Virgin Media Community

[gopete]

A few weeks ago my landline failed. I was advised by Virgin that, after checking, the fault was with the handset. I then purchased a new handset, only to find the problem was with Virgin/BT, after all. They duly returned the amount I had paid for the new handset without a problem. Then, an engineer  visited, connected my handset and base unit to the Hub and VOIP. 

As my hub sits in a bedroom, I had to reverse the work he had done, so as the main unit with answer machine was back in the living room where it belongs. 

As Virgin no longer leases BT's copper wires on my behalf, and any calls made will be covered by my broadband of 100mps, and, I own the handset, I cannot figure out why I still have to pay £19 per month for what is no longer a landline. As a widowed pensioner, I have been advised that my electricity is going to increase by £433 a year, with further similar rises in October, so it is a matter of saving money where possible. Can someone out there tell me exactly what I am paying for which is worth £19 a month to Virgin?

[jb66]

Does it matter how your bill is broken down?

Would you feel better if line rental was £0 and your BB bill went up by £19?

All that matters is the final cost, compare it with competitors and make your own choice if your getting a good deal

[jem101]

@gopete what you are paying for is the underlaying infrastructure and connectivity which allow you to make phone calls and this is independent of whether the physical connection is via copper pairs or coax, piggy backing on your internet connection

VM have never leased BT's connectivity, if has always been their own and the fact that now (in common with all other providers) is being done across an internet connection isn't really relevant.

[gopete]

Interesting then, that I came across an article in a recent copy of a computer magazine which highlighted a fellow subscriber negotiating with Virgin for a better deal. First, he got rid of the "landline" from the package, opened an account with Yay.com who provide a Voip service starting at £4.49 per month, plus 1p. per minute to any UK landline, with 100 minutes per month FREE. He purchased a Cisco Voip adapter for less than £20 on ebay. He dropped the TV package, as he already had Freeview on his Smart TV, with the ability to record/playback programs to a flash drive or external HDD, and negotiated an excellent Broadband Only deal, and still kept the phone number that Virgin had supplied him with years ago. So, it can be done.  Furthermore, now that BT have decided to go for Voip only, in the near future, this alternative might be just the thing to keep costs down, as BT are hardly likely to reduce their prices to a similar level, and, I'm sure, we can expect an upsurge in companies offering Voip only, in competition with BT and Virgin. All the major suppliers are going to have to review their pricing policy if they ever hope to compete.

[goslow]

In its present format though the landline connection from the hub isn't a true VOIP connection and (as described in past topics on here) it still connects to the same exchange equipment as before, so nothing more than the method of delivery of the service has changed.

Once the existing landline system has been switched to phone connections from the VM hub (between now and 2025) presumably VM will start offering true VOIP services to residential customers.

If you are making a broader point though about why VM is still locked into the idea of bundling services and packages including TV packages, then I'd agree that model certainly seems to be reaching end of life when a customer can now pick-and-mix their own set of products from different sources at (probably) less cost than buying a bundle of stuff from VM (some of which they may not even use).

[BenMcr]

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@goslow wrote:

In its present format though the landline connection from the hub isn't a true VOIP connection and (as described in past topics on here) it still connects to the same exchange equipment as before, so nothing more than the method of delivery of the service has changed.

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It's not just the 'last mile' connection that has changed. There are deeper changes in Virgin Media's home phone service as part of the change to the Hub based lines.

Which is why all customers moving from the separate home phone line to the Hub based line also move call feature regions to the 'Purple Zone'.

[goslow]

From the public info that is available, and a customer's POV, that seems to be dragging the least-featured VM landline services (red zone?) up to purple zone standard and making 3-way calling, call waiting, ACR and quick dial available as standard. Still connecting with a standard phone handset and still using historical landline features, albeit standardising the service features across the VM system. Not too much to get excited about really at this interim stage though.