BT Digital Voice (DV) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The impartial information on this page is given free of charge and without
prejudice
This page only deals with BT Digital Voice but some of the information is applicable to other telecoms providers. BT intend to roll out Digital Voice to the whole of the UK by 2025. Most of the UK Telephony providers are converting their networks so they have no copper connectivity directly connected to their exchanges. But copper wires will still exist in many places, mainly from the house to the green street cabinets. This does not mean that the copper wires to the premises will not be used. If you do not have fibre to the premises then the existing copper wires will still be used to provide the service, but these copper wires will not connect to the exchange like they used to. The copper wires will be interfaced by fibre at a green cabinet and the fibre will then be fed into the BT IP network. BT and other similar providers did this to reduce the cost of replacing the local exchanges and instead chose just to route data traffic to remote switching centres. Please beware, because the customer is now lumbered with having to power all the equipment in their home, that in the event of a power outage no 999 or 112 emergency services will be available. Ofcom have stipulated that those who are vulnerable and have emergency call devices should be supplied with a 1 hour battery backup, free of charge. BT will try to charge for these devices so fight your case and complain to Ofcom if BT refuse to supply one. If you have no mobile service in your home then your supplier should provide a resilient service. Please contact your supplier about this. Another point to remember is that if you have specialist devices connected to your line, like burglar alarms or emergency call buttons, then you must contact your supplier to advise you are moving to the new Digital service. Not all these devices will work and only your supplier will know what to advise. No matter if you are on fibre, broadband or just have a telephone line only, you will be provided with a hub/router from BT or your service provider. These have an integral telephone socket which will provide dial tone. This socket will allow only Tone (MF) dialling and will not support a dial telephone. Click here if you have a dial telephone. Your original master socket will either be made redundant (if fibre to the premises) or will connect to the hub only (non-fibre to the premises users). BT will now retain ownership of the Smart Hub they provide. If you move to another provider then the BT Hub will have to be returned to BT, but it also means that if the hub goes faulty then BT have the responsibility of replacing it free of charge. The system will provide you with two exchange lines, albeit on the same number. This means that two people can dial out at the same time or receive two incoming calls at the same time, but only two calls in total. Because you have two lines, the Call Waiting function is pre-enabled. Call Waiting tells you when other callers are trying to get through, whilst you are on the line. You'll hear a discreet beep when someone is trying to get through to you while you're on the phone. You can choose whether or not to take the call. On most DECT handsets the R button can be used to answer the second call. To deactivate this function you will have to call BT or manage it via your BT online account by logging in and then click on My BT - Your Products - Digital Voice - Call Waiting. It is a zero cost option. Another major change for users is that you have to include the national area dialling code for ALL outgoing calls, including local calls. Please be aware that Voicemail is pre-enabled for Digital Voice customers. If you still wish to use your original answering machine then you must disable the Digital Voice voicemail. There are two ways to do this. Call BT and ask them to cease the Voicemail or login to your BT online account. The account option is best as the voice is removed straight away. Login and then click on My BT - Your products - Digital Voice - Voicemail essentials. It is a zero cost option.
Fault finding on Digital Voice Types of service and connectivity Telephone Line only BT will also provide a Digital Voice Adapter (free of charge) which will allow the phone to be placed in another position within your premises. This adapter requires a mains socket. BT will supply a cordless phone that connects to the hub, if
requested.
The original Master socket will still be used but will provide Broadband only and the cable that connects from the Master socket to the Broadband socket on a Smart Hub 2 is non-standard, as it has a non-standard RJ45 connector on the hub. The telephone line is now presented on the rear of the hub and is MF (tone) dialling only. This socket can be connected to your existing house telephone wiring if required - click here for details. The hub is mains powered and requires a mains socket nearby. BT will also provide a Digital Voice Adapter (free of charge) which will allow the phone to be placed in another position within your premises. This adapter requires a mains socket. BT will supply a cordless phone that connects to the hub, if requested. They will supply up to two, free of charge.
Click here for a pictorial overview Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) and Telephone line
The BT equipment supplied at a fibre to the premises installation require 2 mains power outlets. The BT Smart Hub has 4 network ports (RJ45) and a telephone socket. The telephone socket can be connected to your existing house telephone wiring - click here for details. This socket will allow only Tone (MF) dialling - and will not support a dial telephone. Click here if you have a dial telephone. BT will, if asked, supply an Digital Voice analogue adapter and a Digital Voice telephone or two Digital Voice telephones. The digital adapter allows an analogue telephone to be connected at a remote location. The adapter is DECT based and requires a mains socket. This adaptor will only support Tone (MF) dialling- and will not allow a dial telephone to dial out. Click here if you have a dial telephone. The Digital Voice telephones supplied by BT are cordless DECT telephones. Click here for more information on how to use DECT with the Smart Hub Click here for a pictorial overview Technical Information Wiring the Hub telephone socket to house
wiring If you wish to connect your house wiring to the hub then the house wiring MUST be disconnected at this master socket. This is essential and if you do not feel confident about this then call an expert. Do not just plug a cable into the front socket on the Master Socket and the other end into the telephone socket on the Smart Hub! You will require a secondary telephone socket (Line Jack Unit No. 2/3A is best) and a new line cord with a plug at both ends, which can be purchased from many places. Most sockets require a special wire inserter tool but a company called Kenable can supply a master Line Jack Unit No. 2/4A (code no. 004629) socket which has screw terminals - but this will require the yellow, blue and stripped components removing with a pair of cutters. A line cord must also be purchased which has two BT style plugs at each end. The original broadband filters must still be retained at each telephone connected to the house wiring. Make sure that you have dial tone on the Smart Hub telephone socket. Fix your new socket next to the NTE. Remove the front plate from the existing master socket (NTE). Disconnect the house cable from the front plate making a note of which colour wires are connected to which terminals - they are numbered. Pull the house cable out of the original NTE socket and connect to your new master socket ensuring that the same wire colours are connected to the correct terminals. Then use the new line cord to connect from the hub to the newly installed socket. All your sockets should now have dial tone. Please note that the Smart Hub may not have enough power to ring all your telephones in which case switch some of the ringers to Off.
