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Erskine's avatar
Erskine
Tuning in
12 months ago
Solved

Advice on Digital Landline Before Switching to Virgin

I am a BT customer and am thinking of switching to Virgin. I need some info on the impact of the changes and what is involved to adapt my home, etc.

My current service is along the old copper lines of BT. Virgin provide fibre services in my area and would like to know what work is required to connect from the street to my bungalow.

More importantly though is how this will affect my landline. I do not use a mobile and will not use a mobile phone. But do require a landline. So, what will I need to ensure that I can have my landline working. Do I need any adapters or cabling inside my home? Do I need the phone next to the Virgin router? Do I need adapters, new phones, etc, etc?

Any and all help would be great.

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    12 months ago

    If you are in a long-established VM area, your VM connection would come from the street via a coax cable which emerges from a cover in the pavement. Look outside for similar VM covers (may be branded VM or CATV) as per

    https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Outside-Cable-Cover/td-p/5370676

    In newer VM areas, a fibre optic cable is used. VM can install these underground as well or VM is sometimes using overhead poles or underground ducts belonging to Openreach. In the newest version of VM's fibre, I don't think the landline is available yet.

    In terms of the connection in your home, you plug in a normal telephone into the back of the VM hub to the TEL1 socket using an adapter provided by VM.

     

    The connection is best used with cordless phones. Plug the cordless base station into the VM hub and use cordless handsets around your home as required.

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  • Matthew_ML's avatar
    Matthew_ML
    Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
    12 months ago

    Hey Erskine, thank you for reaching out and a very warm welcome.

    Eventually all major providers will be on the 21CV not just Virgin Media.

    However the phone line would plug into an adapter and we would make sure your phone line is correctly set up for you and any needs you may have please do not worry.

    Phones that work with 21CV will be needed, an older phone may not be compatible  

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    12 months ago

    If you are in a long-established VM area, your VM connection would come from the street via a coax cable which emerges from a cover in the pavement. Look outside for similar VM covers (may be branded VM or CATV) as per

    https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Networking-and-WiFi/Outside-Cable-Cover/td-p/5370676

    In newer VM areas, a fibre optic cable is used. VM can install these underground as well or VM is sometimes using overhead poles or underground ducts belonging to Openreach. In the newest version of VM's fibre, I don't think the landline is available yet.

    In terms of the connection in your home, you plug in a normal telephone into the back of the VM hub to the TEL1 socket using an adapter provided by VM.

     

    The connection is best used with cordless phones. Plug the cordless base station into the VM hub and use cordless handsets around your home as required.

    • Matthew_ML's avatar
      Matthew_ML
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      12 months ago

      Thank you for posting some advice goslow.

      If you need anything else answering the sales team can answer it on 0800 183 1234.

  • Erskine's avatar
    Erskine
    Tuning in
    12 months ago

    Many thanks, Goslow and Matthew.

    VM is fairly new to this area and has only been available for app 1 year. I have seen at least one home where a cable comes out the ground into a small brown box on their wall and then a cable from theat enters the house. I wondered if this was VM. It is not like the one shown in the post linked above. So maybe not.

    The landline is an essential and it may be from what I read above that this would not be available since the fibre lines here are so new. So maybe a call to the team would be the safest option.

     

    • Ilyas_Y's avatar
      Ilyas_Y
      Forum Team (Retired)
      12 months ago

      Thanks for the reply Erskine on the forums. 👋🏼

      So what you've described is how our network is - the cable comes from the ground to the Omnibox, which is the external box situated outside a property and then goes in to the house to the broadband and then the TV.
      The setup there is for the landline, from the hub we have an adapter which the landline plugs in to and then is used as part of the digital switchover. More information on this can be found here. 

      Kind regards,
      Ilyas.

      • Erskine's avatar
        Erskine
        Tuning in
        12 months ago

        Great, that is very helpful Ilyas. A search for Omnibox brings up an image which appears to be the very thing I have seen on a neigbours house.

        Next question (.....bear with me, I am almost done!) What type of phone do I need for use on 21CV? At present, I have the standard BT cordless phones which run on the old copper nextwork. Base station with answer phone and remote 2nd handset. I have had a few searches and it is not exactly clear which types of phones are needed for VoIP.

  • nodrogd's avatar
    nodrogd
    Very Insightful Person
    12 months ago

    What you have to bear in mind with 21CV (& not just Virgin, with all suppliers from next year) is if your power fails, so does the phone service. At the moment the only solution for vulnerable customers is an EBUL (Emergency Back Up Line). This is a phone that plugs into the hub, but also has a mobile phone SIM card installed that will allow emergency calls to be made via the mobile phone network during outages..