EE "Home Phone Adapter" - extra info

We were just "upgraded"(?!) to EE "Digital Home Phone", and we were sent one of their "Home Phone Adapter" gizmos (a mains adapter shaped unit, which you plug into the mains, and into which you plug a landline phone) which allows you to use wired phones with the hub.

Anyway, I didn't realise that the VoIP from the hub to these adapters (and to EE/BT's own hub phones) was sent over DECT - I assumed it was some form of WiFi.

Now I think about it, that would be crazy, when DECT has worked solidly for decades, and is the standard for cordless phones. ANYWAY, once this realisation hit me, I paired an ANCIENT Panasonic DECT cordless phone to the hub, no issues, fully working; Dialtone present, incoming and outgoing calls work perfectly.

So then I thought "Hang on a minute, if the hub has DECT, then these "Home Phone Adapter" thingies must be, basically, a screen-less, keypad-less, earpiece-less, mic-less DECT terminal, which then converts the DECT signals into a POTS port” (an "FXS", in telephony terminology)

AND THEY ARE.

I made the error of asking ChatGPT if I could pair the "Home Phone Adapter" to ANY DECT base, and it said "No, they are firmware locked to BT/EE" - WRONG.

I paired the "Home Phone Adapter" to my ancient Panasonic DECT phone's base, PERFECTLY.

I'll update this post, maybe with a teardown of the "Home Phone Adapter" ASAP.


The item in question, is this one: Home Phone Adapter

Edited by glossywhite (Sat 05-Sep-26 19:23:34)

In reply to a post by glossywhite:

So then I thought "Hang on a minute, if the hub has DECT, then these "Home Phone Adapter" thingies must be, basically, a screen-less, keypad-less, earpiece-less, mic-less DECT terminal, which then converts the DECT signals into a POTS port” (an "FXS", in telephony terminology)

Good thinking. They will also be battery-less, which is my annoyance with DECT phones.

Well worked out!

In reply to a post by glossywhite:

ANYWAY, once this realisation hit me, I paired an ANCIENT Panasonic DECT cordless phone to the hub, no issues, fully working; Dialtone present, incoming and outgoing calls work perfectly.

Just won't have the facilities like shared phonebooks that EE/BT's own digital phones would have.

Good work, I didn't know the adapters would work with a normal DECT base.

My ideal product would be an ATA that is a DECT base with an FXS port, they don't seem to exist though. The closest you get in terms of hardware is the Fritzbox but they're not really flexible enough if you have no interest in using them as a router.

In reply to a post by glossywhite:

We were just "upgraded"(?!) to EE "Digital Home Phone", and we were sent one of their "Home Phone Adapter" gizmos (a mains adapter shaped unit, which you plug into the mains, and into which you plug a landline phone) which allows you to use wired phones with the hub.

Anyway, I didn't realise that the VoIP from the hub to these adapters (and to EE/BT's own hub phones) was sent over DECT - I assumed it was some form of WiFi.

Now I think about it, that would be crazy, when DECT has worked solidly for decades, and is the standard for cordless phones. ANYWAY, once this realisation hit me, I paired an ANCIENT Panasonic DECT cordless phone to the hub, no issues, fully working; Dialtone present, incoming and outgoing calls work perfectly.

So then I thought "Hang on a minute, if the hub has DECT, then these "Home Phone Adapter" thingies must be, basically, a screen-less, keypad-less, earpiece-less, mic-less DECT terminal, which then converts the DECT signals into a POTS port” (an "FXS", in telephony terminology)

AND THEY ARE.

I made the error of asking ChatGPT if I could pair the "Home Phone Adapter" to ANY DECT base, and it said "No, they are firmware locked to BT/EE" - WRONG.

I paired the "Home Phone Adapter" to my ancient Panasonic DECT phone's base, PERFECTLY.

I'll update this post, maybe with a teardown of the "Home Phone Adapter" ASAP.


The item in question, is this one: Home Phone Adapter

>>> Internal photos: EE/BT: Home Phone Adapter (model number X17-K43) <<<

Edited by glossywhite (Tue 08-Sep-26 01:33:05)