Digital Voice on Renewal of Contract

[northshields]

I have just renewed my broadband and tv contract for another 24 months. I had understood that on renewal I would be automatically switched to DV but none of the emails I have received from BT mention it. Have I misunderstood the position or is there some other, separate, process involved. To be honest, I don't mind either way but was just wondering about the procedure.

[jac_95]

Hi northshields,

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.

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[imjolly]

@northshields 

I assume you do have a home phone in use.  it may be that your area's has not been converted to DV yet

[northshields]

imjolly

I certainly have a home phone in use with the 700 minute package.

An extract from the availability checker shows this

As I am on gfast and it is shown as available under the "WBC SOGEA" column I had assumed that DV would be available so that I would be automatically switched, but perhaps I have misunderstood the position.

[Keith_Beddoe]

It may be that gfast is the issue, perhaps it does not have the residual bandwidth needed for DV?

There was a post on the forum where a customer was downgraded to VDSL, as gfast was no longer being sold.

[Colin_London]

As I think I understand it, you only get DV automatically if your area has already been enabled. This is because DV is not a single national architecture like most VOIP providers.

In my case my area was enabled whilst I still had a copper cable VDSL connection. I was migrated onto what is known as a SOGEA line which is VDSL internet connection only, and at that point the dial tone left the line and I had to switch to Digital Voice. When I then moved again to full fibre broadband the telephone service remained unaffected (even though I didn't want it anymore at that point) and the copper cable was removed from my house (although I have just noticed they left it dangling from the pole!).

There are however plenty of stories on here from people in areas that clearly have not had DV enabled yet, and it seems that in order to keep a telephone connection they have to keep their old copper cable to keep a PSTN telephone service going whilst also having a new fibre cable.

[Les-Gibson · Accepted solution]

I'm making a big assumption here based on your username so please be gentle if I'm wrong.

I suspect that you area is not yet DV ready.

Source BT announces regional rollout schedule for Digital Voice

[Colin_London]

I think G.Fast is on the way out and being replaced (eventually) by FTTP.

Think of G.Fast as just a faster version of VDSL which still has the telephone connection provided in the old way via an analogue signal.

[northshields]

Les-Gibson

Having looked at the information in the link that you provided I think yours might be the right explanation.

Many thanks.

[David500]

@Les-Gibson  About halfway down the article there is this paragraph:

“In readiness for the December 2025 deadline, Openreach have taken steps to end the sale of new analogue services across the UK. That means when customers who have access to broadband sign up for a new contract – or when they switch, upgrade or re-grade their service via their provider – they’ll be moved onto a new digital landline rather than an analogue one.“

Which i take to mean that you will be moved to DV if you regrade, etc. and the dates given from Autumn 2023 to Summer 2024 are for those people who are within their minimum term or on a monthly rolling contract will be moved?