A maximum of five DECT cordless devices can be connected to the hub. Click here for the BT statement - at the end of the video Numerous DECT devices can be connected to the hub including other makes of DECT telephone. The PIN is 0000. An important point to remember is that DECT is similar to WiFi in so much as it has a range which can change depending on the building. In some cases no signal may reach your phone and the only way to remedy this would be to use a DECT repeater device. BT have advised that the Smart Hub 2 does NOT support DECT repeaters (Feb 2022). Click here for a work around To see the DECT phones connected, log into the BT Smart Hub 2 Manager (the login information is on the rear of the hub). Navigate to the Phone section, which is found to the left of the home page.
BT Digital Voice Adapter Linking to the hub:-
Phones that work with Dials or early
keypads So what to do - you need to purchase a Dial Pulse to MF converter. These converters can be used in a number of ways:-
There are a number of converters to be found, but be careful as some of these require special wiring into the phone or need a power supply. It is better to buy a self contained converter and there is one called the Dial-A-Tone. This dialler will convert the dial pulses produced by the phone into tones, which will be recognised by the new equipment and does not require a power supply. This sort is available from a company called Vintage Telephony. This link takes you directly to the Dial-A-Tone page https://www.vintagetelephony.co.uk/product/pulse-to-tone-converter-voip-bt-digital-voice-dial-a-tone. This web site has no connection with this company.
BT Digital Voice Handsets These handsets are powered by batteries and are supplied with a charger which requires connection to a mains socket. With a new telephone pull out the plastic tab on the base of the telephone to engage the batteries. Then plug the charger into a mains socket and then place the phone in the charger. Leave on charge initially for a minimum of 16 hours. Linking new phones to the hub:-
For more information on these phones please visit the BT web site. BT
guide on how to register a DECT phone Overview of both DV Telephones
Frequently asked questions Q. I have a bell in my house. Will it still work? Q. I have a dial phone. Will that work on the
new system? Q. I have my telephone line from BT and my broadband
from another company. How will that work? Q. If I use a VOIP telephone service can I still
use my old phones? Q. Can SIP devices be connected to a BT Smart Hub Q. How many DECT wireless telephones can I connect to
the Smart Hub 2? Q. My wireless DECT phones do not work in certain parts
of my house - can they coverage be extended? 1. A DV adapter could be installed at a point away from the Smart Hub 2 and then connect a DECT telephone base unit into the DV adapter. The DECT base would operate separately from the DECT on the Smart Hub 2 and would not have the same functionality as phones off the Smart Hub 2, but will receive and make calls. 2. Connect a DECT base unit (that supports DECT Repeaters) into the socket on the Smart Hub 2 and then fit a DECT repeater at a distant point and register it to this DECT Base unit. You will not get full interoperability with the Smart Hub 2 but will be able to answer calls, receive calls and transfer calls to any DECT telephones connected to this stand alone DECT system. Q. Do I have to use BT supplied telephones? Q. What about answering machines? Q People complain that they leave voicemails and
that I do
not reply to them. Q. My WiFi does not go very far? Q. I use my old DECT wireless system and phones and
cannot see the calling number. Q. I have an phone which has stopped working -
what do I do? Q. The white BT wall box (ONT - Optical Network
Termination Device) that connects to my Smart Hub has a red light showing
stating a fault - why is this as the phone and internet work fine?
1+1 ONT The battery pack is shown to the top right of the picture with the ONT on the top left. The ONT cover consists of two parts which are hinged on the left. The bottom cover opens by just pulling on the right hand side side. Before working on the battery unit ensure that the power is switched off and that the battery lead is removed from the ONT. The top cover is fixed by a single Philips screw which will now be visible. It is to the right and just under the top door - you can see the screw hole in the picture. With the screw removed the cover will require a good pull to open. With the both covers open, the battery unit can be seen to the right. To remove the battery pack, slide the battery unit upwards and lift off the locators. On the rear of the battery box is a slide cover, which once removed exposes the four AA batteries. Unsure they are replaced with the same rechargeable type. Do NOT, under any circumstances, use ordinary AA batteries. Some older units will have an external battery box (before April 2019). An alternative to replacing batteries is to remove the Battery pack in its entirety and plug the power cable directly into the ONT. This is not advisable as batteries do provide some form of mains filtering. BT advise that the battery backup unit uses four 2000 mAH-NiMH BYD rechargeable AA batteries at 1.2V.
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Last revised: June 07, 2022FM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Many people have antique telephones with dials or an early press button
telephone (with no * or #
buttons) but because the Smart Hub 2 and Digital Voice Adapters will only operate
with
tone (MF) dialling, then use of a dial is ineffective.
