bt digital voice

just got a letter saying digital voice is coming for me. I have FTTP and phone over old copper. I have all my phone sockets wired from the master socket so do I just make up a lead to plug into the hub and then connect the other end to the master socket extension wiring. I will still get my offered free phone (caues I can!)

In reply to a post by threelegs:

just got a letter saying digital voice is coming for me. I have FTTP and phone over old copper. I have all my phone sockets wired from the master socket so do I just make up a lead to plug into the hub and then connect the other end to the master socket extension wiring. I will still get my offered free phone (caues I can!)

We got one of these as well today. Impossible for us to use the BT hub, only took the contract out as was copper install offered and thought they couldn't change the line from copper without it being a change of contract. Going to see if they can delay it due to the circumstances, or else going to have to cancel the contract early, although its only got a few months left anyway.

Its lunacy BT still aren't offering a separate ATA for domestic.

Yes, but make sure the original copper feed pair isn’t connected at the NTE, so your dial tone isn’t heading off back down the copper pair.

In reply to a post by threelegs:

just got a letter saying digital voice is coming for me. I have FTTP and phone over old copper. I have all my phone sockets wired from the master socket so do I just make up a lead to plug into the hub and then connect the other end to the master socket extension wiring. I will still get my offered free phone (caues I can!)

1. Disconnect the incoming BT line to the master socket.
2. Get hold of a BT plug to plug cable from eBay or Amazon to connect from your smart hub into the master socket.
3. Check all handsets ring (the REN on most modern electronic handsets is very low, so should be fine)
4. Have a beer/glass of wine/GnT

thanks Pheasant. that is what I had thought would work so I shall make up a lead to suit (I have the plugs and crimper)

No idea or experience what will happen, maybe phone number will magically jump from copper to fibre and come out the phone socket on your fibre router?

As others have said the sogea info says to avoid piping a voip line back into the main telephone line. Though when Sky sold my neighbour a sogea line secretly with zero warning they made no mention of this or anyting at all?

I suspect you are not really meant to disconnect your telephone line from the master socket yourself. Though who will know? It may also have a small electrical voltage if live...

If it was me I think I would buy another master socket, either £4 from screwfix or if I didn't want to use punch down tools on the wires just one of the modern BT master sockets off ebay for £10 which let you insert the wires without tools. Then carefully remove you extension wires from the master socket and insert them to the new one. Plug a cable from the router to the master socket and you should be done and are completely seperate from the old BT telephone system. You can always leave the master socker loose without worring about boxing things in. Hopefully being a master socket it will contain a capacitor so will help you telephones ring.

That said my neigbours had their extension circuit already end in a BT plug which they just stuck into the master socket to connect the extension circuit. But when stuck into the sky router the telephones could dial out but did not ring. So we plugged the extensions BT plug into the back of an old microfilter and then a cable from the rj11 socket of the back of the microfilter to the BT socket on the router. This microfilter joined the two cables and made all the telephones ring, so while weird it worked...

But you know I'm sure the suggestion to just pull out the master phone line will work too. Its just I'm a bit more cautious and left it alone.

Modern master sockets already have an internal punch-down point for the internal wiring (which you're allowed to use). This is disconnected automatically when you remove the front plate to access the test socket. So either:

1. Get a special VOIP insertion faceplate, which routes the voice signal to the extension wiring *only* (easiest and preferred)
2. Remove the extension wiring from the punch-down point - but then you'll need to bring it out somewhere else (another socket or junction box) as a point to insert the voice signal to extensions

As I have just had the letter I do not know when this transition might happen, but want to be ready. Mind you BT will have to send a new hub as the one I have now doesnt have a phone socket on it...

Can you identify which model of master socket you have? There are various guides online, e.g.
https://support.aa.net.uk/Telephone_Sockets

As long as it's a modern one, then when the time comes, if BT don't supply the right faceplate then you can order one.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

1. Get a special VOIP insertion faceplate, which routes the voice signal to the extension wiring *only* (easiest and preferred)

I agree this would be the best solution. But.... Do they actually exist to buy anywere? I looked in the past and could never actually find any. Be delighted to be proved wrong though.

it says mk3 on the front and has a phone socket and RJ11 socket one above the other. There is two sets of extensions wired from the back of the face plate. One filtered for the phone extension sockets and another unfiltered extension that used to feed to the modem when we had VDSL I will make up a lead to go from hub to faceplate but hard wire to the phone extension connection and pull the incoming pair off the A/B terminals.

