BT Digital Voice

Has anyone had their phone service swapped over to BT’s “Digital Voice”? (NB it’s a specific service – that’s its marketing name.)

If so, did it go smoothly? Did you notice any difference?

BY have sent notified me by email and snail-mail that they’re going to change my line over, but have given no idea as to when.

It should be easy for me, as all I have to do is move a plug from the wall socket to the back of the SmartHub. They’re less than 2 metres apart. I had a new master socket (with inbuilt filter) put in a year or so ago, so the wiring is pretty much ideal. There are certainly no stubs on it.

It’s just a pity that it isn’t possible to get hold of the SIP and RTP without going to unreasonable lengths.

Is that their marketing way of saying “VoIP”? My landline has been that for about twelve years.

It… seems okay. There is (was?) a special high quality version using something called the Livephone, but most generic phones are the usual crappy 3000Hz and while the landline (and more recently the mobile) are supposed to support high quality calls, I’ve never actually experienced one.
Maybe some day.

Oh, and 1200/75 passes VoIP. I know, I hooked up both Minitel boxes. ;)

All part of shutting down the old copper line service!

Here there are still dial-up ISPs so copper pair is needed, no one would go for a VoIP based phone line.

Here, the entire copper network will be shut off within a few years. BT will give us no choice but to accept their VoIP-to-analogue service, i.e. it’s VoIP within their network and converted to analogue within the SmartHub (VDSL modem-router). It may cause some inconvenience, but ultimately it’s a good thing. I’m looking forward to FTTP.

No-one here would go for a copper service, except from inertia.

Would be interested to hear about how it does with a 33.6Kb/s modem connection.

Modems… I remember modems, but I scrapped all mine many years ago when we got ADSL, which has since been replaced with VDSL.

There is no chance that I’ll be able to tell you how well a 33k6 modem works (if it would work at all) because I’m not going to buy a modem to pretend to go back to the bad old days!

Btw I just looked at my SmartHub’s status page for the sync speeds. Download is 48.997 Mb/s, upload is 16.188 Mb/s.

33k6, anyone? I don’t think so!

BT will give us no choice but to accept their VoIP-to-analogue service, i.e. it’s VoIP within their network and converted to analogue within the SmartHub (VDSL modem-router).

As opposed to the digital analogue conversion occurring at the exchange, because they’ve actually been using fibre for the exchange interconnects for donkeys ages.

33k6, anyone? I don’t think so

My last dial up was a 56k, I’m pretty sure the 33k stuff was back in the 1990s
Of course one of the things that the Biden administration is pushing in the USA Infrastructure financing is fibre internet connectivity. So, USA too, sooner or later.

Meanwhile over here (NZ) we have a hotchpotch.

If you’re on fibre, and you’re on ISP A, B or C, then you’ll have a fibre ONT (effectively a modem) with both Ethernet and phone ports, and you’ll have your existing copper phones connected to the phone port.

Meanwhile if you’re on ISP X, Y or Z then you’ll have a the same ONT with the phone port unused plus a separate router, with an Internet-based VoIP service provided from your router. It sounds like this could be similar to BT Digital Voice.

if you’re not on fibre then you might have a “POTS” copper landline. Unless you’re in an area that has “Baseband IP” and your ISP supports it, in which case you’ll have what appears to be POTS but is actually VoIP, but with the VoIP ATA in the local DSL cabinet.

Meanwhile if you’re in a copper area where the old analogue exchange has been decommissioned and your ISP doesn’t support Baseband IP then you’ll probably have a VoIP service delivered from your own router, but over DSL instead of fibre.

Of course, if you’re with an ISP that also offers 4G services then they’ve probably given you a little box that lets you run your analogue phones over 4G, because this is cheaper for them than paying the fibre company.

All in all, it’s a shambles. And I may have got some of the specifics wrong. Additionally, things may be (and probably are!) different in other parts of the country, because we have different network operators in different areas.

Me? I don’t have a landline (voice) at all.

My last dial up was a 56k

Mine too, but it never seemed to want to connect any faster than 33k.

It may cause some inconvenience, but ultimately it’s a good thing.

