Zen, Fritz!box, VoIP, existing DECT phones/ Answer Machine

New Zen users are getting VoIP if they want a phone line.

The Fritz!box 7530 is equipped as a DECT base station and also has a connector socket for a telephone.

We currently have a DECT system (Panasonic) where the base station is an anwer machine.

Despite the Fritz!box wanting (I believe) to send missed call messages as emails we want to keep the existing answer machine.

The Panasonic base station and Frttz!box router would be a long way apart but are connected via our existing wired phone network which is of course also connected to our old Openreach line.

If I plug the Fritz!box into any socket on the old phone network and the Panasonic base station into another should it all still work?

If I have to disconnect the existing phone network from the existing Openreach line do I achieve that by removing the separate panel on the front of my Openreach master socket so that my master/test socket is revealed?

Before attempting what is known as “voice reinjection” - that is plugging the foreign exchange station (FXS) analogue telephony port on any router or ATA into the premises telephony - you should always disconnect the incoming BT/Openreach pair at the master socket.

Otherwise as long as your base or handsets are relatively modern and don’t draw too much power (REN) (which if they are plugged in for local powering of the base station for example they won’t) then you will be fine.

If you need an online how to guide to make the changes to inject voice then this one from Andrews & Arnold is pretty good.

Thank you.

I think it’s more likely that the voicemail email is direct from Zen’s telephony platform rather than the FritzBox. The FritzBox has it’s own answering machine(s) as part of the telephony functionality and you can activate it via the FB GUI. You can also register your existing DECT handsets with the FritzBox.

In reply to a post by steve25:

I think it’s more likely that the voicemail email is direct from Zen’s telephony platform rather than the FritzBox. The FritzBox has it’s own answering machine(s) as part of the telephony functionality and you can activate it via the FB GUI.

Not necessarily, the FritzBox supports both recording messages to local storage and emailing messages, and the Zen setup guide https://www.zen.co.uk/resources/docs/default-source/... uses the FritzBox answering machine rather than something in the Zen platform.

I have recently joined Zen on FTTP, but decided to keep my telephone contract separate so went with VOIP on Andrews & Arnold.

I still used the Zen supplied Fritz!Box - I re-injected the voice but decided not to follow the online advice about changing the Master Socket wiring. Instead, I isolated the incoming PSTN twisted pair by removing the Master Socket faceplate & taping over to deter any accidental reconnection. In the same cupboard as the ONT, Fritz!Box & Master Socket there is a telephone extension - I merely connected the FON socket of the Fritz!Box to that extension (I think RJ11 to BT Plug (431A))

I then had a corded handset plugged into an extension in the sitting room, plus a Panasonic cordless handset plugged into a separate extension (all downstairs). That works very well.

I connected another Panasonic cordless handset (upstairs) to the DECT basestation in the Fritz!Box - only drawback is that the CLI is not being displayed on that cordless, but I'm not too worried.

The only real problem encountered is that the direct DECT handset rings twice before the wired or cordless to an extension rings. This is slightly disconcerting as we sometimes here the early ring elsewhere in the house, & it also means that if we rely on the later rings callers will experience a delay. Perhaps more important for the future is that I would like to re-install a BT TrueCall handset to screen calls but with this behaviour we will still be bothered by the initial early rings on the DECT before the TrueCall triggers.

I have raised this issue with the makers of the Fritz!Box, AVM in Berlin - tech support investigation ongoing.

Note - this ring delay is present if only the wired handset is connected, even if connected diretly to the Fritz!Box. So it appears to be a feature of the FON connection.

Thank you for that. It is mostly what I wanted to hear.

Been with Zen since 2010 however do you know if Zen will give the VoIP info if you don't use there own FRITZBox? Guessing this will be the same platform as voip.zen.co.uk https://support.zen.co.uk/kb/Knowledgebase/Phone-Ser...