On FTTC but forced onto Digital Voice.

[ypt]

Hi Folks,

our  daughter is on FTTC but has been forced over to Digital Voice. She is wondering why. We are also on FTTC and fed from the same Cabinet although on a different circuit, but are still on normal phones ( although our land line is down at the moment - together with others on BT, other providers still have their phones).

[jac_95]

See https://landlinesgo.digital/digital-landlines-is-still-going-ahead-by-2025/

There could be many reasons why from being on a exchange with a stop sell to renewing or moving to a different package or already in scope to move to digital voice pre BT Consumer specific mass migration temporary pause.

[imjolly]

@ypt 

Your daughter must have been advised prior to the changeover to DV so did she get her free phone or adapter?  She can always just connect her existing phone to the socket on the back of the hub - may have to remove the sticker

[ypt]

Thank you for the reply,

yes our daughter was advised, and she already had the latest router, but was wondering why she was chosen. If we had been chosen, we wouldn’t be without a landline now - we’ve still got broadband - so the fault must be before the cabinet on the old copper feed. If we had Digital Voice that old copper wouldn’t still be in use. Unless of course we’ve been swapped over without being told. The frustrating part of my rambling is that it is almost impossible to speak to someone who knows what is happening - even the “check services in your area” says there are no problems even though I’ve found another BT customer neighbour who is off, while a Talk Talk neighbour is still on .

[imjolly]

That is odd if you have no landline for calls but you have broadband which is using the existing copper phone line.  Out of curiosity have you tried connecting your existing phone to the phone socket on back of hub and see if you get a dial tone

[ypt]

Unfortunately we haven’t the latest hub, so can’t do that. It is only a short length of copper back to the cabinet - so the fault can’t be on this section otherwise we wouldn’t have broadband either - it must be the copper cable going back from the cabinet, or in the Exchange itself. My concern is that the repair date is by next Wednesday - then there is the bank holiday. Thanks for your thoughts.

[gg30340]

Unless I am mistaken, if you are still on a copper line for your broadband and phone you can have working broadband even if your phone has a fault. The phone requires the pair of wires in your landline to work whereas broadband only requires one of the wires to work.

[Bob1001]

I was forced to change with very little notice, unfortunately even though the roll out is suspended, you can't go back. It is worth however keeping on to BT to provide battery back up so you don't lose your phone if the mains fail. BT eventually provided me with battery back up. The standard battery will keep going for about an hour as these were out of stock BT provided a different battery arrangement.

[ypt]

Thanks for that Bob, nothing had been said about a battery pack - I’ll let the daughter know. Was there a cost for the battery?

[jac_95]

@ypt see https://landlinesgo.digital/powercut/ regarding more information about this.

BT Consumer offer their customers one from https://shop.bt.com/products/cyberpower-back-up-for-bt-digital-voice-service--non-fttp--091297-FV54.... and if you have no alternative way to communicate in a powercut or vulnerable as per OFCOM's guidelines may off you one for free.