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Fibre Optic Telephone Upgrade & Pulse Dial Telephones

FrustratedAtVM
Just joined

I am a Virgin Media customer and have been for almost 5 years, however am growing tired at the companies extremely poor customer service.

Having received several messages over the past 6 months about my landline being upgraded to Fibre Optic, I am still none the wiser as to whether my telephone, which is an old pulse dial type, will work. I don't think it will, and don't think the adaptor that I did not ask for but still received through the post will make any difference.

I DO NOT want my landline to change to Fibre Optic if it means my telephone will stop working. I don't want a modern phone as like the one I have and it works perfectly well.

Can anyone from Virgin Media help answer this question? I would try calling your customer service but too many frustrating calls to them in the past and wasting hours with people who can't help answer questions and only want to try and upsell services fills me with dread.

If this change of service renders my telephone inactive does this constitute a failure to deliver agreed service and therefore end my contract early?

12 REPLIES 12

DJ_Shadow1966
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Hello

I am afraid that the new system 21CV can only be used with Tone Dialing, the issue you are going to have is that all telephone providers over the next 4 years are doing away with the old analog system and all going to digital by 2025, the reason for this is that Openreach will be closing a lot of the old exchanges, this has already been agreed upon by Ofcom the regulator. Have a look at https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/future-of-landline-calls

Regards Mike

 

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BenMcr
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

And is now making the news

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-58233420

The technology that currently powers landline telephones is to be switched off in 2025 - but don't panic, you will still be able to have a handset in the hallway should you wish.

**********************************
I work for Virgin Media - but all opinions posted here are my own

goslow
Alessandro Volta

@FrustratedAtVM wrote:

I am a Virgin Media customer and have been for almost 5 years, however am growing tired at the companies extremely poor customer service.

Having received several messages over the past 6 months about my landline being upgraded to Fibre Optic, I am still none the wiser as to whether my telephone, which is an old pulse dial type, will work. I don't think it will, and don't think the adaptor that I did not ask for but still received through the post will make any difference.

<snip>


What kind of phone is it that uses pulse dialling? Do you mean an original 'retro' phone with rotary dial, electro-mechanical bell etc. etc. or something else?

It is possible to convert these old retro phones to tone dialling either via DIY kits or companies which will do the conversion for you. Can't say how well or reliably these work but there have been plenty of posts on here from people who have had it done. The usual issue reported is the phone not ringing which can typically be resolved by means of an adapter which contains the required components to produce the ringing.

I have a fairly dim view of the way the switchover is being managed and the likely final outcomes for customers but the change is coming, like it or not.

Oh, that is really sad news but appreciate your replies - if I'd have called VM Customer Service to enquire about this I'd still be waiting to speak to someone who knew what I was talking about!

There's still a long list of things that I'm frustrated about with VM but it seems this particular issue is out of their hands.

Yes, it's a 1980 GPO telephone that has been converted and currently works with my VM landline. I'm not an expert on these things but it's got a male BT431A plug and operates perfectly at present.

I 'think' the issue is the BT431A to RJ11 being plugged into the router (as per the new VM recommendation) which my telephone won't be compatible with?


@FrustratedAtVM wrote:
Yes, it's a 1980 GPO telephone that has been converted and currently works with my VM landline. I'm not an expert on these things but it's got a male BT431A plug and operates perfectly at present.

I 'think' the issue is the BT431A to RJ11 being plugged into the router (as per the new VM recommendation) which my telephone won't be compatible with?

If you have already had the conversion to tone dialling done, then you are probably more than halfway there. Depends what you mean by 'converted' (pulse to tone dialling conversion or just fitting a modern BT plug)

Do you hear a tone being generated when you dial each number on the phone?

If you have already got the VM adapter (as per LHS pic below)

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/diagnostics/home-phone-not-working/phone-connected-hub

then you simply plug the phone in to that and the adapter into the VM hub to the TEL1 socket.

The issue you may encounter is that the phone might not ring for an incoming call. This might mean that you need an adapter with a 'ringing capacitor' in it.

If you do actually have a problem then you would probably be best off speaking to whoever did the phone tone conversion for you. From what you have said though, if the phone is already converted to tone dialling, it should probably work.

Serena_C
Forum Team (Retired)
Forum Team (Retired)

Hi @FrustratedAtVM

 

Welcome to our Community Help Forum 🙂

 

Thank you for making your first post regarding the telephone upgrade and whether it will work with your phone. I'm really sorry to hear that you are disappointed with the help you have received from us when you called.

 

The switch over to Fibre Optic 21CV is unfortunately not optional as all the telephone systems are set to go digital by 2025.

 

As @goslow kindly advised, if your phone has been converted to tone dialling already then you should not have any further issues when changing to the fibre optic telephone upgrade. Have you been able to test if you can hear a tone being generated when you dial each number on the phone yet?

 

Kind regards,

Serena

jljohnson
Tuning in

you still would be frustrated if my 150 calls are anything to go by.

I handle 2 accounts niether of which I pay the bill, and would gladly cancel them both tomorrow. 

The costs go up and the service goes down.

Sorry to hear of the issues with the services @jljohnson, can you please expand on the service issues you've been experiencing?

We'd be happy to help where possible

Kindest regards,

David_Bn