Question about Digital Voice

[Jane2018]

When I get digital voice can  I plug my phone in the new hub BT will apparently send ( we have two older hubs which will not work with it) even tough the phones around the house are not those ones you stick into a  unit but are traditional corded phones  (most of which do not have have digital or ay other displays)?

Second question Digital Voice marketing says it comes with some kind of call blocker. I don't want that. I want people who call me to see my number. Is that something I am going to have to remove from the service or would BT not change something as fundamental as that without my express consent?

As 1571  is included with Digital Voice will BT no longer charge me for that service on my two separate landlines?

Will I need to record my standard recorded message I have vie 1571 again or will it automatically transfer over?

Finally, if the service is now similar to broadband etc does that mean the charges per landline call will go and it will be free calls  and we will just be charged for the telephone number/line rental and broadband?

[jac_95]

Hi Jane2018,

Thanks for the post and welcome to the Community.

This is an automated response as I can see you have a question about BT’s Digital Voice service. Rather than waiting for a response from the Community, you may find an answer to your question by using the search bar on the Community homepage. We also have a thread that contains a wealth of info related to BT’s Digital Voice, click this link to take a look, Digital Voice FAQs.

To learn more about the nationwide change to this Internet based voice service visit landlinesgo.digital

If you have already looked for the answer to your question and have not found anything that can help, then please ignore this message. One of our Community members will be along shortly to help you further.

[iniltous]

When on DV you do use the phone port on the SH2 router , your existing wired phones plugged into wired extension sockets won’t work unless you arrange to have your extension sockets incorporated into the new setup , called voice re-injection, you would arrange this yourself.

Your second question makes no sense , if you mean you want to see the number of the person or business calling you , DV still has CLI ( calling line information)  and displays it on an appropriate phone with a display, if you enable some sort of call protect the phone may not ring with calls picked up by that service, you would need to read the instructions for that service, generally the numbers are shown so you can elect to block them or allow them to pass.

AFAIK, you may need to cancel your existing 1571 call minder service on your PSTN service, it’s not necessarily cancelled by migrating to DV .  DV caller minder is included but it’s the standard version if you want the option to record a personal greeting etc that’s the premium version and chargeable.

The call charges are exactly the same as your existing PSTN calls plan , third party VoIP ( internet call providers ) generally are not free and still charge for calls ( don’t know where you got the idea they are free from ) they may have some call rates that are cheaper if you are PAYG with BT , but compared to the BT 700 mins or BT Anytime calls plan ( suitable for someone who makes a lot of calls ) there isn’t much difference, but if you want to use a third party for VoIP either instead of or as well as DV , you can do that .

[imjolly]

@Jane2018 

most of your questions are answered in the FAQ

do you have more than 1 phone line to your home?

line rental is included in your broadband package and will continue as you need a line whether that is copper or fibre to get your internet connection.  if your package is broadband and phone the the homephone charges are exactly the same whether on PSTN or VOIP (DV)  phone packages are PAYG, 700 or unlimited minutes

[gg30340]

Call blocker allows you to block incoming call numbers such as spam callers. It does not block/hide your number.

You will need to set up your voice mail message if you don't want to use the standard one. It is free on any Digital Voice line.

https://www.bt.com/help/landline/all-about-voicemail-for-digital-voice-

Your calls are charged at the same rate as your present call package or the rate of any call package you care to use.

[RIC9380]

Yes, you will be supplied with a new Hub for free.  To continue to use your other phones around the house you can either rework your existing wiring or use Digital Voice Adapters which simply plug into a power socket and link to the Hub.

Unless you decide to withhold your phone number the people you call will see your number if their equipment has that facility.

1571 is a free service and comes as standard.  You have the option to replace the "standard greeting" with one of your own.

For DV you need to opt for a Call Package.  There's an abundance of information on BT's website.

In response to your post on another thread, the old analogue network that most home phones work on today is no longer fit for purpose.  It's past its Use By date. The outdated network will be switched off for all phone providers by 2025.  The reality is that Digital Phone lines will have no impact on how you use your home phone.  You still have the same service, and your price plan and bills will stay the same.  Don't believe all the scare stories that some publications/TV channels/man down the pub will tell you.

RIC9380

[licquorice]

Let's get a few facts straight. Instead of plugging your corded phone into the current master socket, you just unplug it and plug it into your hub, the socket is identical. Simple as.

