Notified being changed from copper to fibre via Hub. But is already Cable as per 1999 installation

[Peter_J_D]

In 1999 Telewest installed Fibre Cable in my area and we switched to this for TV/broadband and home phone. The installation contract specifically says CABLE for BOTH.  I therefore do not understand why VirginMedia notification says I have a cooper phone line and need to use an adapter to connect to the Hub.

The underground cable installation comes FORM to an external box (I believe we have two cables as a cable was relaid due to being cut at the roadside junction by workmen). From the external box there is one run to the TV and onwards to the Hub. For the Telephone it is routed to a separate main socket (similar to the old BT) where the phone is plugged in. The contract shows that we have one main cable socket with no extensions and NO BT extensions were required to be connected. I still have the old  BT installation for overhead copper.

[Daniel_Et]

Hi @Peter_J_D 👋 Thank you for your post 😀

Instead of the old, traditional copper network, we’re moving our phone service on to our ultrafast Fibre network. This means that new phone lines will be delivered over the same network we use for our broadband service.

The copper network is quickly becoming outdated, and we want to be ready for the future, making sure our customers always get the best possible experience. That’s why we’re investing billions to expand our network and bring our ultrafast connectivity to more people.

You’ll need an adapter to get your Fibre landline service up and running. All you need to do is plug your adapter into the Hub, then plug your phone into the adapter and you’re ready to go. Just make sure you plug in on the go-live dates, which you can find in the letter we sent you.

More information on how to get a Virgin Media Fibre phone can be found here. 

If you have any further queries, please don't hesitate to pop back to us.

Regards,
Daniel

[savik2]

I've been wondering about the same thing: it was my understanding that the Telewest phone line was fibre and did not use the old BT copper network at all. This was the reason we had to have a new fibre phone line run to the house as well as the fibre for TV and internet services. They installed a new master phone socket alongside the old BT master. I note the VM tech response is boilerplate text and does not answer your question.  Could it be a bot? 

[goslow]

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@savik2 wrote:

I've been wondering about the same thing: it was my understanding that the Telewest phone line was fibre and did not use the old BT copper network at all. This was the reason we had to have a new fibre phone line run to the house as well as the fibre for TV and internet services. They installed a new master phone socket alongside the old BT master. I note the VM tech response is boilerplate text and does not answer your question.  Could it be a bot? 

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The term 'fibre' connection is regularly misused to describe different kinds of home broadband/phone connections.

In the current/historical setup, VM (and its predecessor companies) provided broadband/TV on a coaxial cable and telephone services on a separate telephone cable. VM does use fibre optic connections direct to some customers' homes but these are in a minority.

VM's telephone service is provided on its own network of equipment (separate from Openreach) which would have been why you had a separate BT master socket and one for VM.

In the next generation phone service (which VM calls 21st century voice - 21CV) both the phone service and the TV/broadband service are going to be carried on the coax cable.

The 21CV phone service is accessed from a telephone socket on the back of the VM hub using a small adapter. This connection point replaces the telephone master socket.