Noise on phone line.

[pentlands]

Not for the first time i'm suffereing from issues with a noisy phone line, to the point that i can't hear anything the other person who either dialled me or who i dialled whenever it's raining (or recently stopped raining).

This is a long running issue (of well over ten years, on and off) that engineers have resolved by moving my connections in the undeground manhole due to corrosion but i've hit a brick wall this time.

I finally got around to reporting this latest issue again last night but i was met with a barrage of excuses explaining why CS could not escalate the problem, the two on the top of the list for me were:

1. It'll cost at least £90 if no fault is found.

2. Your phone line appears to be working now... i know that, it's not raining.... please call back when the issue re-surfaces.... i can't do that because we won't be able to hear each other... there is nothing i can do because i've run a line check and it's not flagging any issues... i know, it stopped raining this morning...

I also mentioned that i looked out the window of my apartment early yesterday (not a side of the apartment building i ever walk past or look at) and noticed that my VM cable had been pulled free from all the securing points and it appeared to be spliced with other VM cables from other apartments... this on it's own was a red flag because VM cables spliced several feet above ground level is not the norm for VM... at least not where i live?

I really don't get what VM are playing at, yes i've had issues with VM in the past but this is on a whole new level... in the past my issues were dealt with relatively quickly but this is rediculous.

I could understand this if i was a new customer but i'm not, not sure how long i've been a customer but must be at least 15 years if not going on 20.

[Yakidd91]

Definitely sounds like a water ingress issue. Have you asked neighbours if they have similar issues too? Would go a long way to find out how bad the issue is.

If you don't have any luck getting through support, try sales. I once had major issues with my hub, and working in IT I very quickly deduced the router was faulty.

Support wasn't having any of it and refused to send a new router. In the end I ended up calling sales, annoyed, asking if they can help otherwise I'd be looking to cancel the contract. They got a new router sent out next day.

Sad that we have to sometimes play tricks such as this, especially being loyal customer, but when you can't find another way..

Let me know how you get on.

[goslow]

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@pentlands wrote:

Not for the first time i'm suffereing from issues with a noisy phone line, to the point that i can't hear anything the other person who either dialled me or who i dialled whenever it's raining (or recently stopped raining).

This is a long running issue (of well over ten years, on and off) that engineers have resolved by moving my connections in the undeground manhole due to corrosion but i've hit a brick wall this time.

<snip>

I really don't get what VM are playing at, yes i've had issues with VM in the past but this is on a whole new level... in the past my issues were dealt with relatively quickly but this is rediculous.

I could understand this if i was a new customer but i'm not, not sure how long i've been a customer but must be at least 15 years if not going on 20.

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Have had a similar experience myself in the distant past with damaged connections/cable in a local cabinet causing long-running phone problems. Only resolved when VM renewed the cable/cabinet kit.

VM are probably not that likely to take any long-term interest in renewing or repairing their existing phone infrastructure now IMO. There is a general move to migrate customers onto a ‘21st century voice’ (21CV) phone connection which provides the VM landline service via a telephone connection on the back of VM hub. Based on posts on here, VM do seem to offer this switchover as an alternative to fixing long-running landline problems.

Everyone is scheduled to move to this method of service by 2025 and VM have a rolling programme to migrate customers. Sometimes it is possible to request you are moved over but it seems to be 'subject to availability' in your particular area.

You could possibly see if you could move your phone connection to 21CV via the VM hub BUT, before doing so, do look in detail at how the 21CV works and what its limitations are (read in full all sections below)

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/home-phone/virginphone#whatishappening

The 21CV phone connection is probably less resilient that a conventional phone connection IMO. If your VM hub isn't online/working for any reason, then your 21CV phone connection probably won't be working either. There are also potential issues connecting up phone extension sockets or third-party equipment such as burglar alarms etc. via 21CV so the read the link above in full and see if it might work/be better for you than your current setup.

There are some big limitations to the 21CV service IMO but, if your existing phone line doesn't work reliably every time it rains, then it might be something you might want to consider switching to if it is possible for you.

[Molly_G]

Hi @pentlands,

Many thanks for your post! Sorry to hear of the issues you are having with your landline and that you haven't received much support from our customer services.

Usually the £99 non-fault call out fee would apply as there is no obvious or immediate 'fault', but I appreciate the predicament in that they've asked you call in when the problem re-occurs which would render the call useless and therefore you'd be unable to request further assistance.

I'd like to look into this further for you and see what we can do, so I'll just send you a pm to get some details from you.

Please look out for the purple envelope at the top right side of the page.

Thanks,

[pentlands]

@Goslow

Thanks for the reply but i'm not willing to pay for a telephony service that doesn't work when it rains, and i'm certainly not paying for a sub-standrard service until potentially 2025.

[pentlands]

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@Molly_G wrote:

Hi @pentlands,

Many thanks for your post! Sorry to hear of the issues you are having with your landline and that you haven't received much support from our customer services.

Usually the £99 non-fault call out fee would apply as there is no obvious or immediate 'fault', but I appreciate the predicament in that they've asked you call in when the problem re-occurs which would render the call useless and therefore you'd be unable to request further assistance.

I'd like to look into this further for you and see what we can do, so I'll just send you a pm to get some details from you.

Please look out for the purple envelope at the top right side of the page.

Thanks,

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PM reply sent, thanks.

[goslow]

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@pentlands wrote:

@Goslow

Thanks for the reply but i'm not willing to pay for a telephony service that doesn't work when it rains, and i'm certainly not paying for a sub-standrard service until potentially 2025.

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I don't think you have understood my post at #3 at all. I was outlining an alternative way that VM provides the phone service now, called 21CV. This uses the coax cabling to the VM hub to deliver the phone service rather than the conventional phone cables which you say are faulty. If your broadband service is unaffected by wet weather, this may be another way to deal with the problem. VM may offer this to you as an alternative to fixing the existing phone line but it does have some other limitations which I outlined in the post.

[Molly_G]

Hi @pentlands,

Thanks for getting back to me. As advised a tech has been booked for you which can be viewed via you online My VM Account - you can change the date/time there too if needed.

I've requested that the tech checks for water ingress due to the nature of the issue. Please keep us posted on what the engineer advises as a resolution 🙂

Kind regards,

[pentlands]

@goslow, 
I understood your post, the only issue i had with it was the following:

Everyone is scheduled to move to this method of service by 2025 and VM have a rolling programme to migrate customers. Sometimes it is possible to request you are moved over but it seems to be 'subject to availability' in your particular area.

That implied that i could potentially wait until 2025 for a resolution to my problem.

With hindsight, that would be ridiculous and probably not what you meant... isn't text based medium fun 😉
Apologies if i caused any confusion.

A tech is now booked to come and check for water ingress next week, i'm very confident i know the tech will find some, what the tech makes of the state of the exterior cabling from my apartment leading to the underground cabinet will be interesting.

[pentlands · Accepted solution]

I've been moved over to VoIP (21CV), thank you all for your help.

Not sure the tech checked the cabinet because when i showed him where it was he seemed surprised to learn it's location... as long as this issue is resolved, which only time will tell, i have no reason to think it isn't, i'm happy that this thread can be considered closed.