Engineer installation needed but not informed

Self install kits are supplied to be sent out when the property is marked as a previous VM user. However some properties only have a loose cable in the house, not a wall socket. Also some properties have had the VM cables removed without informing VM. 
Hopefully there will be something for you to connect to. 

The system may have identified that the address has had a previous VM connection and therefore assumed a self install would be possible and allowed you to order.

It certainly didn't offer me a self install option when I joined a month ago although VM has been in my street for 20 years, I needed the final connection from the pavement duct to my home in one appointment followed a few days later by a VM technician installation.

You may be lucky and if it has previously had a VM connection there should be a brown box on an external wall and a white internal box, both the the logo on them.

If there is no cabling or it has been cut you may need two appointments so don't bank on being up and running quickly.

Two points to make:

1) VM only supplies these kits if there are records of a previous connection at the property. This method has been used to cut down on many unnecessary technicians visits that happened in the past. What VM cannot tell is if a previous occupant of the property has removed the internal, or worse still, the external infrastructure needed to reconnect.

2) VM is a residential class service. There is no set down SLA for fixing faults as there is with a premium business connection. So if working from home is important, you should invest in a backup solution in case of breakdowns.

if it needs a cable fitting you may have to wait much longer than the day ot so you are thinking - the longest on here is over a year - again if external work is needed it will be passed to external contractors and thats a whole bag of works or can be 

you will get little no no help on here from vm other than apologies and raising a complaint which will go nowhere - it might all happen on monday but you should have a plan for when it does not 

My standard recommendation for those who must have backup is a MiFi router with a 30-day data-only SIM card. Some of these routers have one or more Ethernet ports which I'd buy if I were in your position. And these SIM cards are readily available online and from stores such as Argos and the shops of the mobile operators.

Look on Amazon or fleabay for prepaid SIM card that lasts a number of months. If you have your own router that can support 4g usb dongle or tether to a phone. 1p mobile uses EE full frequencies and you can buy data add-ons on 30 day basis and main SIM is 30 day rolling without credit checks.

As others said, it could take a while and WFH sounds critical, so this backup could be sufficient for that purpose assuming you have at least one decent mobile operator signal and data speed....

Thanks for the help and advice everyone. I’ll look into the tethering from our phone, though neither of us currently have unlimited data and aren’t sure how much we’d need. 

I wonder if this does turn out to be a disaster (ie not sorted this week) we cousin cancel our order under the 14 day cooling off period, and go with someone else? I definitely remember only having to plug in my Mum’s TalkTalk modem and she was good to go! 

Ok so I have one of these, but can’t trace where it goes into the house. It goes under the external window and then in but there’s nothing the other side on the inside except a box where the electricity meter is and I can’t see any other cables 🤷🏼‍♀️ 

Brown box not brain box. Can no longer edit posts after posting which is highly annoying VM!!