You don't need an engineer to do that.

Your internal wiring is your responsibility as it has been for several decades, service providers are not responsible for it.

A very simple option for multiple sockets is to simply use a number of DV adapters, they are simply portable phone sockets that just require to be plugged into a mains socket.

[Jane2018]

I realise the experts on this forum think people's queries are silly at times but it is a huge change. I have found the forum very useful already eg someone said with digital voice when you pick up the phone you hear a very different sound that the one we have had for 60 years + so even that would have worried mea  lot had I not read it here. It is the kind of thing it would be useful to have on a list of differences from BT.

I am afraid I see today that those of us who are under 70 and in London https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12561449/BT-announces-regional-rollout-plans-digital-landli...      will have Digital voice by end of this year ie extremely soon which is already troubling me.

I hope the new hubs I have to have  for each broad band account arrive in time so I am not left without telephone access even for a day. We do not have very good mobile signal here and I always try never to use the mobile. The internet often cuts out to even though we are outer London. I think  I have been scarred by the trauma of the past - I had to raise £12k from neighbours about 10+ years ago in order to pay a third of the cost of getting the right power to the nearest BT box after years of trying to get broadband fast enough to watch TV on - we did manage it not least because I raised the money and my son managed to find an Openreach external consultant prepared to take on the issues with this. We are about 3 miles from the nearest exchange, no fibre optic cable and the telephone and internet comes over copper wires from the box which now has the power to  give us broadband - which often has cut out once a day although at present seems okay.

My priority will be plugging the traditional landline for one telephone number into the new hub and hope that works. 

Second priority is telephone numbers/lines  2 and 3  - and that is more complex - there are 2 numbers (my 2nd and 3rd current BT numbers) on that account.    One is the landline number which rings on abut 6 extensions around the house and I think the traditional wires etc come in downstairs and that line has no broadband on it. The other on that second account are  on a telephone line number which  only has broadband on it and comes in 2 flights up (big house) where the router is and tends to be the wifi signal  used by those on that side of the house upstairs.

So my question on that one I suppose is gosh this is so complicated......  So a landline number  I must keep has no broadband on it and the 3rd line with no landline on has the broadband. I suppose that landline number with no broadband is in the same category as old people without broadband. May be that line I get some basic service on? I suppose we could transfer the 2nd broadband telephone number line to that calls only landline number although every time things change something massive goes wrong so  I do not want to spend hours on the phone to India having someone read at me a script and not solve a problem.

Basically I would prefer to do nothing and it all then works.  No change - it will be an utter nightmare once it comes.

[RIC9380]

It seems that you've completely ignored the reassurances of others in response to your initial query and have allowed yourself to be sucked in by yet another scaremongering story published today by the Daily Fail and other rags.  

I suggest you reread the previous responses once again and start to chill out about any huge perceived problems that are unlikely to happen after the switchover.  Just wait until you are notified by BT and then talk about your situation with a member of the dedicated Team.  With Digital Voice you have the ability to make/take two calls at the same time so you may be able to ditch one of your lines and actually save yourself some money.

Oh, and Customer Services calls very rarely go through to India now and haven't for a good few years.  You're far more chance of ending up speaking to a helpful Geordie in Newcastle than you are getting through to an Agent in Mumbai.

RIC9380

[Jane2018]

I am certainly worried and may be I am a fool to be so. I suspect I will have to spent more than 10 minutes of m,y very precious time on this, hopefully not and it will be 2 new hubs arrive, plug and play and off we go.

There is no way I will put myself on a call to BT - that would be a theft of at least an hour of my time, but we shall see if I am reduced to that.

I need two landline numbers into the house so will not be merging my 3 numbers into 2 or 1.

I assume B T will send two hubs - one for each broad band account/number. That leaves the 3rd number which does not have broadband on it but has a precious 25 year landline number on it I would not want to lose so presumably for that account I may be treated like someone who doesn't have broadband and get some kind of basic new modem for that 3rd non broadband line into which I plug that landline.

Let us hope it is as easy as people say. I have never had a landline problem and yet every day or two the broadband goes down so I am very very concerned the service will be worse than the analogue one as already the internet line is vastly less reliable than the landline. All the neighbours have had BT out again and again out here as the broadband is so bad - this outer London not outer Hebrides and at present it is okay so hopefully that will continue.