Landline with no broadband

[Jane2018]

That is a very good suggestion  - thanks.    For this relevant BT account if I open my bill up it shows two telephone numbers. One has no landline home phone that we use  on that line so dialing that number has never got you through to call someone and we have never paid for calls on that line as far as I remember.  That line therefore only has broadband on it but it does show on the bill and telephone number. The other telephone number on the same bill only has a landline on it. 

The bill itself which I have in front of me says "Landline",    Then it gives the number we have never used and for which we are not charged and on the line below gives a second number of the home landline telephone number. By the way BT use the word "Landline" on the words. The BT messages have never mentioned we have two telephone numbers on this BT account and which will be switching and into which master socket we plug the new hub.

I suppose it is possible that the never used number is one where BT thinks we have another landline and that the only switch taking place is on the broadband/unused number telephone number and I should be putting the new hub 2 2 floors up in place of existing modem and that we will get a third switch to digital voice in  2027 when everyone with a landline with no broadband is switched.

Because BT chooses not to mention telephone numbers on these DV communications it becomes impossible to work out.

Eg just this evening another BT email has come in which includes:

"How soon can I make and receive calls?

Once you've got a steady blue light on your Hub and have set up your handset as explained above, you'll be able to start using your DIgital Voice service. If you have a brand new number, you'll be able to receive incoming calls then too.

If we're moving your existing phone number onto your new service, you'll receive inbound calls on your Digital Voice Home Phone after 15 minutes.Once you know inbound calls to your number are coming through to your Digital Voice service, it's time to unplug any existing handsets from your old service, as these will no longer work.

Remember, you can connect a phone directly to the phone port on the back of the Hub if you wish.

Please note: in rare cases, where your number was originally allocated by another company, your Digital Voice service may be delayed until 8am on the working day after you set up your Smart Hub 2. Your old service will continue to work in the meantime."

I suppose it is possible the sentence "If we're moving your existing phone number onto your new service" refers to people like we are - broadband on one line and home phone on a different one but I just don't know. Currently the landline is still working

[UK Power came back tonight as house opposite has no electricity at all and the power company is digging they think possibly into my hedge to get to the power lines, lights are fusing, the sky box has stopped working but we still have power tonight. ]

New hub in the garage has never got a green signal may be because I plugged it in too early so I have turned off the  power to it.  I will now wait until I get the BT message about switching over and only the if that modem will not work on that landline try using the new hub2 upstairs on the broadband account with the unused number and then may be we still have analogue on the other landline until 2027. 

However why would they bother to send a new hub etc to a telephone number on which even if plug in a phone we cannot get calls as far as I remember and which we don't need?

Anyway I will just wait to see if the normal home number stops working. If it doesn't at all then I suppose I might as well switch to the new hub2 upstairs, give everyone the new passwords etc (a massive hassle) and wait until 2027 for the final main home li ne to convert.

Have I been paying for at least 10 y ears for a landline cost we don't use? This account all this is about is about £121 a month and the already converted DV other line which has broadband and landline on same account and same one telephone landline number is about £20 a month cheaper.

[imjolly]

To save all the hassle of the change of hub SSID and WiFi password why don't you change the new hub SSID and WiFi password to that of existing hub and devices will connect automatically 

[licquorice]

@Jane2018  I'm not surprised BT (and everybody on this forum) is confused when you don't even know what services you have yourself.

[Jane2018]

I know people are annoyed with me but I HAVE found the answers helpful. 

As logging on to My BT for the account with the two "Landline" numbers (BT's words on the regular bills) on it yesterday it says BT is migrating one of those two telephone number lines - the one that to my knowledge has never had telephony on it, just broadband. The migration is within 48 hours and they will tell me when it has happened.

So first thing today I took the spare landline up 2 fliights to where that broadband enters the house. The Openreach front master socket thing has a top bit where the modem plugs in - the small end telephony wire thing from the old version hub. Below that is a landline socket which has never worked - even when we had this line put in which I think was about 1999 or 2000  (my daughters had a horse each  - very expensive and all my son wanted was fast internet when the family had dial up so we had that put in his room). I have this morning plugged a phone into the bottom landline socket and the line does not ring when called. On my mobile it says "conditional forwarding" is on this line or something like that. I then took off the face plate and tried what looks very much like the same socket under there - no answer again and no ringing and no dial tone,

So I have still have my dilemma - do I plug the new hub2 up there for a line where you cannot make landline calls or do they want it in the garage for the separate number (which is not on the online" order" they say I placed - I placed nothing of course) for which they will put on some kind of minimal telephony dect thing?

