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Can I use a BT phone if I'm not a BT customer? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 33
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Can I use a BT phone if I'm not a BT customer?
Hi
Does anyone know if I can use a BT phone if I'm not a BT customer? Are UK telephone points compatible, regardless of what make of telephone you have? Thanks in advance for any advice. |
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#2 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Reading
Posts: 27,884
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As long as the phone meets the relevant UK regulations then it will work regardless of who you have as your phone service provider.
Just remember that with the exception of Virgin Media and those in the Hull area, pretty much every phone line in the country is actually operated by Openreach. The various providers simply rent the lines from Openreach (in effect) so essentially whoever you rent your line from you are using the same systems to make and receive calls. And even if you have a Virgin Media phone line or live in the Hull area any UK spec phone should work at least for the basics like making and receiving calls. |
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#3 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,633
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Just to clarify - "Openreach" is the infrastructure arm of BT. So any ISP that uses Openreach infrastructure quite literally is supplying you with a "BT phone line" and it will work 100% the same as a phone line supplied by BT. In general, if the company isn't Sky, Virgin or TalkTalk, then it will be a phone line that is provided on Openreach equipment
There are some small things to consider. Virgin Media is an amalgamation of a number of different cable companies, all of whom built their telephone networks in different ways, using equipment from lots of different companies. This means that while the phone line will work fine for making/receiving calls, sometimes caller ID won't work properly on Virgin. This is because the equipment can't supply it in the same way that BT's equipment does, and many UK phones only work with the BT standard. Sky and TalkTalk do use their own equipment in the telephone exchange (they rent the physical phone line from Openreach and have it connected to their own network). As far as I know, there's no compatibility issues at all, it will work just as well as a true BT phone line, including caller ID |
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Reading
Posts: 27,884
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Quote:
Just to clarify - "Openreach" is the infrastructure arm of BT. So any ISP that uses Openreach infrastructure quite literally is supplying you with a "BT phone line" and it will work 100% the same as a phone line supplied by BT. In general, if the company isn't Sky, Virgin or TalkTalk, then it will be a phone line that is provided on Openreach equipment
There are some small things to consider. Virgin Media is an amalgamation of a number of different cable companies, all of whom built their telephone networks in different ways, using equipment from lots of different companies. This means that while the phone line will work fine for making/receiving calls, sometimes caller ID won't work properly on Virgin. This is because the equipment can't supply it in the same way that BT's equipment does, and many UK phones only work with the BT standard. Sky and TalkTalk do use their own equipment in the telephone exchange (they rent the physical phone line from Openreach and have it connected to their own network). As far as I know, there's no compatibility issues at all, it will work just as well as a true BT phone line, including caller ID |
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,633
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Quote:
Isn't that just for broadband though? Don't they just split off the phone side of things and leave that side up to Openreach to sort out?
It wouldn't make much financial sense to do it any other way. The ADSL equipment that Sky/TalkTalk use can do telephony very easily, so why pay Openreach for the extra wiring and equipment? |
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kent
Posts: 8,954
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Quote:
Hi
Does anyone know if I can use a BT phone if I'm not a BT customer? Are UK telephone points compatible, regardless of what make of telephone you have? Thanks in advance for any advice. |
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,633
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Quote:
There's some long winded answers here, a very simple Yes you can use a BT branded phone if your not a BT customer would be been ample.
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#8 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Swansea, UK.
Posts: 2,469
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Quote:
They're "long winded" because there's more to the story than your oversimplification.
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,633
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Quote:
No there isn't more to the story at all.
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#10 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Bilston West Midlands
Posts: 1,386
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BT handsets Virgin Line works perfectly including caller I.D.
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 534
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Quote:
There's some long winded answers here, a very simple Yes you can use a BT branded phone if your not a BT customer would be been ample.
Ultimately , phones should conform to a signalling standard CCITT ( now called ITU-T) |
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,633
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Quote:
Ultimately , phones should conform to a signalling standard CCITT ( now called ITU-T)
Sometimes you can't simplify something down to a single sentence without losing a lot of important detail. |
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 534
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Quote:
Except when they don't, because you have a Virgin line, and whatever cable company originally built the network in your area, decided to buy American-spec equipment which only outputs Bellcore standard caller ID - which doesn't work with your British spec phone.
Sometimes you can't simplify something down to a single sentence without losing a lot of important detail. |
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Central Belt
Posts: 12,265
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We have a BT 8500 Dect phone but connected to a virgin phone line.
Call Guardian just blocks everything including genuine calls when it's switched on, even allowed VIP numbers when it's set to Allowed. I thought it only blocked calls you set to block. |
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Reading
Posts: 27,884
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Quote:
We have a BT 8500 Dect phone but connected to a virgin phone line.
Call Guardian just blocks everything including genuine calls when it's switched on, even allowed VIP numbers when it's set to Allowed. I thought it only blocked calls you set to block. If you turn Call Guardian off do you see the number of the caller in the display on the phone? If you don't then that will explain why Call Guardian is blocking everything. |
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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,073
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Quote:
We have a BT 8500 Dect phone but connected to a virgin phone line.
Call Guardian just blocks everything including genuine calls when it's switched on, even allowed VIP numbers when it's set to Allowed. I thought it only blocked calls you set to block. |
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#17 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,436
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Quote:
I get the same using a BT8500 on a SKY phone line....
If you can't see the calling number then the call blocking exemptions won't work. |
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#18 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,073
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Quote:
Presumably it's a standard BT copper line but you pay the line rental to Sky? If so, you need to make sure that Calling Line Identity is enabled, which may be chargeable.
If you can't see the calling number then the call blocking exemptions won't work. and CLI is enabled and working |
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#19 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,436
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Quote:
We have a BT 8500 Dect phone but connected to a virgin phone line.
Call Guardian just blocks everything including genuine calls when it's switched on, even allowed VIP numbers when it's set to Allowed. I thought it only blocked calls you set to block. |
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#20 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,436
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Quote:
Line rental and fibre broadband are through Sky
and CLI is enabled and working However, if your friends' numbers are withheld or unavailable (e.g. because they're using an Indirect Access provider or VoIP) then the call blocking system won't work correctly. Check with 1471. |
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#21 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,073
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Quote:
If you can see your friends' numbers then it seems that your phone hasn't been programmed correctly or is faulty.
However, if your friends' numbers are withheld or unavailable (e.g. because they're using an Indirect Access provider or VoIP) then the call blocking system won't work correctly. Check with 1471. https://community.bt.com/t5/Phones/P...1360921/page/3 |
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