Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => Broadband Technology => Topic started by: gt94sss2 on June 18, 2019, 10:03:32 PM
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As I know how keen we all are on new broadband tech ;) - I thought this might be of interest.
BT are currently seeking individuals to trial their new BT Digital Voice service - their VoIP replacement to the PSTN analogue phone/voice services of today
The trial which will begin in July is to look at the customer’s experience of the new Digital Voice service from beginning to end. From placing an order, through to equipment delivery, set up, and fault reporting.
You will need to be an existing BT Voice or Broadband customer in a fibre enabled area.
If you are interested in taking part, can you please send me a PM by Sunday 30th June with your full name and the email address you would be signing up with.
In return for giving BT feedback, you’ll be provided with new equipment that you get to keep: Digital Voice handsets and a Smart Hub 2
BT will also pay for all your usage and service charges while you are on the trial.
If this is of interest, get in touch!
So what is Digital Voice?
We are digitalising the way you make and receive calls in your home along with providing state of the art handsets.
As your home becomes more connected by technology, BT are bringing all of our technologies together onto one smart network. This is to improve the quality of the services you get from BT.
By upgrading our network to enable your future technologies and to make it easier for you to connect on any device at home or on the go.
Over the coming years BT will roll out a new phone service to all our UK customers. This is called Digital Voice.
This may sound like a small change but it will be one of the biggest technology changes our customers have experienced to date, and we’d like your help to deliver this exciting new product to households across the U.K.
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Just to follow up on my post above - the deadline for joining the BT Digital Voice Trial is now the 30th June.
In return for providing feedback on how you find the Digital Voice product, BT will provide:
- new VoIP handsets;
- a BT Smart Hub 2; and
- cover all your usage and service charges while you are on the trial.
The hardware is also all free and you get to keep it at the end of the trial.
If any BT voice/line rental and/or broadband customer is interested in taking part - let me know :)
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Hi there,
I'm currently with BT for internet (Ultrafast 2 via FTTP) and telephone service (via PSTN), If I choose to take part in the trial of Digital Voice (VoIP) Does my PSTN line get transferred and I would lose the PSTN line?
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I believe what happens when you're on the trial is that 'turn off' the copper - making the line a SoGEA one - with calls being made over VoIP.
However, I don't work for BT so couldn't tell you exactly how it works with FTTP - the trial hasn't started yet. However, at the end of the trial they reverse any changes.
Digital Voice is the replacement for the PTSN so I know they are keen to test it on all types of line:
- voice only;
- adsl/FTTC/G.fast
- FTTP
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I am currently looking at FTTP, although the technical details remain obscure (to me). As far as I can see, the current Openreach offering is a single optical fibre with no copper, that replaces the existing copper pair. The customer end of the optical fibre plugs into a terminator box (ONT) containing an optical modem, including a SIP interface that connects to a POTS phone socket. So domestic phone calls are via VOIP, or something similar that might reasonably be called Digital Voice. There is a line rental component to the cost, even if no copper.
If I have understood this wrongly, please put me right. For some detail, see https://www.openreach.com/content/dam/openreach/openreach-dam-files/images/fibre-broadband/fibre-for-developers/guides-and-handbooks/Fibre-Handbook-V8.pdf (https://www.openreach.com/content/dam/openreach/openreach-dam-files/images/fibre-broadband/fibre-for-developers/guides-and-handbooks/Fibre-Handbook-V8.pdf)
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I currently have the hybrid cable, which contain one pair of copper and one fibre optic cable. The copper terminates into the master-socket and the fibre optic cable terminates into the ONT.
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I am currently looking at FTTP, although the technical details remain obscure (to me). As far as I can see, the current Openreach offering is a single optical fibre with no copper, that replaces the existing copper pair. The customer end of the optical fibre plugs into a terminator box (ONT) containing an optical modem, including a SIP interface that connects to a POTS phone socket. So domestic phone calls are via VOIP, or something similar that might reasonably be called Digital Voice. There is a line rental component to the cost, even if no copper.
If I have understood this wrongly, please put me right. For some detail, see https://www.openreach.com/content/dam/openreach/openreach-dam-files/images/fibre-broadband/fibre-for-developers/guides-and-handbooks/Fibre-Handbook-V8.pdf (https://www.openreach.com/content/dam/openreach/openreach-dam-files/images/fibre-broadband/fibre-for-developers/guides-and-handbooks/Fibre-Handbook-V8.pdf)
That entirely depends what you mean by "looking at FTTP".
There are numerous ways OpenReach deploy FTTP.
