Phone socket

[angiepangie79]

I have one phone socket in my bedroom that no longer works. I would like to have the phone downstairs. Would an engineer be able to sort this out?

[angiepangie79]

I bought the phone in 2002 and just bought another one on eBay last week hoping it would work. I have borrowed a newer phone which does work with the hub but I don't want to buy a new phone! I like my Easicom. I also want a line downstairs. I've been paying for my phone services but not getting any service.

[goslow]

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@angiepangie79 wrote:

I bought the phone in 2002 and just bought another one on eBay last week hoping it would work. I have borrowed a newer phone which does work with the hub but I don't want to buy a new phone! I like my Easicom. I also want a line downstairs. I've been paying for my phone services but not getting any service.

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A vintage phone of that era may have a few issues when connected to a VM hub.

The most common of these is to do with a 'ringing capacitor' (a component in the telephone master socket on the wall but not present in the adapter that VM supplies for the hub).

Some people have reported success with this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393200143905

which has the ringing capacitor in.

You don't have to buy that exact item. It is a common telecoms part ('RJ11 plug to BT socket adapter with ringing capacitor') if you wish to look elsewhere.

But there is no guarantee at all this will fix your issue (and the symptoms you describe for the Easicom 1000 are not that encouraging for success) but you could give it a try if you are willing to take a punt on buying one. It's an unfortunate fact that some older phones do have problems when switched to the 21CV phone connection from the VM hub.

[angiepangie79]

Why can I ring out but not receive calls?

[goslow]

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@angiepangie79 wrote:

Why can I ring out but not receive calls?

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Refer to message #11. Some other topics online mention making sure the phone has fresh batteries in it (though not sure if that is relevant here).

[angiepangie79]

I've just ordered the capacitor so fingers crossed 👍and I did put new batteries into the phone but made no difference. Thanks for your help 😃

[goslow]

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@angiepangie79 wrote:

I've just ordered the capacitor so fingers crossed 👍and I did put new batteries into the phone but made no difference. Thanks for your help 😃

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For a shot at getting the phone working for sub-£5, the adapter is probably worth a punt IMO but don't get your hopes up too high. After reading the manual a bit more, the Easicom 1000 phone is certainly an unusual historical curiosity just at the dawn of modern-day online services! I hope the adapter does something useful to get the phone working.

You should try the adapter first and see what it does before getting in the VM tech for the downstairs socket.

I am not sure why you would have been charged £25 for the hub swap to convert your line to 21CV. If that was done just to fix the phone fault, that should have been free IMO. Perhaps when you get as far as the tech for the downstairs phone socket then maybe the £25 cost for that should be waived in lieu of paying for the previous VM hub/tech visit?

[angiepangie79]

I had rang Virgin to ask for a new socket downstairs. They said the job would cost £25 but instead, when the engineer came he said he would change my old hub for a newer one with the attachment for my phone. I wanted the regular wall socket but he said they will be discontinued in the future.

[goslow]

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@angiepangie79 wrote:

I had rang Virgin to ask for a new socket downstairs. They said the job would cost £25 but instead, when the engineer came he said he would change my old hub for a newer one with the attachment for my phone. I wanted the regular wall socket but he said they will be discontinued in the future.

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Well that sounds like you asked for something specific (a socket downstairs) and you didn't get it! Instead you got a phone conversion to 21CV which made your Easicom 1000 phone no longer work!

No reason you can't have extension sockets and a phone connection from the VM hub.

So, IMO, that would be double the reason to get a free tech visit to deal with the socket downstairs which was what you originally asked for (not a phone conversion to 21CV)!

You should test eBay the adapter first. If that works, you would need the downstairs phone socket to be wired in a specific way (old skool wiring!) to make sure that the 'bell wire' is wired downstairs (if that is where you want your Easicom 1000 phone to go).

Try the eBay adapter first. If it works, next step would be the extension socket. If it doesn't work, you might have to retire the Easicom 1000 and look at a cordless phone setup. Plug the cordless base station into the hub and use cordless satellite handsets around the home as required.

[angiepangie79]

Will do 👍 thanks for your help!

[Ilyas_Y]

Hey @angiepangie79, thanks for getting back on the forums.

Let us know how it goes with the adapter and we'll be able to go on from there.

Kind regards,
Ilyas.