Virgin Media Community

[Towny]

• If virgin are switching over to broadband phone line why do I need to pay for phone line

[MOD EDIT: Subject title changed for clarity]

[goslow]

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@Towny wrote:

• If virgin are switching over to broadband phone line why do I need to pay for phone line

[MOD EDIT: Subject title changed for clarity]

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Yes the price of the phone service remains the same. The VM landline phone service (which is what you pay for within your package price) remains the same, just the customers' connection method has changed.

[Robert_P]

Hello Towny,

Thanks for posting in regards to your landline service, changes to the way it works and charges applied. We can understand the confusion and appreciate you raising this via the forums. Welcome to the community.

Although we have made changes to the way the landline is implemented inside of the customers property, the infrastructure and services required previously are still required, this is why we still charge a line rental.

Rob

[Towny]

But we are now using the broadband line which we already pay for so why do we have to pay twice

[Gareth_L]

Hello Towny,

The line may be going through the broadband hub you are correct.

If you still want to use the landline service you would still pay the line rental charge, the difference being it's supplied through the hub.

If you want to remove the telephone service from your package completely you would need to call us on 150/ 0345 454 1111 to cancel this.

Gareth_L

[goslow]

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@Towny wrote:

But we are now using the broadband line which we already pay for so why do we have to pay twice

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'Line rental' refers to the telephone service you receive and having a VM phone number allocated to you, not the piece of telephone cable that connects your home to the cabinet in the street.

Your telephone service and phone number with VM remains unchanged, and it has been described on here before is currently still connected to the same exchange equipment so no change as yet in that regard. It is the telephone service you are paying for.

[Client62]

Telcos like VM and BT are super desperate to ensure customers maintain the telephone service.

It is allowing them to continue the same monthly fees ignoring the fact that the rental costs of analogue telephone lines and analogue exchange services no longer exist.

By comparison the new VOIP services cost pennies a month to operate, continuing at the old analogue charge rate is quite a money spinner for telcos.

We unbundled our 2 phone lines from BT to a VOIP provider in 2017 as we started with VM internet, the VOIP operating costs are now tiny for phones with limited use and we are not tied into any product bundles.

[goslow]

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@Client62 wrote:

Telcos like VM and BT are super desperate to ensure customers maintain the telephone service.

It is allowing them to continue the same monthly fees ignoring the fact that the rental costs of analogue telephone lines and analogue exchange services no longer exist.

<snip>

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AIUI though, VM's 21CV service is still connected to the same old exchange equipment at the moment. If/when VM ever does provide a full VOIP service to customers, with full VOIP features, then it would be reasonable to expect prices to change accordingly.

In this 21CV half-way situation, which is neither full VOIP and nor POTS, I expect many customers will simply go mobile-only as the usefulness of having the landline as an independent means of backup communication has now been lost.

[Client62]

The big push to reconnect phones to the Hubs is in response to Openreach plan to close down all the PSTN exchanges by end of 2025.

[goslow]

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@Client62 wrote:

The big push to reconnect phones to the Hubs is in response to Openreach plan to close down all the PSTN exchanges by end of 2025.

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Indeed so and, in that interim period to 2025, I suspect that many people will just abandon the landline altogether and not return to it.