Does Digital Voice limit my choices when switching ISP's?

[grahamm1]

I have just read that some ISP's do not offer VOIP which limits options when switching providers once you have BT's Digital Voice.

Does having Digital Voice limit my choices when switching ISP's?

[jac_95]

Hi grahamm1,

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.

If you have already looked for the answer to your question and have not found anything that can help, then please ignore this message. One of our Community members will be along shortly to help you further.

[licquorice]

Digital Voice is a VoIP system that is proprietary to BT. You cannot transfer DV to another provider.

If the chosen provider doesn't have its own VoIP system, you simply use a third party system (which you can do instead of using BT's DV now if you so wish)

If you have broadband, you have VoIP capability with any third party provider, its simply just another internet facility like email etc.

[grahamm1]

Just to clarify; I was not talking about transferring Digital Voice to another ISP.

I read (on a different forum) that once you are using BT's Digital Voice your options for moving to another ISP are limited as some ISP's do not offer VOIP. Having researched this I now realise the person posting this information is either mistaken or was trolling as most of the big ISP's either offer VOIP right now or intend to in the near future.

[licquorice]

It doesn't matter if the ISP offers a VoIP service or not, third party VoIP can be used with any ISP.

As I put in my edited post, VoIP is just another service that can be purchased from any source. It is no different to using Gmail rather than an ISP's email service.

[Tim123]

Any ISP that currently offers a home phone service will have to come up with a digital solution if they want to continue offering it beyond December 2025 (or sooner if an Openreach exchange or the PSTN equipment within it closes before that date). That's my understanding, anyway. If they all do, then BT will have competition, but I predict that only the big four - BT, TalkTalk, Plusnet and Sky - will bother. Incidentally, since Post Office pulled out of the home phone market last year, BT is the only provider that continues to offer home phone as a standalone offering (i.e. without internet). Shell Energy, who bought Post Office phone and broadband, don't advertise phone-only on their website, so I assume that's only available for the legacy Post Office Home Phone customers they took on.

Will there still be any local/regional exchange buildings after 2025 or will everything be piped directly from London?

[-Richie-]

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@Tim123wrote:

Will there still be any local/regional exchange buildings after 2025 or will everything be piped directly from London?

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From my understanding, the number of exchanges needed will be reduced once FTTP becomes standard.

[Tim123]

@-Richie- I see. I wonder if they'll re-equip the larger existing buildings or build new ones. The one near me is fairly large but looks old and dilapidated!

To get back to the original poster's question: your choice will only be limited in so far as you'd need to change routers when you change phone provider (the same as you do when switching broadband provider), whereas currently your phones, which plug directly into the wall sockets, will work with any provider. I imagine the two Digital Voice phones will only work with BT and doubtless other providers will come up with their own models in due course.

[jac_95]

With the shift to full fibre. Your local exchange may not be where your fibre terminates before entering your communication providers own network. Where the fibre terminates at the OLT these exchanges are called headend exchanges and there are a select few of these.

More information on the exchange exit programme can be found at: https://www.openreach.co.uk/cpportal/products/the-all-ip-programme/exchange-exit-programme

[spile]

I don’t like proprietary solutions like Digital Voice. The only reason I bought in to it when I moved to FTTP was because of cheaper outgoing call charges from my other voip provider which is used to provide an incoming second number.