Digital Voice

[Lenjam]

I have received both email/letter re install of Digital voice at a future date in my house, fine all good and embrace the technology even at my age. I note in the small print if there is a power/broadband outage I cannot use the phone at all...... even for emergency services with the suggestion to use your mobile. Now here is the thing I live in rural Aberdeenshire & with the recent 3 storms causing havoc we were without power in total of 48+ hours. Everything was dead.... power/broadband and mobile signal (which is rubbish in the house anyway). I keep a corded phone (plugged into the master socket) and this was a lifeline during the outages. What happens now with Digital Voice? I am assuming  (rightly or wrongly) that the master socket will be obsolete, I cannot believe we would be left with no comms at all in a power outage when there is an emergency! Clarification at this early stage appreciated, Thx

[jac_95]

Hi Lenjam

ℹ️ Please take a look at the FAQs on moving to Digital Voice as it may help answer your question.

✅ You may also find that someone else has had the same query in the past. Here's a list of all the answered questions regarding BT's Digital Voice.

Please do post back if you've been able to find the answer to your question(s) or if you need more help from the community.

p.s This is an automated reply

[-Richie-]

Mobile companies share coverage for emergency calls, a call to 999 would use any mobile network available.

You can also get a UPS (uninteruptible power supply) or BBU (Battery backup unit) but they only last a few hours.

[Lenjam]

Thanks Richie,

When I say emergency as well as 999 I am referring to a wide variety of emergency calls ie family/doctors/ dentists etc.

Bottom line how do I contact family etc during a power outage where as previously I could use a corded phone....or is that not the case anymore. 

Len

[-Richie-]

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@Lenjamwrote:

Bottom line how do I contact family etc during a power outage where as previously I could use a corded phone....or is that not the case anymore. 

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Digital Voice is provided via the Smart Hub 2, if that has no power you can't make/receive phone calls, you would need a BBU/UPS like I mentioned originally to keep it powered in the event of no electicity

[FTT]

To properly answer your query, yes there will be no service or help from BT or any other telecoms supplier.

I too live in Scotland and have watched the news and I would be worried myself (I have a battery backup here for my DV) and I would therefore buy a small petrol generator for backup. In fact I'd buy 2. They are quite cheap.

The Scottish Government have said they're 'looking at it' but unless they supply a free satellite mobile phone to every household I don't see how they can fix what is very rare down time. Burying more cables may resolve some of the down time.

It's horrible for people but I'm afraid it's up to them by the look of things.

[iniltous]

The traditional copper line service you will be transferred from isn’t infallible, it could fail leaving you without the ability to make calls , if you also happen to live in an area with no mobile service, then why do you live there ? , presumably you accept some level of  risk ( in other words as you haven’t moved to a better served area as you are prepared to accept that  risk that although your copper landline could fail and there is no mobile service, the chances of it coinciding with a medical emergency are slim ).

With DV ,( which is  based on an intrinsically more reliable network than your copper pair service ) there is a risk that during a power outage you won’t be able to make an emergency calls, a risk that can be mitigated with a BBU/UPS , if the risk is still to great , then why is it this risk is any greater than the current risk you accept ?, after all , even if power outages are relatively common ( the power company’s responsibility, not you phone provider ) the calculated risk isn’t simply the power outage  , but the chance of you needing to make an emergency call during a power outage after your UPS has been exhausted.

It is a fact , the regulator is happy for this migration to DV to take place , the Government is actively pushing FTTP , ( even if you are not getting FTTP and your individual DV service will be via FTTC or further down the line ADSL )  the principal remains, no one should expect OR to run two networks, the legacy copper pair/PSTN network kept in place for those that are resistant to change,  BT are simply ‘grasping the nettle’ now , and in a phased way , migrating customers , rather than waiting until 2025 when the PSTN switch off will be completed .