Impact of porting VM 'landline' to VOIP?

[AndyEss]

Hi ... I have a full-fat VM package [fibre broadband, TV, mobile, landline].

I'm happy to continue with VM, but for business reasons, I would like to port my landline to a VOIP service. If I do port my landline away from VM, will the other parts of my VM package be affected in any way ?

Many thanks 🙂

[Adri_G]

Hello AndyEss, thank you for posting on our help forum with your query.

We're sorry to see you need to move your landline elsewhere due to VOIP, we appreciate the reasons for this if our line via fibre feature does not work well for you - we can provide VOIP services on business accounts, btw. 
For more info on this please visit this page here or call our VM Business team at 0800 052 0800. 

In regard to your question about how removing your landline will affect your package, we can advise that this change will definitely have an impact at the price as well as the kind of bundle you're on, as based on the info you passed us you should be a Volt customer.
Volt deals include all cable plus O2 mobile, as this is a requirement in order to get our Volt discounts and benefits - thus, removing one of those services will cause your deal to switch from Volt to another bundle, depending on how you wish to move on next with this.

For more advice on this, you may contact our Customer Care team at 0345 454 1111, options 2-4-2 or go on our live chat on this page to discuss your options when removing a service - to our understanding this should conclude to a new deal and we can process the landline cancellation with a 30-day notice, as per our T&Cs.

Let us know if the above info helps, we're happy to advise on any other queries you may have so feel free to ask more.

[AndyEss]

Hi Adri - my package is Ultimate Oomph bundle - 'fraid I've no idea what Volt is, and I don't have O2 mobile.

Please can you explain why porting my landline would have an impact on the package cost - surely I would just have part of my package that isn't used, just as if I got rid of my telephone handsets ? Otherwise, what happens with new customers who do not have a landline - do VM refuse to sell them the bundle or install a 'virtual' landline ?

Anyway, my question wasn't about the pricing - it was whether broadband and TV would still work if I did not have a landline - are you able to advise.

Many thanks ... Andy

[Adri_G]

Thanks for the reply, AndyEss and for explaining more on your package.

Ok so you are on an Oomph deal with a VM mobile and SIM - those have now been replaced by Volt now for our new deals, view here for more info.

Equally to the above said, removing the landline from your Oomph bundle will cause a price difference and any discounts related to this service will be removed.
As all customer accounts are being looked into individually, we'd be able to explain more based on what is included in your current package as we need to check this upon request over a call or chat privately.
As an example, we can say we have an extra discount for being with us for all 3 cable services, in case you keep TV and BB but remove the landline, we will have to remove this extra discount as well from your current package, once the landline service has been removed - the other 2 services will keep working as normal.

For sure, we can always offer you the option to remove the landline and keep having your mobile, TV and broadband with us, however this should be reviewed as a new package with a different price. Unfortunately, we do not support package changes or service cancellations from this forum.
You'd need to speak with our retentions team to enquire this (how to remove landline and how much your price will be after) as they are the only team than can process a service cancellation and give you a quote on the price for the other services, moving forward.

Please, call us at 0345 454 1111, options 2-4-2 so you can discuss the prices of your service without the landline and see if you wish to proceed to this once you've confirmed the new price and decided it's a suitable option.

New customers can get any service they wish to apply for, and we can issue a new landline for them if needed, however this will not be a Volt bundle as they don't have all 3 cable services added and therefore the price will differ too.

Please, let us know if you have more questions, happy to explain further.

[AndyEss]

Thanks Adri ... you've answered my basic question - BB does not need a landline to operate. I've also checked your T&C's and it seems that there's no requirement to have a landline for any bundle that includes phone, so I can just port my landline number and still have the bundle - simples. [but please feel free to share contract  details with me if you think I'm wrong] 

BTW Tried using the online chat as suggested - nobody available to chat today - run out - no bandwidth I guess ? Will start the number porting process, but will not request any change to my bundle - don't think VM can unilaterally change my bundle in the event that I don't use part of it, do you ? Or if they can, how does that work with TV - how long do I need to not use TV before they change my bundle ? 

Cheers ... Andy

[mpmc · Accepted solution]

This is the main reason why I didn't port our main number to VM. You get locked in and any discounts you have disappear if you port your number away. I do not see why VM cannot allow you just to port the number and then issue a new one to the VM line. There would then be no changes to your services other than the number changing. We have a VM line with a separate number, but is not used, the line only exists just because it makes our package cheaper!

[AndyEss]

Many thanks mpmc. I'm out of contract with VM and it is already eye-wateringly expensive for what we use - there are no obvious discounts being applied, and I was happy to pay for a service I wasn't using. So now it sounds like I've absolutely no option but to ditch VM - but at least they've confirmed I can port the landline and broadband will still work until BT or whoever take over. Odd way to run a business, huh 🙂

[Adri_G]

Thank you for your response, AndeEss.

Please, allow us to repeat we cannot process or support and package changes, disconnections or related queries on the forum as we have a dedicated team for these.
We can confirm a customer can have as many cable services as they wish for, however disconnecting a service you already have takes 30 days to action and will cause a price change after the service has been deactivated.
To find out how much your monthly price will be based on your current deal and status, please discuss with our retentions team via the main line and options we posted above.
They will let you know how much your package will be after the landline has disconnected and action the service removal for you as well. 

If you're not in a contract currently that's great as you can remove the service without termination fees fand sign up for a new 18-month deal for your BB, TV and mobile, we'll surely find more discounts to add for you on that.

Please, let us know if you have more concerns and how you get on with this.

[mpmc]

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@AndyEss wrote:

Many thanks mpmc. I'm out of contract with VM and it is already eye-wateringly expensive for what we use - there are no obvious discounts being applied, and I was happy to pay for a service I wasn't using. So now it sounds like I've absolutely no option but to ditch VM - but at least they've confirmed I can port the landline and broadband will still work until BT or whoever take over. Odd way to run a business, huh 🙂

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I suppose you could put your 30 day notice to cancel in, port the number and then renegotiate if you still want VM BB/TV once the port has completed. If you can get a discount when you bundle with a phone line, you can do that and they'll issue a new number, which you won't have to use.

[AndyEss]

Adri ... at no point have I asked for a change to be actioned ... I have simply asked a technical question - if I port my landline number, will my broadband still work. You've confirmed that it will, and on that basis I've initiated the porting of the landline number in question.

To determine the financial impact of this, I have been trying to access your retention team as you suggest [even though I had not planned to leave VM]. So now I'm waiting to have some WhatsApp feedback from the retention team, and it seems they are much too busy to respond in a reasonable timeframe. So the team that deals with customers who want to leave is massively overworked - lovely message that sends to customers who weren't particularly looking to leave, huh 😉

Cheers ... Andy