Virgin Media Community

[galpat]

I have just received notification that my landline will be switched to fibre in May, and that I will have to attach it to my hub/router.  My phone line comes in next to my front door downstairs and is attached to a phone/answer-machine; my router's cable comes into the back of my house upstairs in my study, where it has to be because that is where my desktop computer is which is wired to it.  In addition I have 3 extension sockets in the house with relatively old corded phones plugged into them, at least one of which, in an upstairs bedroom, NEEDS to work.  What am I supposed to do?  This is anything but an improvement in service.

Do I need to have this Virgin landline in order to keep my Virgin broadband and Virgin TV?

Also, the link on the Virgin website to "FibrePhone FAQ's" doesn't work.

[Travis_M]

Hi @galpat

Thanks for posting on our community forum!

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The copper network is quickly becoming outdated, and we want to be ready for the future, making sure our customers like yourself always get the best possible experience.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.

We are putting all of our customers onto the network so we'd need the phones to run from the hub as we're unable to keep you on the old landline system so if any workarounds would need to be put in place i.e cordless phones etc, we've made you aware as early as possible.

I do apologise for any inconvenience this may cause

Regards

[goslow · Accepted solution]

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@galpat wrote:

<snip>  What am I supposed to do?  This is anything but an improvement in service. <snip>

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galpat

The issue of the phone switchover and how VM deals with customers' existing phones and extension sockets has been mentioned many, many, many times before on here.

Over time, VM has given every possible combination of answers on the subject of assisting with this, from a flat "no", to a full "yes" via a "maybe", if it is not too difficult, in between. Until yesterday, one of their help pages on the phone switchover advised they would reconnect extension sockets, to the hub phone socket, free of charge.

Unfortunately, as of yesterday, that help page has disappeared and been replaced with this

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/landline/how-to-get-a-virgin-media-fibre-phone

The only mention of extension sockets is now

I've been asked to book a technician
If you’ve been asked to book a technician, it’ll be for one the following reasons:

• You rely on your landline for accessibility reasons and need an Emergency Back Up Line, so you’re always able to call the emergency services.
• You use services such as a monitored burglar alarm, telecare, or have other phones connected to extension sockets. If you use any kind of service that requires a phone line, you should contact your provider and let them know about the switch to make sure they’re compatible with a fibre service.
• You can’t place your phone near the Hub.

So, I'd suggest that you could try to request a technician as part of the switchover as you have phones connected to extension sockets plus you can't place your phone near your hub (that is if you want to try to keep things as they are but this would probably involve some internal phone wiring to be completed to make it all work). Also see the caveats about old corded phones below.

VM has fairly recently dropped its technician fees to £25 to modify wiring in the home so I am now going to have a wild guess that VM are going to seek to avoid doing any of this work where they possibly can and, if they are pressed, will offer to do it for a fee.

The reply from Travis_M at #2 didn't really answer any of the questions you raised about how you would deal with this for your particular setup, which you have described in detail.

On a minor technical point, if your corded phones are quite old (early 2000's or before) you may find that they won't make a ringing sound unless they are connected to a master socket and the master socket is linked to the hub with the other extension sockets after switchover. The old master socket contains a component (a ringing capacitor) which caused older phones to ring. The connection from the hub does not have this, so non-ringing of older phones on a hub phone connection is regularly mentioned on here.

As an alternative to the above (if it is feasible/affordable for you) you could look at getting a set of cordless phones. Plug the base station into the hub's phone socket after switchover and use satellite cordless phones around the home as required. Cordless phones are how all providers are envisaging phone connections from the router will be used. VM’s expectation now seems to be that the customer will just shoulder the cost for this (probably about £100-ish for a decent triple set of cordless phones).

Getting some new cordless phones is probably the best option, if possible, as you will be starting with modern phones on the new 21CV hub phone connection, plus you won't have to deal with the doublespeak madness of whatever VM's telephone extension policy happens to be on the day of switchover. If you do get new cordless phones, buy from somewhere with a good returns policy just in case (unlikely) that you run into some other unforeseen issue connecting phones to the VM hub.

[galpat]

Hi Goslow, Thanks so much for your useful reply (as opposed to the absolutely useless one from Travis, which only repeats almost word for word the letter I was sent).  
I know absolutely nothing about cordless phones.  Can you suggest a make and model that would work, and where it can be acquired?  It needs to incorporate an answering machine that in some way alerts one to a message, as I cannot cope with voicemail (never would remember to check it).  And how do the multiple handsets work, and will they continue to work after the switchover?  
Also, I don't really understand this whole situation; I thought Virgin's phone lines had ALWAYS been fibre, since they don't use BT's analogue lines.

