Digital home phone & Smart Hub

[X2scoops]

I’ve recently been migrated to EE Digital Home Phone, and I want to express how frustrating and disenfranchising this change has been as a long-standing EE customer.

For nearly a decade I’ve used a third-party router with my EE broadband service without issue. It’s been stable, faster than ISP-supplied hardware, and gave me the level of control and visibility I expect from my home network. The move to Digital Home Phone was not optional, and as a result I’ve been forced to replace my existing router with an EE Smart Hub purely to retain a landline service.

After several weeks of use, my experience with the EE hub has been clearly inferior. Connection speeds are lower, and the accompanying app is extremely limited in functionality — when it works at all. In effect, I’ve lost both performance and features solely because of a mandated infrastructure change, not because my previous setup was inadequate or incompatible.

I’m aware that EE’s suggested workaround is to run my original router behind the EE hub and use it purely for Wi-Fi. However, this creates a messy, inelegant double-NAT setup that adds unnecessary complexity and power usage, and undermines the whole point of owning capable third-party networking equipment.

I appreciate that I’m probably in a minority as a customer who uses their own router. But the lack of choice here, combined with the lack of a clear channel to raise concerns or opt out, is disappointing. This change feels imposed rather than supported, and it’s made me seriously consider moving my service elsewhere once my contract allows.

I’d be interested to know whether EE plans to offer better support for third-party routers with Digital Home Phone, or at the very least provide a clearer mechanism for customers to formally feed back when mandatory changes actively degrade their service.

[JimM11]

@X2scoops In your opinion that is! The DV service if you want it from EE then your choice is EE Router to supply it to you!

[X2scoops]

Well of course it’s my opinion — it’s based on my direct experience of using both setups on the same EE connection.

I’m not disputing that EE currently requires their router to provide Digital Voice. That’s precisely the issue I’m raising. The change in service wasn’t presented as optional but as an ‘upgrade’, and the requirement to use EE’s hardware has resulted in reduced performance and loss of features compared to a setup that worked perfectly well for years.

The point isn’t whether EE can mandate the router — clearly they can. The point is whether it’s reasonable to force a change that actively degrades service for some customers, with no meaningful feedback or opt-out mechanism.

If the response is simply “that’s the only way we offer it”, then that’s fine — but customers should be upfront about the trade-offs and allowed to decide whether to stay or take their business elsewhere.

I’m out of contract now so thankfully for me, it’s a simple matter of looking at alternative providers. 

[XRaySpeX]

That's the trouble with having your landline with EE as well as your BB. Had you had it from elsewhere you wouldn't have got DV from EE, but too late now!

Your own router in series with the EE router doesn't have to be double-NAT'ed if you connect them LAN to LAN & tweak its Gateway & DHCP accordingly.

[JimM11]

@X2scoops VOIP service is another way to go porting your landline number away from EE, and if your third party router is capable of a voip service then find a company who supports it!