Digital Voice - Some Useful Info (I hope)

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@ChunkyTheCurmudgeon wrote:

I can also offer big thanks to the Openreach engineer (not a contractor this time) who diagnosed dead copper, got me a dial tone back temporarily and then opted to replace the entire copper length to sort it once and for all.  This time he put it in the new duct that had been placed for fibre and did all new JB & terminations in the UG box in the road outside. He explained it all, involved me in the diagnostic, treated me like a customer not an inconvenience and even turned down repeated offers of a cuppa.

I now have a crystal clear land line, on the wall exactly where I want it and I'm a very happy bunny.  The SH2 is in a box in the loft.  Just in case.

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You can give feedback on this form.

https://www.openreach.com/thank-an-engineer-form

It is always appreciated.

[ChunkyTheCurmudgeon]

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@licquoricewrote:

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Until 2025 when you will be left with no service at all.

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Thanks for the ray of sunshine. 

By 2025 either BT/OR will have got their head around the problem and stuck a second ONT on my wall, or replaced the ONT with something like the old style mult-port option, or I'll be out of BT contract and with another provider.  I saw Virgin lurking about not too far away recently.

Either way, I'll be deciding what router I'm using.

I've not mentioned it before, because I don't like to play the disabled card, but I need uninterruptible land line service that doesn't go down when the power goes off.  Ours comes from a pole in the field beside the house, on an 11kV cable running under my drive, down the road to a local sub. and then back to us.  When the wind blows and the lights go off (twice this winter) it takes the local mobile mast with it as well.

So, there's a few cards left to play yet.  If you have any positive advice,  that can take me and everyone else forward I'd be overjoyed to hear it.

[ChunkyTheCurmudgeon]

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@Keith_Beddoewrote:

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You can give feedback on this form.

https://www.openreach.com/thank-an-engineer-form

It is always appreciated.

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Done, I think.

But, when I pushed send the screen hung and I got no acknowledgement.  So I don't know if it went anywhere.  Could be my adblocker, could be my star sign or could be poor website design.  We'll never know.   I don't want to say this is typical of Openreach's systems but it's hard not to come to the conclusion.......

Thanks for the link anyway.  And thanks to Andy the engineer.

[SuperAngryCustomer]

Personally, I am like TNT about to blow with BT on this issue. My contract is due to renew in June. I was prompted to upgrade and switch over to full Fibre with Digital Voice. On ordering, by phone, I did explain that I don't use and don't want to use a BT router. I was not informed that this would be an issue with Digital Voice. Just told how great the Hub is. Which it isn't. I only got to find out from this forum whilst I was trying to figure out what the wire for my router would be. I call them before replying to the BT text to confirm the installation. They then confirmed that I have to use their hub. I explain that this is a deal breaker. I would have preferred to not bother, see out the end of my contract and sort it out then. I get told how great the hub is yet again. Does it have WiFi 6? Of course not. It's not that great then. I get railroaded into cancelling the Digital Voice part and keeping the Fibre.  No explanation of what the cost implications are for this or course. I ask if I can port my number to a third party Voip provider. I am told that I can if I want to. So installation comes around and I am sorting out the new Voip service. I want this done as I want to keep my Landline number, obviously. Next I check my bill, and I am going to get charged a massive Landline bill next month. Back to BT. Told how great the hub is yet again. Explain everything again. Tell them I am now on the new Fibre, yet my Landline bill is going up, Why? no real resolution. Tell them I am porting the number over. I want to keep the number. OK. So if I get it done before the next bill I wont get charged the large Landline bill. OK.
Now I start fast tracking the porting. I call BT again and ask if there is a particular department or address to carry out the port etc. Explain everything again. Told how great the hub is.
Finally get the port request in.
Rejected by BT. There is an open order. This has cost me £30.

Back to BT. I am very angry at this point. We both agree all of the above should never have happened. For me this is BT railroading customers into an over priced package they don't want or need.
I am now cancelling everything. Then off somewhere else. This is ridiculous. Next stop for me is Ofcom. You just can't force customers into bills without explaining what they are doing. 
I have had it with BT 

[licquorice]

You appear to be confusing line rental charges with call charges. Line rental is obviously still payable as a line is needed for your broadband. Broadband without voice capability only gives a saving of £5/m

[ChunkyTheCurmudgeon]

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@licquoricewrote:

You appear to be confusing line rental charges with call charges. Line rental is obviously still payable as a line is needed for your broadband. Broadband without voice capability only gives a saving of £5/m

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Well, a fiver is a fiver all the same. Twelve of those is £60 a year.   That's twice as much as the charge for not transferring a number as contracted.

But do you have any thoughts on the main body of his problem?   No amount of confusion about the minutiae of billing is going to fix that.  Sadly, experience says Ofcom isn't going to address it either.

[mhop74]

I currently use BT Full Fibre, with my landline delivered over copper.  I use a Netgear Orbi router and mesh wifi network.  This week I was email by BT to say that they will be moving by voice line to Digital Voice, so I contacted BT via the chat service to check that this would work with my router.  They said it would, and agreed to send out a Digital Voice Adapter and an Advanced Digital Home Phone.

Having received these today and trying to decipher the limited technical specs provided, it seems both are DECT devices and need the DECT base station in the SH3 to work.  So I contacted BT support again, and they assured by the phone connects via wifi so it will be fine to use with my router.

The information from BT directly contradicts this post which I found very helpful: Solved: Digital Voice FAQs - BT Community  Who is correct?

Is it possible for me to solve the problem by adding a third party DECT base station? Or must I use the SH3? 

[Tom20001]

@mhop74 

You have spotted the deliberate mistakes.

Digital Voice will only work with the Smart Hub 2.

The phones are DECT, not wifi, and will only pair with the SH2.

You can plug a third party DECT base station into the phone socket of the SH2 and use that for telephony.

Your biggest issue will be incorporating your Netgear Orbi into your network. 

[licquorice]

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@mhop74 wrote:

The information from BT directly contradicts this post which I found very helpful: Solved: Digital Voice FAQs - BT Community  Who is correct?

My FAQ post is, the helpdesk are clueless.

Is it possible for me to solve the problem by adding a third party DECT base station? Or must I use the SH3?

No, if you want DV, you MUST use the SH2 (there is no SH3) as stated in the FAQ

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[mhop74]

@Tom20001 @licquorice Thanks for the replies (and my mistake on the SH numbering).

Its possible to set up the Netgear Orbi to work only as a wifi network and disable the routing functions.  So maybe I can just use the SH2 as a router / DECT base station and not for wifi. 

It might work but is not really satisfactory.  And very frustrating that Support are so lacking in clue.