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Landline Changeover

HertsDuchess
Joining in

A couple of days ago, an engineer came to investigate a fault at mums house and converted us to the new landline system there and then (which admittedly i didn't know about).  We previously had 3 phone sockets that worked in the house (living room, kitchen and bedroom).  Now we are down to one. I obviously now need to buy 2 new phones that i think need to be wireless so they can connect to the box that was installed?  I don't have Virgin broadband, i'm with another provider. This seems such a headache. Mum is elderly and all her phones are the large buttoned types.  I would appreciate some advice on what phones i can get to connect so she has 3 working again which ensures she's got access to a phone.  Can i keep her main old fashioned cable phone in the living room and get 2 new wireless phones?  is that how it works?  apologies, i'm extremely clueless when it comes to these things.  The engineer was very nice but I didn't really feel it was explained to me properly. 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

If you have a phone socket nearby, have a look at this topic and answer from last week which explains what VM could/should have done for you to reconnect the old extension sockets into the new phone service from the hub.

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/Swith-to-fibre-phone/m-p/4864347#M158694

VM do these ad-hoc phone conversions for two reasons. Firstly, it is another customer moved onto a phone connection from the hub (which is part of a planned programme for this work) and secondly it avoids them having to repair an existing phone connection. This is a double-win for VM.

IMO though, it should not leave the customer in a worse position than they were to begin with nor should the customer have to start buying new cordless phone equipment to accommodate the switchover to the hub.

I think it is a particularly poor show when the customer is elderly and is likely to rely on the landline heavily and also need to use specific equipment such as the big button phones.

One of the VM forum team should pick this up in a day or two. Hopefully they can arrange for a revisit to link up the old extension sockets to the phone connection on the hub. If the hub and an old phone socket are near to each other, that should hopefully be a straightforward task.

Hope the forum team can fix this for you.

See where this Helpful Answer was posted

6 REPLIES 6

goslow
Alessandro Volta

VM regularly seem to drop the ball on customer service with these ad-hoc phone conversions where an elderly customer is involved.

It is possible to link former extension sockets into the connection from the hub.

Is there a (no-longer-working) phone socket anywhere near to where the hub is located?

Hi Goslow, yes there is in hallway, we originally had an extension running from there (approx 3 metres)

If you have a phone socket nearby, have a look at this topic and answer from last week which explains what VM could/should have done for you to reconnect the old extension sockets into the new phone service from the hub.

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/Swith-to-fibre-phone/m-p/4864347#M158694

VM do these ad-hoc phone conversions for two reasons. Firstly, it is another customer moved onto a phone connection from the hub (which is part of a planned programme for this work) and secondly it avoids them having to repair an existing phone connection. This is a double-win for VM.

IMO though, it should not leave the customer in a worse position than they were to begin with nor should the customer have to start buying new cordless phone equipment to accommodate the switchover to the hub.

I think it is a particularly poor show when the customer is elderly and is likely to rely on the landline heavily and also need to use specific equipment such as the big button phones.

One of the VM forum team should pick this up in a day or two. Hopefully they can arrange for a revisit to link up the old extension sockets to the phone connection on the hub. If the hub and an old phone socket are near to each other, that should hopefully be a straightforward task.

Hope the forum team can fix this for you.

oh my gosh thank you so much, i've been worrying all weekend about what to do, we currently have no phone upstairs for mum (she's 89)! so i've been at my wits end and would have gone out and purchased the wrong phones in a rush (more than likely).  Plus, not a great selection out there for those big button wireless phones.  Thank you so much for alerting me to the fact that they can/or should have given me the option to at least have the same facilities as previously.  This makes me worry about all those elderly folk out there who don't have anyone to fight their corner for them.  I'm so pleased i joined this group and got the much needed advice.  if i don't hear from them, i will most certainly contact them.  i thank you for your advice.

The VM forum team will pick this up in a day or two next week. Given your mother's age and need for specific phone equipment they should be able to arrange a re-visit to remedy the phone extension situation, especially if there is a phone socket near to the hub to link to. It should be an easy task for a VM tech. You are more likely to get a sensible response on here from the VM forum team than phoning in.

Zak_M
Forum Team (Retired)
Forum Team (Retired)

Good morning @HertsDuchess

 

Really sorry to hear that you have had some issues with your services. 

 

I can take a further look into this for you, I will pop you over a PM so that I can get some account information. 

 

Kind regards,

Zak_M