New fibrephone

[Plj]

Am I able to cancel my landline given the removal of the current service in favour of an inferior hub line

my hub is at the back of the house and the phone at the opposite end.  Running a cable through three walls to keep the phone where it is is not an option.  If virgin will not provide a like for like setup (wireless phone handset ?) or run the necessary cable outside from the phone point to the hub then can I cancel my phone and get a reduction to offset the cost of me having to now take a separate landline ?

also the only reason I have kept my landline with virgin all these years was to provide an emergency contact line in event of power failure - virgin are not providing a free mobile phone for this so relying on others to have that in place is not a reasonable alternative.  I could have purchased an IP phone many years ago if that was what I wanted.

what are my contractual rights here ?

[Paul_DN]

Hi Plj,

Thank you for reaching out to us in our community and welcome back, we are sorry you are unhappy with our Landline Switchover and feel like you should be allowed to cancel the line.

We are more than happy to arrange a Technician who would be able to get an extension added so the socket is accessible and can be connected however you have advised you don't want this.

Although the phone is now provided Via the Hub it is still a Phone service and isn't VOIP, if you do wish to remove the phone this is something we can look at however the price may change as any bundle discounts would be lost.

If you would like us to have a look at your options I will be more than happy to do so, I will send you an invite into a private chat, please click on the white envelope to accept.

Regards

Paul.

[goslow]

I think VM's T&Cs mention you can cancel (rather than amend) your package (without EDF) when VM makes changes 'which are not exclusively to your benefit'.

I believe your notification of the phone change should give you a time-limited window, and an end date for you to exercise that right, and explain your options.

VM will modify your phone wiring free of charge as part of the switchover process to keep existing socket working and equipment in the same position. The amount of work involved in that (and intrusion) will depend on your existing cable layouts.

VM's 'bundling' price structure means that you will generally get a cheaper package price by including the landline when you renew (even if you don't use it). If you remove the landline for broadband only you may find your price goes up and you start a new 18 month contract.

If you make no use of the landline you could complete the switchover and simply not use the line. Alternatively you could close your VM account by giving notice and switch to another provider for broadband only.

You will find that all providers are making this change to phone-via-hub

https://www.futureofvoice.co.uk/

so switching to another provider won't give you a conventional landline (all are set to be decommissioned by 2025)

The change is coming to everyone, like it or not, so it's a case of working out a least-worst solution to deal with the situation.