How to transfer number from BT without losing broadband too?

I have previously had a BT location which got fibre from Gigaclear, so I got Vonage VOIP for a phone service, then transferred the BT number to Vonage, and that conveniently automatically terminated the BT phone AND broadband. Easy.

Now I have a location where BT want to change to their "Digital phone", and that won't work well (as the house is long, the walls are stone and the DECT extender signal won't be good enough).
So I want to get Vonage for the phone service, then transfer the phone number to Vonage, but keep the BT broadband.

Is this possible or do BT make it impossible? If it is possible, how - what is the sequence of events? When do I tell BT I don't want their phone service, but want to keep the broadband?
Can Vonage request the number transfer but say to BT not to shut down the broadband?
I suspect it is easy to lose the number, or even worse lose the broadband.

If you kept the "Digital Voice" service from BT surely you just need to connect the telephone plug to the BT Hub router, instead of the nearby openreach wall point? That keeps your wired phones and no need to go DECT or third party VoIP ?

In reply to a post by jchamier:

If you kept the "Digital Voice" service from BT surely you just need to connect the telephone plug to the BT Hub router, instead of the nearby openreach wall point? That keeps your wired phones and no need to go DECT or third party VoIP ?

Or use one of these
https://www.bt.com/help/user-guides/phones/digital-v...

In reply to a post by Growltiger:

Now I have a location where BT want to change to their "Digital phone", and that won't work well (as the house is long, the walls are stone and the DECT extender signal won't be good enough).
So I want to get Vonage for the phone service, then transfer the phone number to Vonage, but keep the BT broadband.

James @jchamier has a good point - even if moving your voice service to an indy VoIP provider you face the techical challenge of how to reticulate that around this new abode.

How were you planning on doing that, as the physical hurdles of thick walls and a “long” house remain the same?

You can of course:
a) use BT Digital Voice Adapters (that use DECT) to extend the Digital Voice service to a distant room - then connect traditional analogue phone handsets directly to the DVA
b) extend to (existing?) wired telephone extension sockets back to the analogue phone port on the SH2; or
c) connect a third party DECT base/system into the analogue port of the SH2 like a Gigaset system. You can use DECT repeaters. You could do the same thing using BTs DECT bases and their DECT repeaters. Sadly DECT repeaters aren’t compatible just using the native DECT capability of the SmartHub.

That is of course if you’re otherwise happy with the contractual and charges of BTs voice proposition.

If you do want to port the number out then it will inevitably require the existing broadband packaged service to be ceased, either reprovided by BT with just the broadband and no voice or move to a different provider. Number portability rules will enable you to harness the existing number for 30 days or so following any contract cease. Requesting a porting out of a number within a bundled contract generally results on that service being ceased in its entirety.

Edited by Pheasant (Sat 17-Jun-23 11:12:25)

Thank you all for your comments. I am rethinking what I will do.

I'm not convinced by the BT Digital Voice adapters for this house. When I read about them I initially thought they were powerline adapters, so I could buy three of them and that would solve it. When I realised they were DECT extenders I could see it wouldn't work. The router is in a comms cabinet in a store room which was cut into a cliff, and has stone walls or cliff surrounding it. While some radio waves can escape through the door into the room opposite, DECT signals would need to get through the door and then turn left and travel along a long corridor lined with stone walls and then turn left again into a large room where the extender would have to be. It just wouldn't work here.

What you have pointed out is that I can use the phone port on the router exactly as I have used the phone port on the Vonage box. I have done this before by disconnecting all extension wiring from the BT master socket, then using a cable to connect the Vonage box to a BT extension socket (requires a cable with reversed wiring from RJ11 to BT431A plug).

So I will do the same and this will also solve the problem of keeping the phone number.

My first step is to change the wiring to make it easy to switch the extension wiring from the BT master socket to the router. The master socket has a splitter faceplate.
I will install a BT extension socket next to it, and remove the extension cables at the back of the master socket and run them into the extension socket.
I will buy a cable with a BT431A plug at each end and plug that into the master socket and the extension socket. I assume this one will do?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07C7YZMFW/
At this point everything should work exactly as it does now.

I'm assuming BT will send a new router with a phone socket on the back. So when the changeover happens I simply unplug the cable from the BT master socket and plug it into the router.

Questions:
1. Do you think my plan will work? Have other people done it?
2. Is there any way to get BT to send the new router to a different address, as I cannot rely on receiving it before it gets sent back. Or what is the name of the router - perhaps I could buy one on eBay, it would be good to have a spare one anyway.

Edited by Growltiger (Sat 17-Jun-23 17:49:27)

I have just done voice reinjection for my dad. He already had a sh2

I followed this, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Id_KGXMcJHk

but connection 3 (the make very old phone ring) wire was not needed in his case - just 2 and 5.

I used a BT77B (screw terminals - no IDC tool for me, as I was unsure if the existing wiring was solid core or stranded) and a 4 wire telephone extension lead.

There's a nice guide here

https://support.aa.net.uk/VoIP_How_to:_Voice_reinjec...

That's a good video, thanks. Very good to see it can make four phones ring, I only need three.

A shame he wasn't able to test whether it would work with an alarm that dials out, as there is one here. I will find out by trying it myself.

My planned wiring is identical to what he has done. But I think my method of using a BT extension box to make the connections is better, because it allows me to do all the wiring in advance of the change, and then simply plug one standard cable into a different socket to make the switch to VOIP. It also avoids the need to take apart and test an extension cable.

Please could someone tell me the name of the BT router for FTTC that provides the VOIP phone socket.

And please could someone tell me the name of the BT router for FTTP that provides the VOIP phone socket.

Thanks.

EDITED - I think the answer to both questions is BT Smart Hub 2.
But seaching for it I see some images that show the phone socket on the back and others that don't - so are there different versions?
Also I see BT sell it for £200 but I can buy one on Amazon for £20 so something seems very odd.
What is going on?

Edited by Growltiger (Sat 17-Jun-23 22:41:17)

There is no such thing as a voip socket on the Smarthub 2 and it only comes in one variant.The only difference is that pre digital voice, a sticker will cover the telephone socket. You can use it if you want to connect existing wiring. For dect you can get a digital adapter. If you are using the Bt digital phone, you don’t need the socket or the adapter.

Edited by spile (Sun 18-Jun-23 07:46:50)