BIG LANDLINE SWITCHOVER A DISASTER !!!

[tomfer]

This landline switchover seems to be yet another con by Virginmedia to yet again increase their profits , with no real consideration for how it affects customers AND no doubt they will have the cheek and audacity to continue to charge you the landline maintenance fee , when everything is being moved to cable fir which you are already paying ! On top of all that customers are expected to bear the MASSIVE EXTRA  costs involved in upgrading equipment , ie …Alarm systems with call out ETC . , all because basically Virginmedia are both so greedy and incompetent they cannot be bothered to supply solutions to the problems THEY are creating , by doing this ! Worse still people now who are ill or have an accident will have no access to emergency services if they don’t have a mobile phone and the system is down , as all too frequently happens !  No wonder Virginmedia are rated as having THE worst customer service , to be honest , I don’t think they even know the meaning of customer service !!!

[Carley_S]

Hi @tomfer 

Welcome back to the community forums 

I'm really sorry to hear you feel this way regarding the home phone switchover. 

This is an industry wide move that all telecom and service providers will be migrating all new and existing customers to as the copper line that was previously used becomes obsolete. You can find out more about the move to digital phones through the Future of Voice website here or our own webpage regarding this here.

OFCOM has also information available on their website and you can find their statement here if needed.

There are FAQ's available on these pages. but should you have any further concerns regarding your own switchover, we can help and support here on the community forums if needed. 

[tomfer]

Forgot to mention that my landline has gone dead today after really bad interference on the line yesterday , I did a status check via the VM app online and it has a message about a known fault in the area , but get this when I did an actual check using the online app , it reported back ….no faults …..phone line still dead btw ! Having a heart condition , I just hope I don’t need help before they get the phones back up and running again , but then I am sure VM care as much about that as they do anything else that might involve actual customer service ! This does not bode well for the nuisance digital service ! 

[Client62]

After 3 VF Arrests,  you come to realise everyday is wonderful bonus and telephones are a trivial matter !

[Carley_S]

Hi @tomfer 

I can see you have mentioned you phoneline is dead after issues with the quality of the calls yesterday. I have checked the systems at our side and can see there are some area concerns. 

Do you have any dial tone at all on your phone, or do you here any buzzing or noise on the dial tone? 

Can you confirm is you're phoneline is plugged into the main master socket, an extension or into the router?

How many pieces of equipment are connected to the phone line?

There are a few troubleshooting checks I will need you to perform to see if they are successful in resolving the issue. Can you: 

• Check the phone is seated in the base unit correctly & powered ON.
• Remove all other equipment connected to telephone sockets.
• Unplug the phone and check another phone directly into the main socket ensuring this is a VM socket and not one with a BT or Sky logo. If no alternative handset is available then ensure the original phone is plugged into the main socket with no other pieces of equipment being plugged in.

Let me know if any of these checks work at all, or if anything changes with the dial tone. 

[Roger_Gooner]

My landline has twice gone down in recent days, but my broadband is rock solid. I believe that over the years my broadband has been more reliable than my landline which has failed on a number of occasions. I suspect that there will be an improvement when my landline is switched to my hub.

[tomfer]

Hi Carly , thankfully the fault which was obviously at your end has been corrected and the phone is finally working and apparently now with a clear signal again , thanking you , however I would qualify that by saying that faults are an all too often problem at the extortionate prices charged by VM , but as I say thank you , it was obviously some action by yourself that git someone to fix it , btw , it was none of the excuses you mentioned , lol , they are high end functional phones which have always worked perfectly well until now , when VM are messing about with the lines ! Fortunately no one died thus end for want of a phone THIS TIME , but I worry that will not be the case in the future with digital lines that require a continuously working internet , which unfortunately is just not usually the case with VM ! I wonder how many people may lose their lives due to this decision , being unable to call out during a blackout in an emergency ? 

[Steven_L · Accepted solution]

Thanks for coming back to us tomfer and I'm glad to hear that your issues have now been resolved. I will be sure to pass on your feedback to the team about the landline switchover, if you are classed as a vulnerable customer, we can arrange for a battery backup to be installed to prevent any loss of service, should there be a broadband fault or loss of power.

Kind Regards,

Steven_L

[tomfer]

?????? ……that is helpful how ???? There is a reason there are emergency call centres and unfortunately also a reason they are so busy and have been hugely responsible for saving a huge number of lives , so maybe telephones are not the “trivial matter” you would portray them to be , BUT , emergency call centres/services cannot help those in need , if those in need are unable to get through to them ……still think they are trivial ???

[Steven_L]

Thanks for coming back to us tomfer, at no point have I said that land lines are trivial, so please don't make it out that I have said that on this matter, when I haven't. 

The changes to landlines are a government objective and all operators to move to the digital landline by 2025, you can find more information about this here on the Ofcom site and also on the future of voice here. 

Kind Regards,

Steven_L