Landline moving to digital issue
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.
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 :).