It neatly absolves them from having to be an emergency reliable service. Good luck calling the firemen if there’s a flood that’s also taken out your electricity. No juice? No internet. No internet? No phone.
Your smartmeter on fire? Quick, call 999. Oh, wait…

33k6, anyone? I don’t think so!

VoIP uses compression, so I would imagine data rates of up to 4800bps might work (that value chosen because fax) but above that is liable to be a bit iffy. It depends upon the codec in use and whether the device recognises data and switches to a pass-through mode (disable AGC, echo cancellation, etc).

you’ll probably have a VoIP service delivered from your own router, but over DSL instead of fibre.

This is what Orange France does. The 1960s copper pair is DSL only. The router provides VoIP to the traditional phone.

The cabin of the payphone in the village has been restored, painted, and is now a mini library.

One day we’ll get fibre. I’m not holding my breath. As far as I understand, that’s either a replacement box (that handles fibre) or a second box that sits between the fibre and the Livebox, that’s basically fibre in one end and an RJ45 connection at the other side.

All part of shutting down the old copper line service!

Yes, closer than many think.

For new supply it is September 2023 and December 2025 for all existing.

However where FTTP is available they can do earlier stop sells

Now those who just want a phone service at home will still be able to get it even on FTTP as Openreach have a 500Kb/0.5Mb product that covers both FTTP/FTTC and even ADSL under the banner SOGEA/SOTAP, providing their ISP uses that product.

The issue is that an ISP will need to provide the VOIP service and again some ISP’s will decide not to or may restrict you on how it is provided , i.e use our router.

Off course Virgin/Altnets will have their own versions but it may be many people decide mobile is just the thing and only have that.

So, back to the original question: no-one here admits to having had their landline swapped over to BT Digital Voice?

Looks like you are The Chosen One, Dave!

Hi Dave,

Not myself but I know people who have.

You can either take advantage of BT’s specific Digital Voice phones , which I beleive are paired via WiFi to the hub, or as you state plug your own phone to the socket on the hub.

Of course it then negates any extensions you have hanging off any dedicated wiring unless you alter that to come off the hub socket and also things like using a Fax, yes people still use them, are not 100% guaranteed.

Another downside is if the broadband goes off or you lose power then no phone service at all and also you need to dial the full number including code so a few extra key presses to get to the other end.

Voice quality I have been told is a lot better.

Hope that helps.

Another downside is if the broadband goes off or you lose power then no phone service at all and also you need to dial the full number including code so a few extra key presses to get to the other end.

IIRC there is a requirement for those on the ‘at risk’ register, to be provided with a backup battery incase power goes down, but is only rated last I heard for about 2 hours.

Many young people do not know what an STD code is, since they use their mobile phones which require the full number including STD code anyway, and my new DECT phones also now advise you to use the full number even if local.

You can use other Voip providers on most other broadband services, but BT seem to want you to use theirs.

Its been claimed once we move over to full Voip services, that they can turn a feature on that will prevent the scammers use spoof phone numbers to pretend they are someone else. If true it will be a useful feature.

I’m on BT FTTC (80Mb/20Mb) here, but have been using VoIP for business calls for many years now, provided by one of my customers. 99.8% of the time the quality is very good, once in a while it goes echo-y or metallic-sounding briefly. We’ve been recently informed that YouFibre FTTP (various packages up to 1Gb) will be available here with an optional VoIP service, so I’ve signed up as interested, but I’m also tied into BT for another 16 months, so if I do go with YouFibre I’ll probably have to run them in parallel for a while rather than give BT a big cancellation fee for nothing.

I run my router and the DECT base station off a UPS, so I’ll always have a period of availability on VoIP in a power outage.

IIRC there is a requirement for those on the ‘at risk’ register, to be provided with a backup battery incase power goes down, but is only rated last I heard for about 2 hours.

That is my understanding but others can purchase their own UPS but of course it is their responsibility to maintain it.

As to BT wanting to us their own service then of course as others have said you can still take another Voip providers service but you will not be able to use the dedicated SmartHub connection and would need to use what the alternative Voip provider gives you.