[goslow]

Bit long this reply but you have asked quite a few different questions ...

Hard to give you an answer on what to buy since a lot of it will be to do with your own particular requirements as to what features you want on the phones as well as how you get on with any particular make/model (for things like button sizes, sound quality, display quality etc.)

I would guess that cordless phones are probably more commonplace than corded models now. Do you have any friends/family/neighbours etc. who use cordless phones who might be able to show you their setup and how such a system works and let you try it out? If you liked their particular setup, you could maybe replicate it for yourself.

The general setup is that you have a main base station unit which connects to the phone line (the phone socket on the VM hub, via an adapter, once the phone switchover is complete). This base unit provides the connection to the phone line. It also provides a wireless/cordless connection to the other satellite handsets around the house. The base station and satellite handsets require a power socket at each location so they can be on charge when they are not in use.

You typically buy the base station unit/handset (which would give you one cordless phone) and you can buy multi-packs of handsets (typically either 2, 3 or 4 handsets total). The base station can be purchased with an answering machine built in. When a call comes in, all the handsets ring and you can pick up the call from any handset. Most systems allow you to access the answering machine from any of the handsets for messages. Most systems also show if you have any missed calls by means of a display message or flashing indicator or tone. You can program in known contacts to an address book on the base station and this is shared across all of the handsets.

Popular brands of phone which are mentioned on here often are by BT, Panasonic and Siemens. You can buy online from the likes of Amazon (if you do online shopping). If not, places like Argos, Currys etc. etc. or a local electrical store should be able to help. If you find a local supplier you can obviously visit in person and get them to explain it all to you.

Looking on the Argos site, for example, this quad set from BT is a popular big button model

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9456239

it also incorporates as feature called 'trueCall' which is very effective at screening out unwanted scam callers which are a common annoyance on landline phones

This Panasonic quad set

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5426713

is similar but does not have the 'trueCall' screening features. You can get the same models as twin or triple packs, depending on how many phone handsets you need.

Whether the above suits you though is a matter of personal preference. Haven't used Argos myself in a long time so am unsure how good their returns policy is if you don't get on with the phones or there is an (unlikely) issue when connecting to the VM hub.

As for the terminology of a 'fibre' connection, this is been turned into a marketing/sales term and is often used incorrectly. Up until recently, VM's own phone system operated in much the same way as BT/Openreach via copper cables connected to traditional phone sockets on the wall.

All suppliers are now closing down this way of connecting the landline phone and are merging the connection to be carried on the same cable as the broadband service and to be connected via the router/hub for the broadband.

Hope that helps and you are able to come to a decision about how best to deal with the issue.

(One further thought to mention is that the phone connection from the VM hub, and the cordless phones, will not work during a power cut so having a backup means to call is also important. If you are a mobile phone user then that is covered that way. If you do not have a mobile phone then VM should offer you and Emergency Backup Line - EBUL - unit which should allow you to make emergency calls to 999 only via a corded handset plugged into the EBUL. If that is something you think you might need then you should make enquiries about that too as part of the switchover process)

[dillyew]

Hi galpat, I was/am in exactly the same situation layout as you re the landline and 2 extensions, in at hall by front door, extension to kitchen and my study upstairs. Because my router is upstairs (I am the 'techie' in our household) the main phone has to be plugged into the router, so of my old  phones (wired and cumbersome) only one will work plugged in and extensions then do not as the copper cable is going to be defunct. Apparently BT is about to do the same conversions.  Anyhoo I bought a set of 3 phones one with a base unit which is here upstairs plugged into router and mains. The other two wireless handsets replace the old extensions downstairs for my elderly hubby. And to be honest that is going to work better as instead of having to lever himself out of a comfy chair and get to the extensions in the kitchen or hall for a call, he has one right beside him in the kitchen or the living room.  I was concerned whether the new ones would work over Voip (Voice over internet protocol) which is what the fibre supplies, asked lots of 'experts' and apparently this is a very typical way of dealing with voice to voice calls, the new phones are working fine.  Cost is down to you but to be honest it is a more comfortable arrangement now its in place.  I programmed the main one with our numbers and it wirelessly sent the details to the other two. Hope that helps. It may mean outlay if you need several extensions but it does seem worth it.

Incidentally if you think I am a young wiz kid, I am 84 and a woman so if I can, you can!  Good luck