Going Digital?

[Marg0105]

There is a lot of confusion amongst my friends about how the change to digital will affect us, especially the older ones. I am hoping to be able to reassure them. Some still have the old style wired phoned ie they can't walk about with them like you can with more modern phones.

The most frequent questions are:  -

Will they be able to keep their current landline numbers?

Will they have to buy new handsets?

Does this depend on how their home system is set up now? 

If they only have one BT socket?

If they have more than one BT socket  - all linked to the same number?

If they have a router already with the main phone input coming through that plus extensions plugged into BT sockets. Will they need to buy new handsets for each?

My phones are plugged into electricity sockets using those disc boosters, what will I need to do to be ready for digital?

The BT adverts don't explain any of this and are very worrying.

Sorry if the questions aren't very clear - just shows how confused we all are.

Thank you

[imjolly]

@Marg0105

I would suggest you read the FAQ first

https://community.bt.com/t5/Home-phone-including-Digital/Digital-Voice-FAQs/td-p/2207485

[iniltous]

Are all your friends concerned about this BT customers (  the bill is from BT ) , are they phone only customers or also have broadband, if broadband , is that also with BT  ?

Non BT customers   need to contact whoever they use , BT landline customers that don’t also have BT broadband , the chances are they won’t be required to move to ‘Digital Voice’ until much closer to the December 2025 deadline , if they are BT broadband customers , even ordinary corded phones are simply removed from the copper line socket and plugged into the BT router , if the existing router isn’t the correct version the correct one is supplied…it’s extremely unlikely that anyone has a hard wired phone with a rotary dial anymore

Yes the number is kept , if they have extension sockets and want to maintain them as working , they will need to arrange for them to be be connected to the broadband router themselves, this won’t be done as part of the migration as this is their own property, nothing to do with BT or Openreach 

[Marg0105]

Iniltous

Thank you for your helpful reply.

Having read it I think my friend's confusion may stem from one having all BT facilities and the other having a different broadband provider but a BT landline. I will pass on your advice. I need to read the FAQs carefully as suggested by the other respondent whose name escapes me just now  - a daunting prospect but here goes!

[iniltous]

Your friend may need to check , although common many years ago , ‘shared’ metallic paths , where BT supply ( and produce the bill ) for telephony and another company supply broadband and bill for that separately is pretty rare ( but can still exist ) however many people still refer to a ‘BT’ line when BT have nothing to do with the supply , the major players like Sky and Talk Talk made efforts to get their broadband customers to swap the ‘line rental’ to themselves, it’s possible some made the switch without realising it meant that BT were no longer involved.
If your friend is genuinely still on this legacy product ( called SMPF , shared metallic path facility ) at some point they will need to decide , join BT for both services ( phone and broadband) , or join whoever supplies the broadband for both services , they won’t be able to remain paying BT for the  ‘line’ rental and whoever it is they use for broadband.

[Marg0105]

Thank you once again iniltous.

I can see  I will need to ask more questions of my friend to see just what they have & how the changes will affect them.

I didn't think it would be so complicated!

The crux of his question was, will he need to buy new handsets! My OH used to be a BT engineer but in the days of phones with a dial on the front which is why my friends asked me!

The FAQs were utterly baffling & no real help.

I may be back with more specific questions later if I may?

[licquorice]

Not really sure why the FAQ was baffling. It is not complicated at all, it is very straightforward.

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@Marg0105 wrote:

There is a lot of confusion amongst my friends about how the change to digital will affect us, especially the older ones. I am hoping to be able to reassure them. Some still have the old style wired phoned ie they can't walk about with them like you can with more modern phones.

The most frequent questions are:  -

Will they be able to keep their current landline numbers?

Yes

Will they have to buy new handsets?
No

Does this depend on how their home system is set up now? 

No

If they only have one BT socket?

No

If they have more than one BT socket  - all linked to the same number?

No

If they have a router already with the main phone input coming through that plus extensions plugged into BT sockets. Will they need to buy new handsets for each?

No

My phones are plugged into electricity sockets using those disc boosters, what will I need to do to be ready for digital?

No idea what you mean by that

The BT adverts don't explain any of this and are very worrying.

Sorry if the questions aren't very clear - just shows how confused we all are.

Thank you

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Basically the socket at the rear of the hub becomes the new phone socket. If you have extension sockets these can be wired back to the hub rather than the master socket. As explained in the FAQ, the DV adapter supplied by BT is effectively just a portable phone socket.

[rbz5416]

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@Marg0105wrote:

The crux of his question was, will he need to buy new handsets!

---

Short answer - no.

Any current handset can be plugged into the back of the BT Smart Hub 2 that is supplied with DV, including a DECT cordless base station.

Where it gets a little more complex is if there are multiple phones currently plugged into extensions. BT provide a Digital Voice Adapter that plugs into a mains socket & the phone plugs into that. The DVA is a DECT relay that in turn talks to the SH2. There is also the possibility to modify the existing extension wiring to have that patched in to the SH2 instead, so all extensions continue to work as before.

Pretty sure all of this is covered in the FAQs that were apparently "no real help".

[Marg0105]

Thank you rbz5416

Your reply IS helpful.

The FAQs I read were confusing to me, I think it's the use of acronyms as I don't know what most of them mean. I understand 'Hub' and 'mains socket'  and worked out DVA from your answer but that's about my limit.

Thank you once again for your help.

[Jane2018]

It is very worrying for a lot of people (I am in London and we will be moved over by end of 2023 which is not long now). I use a traditional corded landline for hours every day and also have broadband from BT.

In fairly simple cases like that this is what will happen for me (I hope):-

1.  As I do not have  the latest modem from BT but an older one BT will send me something called a Bt Hub 2. This means all the complications of setting up the new broadband hub, changes of password or trying to keep the existing one ie not simple. However the new hub is vital as you plug the corded phone in back of it. Hopefully it will arrive before DV day. Some people will need help with this. It must be many years since I replaced a BT modem but hopefully I can do it unaided.

2. Once you have the right modem then you plug the corded phone in the back.

Users need to be aware you cannot call local numbers as before eg here in London you wouldn't use 020  etc but now you will have to dial the whole long number.

Secondly I believe the line available tone may sound differently.

If you have what was BT callminder - your own recorded message which I do I believe you will need to do something about that to make sure things are set right. There is probably something to which you have to log in for settings on your computer on the broadband with options sadly rather than things just work as before. I think I may have to disable call waiting too. I may have to enable international numbers as I use those currently too. I have been making a list and it gets longer and longer. I believe the new hub may have to be restarted after it is all plugged in to make it work once digital voice is activated remotely by BT. I think the old analogue phone/number will continue to work for a few days to give people time to set it all up, chase the hub2 if it has not arrived etc,

(I have also removed 6 landlines from other rooms and floors in the house as they were not much used and I wanted to keep it simpler but people should be able to get those working in various ways too if they want them).

Yes, you keep the same landline number. I have had mine for over 25 years and would be devastated if I lost it.