No Warning about DV Switchover

[SportiveUK]

Hi,

I have broadband (FTTP), 'landline' and mobile with BT which to be honest has been flawless over the last 4 years. I renewed my contract a couple of months back and there was no mention I would be switched to DV imminently and indeed I have had no other notification until yesterday when I received an e-mail out the blue notifying me a new SmartHub 2 was on the way as part of the switch.

I use a Draytek 2927 router and I am not prepared to use anything else for my internal network and other than asking BT nicely to pause any switchover until I have considered options etc, what are my options? Do I somehow have to connect up the SmartHub 2 as a dumb device, just to pass through the phone service? Is it going to be easier to not bother with a BT 'landline' at all or just go with another VOIP service and be done with?

I know the old analogue network is being turned off in 3 years however I should have received notification and sufficient warning before any immediate change is made to my service so I am not impressed! By all accounts the same has happened to my neighbours who suddenly found their phone stopped working until they asked the question and were told to plug it into their SmartHub!

Thanks

Andrew

[jac_95]

Hi SportiveUK,

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[juiceof2limes · Accepted solution]

You options are;

If you don't want to use DV, then you can leave your Draytek in place and seek another provider for VOIP.

If you want to use DV, then SH2 will NEED to be connected as primary router connected to ONT with your Draytek then plugged into one of the LAN ports off the SH2.  You would turn most options off within SH2, open DMZ from SH2 to your Draytek.  And then you Draytek continues to be Firewall, routing, DHCP etc.  This is what I have done. And documented here;

https://community.bt.com/t5/Home-phone-including-Digital/Digital-Voice-with-different-Router/m-p/222...

Only you can decide if you want DV or to seek another VOIP provider. Depends on the hassles of telling everyone your new number.

[SportiveUK]

Thanks. It's not an elegant solution to have another device in the chain however it seems that most haven't had any issue and I guess if there are ever any issues with the incoming broadband connection, having the SH2 connected means BT can run their diagnostics. By having a 3rd party router connected to the ONT, I don't think the speed guarantee applies (that's what I was reminded of yesterday).

One point which has been made on the huge other thread but is worth noting again is that if the SH2 isn't connected or isn't visible to BT, the internal order which flags action needed for the switch to DV can't necessarily be made. If you therefore don't want to switch for the time being, you might not have to (although I suspect you might get hassled by BT)!

[Tim123]

BT have a new Digital Voice page: https://www.bt.com/broadband/digital-voice

which makes it clear that everyone should receive four weeks' notification of being switched to Digital Voice.

This is an improvement over their previous "no time limit" policy, but still woefully inadequate.

Such a major change requires at least three months' notice, to allow people to change their set-ups or find engineers or relatives to do it for them - particularly the elderly, vulnerable or less tech-savvy. Also, someone might be on holiday when the letter comes, which could drastically reduce the preparation time available to them.

[licquorice]

Its hardly a major change, why on earth would you want three months notice?

For the vast majority of customers using cordless phones it is simply a matter of unplugging the base station from the master socket and plugging it into the hub if wishing to keep existing phones and/or pairing the DV  phone(s) to the hub.

[Tim123]

It's a major change for those who don't already have broadband with BT, or have no broadband at all.

It's a major change for those subscribed to calling features that will no longer work on Digital Voice.

I have a cordless phone but rarely use it, the sound quality is appalling compared to corded and I hate the slight delay to hear each tone when pressing the number and star/hash buttons. If such mediocrity suits most people, good for them.

[imjolly]

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@Tim123 wrote:

It's a major change for those who don't already have broadband with BT, or have no broadband at all.
BT are currently only switching broadband customers

It's a major change for those subscribed to calling features that will no longer work on Digital Voice.
which residential features are not working with DV?

I have a cordless phone but rarely use it, the sound quality is appalling compared to corded and I hate the slight delay to hear each tone when pressing the number and star/hash buttons. If such mediocrity suits most people, good for them.

With DV phones you will at last get a cordless phone with good reception and you can still connect you corded phone to SH2 to continue using if preferred

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[Bob1001]

This is a major flaw in the whole process OFCOM make much of the need to easily swap providers but the change to DV makes the whole process more difficult particularly if you have different phone and broadband providers.

[iniltous]

BT don’t supply broadband to customers that use another company for ‘line rental ‘ , and if someone has line line rental from another company then obviously they won’t be getting migrated onto DV as that is BT’s proprietary VoIP phone offer,  those people  are not BT customers .

If someone has WLR line rental from BT and uses another company for broadband , they currently are not in the DV rollout ( although at some point , they presumably will have to either take phone and broadband from the same provider either moving broadband to BT or telephony to the broadband provider ) but there are tiny numbers of these ‘line share’ customers ,  most broadband customers that have telephone service use the same provider for both phone and broadband.

Those that are BT customers that have no broadband from BT or anyone else on a line share basis  on their WLR line  are not currently in the programme for DV,  

There seems that a lot of supposed issues highlighted, that are not actual real world problems.