Call Sign - notice of withdrawal

[Tim123]

Sorry, duplicate post.

[Tim123]

@iniltous - Obviously none of us have to do anything we don't want to, BT included. But the fact that those of us who have this feature have to come on a user forum to get answers to questions that BT should be answering without being asked, shows the level of contempt they now have for their telephone subscribers. "It's you we answer to" was their original slogan, but today they answer to no-one.

I still think a SIM card in the router would provide a viable workaround, but clearly they're not interested in developing such a feature.

Actually, Call Sign (at least in my exchange) generates a single ring - not as long as the American or French rings (the only two of which I have experience outside these shores), and with the same short pause in-between rings as the British double-ring; it therefore sounds just as 'urgent' as the British ring. I might make a recording of it before it disappears, as we will be losing a little piece of our telephone history.

Triple-ring is what you get with 'Ring Back When Free', which doubtless will also cease to work on Digital Voice.

BT are spinning this whole digital switchover as, "Don't worry, apart from having to use a router and provide your own mains power and not be able to call emergency services in a power cut, nothing about your service will change!" And that simply is not true.

[iniltous]

I wasn’t attempting to give a visual representation of the ringing current the PSTN switch delivers for a call made to a call sign number, I was simply trying to show what ringing cadence is…., suffice to say the phone instrument makes two different noises depending on what number was called ( the directory number or the call sign number ) something that some may not be aware of , as said , call sign was a pretty niche facility anyway, that many if not most would be unaware of.
Call facilities come and go , one that you find useful is not ( currently ) being retained in the change to a VoIP based phone system, if its removal were a deal breaker , obviously you could change provider that supports that facility ( if one exists )
I don’t recognise your assertion that BT have said ‘nothing will change’ with the advent of DV , there are many things that won’t exist when all telephony is VoIP , however , in its basic form, the ability to make and receive calls is unchanged with DV.

The fact that a facility is being removed ( something that could have been removed irrespective of the call platform , if BT decide it’s not worth continuing with ) is just business ….no company guarantees that every feature or product in their portfolio will be available for ever, and if it’s something not worth continuing with , then ( unfortunately ) that’s it, I don’t really know what other answer you expect.

[Keith_Beddoe]

My understanding is that all landline telephone numbers will be 'virtual' 

What I mean by "virtual" numbers is that they would not have a real routing, as you cannot actually make any calls using them and they would not be re-allocated to another customer.

There are quite a few of these number ranges and they were used extensively on the old BT SmartTalk facility (now defunct), and some still show on peoples`  bills, with zero calls. They can be configured to display any presentation number.

BT SmartTalk did allow outgoing calls, but they still routed using virtual numbers, but the receiving end received the CLI from the caller. It was quite complex, and that is probably why it was withdrawn.

[Tim123]

@iniltous
"I don’t recognise your assertion that BT have said ‘nothing will change’ with the advent of DV , there are many things that won’t exist when all telephony is VoIP"

BT actually say on their 'Moving to Digital Voice' page that: "There's no change to your plan or bill."

https://www.bt.com/help/landline/digital-voice-migration

If one subscribes to calling features that are being discontinued as a result of the switchover, or gets them free as part of a special plan, then of course there will be changes to one's plan or bill. However, they are not stating this fact and many people will be confused as well as inconvenienced when they lose features upon which they rely. This is highly misleading and they should correct that.

[Tim123]

@jamesrbutler - Have you also received a letter from BT stating that your Call Sign service will be switched off on 30th September 2022, or is it just me?

[RIC9380]

Just to say that I got rid of the Call Sign service some years ago as the second assigned number came from an old NHS fax line so the phone rang at all times of the day and night and so was really annoying. An acceptable alternative for me was to set up a VOIP service from another supplier which comes through on another number of my choice.

RIC9380

[tinman9898]

I also received the letter about Call Sign being withdrawn. I called BT and was advised by the first agent that it was being withdrawn as few people use it, which was not what was stated in the letter as it said that it was due to the switch to digital.  I arranged for a more senior person to call me.  They stated that quite a few people still use the service and it was due to the switch to digital not supporting the feature. I asked and was sent a deadlock letter after being advised my only option was to try and port the number to a second line but this would probably not work as the second numbers are virtual. the second line would also incrr extra cost.  I sent the deadlock letter to the ombudsman after raising a complaint.  The response from the ombudsman was such that BT were withdrawing the service and BT had advised me to opt for a second line. As I did not want to do this, due to incurring extra cost, then there was no action they could take. The only option appears to be changing all stationary, updating everywhere online and making people who already have the number aware that your number will be changing.

[jamesrbutler]

Surely that depends on whether you can actually move the number to a second BT line. If BT mention that but say it is unlikely to work then they are not giving you an option. I would be ok with the second line option.

[jac_95]

---

@jamesrbutler wrote:

Surely that depends on whether you can actually move the number to a second BT line. If BT mention that but say it is unlikely to work then they are not giving you an option. I would be ok with the second line option.

---

If it was possible the second line would only be a stop gap as all fixed line voice services are moving off the PSTN by 2025.