Landline moving to digital issue

[Cire]

One of the reasons I kept my landline is because if the power fails, I can still make emergency calls. Now Virgin Media is forcing me to switch to their digital service - but without any reduction in the cost. I phoned the help line and explained that I don't have room next to my hub for my telephone and answer machine, so she sent out an engineer to "explain it to me".  He came and realised that as my hub is in one room and my telephone sits in another, there would be extensive wiring that would basically lock my telephone permanently in one place.  He also agreed that there was no room near my hub and no spare socket either.  The lady I had spoken with assured me that my telephone wouldn't need a socket as it would plug into the device! 

So it was left with the understanding that I would have to give up my landline and rely on my mobile phone, and that would be the end of the matter.

However, last week I received a text message AND an email advising me that the new adaptor would be sent to me!  So I spent another wasted 30 minutes on the phone explaining why I didn't want it and that an engineer had already been to my place to check out its viability. The man said he would cancel my telephone contract?

Today, have received another text saying that the adapter has been sent to me to connect my home phone to the Virgin Media Hub!!  Doesn't anyone communicate with each other at Virgin Media any more.  Now I'm considering cancelling my Virgin contract because of this.

[goslow]

VM should be able to modify your phone wiring (free of charge) so you can have a hub and a phone socket in different locations.

Your description sounds a bit confusing and you may not have been given the best advice.

Whether or not the switchover really involves 'extensive' wiring may be down to the individual technician VM sent out as well as your own judgement about what re-wiring would be acceptable in your home.

Not sure what you mean by 'lock my telephone permanently in one place'. If you have a corded phone it would need to be placed next to the hub or a phone socket elsewhere wired into the VM hub.

Were the options/implications of cancelling the phone explained to you? Has removing the phone affected your package price?

You should also have a time-limited option to leave VM altogether, as a result of the phone switchover, without any penalties if you chose to do that. The date for that should be in the letter sent about the switchover.

VM should also offer you an emergency backup line (a phone which can work on mobile if the power or hub fails) for vulnerable customers.

[Carley_S · Accepted solution]

Hi @Cire 

Welcome back to the community forums 

Really sorry to hear of the confusion and concern surrounding your home phone switch to the new digital voice service. 

This switch is a industry wide change as the copper line is becoming obsolete, so to continue the service, landline phones are being migrated to a digital service by all providers. You can find more information about this on the Ofcom website here or on our website here if needed. 

There is no change to how we package the landline service and would not affect any billing or contracts. The line rental is still included in the package price for landline and has not changed due to the home phone switch over. 

You can look to relocate either the router or the landline to allow the services to continue, or have your home set up kept the same by re-wiring the home. This ofcourse, is free of charge. As the technician has been and it sounds like a re-wire was not possible or not suitable for you, you can look at changing your package to not include the landline, or alternatively, if you're still within your right to cancel period, you can cancel all services and move to another provider. I must advise, that as this is a industry wide move, that a new provider may also have to install you landline services the same way eventually.  

Some of the process for the migration are automatic once the area has begun the journey to switch over. This includes any additional letters to inform customers of what they need to complete the process, such as arranging for a new compatible router, or sending out the adapters for the router > phone connection. My apologies again for the confusion caused when you received information regarding the adapter. You may still receive further communications regarding the migration if you continue to have a landline service with us and because we would need to follow due diligence for all customers that may be affected by this change. 

Please let us know if you are having any further issues or have any questions at all. We'll be here to help on the community forums if needed :). 

[Cire]

Hi goslow, locking my telephone in one place I meant the wiring from the hub through 2 rooms to where my phone sits would be tacked to the wall and therefore difficult for me to move my phone (if I do furniture re-arrange).

Options were not explained by the foreign customer adviser, but the engineer was very helpful when he came, and agreed with me that it would be impossible to place my phone near my hub because there isn't room, and I don't have a spare wall socket for it and call blocker unit.  

 I have since spoken with the Retention Department and they've reduced the contract price slightly, and I agreed to take out an O2 sim card which has boosted my speed from 250 to 350.  So, content for the time being. 🙂

[Cire]

Hi Carley, thank you for your response. I've now spoken to the retention department, and they've given me a new contract which includes a boost to 350mbps as I agreed to get an O2 sim card as well.  However, was advised to keep the phone package, otherwise the contract price would be higher, even though I won't have an actual phone connected. 

Many thanks.

[Carley_S]

Glad to hear that you have been able to speak with the team and have been able to sort a suitable solution for you going forward @Cire 

It is sometimes the case that the more services you have the more discounts are available and so can be cheaper to have the additional service, even if it's not in use.

If you ever need any other support on your Virgin Media services, please do not hesitate to come back to us on the community forums 🙂

[terr-virg-hlp-1]

The simple solution is to a telephone that has extra receivers, that plug into the mains. Your master phone can be near where the hub is, and you can place the other telephones (normally 2 or 3 extensions) anywhere in the house where there is a power socket. Available from multiple shops (or online) from about £40, which usually includes a 'call missed  device' . no new wiring needed, all telephones will work as normal.

[goslow]

Indeed so, and a DECT phone system is VM's preferred solution for use with the VM hub as it removes VM from dealing with any future problems to do with telephone socket wiring.

That said, there are (a very great many) customers who post on here who are vehemently opposed to changing anything at all about their existing phone arrangements and the existing locations of equipment. There are others (often in the same group) who do not want to, or cannot afford to, splash out the money on replacing existing corded phones with cordless ones.

VM's offer (obligation) to wire up existing phone sockets to the hub is published on VM's web pages but many customers never find the info. Sometimes the VM forum team offer it as a solution and sometimes they do not. I imagine there is probably some kind of budgetary target as to how many 'rewires' they are allowed to allocate per month or something similar.

So, I usually have a cut/paste reply when people post about using phone extension sockets and hubs and phones in different locations. Those posting can then decide which option they want, once they know what all the options are.

[Chris_W1]

Hi terr-virg-hlp-1 and Goslow, thanks for the information. 

We would wire the phone to the hub and ensure that the service is working, customers can request extensions we would arrange an engineer although this would be chargeable. 

Many customers have a base unit at the hub and other cordless devices around the home. 

Kind regards, Chris. 

[DavFB]

Hi 

We have a telephone that has extra receivers but the base unit holds an answerphone. I gather we are supposed to connect our telephone base station into the Virgin hub box. But the hub is at the top of the house as we were advised to put it there to improve the wifi signal. If we put the phone base unit by the Virgin hub we shall not know if we have messages as we are all downstairs. Would moving the Virgin hub downstairs to the answerphone be desirable/possible? We also have a Virgin TV box downstairs in the lounge. We link that to the Virgin hub via boxes running through the electrical system?

When is the move going ahead in Cardiff? We got the connector dongle but then got a message saying the transfer is on hold? That was a while ago. If we lose the dongle meantime can we get a replacement?