So I am going to wait now and see what happens when they notify me of the switch. 

My gut feeling not least because of the good help on this thread is that they are switching a line which currently does not make telephone calls and that nothing will happen with the other landline until 2027 and tha tI could either do nothing and leave the old modem upstairs or when time switch it to the new one just because it is a newer modem. if I do switch it I will certainly try a telephone in the green socket in the back to see if suddenly thatl ine does have telephony on it with a landline number  - the one we have never used or paid to use but which has been on the bills all these years.

All this would be solved if BT simply said which telephone number (not just account number you hold with BT but telep[hjone number) is switching. It could say" find the master socket where landline 123 56787 comes into the house".  That would make things so much easier for people with more than one telephone number showing on their bill.

If they were able and willing to do a wiser thing - move the landline number on the same account to the broadband only number they could say that too. May be they will be doing that.  If they were ought I to be putting in the new modem now before the switch?

[licquorice]

Let's get one thing straight, any line provided earlier than the last couple of years would have a phone number. Broadband only lines didn't exist until very recently unless it was a very expensive private circuit for business customers.

[iniltous]

Making this as simple as possible ……on the day you are advised the migration has taken place ( TBH , I’d use the day after in case it’s late in the day being done ) …if what  you call your phone only line stops working …as stated many times , trace its phone cord back to its socket and connect the new router to that socket and your phone to the router ….if this line never stops working , it’s obviously the other line that has broadband with a phone number you chose to have never used that is being migrated , as it’s a number you don’t care about  you can either continue as you are , ignoring the ‘you haven’t connected your new router ‘ communications until they stop , after all this is a telephone service you don’t use and won’t use after migration to DV , or you swap your current broadband router with the new one , making the number you don’t use , on what you inaccurately call a broadband only line , converted to DV .

You have had plenty of opportunities in the past to combine what  you call your phone only line and what you call your  broadband only line , into one line  , why , given you have never done that , you think BT should do it without your consent is mind boggling.

[chrisjp]

"I suppose it is possible that the never used number is one where BT thinks we have another landline and that the only switch taking place is on the broadband/unused number telephone number and I should be putting the new hub 2 2 floors up in place of existing modem"

If you never use this number, and it is the one that BT will convert to DV, then there is no need to put the new hub on that line, because you don't intend to use the line for telephone. Leave your existing hub in place, your telephone only line will be unaffected, and nothing will change.

Of course, if it is, instead, your telephone only line that is being converted to DV, then it's as well that you've connected your new SH2 to it, so you can know that the conversion has taken place.

It's not clear whether you have ever asked BT which telephone line it's converting to DV. If you had that knowledge we'd avoid a whole lot of speculation!

[gg30340]

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@chrisjpwrote:
It's not clear whether you have ever asked BT which telephone line it's converting to DV. If you had that knowledge we'd avoid a whole lot of speculation!

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But that would not be half as much fun and confusion as has been going on for months!!!

[licquorice]

I still can't make my mind up whether we are being trolled or not.

[Jane2018]

I am sorry  -  I do genuinely exist and am as bad as I sound for an over 60s woman.

I have been working all day. I just logged on to "mybt" again and unlike yesterday which when I did it  said my order was for the telephone landline number on the bill we have never used/had,    tonight it says the order is for the other landline much used telephone number on the same line. That is a very interesting change. It is obviously the number I expected to be switching. 

It briefly comforted me enough to return the modem from the 2nd floor down to the garage where the master socket for what I call the home landline comes in. However new hub2 now plugged back in there just showed the green light, now purple and if like 2 days ago will not go to blue. I will check again later. Both in the garage on master socket and the landline in my office the analogue lines have a normal dial tone which suggests nothing has switched. However as helpfully advised above I will just wait until (if) the landline goes dead. If it has not within a few days I will just use the new hub2 upstairs on that line and wait to expect the landline only line to switch in 2027 with the last people using analogue.

I don't want to disturb the other users in the house with a new wifi code for the new modem Hub 2  if I install it upstairs if I am going to have to undo that work and put it in the garage on the other line in a few days' time so will just wait.

Many thanks for everyone's patience on this.