Going dedicated VOIP provider and keeping bt broadband

[talyn]

I haven't been able to find a clear answer to my situation so I'm asking here.

So it looks like BT will be switching over to their digital voice service but by the looks off it you need to use their BT Home Hub to use it. In my situation I'm unable to use a BT home Hub because it lacks the features I need for my home network needs so I use pfsense as my router. I'm now looking into switching my phone line to a dedicated VOIP provider and porting over my landline number as BT doesn't have a solution for just plugging a VOIP phone into an active internet connection. 

Now my question is, right now I have a phone and broadband package with BT that's due to end in January 2025 and I'm unsure if I switch to a dedicated VOIP provider what will happen. Will the phone side just drop off and it will be broadband only package or will the contract be canceled and I have to reorder a broadband only package? Will I lose internet access due to the landline number being transferred as it's a part of the phone package and the broadband is delivered through a copper line?

[jac_95]

Hi talyn,

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.

Got some questions or want to learn more about BT’s Digital Voice rollout? BT are running localised events as part of the regional rollout of Digital Voice - Click here to view the Digital Voice events

To learn more about the nationwide change to this Internet based voice service visit landlinesgo.digital

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.

[gg30340]

If you cancel your landline phone your broadband package will also be cancelled and you will incur cancelations fees.

If you want to have BT Broadband without a landline (phone) you will need to cancel your present package and take out a new broadband only package.

You can use the Smarthub 2 as your first device on your present connection, this would allow you to use Digital Voice and then you connect your own router to the Smarthub 2 and use that in order to keep your present set up and not incur cancelation fees.

If you do a search of the forum you will find numerous posts about using the Smarthub 2 in conjunction with your own router.  

[talyn]

I had a look through the forum but I don't see anything about putting the residential smart hub 2 into bridge mode so it acts purely as a modem and I can only see answers saying you can't. I can only see the option to put the business version into bridge mode unless I'm missing something

[licquorice]

Sigh, there is no point in putting a hub into bridge mode to access DV  (which you can't anyway) as it would then not have access to the IP layer.

[talyn · Accepted solution]

I did think that which is why it wouldn't work in my use case. So I'll just bite the bullet get my number ported to a dedicated VOIP provider, eat the cancellation fees and then just get a broadband only package