Digital Voice with No Router, No Change or Extra Kit in Home, No Engineer Visit

[XRaySpeX]

Today my BT analogue landline was switched to Digital Voice w/out any home visit, use of router or any other new kit in home. It still uses my existing home phone sockets & internal wiring w/out any change. All the work was done at the exchange. All I had to do was change any short (7-digit) local nos. in my phones' phonebook to include the local area code. There is no cost associated with the switch & line rental & call plan are unchanged.

Previously in preparation for the eventual expected forced switch to DV via BB & a router I managed to persuade the OR eng who came to fix a fault about a month ago to merge my inactive 2nd master socket into my live 1st socket & internal wiring so as to be in easy reach of a router. Fortunately with this new "DV from the exchange" this turned our to be not entirely necessary.

This new "DV from the exchange" is called variously Dedicated Landline Service or Home Phone Standard. It it aimed at users with a landline who do not have BB. Of course, all this won't apply to EE users as EE does not offer a Landline Only service but is presented here for interest & info.

Calling Features can no longer be added or removed via the BT app but need to be requested by phone to CS who pass you onto a specialist Home Phone Standard team in Warrington. Indeed when you call BT CS you are connected with EE's BB CS who haven't the faintest idea about Home Phone Standard & confusingly start assuming you are on "DV via BB" & immediately tell you to reboot the non-existent router.

Unlike "DV via BB",  Home Phone Standard is impervious to power cuts.

Anybody got any idea how this is achieved at the exchange? I originally imagined that any landline users w/out BB would be given a simple small dedicated to DV router & put on Full Fibre but this did not come about & anyway I suspect would be unworkable if the user could replace the DV router by a generic one. Now I imagine the exchange contains some sort of DV multiplexing router serving a whole group of local users, effectively replacing the old POTS switchgear kit in the exchange.

[Ali_A]

Thanks for sharing your experience @XRaySpeX, 

I'm glad to hear it went as smoothly as expected. 

Along with the helpful information, for those who may also be transferring over with our Dedicated Landline Service, it will put peoples mind at ease about the switch over. 

As you have mentioned, customers who don't have or want broadband will be moved to our new ‘dedicated landline service’, allowing customers to continue using their landline in the same way as they do today. 
This service will be available from late 2024 until 2030 and will keep customers connected to their existing service until they’re able to move over to Digital Voice or an alternative.

It works works in a similar way to the analogue technology but still allows BT to switch off the PSTN New equipment installed at the local telephone exchange and means no engineering visit is required and no change at the customer premises. 

This is how it works at the Exchange: 
 

• Analogue to Digital Conversion: In the past, the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) carried an analogue voice signal all the way from your home to the exchange using copper wires. With the PSTN switch-off, this is changing. For this specific landline-only service, BT installs new Single Order Transitional Access Product (SOTAP) equipment at the local exchange.
• No Home Equipment Needed: This in-exchange equipment performs the necessary conversion of your traditional analogue phone's electrical signals into digital data packets (VoIP). This means no new router, adapter, or engineering visit is required at your home, allowing you to continue using your existing phone and sockets as before.
• Continued Use of Copper Wires: The existing copper pair running from the exchange to your master phone socket is still used for the physical connection.
• Power and Functionality: The main advantage for users is that, in many cases, if your current corded phone works in a power cut, it will continue to do so, because the line still carries a low-voltage power supply from the exchange. 

This solution is an interim measure, expected to be available until around 2030, designed to help customers who cannot or do not want broadband migrate off the obsolete PSTN network seamlessly. 

Hope this answers what you're looking for! 

Ali