Digital Voice with phones older than 10 years

[Annie_UK]

What is BT solution for people forced onto digital voice with phone equipment older than 10 years that was perfectly fine prior to switchover and for someone who does not want a new phone taking more electricity and I don't want to send perfectly good kit to eWaiste?

I spoke to 6 BT staff prior to coming to this forum and none of then new that old phone would not work with the BT DVA, the info is buried on the DVA instructions on the website and not mentions with the printed instructions

Why is the DVA only two wires were the Smarthub2 is 3?

[jac_95]

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[imjolly]

have you actually tried connecting your old style phone to the socket on back of SH2?  if so do you get dial tone?  is the problem just with the DV adapter ?  if so what actually happens? have you tried using old style filter in the adapter?

[licquorice]

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@Annie_UK wrote:

What is BT solution for people forced onto digital voice with phone equipment older than 10 years that was perfectly fine prior to switchover and for someone who does not want a new phone taking more electricity and I don't want to send perfectly good kit to eWaiste?

I spoke to 6 BT staff prior to coming to this forum and none of then new that old phone would not work with the BT DVA, the info is buried on the DVA instructions on the website and not mentions with the printed instructions

Why is the DVA only two wires were the Smarthub2 is 3?

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Any phone of any age will work with Digital Voice either connected to the hub or a DVA as long as it is a tone dialling phone and not a pulse dialling phone.

[Annie_UK]

Our phones etc... work perfectly plugged in the SH2 but this is situated in a spare bedroom where the entire Ethernet wiring for the house terminates so cannot be moved anywhere else in our house

Phones older than 10 years that require 3 wires do not ring when there is an incoming call and the phone is attached to a DVA

[licquorice]

Plug a filter into the DVA and then plug the phone into the filter, this will create the ring wire.

[Annie_UK]

@licquorice Yes they will work mostly, using the DVA, but not having them ring when there is an incoming call makes it hard to answer the phone without being psychic 😞

[SRB]

If you have an old BT ADSL broadband filter lying around, plug in it to the hub socket and then the phone in to it, should ring with no issues.

[gg30340]

BT have at this time suspended the change over to Digital Voice so that some of the concerns of BT customers can be addressed so at present it is not possible to give you a definitive answer to all your questions.

You were given incorrect information about your old phone not working with DV. As you are a BT broadband user, you can still use your old phone by plugging it into the Smarthub or you can ask BT for a free DV Adaptor and use that to remotely connect your phone to the Smarthub or you can ask for a free DV Phone.

See links

"Existing Phone

You can continue to use your existing phone by plugging it into the phone port on the back of the Hub. Or you can use one of our adapters, which will let you plug your phone into any standard phone socket".

Digital Voice phones | BT Help

Digital Voice Adaptor user guide

BT Wi-fi – wi-fi your business can depend on

As for the power consumption, I don't know the exact figures but given the lower power usage of the DV Adaptor I would imagine that it be a negligible annual cost to run it.

If you do decide not to use your old phones you can hand them into your local councils recycling centre or ask BT for a returns bag and they will be recycled both of which will negate them ending up in land fill.

[licquorice]

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@Annie_UK wrote:

@licquorice Yes they will work mostly, using the DVA, but not having them ring when there is an incoming call makes it hard to answer the phone without being psychic 😞

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See messages 6 and 8