Does the BT Business Smart Hub 3 have an analogue telephone socket on the back?

[imajeenyus88]

Short version: Please confirm whether or not the BT Business Smart Hub 3 has socket on the back for connecting analogue telephones.

Long version. We run a small shop and have previously been using Plusnet Business. This is closing, and we have been advised to move to BT Business. We have 2x telephones and a card terminal, all currently connected to the analogue phone line. We want to keep these existing devices, as it is too much bother to upgrade, especially the card terminal.

I initially started looking at BT home broadband and phone / "Digital Voice" and was pleased to see that the Smart Hub 2 includes an ATA (analogue telephone adapter) socket on the back, to which analogue phones can be connected. The socket is coloured green. Here are several links to where this is demonstrated:

https://www.bt.com/broadband/digital-voice ("When you switch to a digital phone line you can still use your current home phone by plugging it into the back of your hub. ")

https://business.bt.com/help/guides/smart-hub-2-guide/smart-hub-2-getting-started/setting-up-smart-h...

https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/learn-about-the-ports-on-your-bt-hub

I was also interested to read about the battery backup option which is available.

I then thought I should also check BT business broadband and phone. From what I gather, this is provided with a Business Smart Hub 3. Looking at BT's documentation, for example:

https://business.bt.com/help/guides/smart-hub-3-guide/smart-hub-3-getting-started/setting-up-your-sm...

this does not show a green analogue socket, which worried me. However, other photos of the Smart Hub 3 online appear to show either a socket covered with a black sticker, or a fully functional green socket:

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/threads/bt-smart-hub-3-launch.39068/page-7

I have also seen a teardown video of both the Smart Hub 2 and Smart Hub 3 which appears to show they are functionally identical inside. There is also a hint that BT is branding the Smart Hub 3 slightly differently depending on whether it's a business or home user.

Additionally, I don't see any mention of the battery backup option on the BT business site.

So, I am now totally confused. If I go for BT Business, will the hub I get have a functioning analogue telephone socket on the back or not? If not, then I'll just stick with BT home instead.

Many thanks for your help.

[westview50]

I can't answer your question but i too have reluctantly been moved moved from Plusnet. I have on come on here to look for answers on how to use analogue phones and a call blocker. I have a smart hub 2 with a green socket but I'm lead to believe and can confirm it does not work. I'm currently trying to establish if a Cisco ATA 192 adaptor will over come our issue. The guy on the BT helpline says it will. He also said my TP link or Blue disc would extend my Guest Wi-Fi. I'm not convinced it will.

[bakery]

Avoid BT Business Smart Hub 3 - Since initial installation version - 5 subsequent firmware updates in 5 weeks clearly shows there are significant issues with the hub 3. 

The initial firmware displayed a greyed out backup settings option - the 5 subsequent firmware updates have no backup settings option. Firmware updates cause some user changeable settings to revert to default settings. There seems little point in allowing users to change settings then without notice they are undone by firmware updates.

The hub has to be powered off then on every few days to resolve network connectivity problems with wired attached computers.

Many features of BT Business Smart Hub 2 and previous models are not available in BT Business Smart Hub 3. ie BT Business Smart Hub 2 has backup settings option, default 'always use this IP address', bridge mode etc. 

https://business.forums.bt.com/t5/Broadband/BT-Business-Smart-Hub-3-DHCP-IPv6-settings-allocation-mo...

[BethM]

Hi imajeenyus88

You can't use the telephone socket on the Business Smart Hubs. They should be marked as 'not for use' if there is one on your Business router. The forum you linked talking about the Smart Hub 3 will be referring to the Residential Smart Hub 3. As we use different technologies and offer different services in Business, we have different functionalities on the routers. 

[TheBoeRigg]

So how then Beth do we connect our alarm system to the Hub 3, will the digital voice adapter work ? or is it the expensive cisco hub ?

[BethM]

Hi TheBoeRigg

Have you ordered an ATA with us?

[egoodyer]

BT Business Hubs do not support analogue phones. BT Business have disabled that feature and instead sell you an external adapter for £75.  That doesn't seem to work either. If you can stick with BT Home they seem to know what they are doing.