My mother is in her late 80s, and told me recently that BT have arranged an appointment to switch her over to Digital Voice. Her phone wiring is quite complicated, and I don't know much about BT Digital Voice (as yet), so I am trying to find out whether it will work ok. Obviously, as an elderly person, the phone is important to her. I want to check it all over before someone visits her to do the work.
I have uploaded a copy of the internal wiring below. I did this some years ago, and at the time, I was aiming to get a decent internet connection to my (late) father's office in a distant extension. Previously, it had only been connected by an old BT cable, and that made things difficult. So, instead, I replaced the phone cable with an ethernet cable, and bundled both network and phone over it. So, a little elaborate, but it did the trick.
So, my question is, how can I make this work with BT Digital Voice. Note that I understand BT would install FTTP into the front of the house (i.e. by the Master Socket location), and also, because the house has an odd split level arrangement, I very much doubt that a DECT signal would reach from the new Hub to the office extension at the back.
(I hope you can see the picture ok. I was limited to upload size so had to compress it a fair bit).
Thank you @Anonymous @imjolly @Ali_A for your very helpful replies.
I’ve reworked the wiring based on your feedback and some additional Googling. Please see below. How does it look?
A couple of points:
- I am assuming that the reinjected analogue signal will be powerful enough to drive the two phones (i.e. shown as the Main and Extension phones). The total REN load is 2 based on two phones with a stated REN of 1. It's not clear what REN load is supported by the BT Home Hub 2, and indeed whether it is still relevant.
- As @Ali_A kindly flagged, it seems the old analogue external bell won’t work with this new configuration. My understanding is that the bell previously took its power from the ~50V AC feed via the master socket capacitor during ringing. That will of course disappear under the digital arrangement. Is there any mechanism or gadget that could supply power for the bell? I suppose I could do the digital voice reinjection via a BT Digital Voice Adapter instead of the BT Home Hub’s analogue output - on the understanding that does provide a level of power - but it sounds like that only supports a REN of 2, and my network would presumably exceed that (two phones plus the bell). I’m therefore leaning towards the conclusion that the bell will have to go, and if that’s the case, then so be it.
As an aside, being new to BT’s FTTP configuration, I’ve learned that a power socket will be needed for the ONT. That’s awkward, as the current master socket is in a porch with no mains supply. For the current analogue setup, that works well and is neat and tidy, but for the switchover I gather (from various forum comments) that engineers aren’t usually keen to run fibre any further than necessary. Adding a new power socket in an old house with ancient wiring won’t be straightforward, and there’s the added issue of a long-since embedded phone cable entry point into the property that will be difficult to reopen. Still, that’s my problem to sort.
