Line often engaged: BT say it's due to slow upload speed?

[MissMoppett]

To round off this post a very helpful BT engineer has just been.  He says the only solution to having extensions is by buying three phones in a set, adapters will always cause problems exactly along the lines I have experienced. The only way you can directly wire extensions into the router is if you're on full fibre, which we're not, and then via a splitter. He said forget about adapters, ask for your money back, there have been numerous changes in the three years they've been introduced. So he confirmed what I believed: that BT Digital Voice was introduced too soon, unproven with technology that will soon be outdated. He said there are many rural areas where DV just doesn't and won't work, particularly with old houses with thick walls. So nothing to do with "cobbled together wiring."

No doubt my experts will have their own views . . .

[HHGTTG]

@MissMoppett Please explain then how you receive your Broadband if it's not Fibre and Fibre can mean FTTC or FTTP i.e  local Cabinet or Pole nearby, I believe. Otherwise it's ADSL which is like mine currently and which I'm trying to cling onto for as long as possible. Sorry @licquorice !

[iniltous]

To take your points in order , (1)  buy three phones in a set (presumably you mean DECT cordless phones ) and get rid of the adapters, I think you’ll find the first suggestion given was to get rid of the adapters and connect directly to the hub as it was clear your issues are not with DV , but the way you chose to connect to the hub (2) the only way you can wire extensions into the router is if you are on full fibre , categorically wrong, the extensions only need to be isolated from the incoming line , search voice re-injection  if you want a proper explanation , if the tech actually said this , rather than your interpretation of what they said , they were wrong (3) ask for your money back on adapters , most are supplied for free , but if you paid for them , yes get your money back but ultimately its  the same the same point (1)  , remove them from your  set up .

Your troubles are nothing to do with DV or its implementation, it’s the way you chose to connect to it , using wiring that was provided for PSTN , will not function properly if unadjusted for DV , the phone service emanates from the hub not the wall socket , your extensions are still connected to the main wall socket and not the hub , if you if can’t see that , that’s your basic lack of understanding .

The simplest solution (stated initially ) plug your phone directly into the hub , your DV problems disappear, you then have a personal problem that you want extension phones , this has nothing to do with DV , DV adapters are a sop to make corded phones work as DECT cordless phones .

Your  problems are with an ancillary devices  that aren’t even needed for DV , IP telephony, which is what DV is , is a proven technology, you don’t actually have an issue with DV , but apparently with adapters (which are just DECT transceivers) and cordless DECT phones have been around for decades.
There are no rural areas where DV doesn’t work , that another falsehood, and old houses with thick walls are irrelevant if a phone is connected to the hub directly, what you are complaining about is radio signals (that’s what DECT is ) not DV .

You claimed your extension wiring operated fine before DV , indicating it hasn’t been adjusted for DV ( which it needs to be if you want to continue to use it ) , you either need to isolate your extensions from the line and connect them to the hub (  as stated read about voice re-injection  ) or use DECT technology and abandon all your extension wiring and sockets ….will a set of new DECT cordless phones work better than your free DV adapters, maybe they will , maybe they won’t , but they are the same basic DECT technology , they work in exactly the same way .

[MissMoppett]

I don't understand FTTC etc but I know we're not on fibre to the house, the green cabinet is about 200 yds away. The message seems to be don't waste your money on adapters, even if it's the one provided free. Get a set of new phones.

[MissMoppett]

For goodness sake, of course I've plugged my cordless phone direct into the back of the router! That's fine, the problem has been getting my two extension phones to work, which did perfectly well till DV was thrust upon us. The BT engineer who's just been said get three phones in a set, forget about adapters, that's the best way of doing it. They're not supplied for free: you get offered ONE, extra are charged at £15. I'm going to see if I can get my money back.

You say I should "adjust the wiring" for DV: well according to BT that's impossible . . . Yet another red herring.

[HHGTTG]

FTTC = Fibre To The Cabinet  and FTTP = Fibre (direct) To The Premises usually from a nearby pole or underground channel. Can you not access  your hub's Home Hub Manager page and see what's what? How is Broadband connected to the back of your BT Hub?

[iniltous]

Search voice reinjection , you will see that it is possible (making your claims and apparently the OR techs claims ridiculous) what’s more the tech that visited you , as well as either being misinformed or poor at explaining your issues , is not a BT employee but an Openreach employee or contractor.

[imjolly]

@MissMoppett 

I posted a link earlier which explains what changes are required to get your extension socket to work like before after you have been moved to DV.  maybe your ex openreach friend can help you re-configure your connections to work

[chrisjp]

"You say I should "adjust the wiring" for DV: well according to BT that's impossible . . . Yet another red herring."

If the BT (actually Openreach) engineer has really said it's "impossible" to adjust the extension wiring then I'm afraid that just plain wrong.

As others have said, if you separate the extension wiring from the now redundant analogue phone copper line to the house, and instead connect it to the phone socket on your hub, then your extensions will work just fine.

An alternative is to dispense with the extension wiring and instead make use of BT's DV adapters, which allow you to put your extension phones wherever there is a mains electricity socket. These DV adapters rely on DECT radio signals so can  be adversely affected by thick house walls, though DECT seems to have more penetrating power than WiFi.

If you are unable or unwilling to do either of these yourself, why don't you get your ex-BT friend to do it?

[MissMoppett]

Good thought but we've been on DV since 25 July and we've only had problems in the last few days. I've given up on the adapters and are back to just one cordless plugged into the router.