Many people I suspect will just go mobile …

My house is a new build which came with FTTP and no copper line, so VoIP was the only option available. It seems to work fine (via BT) – I haven’t had any problem hearing what the scam callers are saying (which comprise about 90% of the calls I get through the line). The (Huawei) fibre modem which OpenReach had pre-installed in the house has a battery pack, which will presumably give me at least a few hours of phone service if there’s a power cut. Not sure if the VLAN ports will remain powered, but that’s a moot point since I don’t have a UPS for the SmartHub which handles the LAN/WiFi side of things.

I have a little 12v UPS for the router too, as the slightest power glitch kills it, and it takes forever to come back up again.
With a UPS, no bother. Not timed how long it’s good for, but long power cuts are rare. It’s more like “a quarter/half second as something switches over” that happens frequently.

The (Huawei) fibre modem which OpenReach had pre-installed in the house has a battery pack

The provision of Battery Backup with ONT’s was ceased as standard sometime in 2018 I believe as the rules were relaxed and only provided for people at risk.

It was also a moot point as you point out as the router/handset are not covered by the ONT BBU.

So UPS is an option or as stated mobile for those emergency cases.

Well yes there is mobile, and once the Emergency Services Network¹ is working²³, absolutely everything will be relying on mobile. If you can’t call 999 on your phone, likely as not they wouldn’t be able to receive the call, get any emergency service to come out, or even find their way there.

¹ Based on 4G just as everything is moving to 5G

² Delayed for 2 years and while Motorola Solutions burns through another £1bn to make it work

³ While in the meantime the government is paying a certain Motorola Solutions £764m to keep the existing Airwave system going.

This is all very interesting … because I have recently got a FritzBox 7530 router to replace my ailing ASUS. Now I am very happy with the VDSL stability & performance, and my networking setup (which now includes meash wifi), I have started to look at its other facilities. This includes a simple USB NAS, plus the ability to plug in an analogue phone, connect DECT phones, or even a mobile app, and connect them to VOIP. It also can include address books, answering machines, alarm calls, call blocking, call diversion, …

I am thinking of registering with sipgate (or similar?) so I can try the facilities out!

Voice quality I have been told is a lot better.

Quite likely, anyone recall the Ionica phone network?
Bandwidth too low to carry broadband apparently but voice calls were brilliant quality compared to any landline I’ve had, so voice on a fibre broadband connection is likely to be good.
Much depends on the codec used though.

Much depends on the codec used though

It does, G711/G729 were the common ones a few years ago and you could tell the difference.

But don’t forget quality of service settings can also alter things and if you want to hear a dodgy microphone effect then that is all to easy to get if your router/switch is setup incorrectly or indeed you have another application/system on your network that has the same priority marker or higher than the voice call one.

You can see why BT, or indeed any Voip service provider, would want to control things and deliver it via a locked down hub and dedicated connection etc and thats before we even get to enough bandwidth on the link hence why Fibre is the better bet.

The provision of Battery Backup with ONT’s was ceased as standard sometime in 2018 I believe as the rules were relaxed and only provided for people at risk.

They were still doling out Huawei ONTs with battery backup in October 2018, because I have one here — even though my phone comes in over a copper pair moulded into the fibre’s outer sheath and not as VOIP on the FTTP itself. There’s a BS 6312 socket on the ONT to facilitate VOIP, but it doesn’t work in my setup.

A large part of Leeds was fibred in this way over the past few years: the fibre with its helix-like copper wire wrap is quite distinctive viewed from the ground when strung across from a telephone pole.

Many people I suspect will just go mobile …

It’s probably best not to ask what level of resilience mobile sites and their backhaul have, not to mention Virgin’s cable network.

They were still doling out Huawei ONTs with battery backup in October 2018, because I have one here

May be they were getting rid of stocks or had already recieved the order before the cut of date.?

even though my phone comes in over a copper pair moulded into the fibre’s outer sheath and not as VOIP on the FTTP itself.

Most likely if you had an existing copper based phone service before the fibre was done that was used even though your link was fibre.

I guess it was also most likely done if the backhaul stuff wasn’t ready for Voip or if there was no capacity amongst other things or just down to one less thing to change and do so overall numbers of fibre connections got increased quicker.