New sites are FTTP only.
Existing copper sites upgraded to FTTP usually have the copper drop wire replaced with a dual copper/fibre drop wire.
There are places with separate copper and fibre drop wires from before the dual wires were introduced.
The OpenReach offering is irrelevant.
You will be ordering from an ISP and it's them that choose if they bundle FTTP with a copper phone service, with FVA or as data only.
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Just a reminder that the deadline is today if anyone else is interested in applying for the Digital Voice trial - please do let me know.
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Am I too late?
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They advertised they were looking for trialists up to the end of last month but if you PM me your details you might still get in (the trial page still seems to be available)
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Sorry to drag up an old thread but it looks like this has gone "live" today.
Would be perfect for my parents but they dont use the BT hub, is it possible to use these with other WPS enabled routers does anyone know?
Cheers!
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Sorry to drag up an old thread but it looks like this has gone "live" today.
Would be perfect for my parents but they dont use the BT hub, is it possible to use these with other WPS enabled routers does anyone know?
Cheers!
What/who says this has gone live today?
BT FTTP sales staff apparently had no knowledge of this a couple days ago.
Are they on an FTTP only new build?
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It launched today for FTTC>FTTC regrades, call centres only
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https://community.bt.com/t5/Landline/New-Digital-Voice-home-phone-service-on-BT/td-p/2001057
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That's the one :)
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For those with residential FTTP - BT they are now seeking volunteers to beta test their Digital Voice service.
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Digital Voice will give you the same reliability, trust and familiarity of your current home phone service
Which is literally impossible to promise and a lie. For a lot of people, just plugging a wired phone into the socket and knowing it will work, even during a power cut, is a big deal. Digital Voice does not offer this, so how can they claim its the same reliability and familiarity as their current home phone service?
I'd also argue that Internet problems happen far more than physical line problems for most people, again a hit on the reliability.
No matter the benefits, glossing over the huge increase in pitfalls is not good.
I also think its going to be a hard sell unless they drop call charges to be competitive with mobile. If I could call at the same price on my landline as O2 and Three charge, I would have used it a LOT more as the call quality is so much better. If my landline will effectively be using my mobile (because why on earth bother having a home phone at all once its VoIP), then this becomes even more relevant.
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Agree with @AAUK.
Will I be guaranteed that my phone will work for many hours (or even at all) during a power outage? - Answer NO, unless I supply and maintain my own UPS.
Will the emergency services immediately know my location if I call them? - I don't know that answer to this, but I suspect not.
They need to be honest about this.
Also a good point about phone calls. If calls are just part of my data stream then perhaps they should be included in my data allowance (ie unlimited and thus free).
:no:
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@tubaman
I did read the other day that there maybe a battery backup for vulnerable people.
Sorry for bumping these old threads, I have not been around lately. :-)
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AFAIK all VoIP services require your address to be registered for emergency services use. Of course that's a bit of a problem if you're currently using it on your smartphone from who knows where. But I guess in an emergency you would make a cell call which could be traced.
It certainly does still bother me a little that there is no way I will be able to power an ONT, router and VoIP for as long as the exchange would remain powered in an emergency.
Certainly agree that its a bit of a money making scheme as sooner or later 99% of calls will be VoIP and they will still be wanting to charge for them. That said, SIP doesn't exactly handle NAT well so you kinda still want a middle-man to handle the call and wouldn't be able to call someone behind CG-NAT directly without it.
Theoretically if its setup correctly you should be able to call someone via their IP address, though I've never figured how to get that working.
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...Theoretically if its setup correctly you should be able to call someone via their IP address, though I've never figured how to get that working.
I've had this working, the issue is though most VoIP kit has this option turned off, (receiving calls directly via IP address) as with it on, port scanners soon find the waiting open SIP port and start to SPIT (Spam over Internet Telephony), and you get all sorts of rubbish calls.
Typically calls with traditional VoIP providers are not charged when calling someone else also with the same provider, for example Sipgate to Sipgate calls are free regardless if dialed using the "telephone number" rather than an IP address. I doubt that applies to BT though!
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There's no doubt about it, it doesn't apply to BT.
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It certainly does still bother me a little that there is no way I will be able to power an ONT, router and VoIP for as long as the exchange would remain powered in an emergency.
A small generator.
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A small generator.
Fuel goes bad and generators need regular oil changes, not something I could really deal with.
I'm considering maybe a camping power bank, could possibly run my entire network off solar that way. If I weren't in a council house I would have added solar years ago to offset having to run A/C in the summer due to health issues.