Moving broadband with Digital Voice from BT to EE warning

[meadfoot]

Today I moved over to EE broadband from BT broadband. read all the info, swiched of my BT router, installed the EE router and then realised all the phone numbers are kept on the router now. Duh.

So I reinstalled the BT router but too late as all the info had gone so spent the next few hours finding out contact phone numbers and inserting them.

I now find out the BT has put a help page that explains how to export then import numbers etc when swapping routers.

BT swapping routers 

Its a pity nothing was mentioned either on the sales phone nor in the installation inso about this. Incidently EE only has an option to inport data so I wonder what will happen when you need to swap an EE router?

[gspearson]

My contacts are in my telephones' memories.  I've yet to move to DV but when I do, shortly I expect, I will continue to use my current wired phones plugged into the SmartHub2. Or is that not what will/can happen?  In what way will the SmartHub be storing my contacts?

For the last 50 years, I have been ex-directory, number withheld, does that change?

[RIC9380]

If you decide to continue using your existing telephone(s) then nothing will change apart from using the Smart Hub rather than your current Openreach phone sockets.  To get the full benefits of HD calling and to access some of the Calling Features you would need to buy one or more of the BT Digital Home Phones.  Contact details for these phones are not stored within the digital voice handsets but are stored in the BT SmartHub.

Hope that makes sense.

RIC9380

[Andy005]

Hi @meadfoot 

I've had DV for over 4 years so I was aware that contacts were stored in the SH2 and the importance of exporting them to my hard drive whenever they were updated.

I moved to EE earlier this year but I was fortunate that I exported my contacts before changing to the EE Smart Hub Plus (I can't believe they have the front to use the word Smart but there you go) and imported them to the EE Hub. Like you I've noticed that there is no export option now, what the **** do they expect customers to do?

The simple answer for us oldies is to do what we have always done and keep an analogue record, in this case pencil and paper. In the early days of PCs I learned the hard way the importance of a back up, and a back up of the back up.

I've also noticed that the EE hub does not reboot like the BT SH2 every 14 days, I've had more problems with DV in 3 months with the EE hub than I ever did in over 4 years with the SH2. Progress isn't always what it's promised to be, although the fault probably lies more with human incompetence than the technology itself.

[meadfoot]

Since yesterday I've also found two other problems with the EE Notsmart hub.

Although you can select various call tones on the handsets for particular callers it doesn't work as the hub doesn't save them like the BT hub did. Whats the point in having relativly expensive handsets with this facility when they don't work as advertised. Both my wife and I found this extremely helpful in hearing who's calling us without having to rush to the phone only for find it's some scam merchant and being in our late 70s/early 80s it's something we shouldn't be doing.

The second thing you can't do is to add a timer to the hub light. On the BT hub I set it to off at 00:00 and on at 08:00 but all you can do is to alter the brightness or set off in the EE hub.

I had the BT hub for 4 years and never had a problem ( haven't sent it back yet )  and I am thinking of putting that back but I wonder if there have been any technical improvments to the EE hub compared to the BT hub. I expect not from above.

I'm going to have a search around to see who I can raise a complaint with on EE

[meadfoot]

I made a complaint and basically got nowhere. 

The Executive Complaints Department at BT/EE phoned me and the upshot was that we are all Beta testers..

The import of contacts numbers and the storing of different ring tones for callers is on their "To Do" list. There might be an firmware update in "a couple of months" or by Christmas - but they didn't say which year.

I was told to swap back to the old BT kit and keep the new EE kit until the upgrade is released. However the only way to find out if one has been released is to install the EE router and "have a look" at the firmware date. What a farce as they don't release versions numbers or dates so they can't let me (and others?) know.

I am completly dumfounded that BT released a new product that is inferior to the old version. I know it probably has a few technical tweaks but some of the basic stuff was excluded. Whoever thought the Smart Hub Pro was fit for purpost wants reprimanding if not removing from their job.

I worked for BT for 41 years on the technical side and can't beleive this was allowed to happen.

[carlito000]

Thanks for this really useful post, just ordered EE. Although I have a very low number of contacts - probably a reflection of how little the landline is used, so wouldn't have been a disaster. 

I take it the EE  (not so)smarthub connects wirelessly to the existing BT digital voice handsets that were supplied with my BT Full Fibre 900 back in 2020? Or do I need new handsets?

[licquorice]

Digital Voice handsets connect via DECT, not WiFi.

No idea if the EE router also has a DECT base station incorporated. It probably does as I think it is just a rebadged BT router.

[Andy005]

Hi @carlito000 

Yes, your BT DV handsets will work with the EE Hub, connecting is the same process as for the SH2.