Can I use a soft phone on PC or phone to connect to my Virgin 'landline'?

[martinbailey]

Now that VM have moved to VOIP and my old landline phone is connected to the hub, could I replace this altogether with software? I already use my PC for other voice calls, and it'd be good if I could do away with a physical phone altogether and re-route to my desktop or mobile.

Does anyone know if it's possible?

[VMUser1812]

Not possible I'm afraid. Despite the oft quoted 'moved to VoIP' claims, VM actually hasn't! What is still in the process of being rolled out is what they refer to as 21CV (21st Century Voice) where all that actually changes is that the conventional analogue phone, instead of being plugged in the a wall socket, is connect to a port on the hub which has the ability to function as an ATA and basically converts the analogue to a digital form which can be 'piggy-backed' onto the DOCSIS connection.

In effect all that is changing the physical connection method and it is NOT VoIP as most would understand it.

Maybe when the old analogue systems are discontinued in 2025, VM may or may not switch the entire provision to being VoIP and you can use a SoftPhone, but right now, no!

[Kain_W]

Hi there martinbailey,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the community.

As described above, we'll still need to have a physical phone attached to the Hub I'm afraid, when is your service due to transfer?

Regards,

[martinbailey]

My service has transferred a few months ago (without issue). My landline phone is now plugged into the supplied adaptor, which in turn is plugged into the hub. I already use a VOIP app for work, so was simply wondering if I could do the same with this line, and do away with a physical desktop phone.

[Kain_W]

No problem, thanks for the response.

Unfortunately we're unable to provide the service without a physical handset apparent.

Many apologies however thanks for also raising this query to the forums.

Regards,

[Client62]

BT did a huge amount of damage to customer understanding with the use of "Fibre" when FTTC was being sold.

VM have done equal damage in calling their telephone service "VOIP" when it is nothing but an Analogue Telephone Service from the Hub.

The VM customer does not have a VOIP SIP a/c so can't use a true VOIP phone or a SIP VOIP app on their mobile / computer. Worst of all VM appear unable / unwilling the process porting requests for home phone numbers.