice, but for me, raised more questions than it answered. I did try calling the Helpline, but they were not much help!

Hopefully, the good people on these forums will be able to answer my questions.

I currently have FTTC which syncs at the maximum 80/20 of my contract and a SmartHub 2. The only telephone plugged in to the landline is a combined one with handset/keypad, and is also the base station for 4 DECT cordless instruments. Plugged in to an extension socket is the dialler for our home alarm - this uses standard DTMF tones, calls our mobiles if the alarm is triggered and plays a pre-recorded announcement. During that call from the alarm, we can also disable the alarm via the mobile's keypad.

The master phone socket, (type 5C), is in the lounge with the SH2 and I have extension wiring to the telephone in the hall and to the alarm dialler.

Questions:

1.) Currently, my SH2 webpage says the telephone is "Not Configured". Will BT remotely do this at the appropriate time, or will I have to do it?

2.) My understanding is that the SH2 is effectively a DECT compatible cordless phone base station, so I should just be able to unpair my 4 DECT handsets from the current base station and re-pair them to the SH2 instead? If this is correct, what is the maximum number of DECT handsets that the SH2 can support?

3.) Ideally, I would like to keep my existing internal cabling. I can see that BT sell Digital Voice Adapters, which appear to be DECT to wired phone converters (?) - by my preference is for wired on everything, telephones, ethernet etc 🙂. I thought that I had read on these forums some time ago that a replacement Master Socket 5C faceplate was available that could be swapped for the existing one, and together with a cable plugged in to this new faceplate and the SH2's phone socket, enabled all of the existing home phone cabling to be connected to the Digital Voice service? Unfortunately, the Digital Voice Helpline didn't seem to know anything about his - so did I imagine that? If it does exist, is it something that I can install myself? (Technically I am quite happy to  -but am I allowed to? 😉 ).

4.) I have been advised that my alarm dialler might no longer work  -what problems can I expect?

I am aware that because calls will now go via the broadband, a power cut will mean loss of landline telephone in future. Whilst we are not particularly prone to power cuts in our area, I am thinking about buying a UPS to back up the SH2:

5.) What is the maximum power consumption of the SH2, (I need to make sure that the UPS that I buy can power it!).

6.) I believe that the Openreach fibre cabinets have back-up batteries inside them? How long are they intended to power the cabinet for? (No point in me getting a UPS that will keep my SH2 running significantly longer than the cabinet will last!).

7.) At some point in the future, I will probably move from our current FTTC to FTTP. How much power does the fibre ONT consume? (Might as well factor that in to UPS size now).

Any recommendations for a suitable UPS please?

A lot of questions - but hopefully I will be a lot clearer on what this change means for me 😀

TIA

[jac_95]

Hi Paul608085,

Thanks for the post and welcome to the Community.

This is an automated response as I can see you have a question about BT’s Digital Voice service. Rather than waiting for a response from the Community, you may find an answer to your question by using the search bar on the Community homepage. We also have a thread that contains a wealth of info related to BT’s Digital Voice, click this link to take a look, Digital Voice FAQs.

If you have already looked for the answer to your question and have not found anything that can help, then please ignore this message. One of our Community members will be along shortly to help you further.

[Paul608085]

That FAQ has answered some of my questions - thanks 🙂.

@licquorice 

Regarding this part:

"If it really thought necessary to use corded phones in existing extension wiring, this can be achieved if broadband service is via FTTP (Full Fibre to the home) by simply disconnecting the incoming wires from the master socket and connecting the green socket on the hub to any of the phone sockets with a cord consisting of a phone plug at each end.

This is more complicated if broadband service is still delivered via the copper pair as the incoming wires cannot be disconnected and the hub still needs to connect to the master socket. It will require a new extension socket to be fitted adjacent to the master socket and the extension wiring transferred to it. This new socket can then be connected to the green socket on the hub as with FTTP."

Does this mean that there is no such thing as a replacement for the Master Socket 5C faceplate that I mentioned in my OP?

If not, my next preference would be to disconnect my extension wiring from the back of the faceplate and extend it with a cable and appropriate plug, (BT431A ??), to plug directly in to the SH2's phone socket. Would this work, and is it allowed?

[licquorice]

I'm not sure about the availability of the replacement faceplate, it doesn't seem to get mentioned anywhere any more.

Yes, extending the cable and terminating it with BT431a will work and is allowed.

[gg30340]

The Smarthub2 will be "configured" automatically when your system is changed over. It does not require you to change it.

If the Smarthub2 and your Dect base station are close to each other you can just plug your base station into the Smarthub2 phone socked on the rear and your other cordless phones that are paired to your base station will continue to work without you needing to do anything else as will your base station phone. You do not need to pair them with the hub. You would only need to do that if you want the hub to be your base station and decide to use a compatible phone. See this thread about that.

Solved: Digital Voice and 'free' phone or adapter - BT Community

When you are changed over, your internal phone wiring, other than the master socket that your hub is connected to becomes redundant. If you are using a base station and cordless phones why would you need the extensions.

It would be best to contact your alarm company and ask what changes you will need to make to keep your alarm system working. Most alarm companies are able to help with this.

See this thread about power cuts and UPS

Digital voice and power cuts. - BT Community

[Paul608085]

@licquorice @gg30340 

Thanks for the replies.

Currently, the master phone socket and SH2 are in the lounge - the wired phone/cordless phone base is in the hall, hence requirement to keep existing wiring.

I bought the parts and installed the alarm system myself. It calls our mobiles, not an alarm monitoring company.

Can you advise what the REN, (Ringer Equivalence Number), of the SH2's phone socket is please?

[licquorice]

I don't think the actual REN figure has ever been established, there is a thread on the forum discussing this. You should be able to find it with a search of the forum.

[Les-Gibson]

You can pair your existing DECT phones with the SH2 if that is your preference but be warned that, going by my own experience, more likely than not your contacts list will not transfer with the handsets and some of the functions on your handsets will no longer work.

[Paul608085]

My preference is keep the DECT handsets paired with their existing base station phone. I'm going to pop out soon to get a telephone extension cable to link my existing extension wiring to the SH2 - I'll cut off the socket on the cable and hopefully by able to solder the wires together, (some wires don't take solder very well), otherwise it will have to be terminal block.

Then I'll settle down to read through the thread about power cuts and UPS's linked to by @gg30340above - it only has 199 posts 😀

[gg30340]

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@Paul608085 wrote:

Then I'll settle down to read through the thread about power cuts and UPS's linked to by @gg30340above - it only has 199 posts 😀

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The majority of which are repeats of what has already been posted because people can not be bothered to read from the start!