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Question BT Voice and telephone extensions

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Cathovisor
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I had a letter from BT the other day reminding me that the switch-over to effectively what is Voice over IP is approaching, although I understand that the final switch-off for POTS will now be at the end of 2027, rather than this year.

It seems that all you have to do is plug your phone into the provided port at the rear of their router and that's it - job done. However, having had bad experiences with BT-provided kit in the past, I'm not enamoured by this prospect. What I would like to do in particular is retain my wired extensions and one thing the Internet has suggested is to just plug the telephone port on the router into the phone socket on your master socket and again, job done.

Hmmm, really?

Has anyone here had experience of transitioning to BT Voice and what came next? I'm not very happy with this and am determined to hold out as long as I can, but...

 
Posted : 31/01/2025 4:52 pm
Nuvistor
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@cathovisor I am also waiting for the outcome. Not BT but Sky use a lot of the same infrastructure with Openreach.

I had an email that my router required upgrading the old no longer receiving security updates. Ok router ordered and fitted but on the back of this is a standard telephone socket with a LED labelled voice on the front of the box. Is this socket for VOIP when fibre is installed? Openreach have put fibre to the poles in the street so I am waiting with bated breath so see how it all works out.

At least the router change was relatively painless although I had to remove the plastic covers from the RJ45 plugs to seat correctly.

I only have one wired telephone, the others are DECT, the wired is a backup in case of power outages but it will be redundant if the router loses power. I have a mobile so that would be used.

Presume I plug the master DECT phone into the router, we shall see, may be months away.

Frank

 
Posted : 31/01/2025 10:57 pm
Cathovisor
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Posted by: @nuvistor
I only have one wired telephone, the others are DECT, the wired is a backup in case of power outages but it will be redundant if the router loses power

I have a small UPS ready for that eventuality, but first I need to find my IEC moat plugs to fit to a trailing socket.

 
Posted : 01/02/2025 12:04 am
Nuvistor
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@cathovisor I know a backup battery can be supplied with the installation but if it’s a local area power outage that will affect the Openreach cabinet. It’s possible the cabinet has a UPS but that will have a limited amount of power.

My knowledge of all this new stuff is very little, I feel I am being left behind with all this new technology.

Frank

 
Posted : 01/02/2025 8:01 am
Cathovisor
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@nuvistor Same here, Frank. I feel the same about the use of IP in broadcast environments - totally alien. I now know how a former colleague felt when he turned up at TC many years ago to see his old studio transformed from its PAL days as he recalled it into the HD digital studio he saw.

 
Posted : 01/02/2025 8:25 am
Nuvistor
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@cathovisor I worked with a colleague was did part time free lance camera operator or tech person at sports outside broadcasts, this is 25 years ago.

He told me he arrived at one venue to be greeted with the equipment being all IP, he didn’t know where to start having never seen it before. Anyway with some help he learned quickly enough to get the show up and running but I don’t think he wanted any equipment breakdowns.

 

Frank

 
Posted : 01/02/2025 8:55 am
Cathovisor
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@nuvistor Funnily enough Frank, a former colleague of mine was working on an OB at a football match and they discovered a hospitality tent for the great and the good should have been fed with the match from the scanner in UHD over IP - except that someone had forgot the converter. He turned to his young colleague and said "we're going to have to feed this in PAL" to which his young colleague said "what's PAL?". He replied "it's your 'get out of jail free' card."

Apparently, nobody was much the wiser...

 
Posted : 01/02/2025 10:56 am
Hurty
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Hello all. I have a Sky fibre modem and it has two phone connectors on it, one European and one British 631A. I fitted a cable from this connector to the junction box that feeds all the house phones and all works correctly. There is no "Bell" wire so only two wire phones will ring. I didn't need the master socket anymore. I think the BT modems are the same and will have a 631A socket. You will need a phone landline subscription for this to work as far as I know. The service obviously uses VOIP. Did mine about 2 years ago. I had seen a lot of user groups saying your phones will all have to be changed, not the case if you are with Sky or BT. Hope this helps

 
Posted : 03/02/2025 2:23 pm
ntscuser
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As per the RTS switch-off, this area is scheduled for redevelopment in the very near future so I can't see Openreach or whoever is responsible installing new lines at great expense only to have to rip them out again immediately afterwards. Does anybody in charge ever consider these things?

Classic TV Theme Tunes

 
Posted : 04/02/2025 2:09 am
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