In reply to a post by mnbvcxz:

In reply to a post by candlerb:

1. Get a special VOIP insertion faceplate, which routes the voice signal to the extension wiring *only* (easiest and preferred)

I agree this would be the best solution. But.... Do they actually exist to buy anywere? I looked in the past and could never actually find any. Be delighted to be proved wrong though.

Nope, can't find 1 anywhere.

You can however modify an MK4 to do the same thing

Although I have not seen anything published I would suspect that VRI faceplates have been deprecated. They made sense for SOGEA and SOGFast where the broadband delivery and extension wiring were at the same point when Openreach were still pushing copper broadband delivery. However any ONT installation for FTTP is not always going to be in the same location as the old NTE, thus making customer support more complex.

As BT offer a Digital Voice Adapter, basically a DECT-to-POTS interface https://www.bt.com/content/dam/bt/help/user-guides/D... - it is far easier to say 'plug your existing wired phones into the SH2 or into a Digital Voice Adapter if they are not in the same location' rather than cope with the myriad of differing fixed wiring installations. Any without an NTE5C would require an engineer visit to be swapped, and even if a VRI faceplate for the original NTE5 was available getting the customer to correctly identify and fit to avoid a visit would be problematic.

In reply to a post by threelegs:

I will make up a lead to go from hub to faceplate but hard wire to the phone extension connection and pull the incoming pair off the A/B terminals.

👍 don’t forget to have a drink afterwards

This entire thread assumes the subscriber is happy to use BTs Digital Voice Service. If they wish to port their number to another VoIP provider what then?

That’s not the question at hand from the OP. Nor indeed the point of the thread.

So if not why open up that up here and now?

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

This entire thread assumes the subscriber is happy to use BTs Digital Voice Service. If they wish to port their number to another VoIP provider what then?

Then they lose their broadband service.

You cannot port out the landline number of a bundled BT broadband+voice service without it triggering a cease of the broadband.

If someone isn't happy to use BT Digital Voice then they shouldn't take Voice from BT. There's nothing in their contract that states how the voice service is delivered so at any point BT can (and will) switch it to VOIP and there's nothing the customer can do about it.

Almost all new BT FTTP orders are now provisioned on Digital Voice with new BT FTTC orders now going the same way.
Existing BT customers with PSTN are being migrated to VOIP as quick as BT can keep up with Hubs and VOIP handsets.

He already knows that John. This is just a subtle troll…

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

[...]
If someone isn't happy to use BT Digital Voice then they shouldn't take Voice from BT. There's nothing in their contract that states how the voice service is delivered so at any point BT can (and will) switch it to VOIP and there's nothing the customer can do about it.

Almost all new BT FTTP orders are now provisioned on Digital Voice with new BT FTTC orders now going the same way.
Existing BT customers with PSTN are being migrated to VOIP as quick as BT can keep up with Hubs and VOIP handsets.

Reading various sources, BT have started migrating their existing FTTP customers from PSTN to Digital Voice.

But have BT started this migration with their existing FTTC customers yet?

In reply to a post by binary:

Reading various sources, BT have started migrating their existing FTTP customers from PSTN to Digital Voice.

But have BT started this migration with their existing FTTC customers yet?

Not yet I believe but it's only a matter of time.

Almost all BT FTTP installations are now Digital Voice.
Existing FTTP customers are being moved to Digital Voice.
Many new FTTC (VDSL2 & G.Fast) connections are now being provided with Digital Voice.
The next step would be moving existing FTTC users to Digital Voice.

BT appear to be well ahead of any PSTN deadlines and at the current rate could have everyone on VOIP by 2022/23.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

In reply to a post by threelegs:

I will make up a lead to go from hub to faceplate but hard wire to the phone extension connection and pull the incoming pair off the A/B terminals.

👍 don’t forget to have a drink afterwards

I wont forget!!

In reply to a post by threelegs:

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

In reply to a post by threelegs:

I will make up a lead to go from hub to faceplate but hard wire to the phone extension connection and pull the incoming pair off the A/B terminals.

👍 don’t forget to have a drink afterwards

I wont forget!!

Make sure you don't get legless .

A or B ?