Virgin Media Community

[johnfken]

Hi,

I have recently been swapped over to 'digital' home phone connection (via a Hub 3) in my wifes flat in Perth. The current handset is a Beocom 2 with an analogue Beoline PSTN base station and has worked with the old analogue line since installed.

The bad news now, when the handset is connected to the 'new digital' line, I can make outgoing calls but cannot receive incoming. I have take then handset back to my Glasgow flat to confirm it works (on the exising analogue line) and it works fine.

I had a technician visit to see if this was an issue with the Hub, all seemed OK. He could not confirm if B&O handsets where compatible with the new 21CV connection. This situation is pretty unacceptable as if I cannot use the handset then I will be throwing away nearly 400GBP of equipment. 

Can you confirm if there is a filter that can be used with the Hub to allow the B&O equipment to be compatible - I will have the same problem in my Glasgw flat once 21CV is operational however this time nearly 1000GBP worth of equipment will be null and void.

I think VM should have had a solution to such handset issues before rolling out 21CV.

John K.

[goslow]

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@johnfken wrote:

Hi,

I have recently been swapped over to 'digital' home phone connection (via a Hub 3) in my wifes flat in Perth. The current handset is a Beocom 2 with an analogue Beoline PSTN base station and has worked with the old analogue line since installed.

<snip> John K.

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Do a search on the word Beocom on this forum and you will find past topics reporting the same issue. AFAIK there has not been a solution to the issue and the issue has also been reported with other providers using phone-via-hub connections.

[Vikki_M]

Hi @johnfken 

Thank you for your post and welcome to our community.

I am sorry to hear about the issues you are having with the phone since the switch over.

Do you have another handset you could try?

I'm unsure if that particular model is compatible with 21CV.

Is the Beocom 2 an older model? If so, this may be why its not working with the hub. 

Please pop back to us when you can.

[Client62]

The main electrical difference between the Hub's RJ11 telephone socket and the Openreach style analogue master telephone socket is the analogue phone sockets have a good quality 1.8uF 250v capacitor to provide domestic phones with a 50 to 80v volt ring signal.

The RJ11 to BT socket adaptor that VM provide does not have a ring capacitor - hence why some phone don't ring.

On ebay there are similar adaptors listed with a ring capacitor.  

If you have to hand a good quality ADSL splitter this too includes a ring capacitor on phone socket.

As does a BT style master socket.  In the image below the large yellow ring capacitor can be seen.

[johnfken]

Hi Vikki,

The VM tech confirmed that the Hub 3 21CV connection did work with a Motorola handset (one he had in his van). I
managed to find an old BT handset to tide me over (for the time being) as I am not prepared to discard 400GBP worth
B&O equipment as it works perfectly well with analogue line technology.

The BeoCom 2 and BeoLine Basestation and not current products (B&O stopped handset solutions some time ago)
but this is really not the issue. The old analogue system has to meet a 'communication standard' and it looks like the
new 21CV solution cannot fully replicate this.

For me it is quite simple, VM introduced the switch over (not at my request) so need to find a solution to my issue or
have to RECONNECT the old landline. 

John K.

[David_Bn]

Thanks for coming back to us @johnfken.

I'm sorry to hear of the issues with the landline handset on the newly switched over router based services.

As this appears to be an issue with the handset on other providers also, as per the advice from @goslow, we would advise speaking to the manufacturer directly to see if a workaround is available.

Sadly switching the landline service back to the copper lines is not an option and all providers will be ditching the copper lines in the not too distant future.

Kindest regards,

David_Bn

[goslow]

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@Client62 wrote:

The main electrical difference between the Hub's RJ11 telephone socket and the Openreach style analogue master telephone socket is the analogue phone sockets have a good quality 1.8uF 250v capacitor to provide domestic phones with a 50 to 80v volt ring signal.

<snip>

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From similar past topics, the ringing capacitor does not seem to be the issue for the Beocom phones as an additional issue seems to be the incoming call does not connect either.

[goslow]

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@johnfken wrote:

Hi Vikki,

The VM tech confirmed that the Hub 3 21CV connection did work with a Motorola handset (one he had in his van). I
managed to find an old BT handset to tide me over (for the time being) as I am not prepared to discard 400GBP worth
B&O equipment as it works perfectly well with analogue line technology.

The BeoCom 2 and BeoLine Basestation and not current products (B&O stopped handset solutions some time ago)
but this is really not the issue. The old analogue system has to meet a 'communication standard' and it looks like the
new 21CV solution cannot fully replicate this.

For me it is quite simple, VM introduced the switch over (not at my request) so need to find a solution to my issue or
have to RECONNECT the old landline. 

John K.

---

VM won't be reconnecting your original landline and other providers will also offer the phone-via-router means of connection. It is part of a national programme of work which will see conventional landlines for phones disappear by 2025

https://www.futureofvoice.co.uk/

The video link below is by a former BT engineer which shows him testing various legacy phones on the phone socket of a BT Smart Hub 2 to see if they ring/work OK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id_KGXMcJHk

his tests show that the legacy phones did ring from the BT hub. As I look at my own BT Smart Hub 2 I can see that the phone socket on the back is wired as a full 6 pin arrangement (not the same as the 2 pin arrangement from VM). It looks as if the BT hub has been built to match a conventional telephone socket more closely.

If you know anyone using a BT phone connection from a BT Smart Hub 2, you could maybe try your B&O phone in their hub's phone socket and see if it works on BT's 'Digital Voice' service.

In this very lengthy topic (at the end)

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/Incoming-calls-failure-after-switch/td-p/5102011

the OP mentions they will be moving to a BT connection but there is no conclusion to whether that worked with their B&O phone or not.

You could maybe drop the OP a PM or reply on that topic and see if they are still monitoring it to find out what the final outcome was and whether or not the B&O phone worked on a BT 'Digital Voice' service, or not. If it did that may be an alternative route to allow you to keep using your phones.

In any event you are unlikely to get any further useful help via VM in resolving the issue.

[Client62]

The OP mentions calling out works, i.e. the B&O phone can keep the switch hook open to sustain a call. This gives hope.

With experience in this technology, the quality of the ring capacitor can be critical to making a phone ring and then accept an inbound call.

Some of the older phones often required a REN of 3 where as a REN of 1 was often all that is provided for in an ADSL splitter.

If a  BT Master socket with an RJ11 cable spliced into contacts 2 & 5 does not work it is indeed game over.