Forum Topic

Telephone handset engineer

Can anyhone recommend a locally-based engineer/technician/expert who could help me install a new BT handset into my home system please?

Robin Knight ● 11d9 Comments

It was quite worrying to hear someone who had been caught up in the worst of the most recent storm - and that where she was the mobiles did not work and the battery phone (presumably provided instead of the landline to work and use to call a Care company didn't either.  When the electricity is down and the internet doesn't work alternatives are needed and a lot of people can't use or easily learn to use new tech instead of the old landline. 

Philippa Bond ● 2d

Robin - I'll try to send you a message via the Forum (not sure if this works these days) but, essentially, I believe that a) you are already on digital voice (the good news) and b) that you need the exact same model in order to add another handset (the bad news). They are not 'mix and match'.One option might be to affect a Hyacinth Bucket voice and shout between each floor. The second might be to buy a new, bang-up-to-date system.

Gordon McDonald ● 6d

It should be possible to add a new cordless (as they used to be called) handset into your system, though it may not be as simple as you might like it to be.Frankly, given how cheap these things are you might be better off just starting again from scratch and getting a matched set of handsets and base-station/answering machine. The advantage of this is that the handets come pre-connected so there should be no complicated pairing to go through.Here's a BT package, you might consider, though there are others to choose from.BT XD56 Quad Cordless Phones with Answering Machine and Nuisance Call Blocker https://amzn.eu/d/5TlPlbjDo bear in mind though that as someone else has said, all landline phones will soon be connected through a broadband router which may or may not be in a convenient place to have your phone's base station. Help and advice should be available from your service provider - in your case BT.

Bruce Hammal ● 7d

Dear Mr. McDonald,Many thanks for responding on the W4.com Forum re my home landline telephone system. Unfortunately, the email address you gave doesn't work! Anyway, no secrets in this matter...The situation is that we have a BT Home Hub system which involved siting four handsets on four different floors in the house which could communicate with each other. The handset at the top of the house failed and despite new batteries etc was bust. So, first, I bought two-for-one new handsets from BT but a BT engineer who installed one of them told me it could not link to my existing three handsets. Then I bought a reconditioned handset which says it is "Advanced Digital Home Phone" and looks more like the original handsets. But I'm not sure how to link this handset to the old system - that's the challenge!All advice gratefully received!

Robin Knight ● 7d

Will do! Thank you.

Robin Knight ● 7d

These were all the rage in my BT days.

Gordon McDonald ● 8d

"I was a BT engineer in a previous life"  😁

Julian Pavey ● 8d

I was a BT engineer in a previous life, so may be able to offer some advice. Drop me a note at mallow.fodders-0s@icloud.com (burner address).

Gordon McDonald ● 8d

Can anyhone recommend a locally-based engineer/technician/expert who could help me install a new BT handset into my home system please?Assuming you know where your master socket is and what it looks like. It's what your phone plugs into now You don't need an engineerjust a 2 way splitter which plugs into the master socket giving two sockets instead of just one£4.39 from Amazonhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/phone-splitter-2-way/s?k=phone+splitter+2+wayIn any case the phones are all going to switch to broadband in the near future. Which means they'll plug in to your router instead.michael adams

Michael Adams ● 10d