on 14-08-2021 18:38
Hi
I've received my adapter and details of the change over to Fibrephone on 20thAugust.
It seems straight forward enough except that my incoming phone socket is on the ground floor and my computer hub is upstairs. I can't take the hub downstairs as it has a VM cable attached which I would rather not move.
Am I expected to run another phone line through the house to make the connection ?
on 15-08-2021 08:42
Hi @JimH44,
Welcome to our Community Forums and thank you for your post.
As it stands, you'd need to run a cable but we can arrange for an extra socket or relocate the hub but there is a non fault call out fee which has now been reduced to £25.
Let me know what you'd prefer to do.
on 15-08-2021 11:20
Does it need to be any special type of cable or just a standard telephone extension lead?
I would rather do it myself as I will be careful to hide the cable but I think VM have got a cheek charging anything for this.
on 15-08-2021 11:43
Hi @JimH44,
You can run an extension but shouldn't wire any sockets yourself as this needs to be done by an engineer to ensure there's no interference with the network.
There is usually a charge as this would be classed as a non fault call out but I'd be happy to get this waived given your particular circumstances.
Let me know if you wish to proceed and I can invite you to PM.
on 15-08-2021 11:55
You could run an extension cable yourself if you feel competent to do so. There are plenty of tips available on the internet for wiring up sockets. It is only making alterations to the coax cabling that must be carried out by Virgin, & as you are not moving the hub this is not necessary.
However paying out the £25 will give you 12 months of free repairs should there be issues, & this would certainly be cheaper than getting in an electrician/aerial installer to do the job.
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on 15-08-2021 12:15
Hi
Screwfix do a 10 metre phone extension cable with male/female connectors (£3.80). This should be long enough and as far as I can see it would only need plugging in, there wouldn't be any need to make a connection. I can run the cable myself but as I'm not sure what is implied by changing to a Fibre network, I wonder if that cable is of sufficient quality to carry the new signal ?
15-08-2021 12:48 - edited 15-08-2021 12:57
@JimH44 wrote:Hi
Screwfix do a 10 metre phone extension cable with male/female connectors (£3.80). This should be long enough and as far as I can see it would only need plugging in, there wouldn't be any need to make a connection. I can run the cable myself but as I'm not sure what is implied by changing to a Fibre network, I wonder if that cable is of sufficient quality to carry the new signal ?
If you are being moved to a 21CV connection, then IMHO, the best and most-simple way of using that connection is with some cordless phones. Plug the base station into the hub and use cordless extensions where required. Very simple cheapo models are available starting from £30 for a pair. Better phone features/quality cost a bit more.
That cost is also in line with the (recently-revised) VM pricing of £25 for a technician visit. However, that has now been offered FOC in #4 by @Ayisha_B.
If you are minded to do your own wiring, you could look at Screwfix part 4911X which is a wall box with 10m cable. If you use that though, you should probably also get the correct termination tool 67391 but adding the cost of those together you are about half way towards the cost of the cheap cordless phones. Also worth noting that all of these DIY telco products can be of highly variable build quality (read some of the Screwfix product reviews for info on how people got on using the extension kit). You may also have to consider other factors with the wiring such as whether your phone might need a ringing capacitor somewhere in the wiring (may be needed for old models of phone).
You've got a few options. Just depends on your individual requirements, how much effort you want to put in yourself and what you think the best long-term solution will be.
on 15-08-2021 14:11
Hi
My phones are cordless. All I need to do is unplug the Phone Base Unit and plug the lead into the Wi Fi Modem. Trouble is, they're in different parts of the house. A problem I would have thought, that exists in thousands of houses. Therefore I can only think I need to connect them with an extension lead.
I can do that myself. No wiring involved they just plug in. It's a nuisance, but not a problem.
I do have a little niggle however that the standard phone extension cable I mentioned before may not be the best for the job and so I would like that to be clarified before I start and also, before I start taking up floorboards etc. that I'm not missing something.
on 15-08-2021 15:00
@JimH44 wrote:Hi
My phones are cordless. All I need to do is unplug the Phone Base Unit and plug the lead into the Wi Fi Modem. Trouble is, they're in different parts of the house. A problem I would have thought, that exists in thousands of houses. Therefore I can only think I need to connect them with an extension lead.<snip>
Not sure I have understood fully but I am assuming that if you move the cordless phone base station upstairs to plug into the VM hub, you are worried about losing a cordless phone location downstairs or is there some other issue?
If that was the case (and depending on the make/model and age of your existing cordless phone) you could see if it would be possible to add another cordless satellite handset to the existing cordless setup to place at the original location of the base station if it had to move upstairs.
on 15-08-2021 15:40
Hi @JimH44 thanks for getting back to us.
Please forgive my confusion here, but is it not convenient to plug the base/parent handset to the hub? Or does the signal go that well, around the rest of your property?
Regards
Lee_R