Virgin Media Community

[chrisjg]

Hi, 

I'm not keen on switching over, and only use the landline for incoming calls. 

The faq's say that incoming calls will still get through even if I don't switch.

How long will incoming calls continue to work? 

== in case people want to know more ==

Why don't I want to switch? 

1. Phone and hub are not physically close together, and neither are to be moved. 

2. Don't want holes drilled in walls/ceilings and more cables visibly routed through the house.

3. Health issues mean landline is needed for incoming calls from health professionals. Landline is rarely used for outgoing calls. Health pertains to someone in the house, but the person supporting them changes, so the mobile number of one carer is not the most practical solution.

== other solutions we are considering ==

1. Cancel the landline and buy a cheap mobile phone as a replacement. Keep it plugged into the charger and keep it where the landline sits now. But this requires another contract, and payment setup, etc. Which is 10x more complicated when setting things up on someone else's behalf - even with all the relevant permissions and paperwork in place. 

2. Cancel all virgin media (phone, broadband, TV) and move to a different supplier. If we've got to move things, drill holes, etc, why not go somewhere cheaper.

[Tom_W1]

Hi @chrisjg thanks for your post although I'm sorry to hear of your concerns raised regarding the landline switchover. 

To be clear here, once the switchover has occurred (you'll receive communications about this soon if you haven't already) you will lose access to the landline including incoming calls unfortunately, if you don't connect your device to your Hub. 

You have mentioned you don't want the Hub/Phone to be moved, it would either need to be this or for us place additional wiring around your house from your landline, directly to your Hub but we will of course do this discretely. 

All UK providers are moving to the 21CV network by the end of 2025, so this is not just Virgin Media that are doing this so changing to another provider is only going to slow the process down a little - this will become standard across all providers and is due to advances in technology.

If you do require any further support or advice with this, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Many thanks

[Roger_Gooner · Accepted solution]

Or use DECT.

[chrisjg]

That's a pity,

I guess we'll just cancel the phone service (and look to other providers for TV and broadband, who look cheaper for the same packages - I've just checked).

Even though the dect phone (suggested in a different answer) is a viable option, buying one costs me money to keep what I already have. I'm not happy about that.

No matter how carefully the cable and wire are routed it would still add holes to the house walls. It would also need someone (your technician?) to move some large pieces of furniture (eg, a large wooden cabinet, corner work desk, sofa) in order to discretely route the new wires. The desk also has a desktop computer, printer, filing cabinet, etc. This seems like a lot of work for a technician or engineer to do (and of course put it all back again afterwards). All to keep what I already have, and you'll probably tell me that moving furniture is not part of the job. Which means getting someone in to do it (either friends or paying someone), as I'm not able to do it myself.

I should probably have looked at switching suplliers a long time ago, judging from the deals on offer, but I've been a bit lazy. This has given me the impetus and motivation to actually do it. 

[Megan_L]

Hi Chrisjg,

Thanks for coming back to us about this, I am sorry that you feel the only other option at the moment is to leave us. 

As Tom already mentioned, the whole of the UK and other providers will be moving into the digital age in regards to Landline, which means copper lines will be made redundant in future. 

If you still feel leaving is the best option, please call our retentions team on 0345 454 1111 option 1, 4 then 4, they will be happy to deal with your request after exploring what other cheaper deals they have to offer as a last effort to keep you. 

Kind regards,

Megan_L

[Roger_Gooner]

If you switch away from VM to, say, BT, you'll get a smart hub which is connected to your phone socket. But that hub isn't where you want it, no problem as you just use a longer DSL cable to relocate the hub - except that this requires a whole heap of work. Now it's not so simple, is it?