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Returning customer. (VOIP)???

337edy2
On our wavelength

Hi all

In the next few days I may find myself returning to Virgin and opting for a 500Mb connection with landline. I understand that Virgin now opt for the (VOIP) set up for landline phones. My router is located by one of my phone's which isn't a problem. I have a cat6 Ethernet cable from my router to downstairs where I have located an ethernet switch which feeds other pieces of equipment in my living room. Does this mean I will be able to plug in an additional wired phone into my ethernet switch with an appropriate adapter?

 

 

14 REPLIES 14

VM-Jon
Forum Team
Forum Team

Hi there,

thank you for your post. No you will not be able to plug an additional telephone into an ethernet switch. The hub has dedicated outputs for telephone lines and only them can be used.

There are other alternatives that we can employ if you wish to have additional telephones around the house. It might be good to get a site survey prior to install to talk through your options. I will send you a private message with some more details on this.

there are other alternatives that we can employ if you wish to have additional telephones around the house. It might be good to get a site survey prior to install to talk through your options. I will send you a private message with some more details on this.

Jon


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337edy2
On our wavelength

Hi Jon

Thanks for the info. I understand what you mean. I'm currently finalizing coming away from BT mid contract. Just waiting on confirmation that I can go fee free. Nothing more than a formality at the moment. In addition to my question I'd like to point out that I only use wired connections in my home and always switch off WIFI at router. Would I be correct in thinking that for me to get an additional phone point it would need extra wiring? I do have an existing phone point within a metre of router position that is wired in 2 pair telecommunications wiring. Could this be used to tap into existing phone sockets throughout house or not? Thanks.

Darren

-tony-
Alessandro Volta

turning off wifi can be problematical - there is/was a bug in the hub3 firmware that turned it back on - no big deal as such just dont connect to it or put the hub into modem mode and use a 3rd party router

as to the phone extensions - VM can connect a master socket to the hub - they tend not to offer it afaik so ask when they do the install - from that you should be able to connect your existing extension sockets after disconnection the BT input

____________________

Tony.
Sacked VIP

337edy2
On our wavelength

Hi Tony

Oh dear! That's not what I wanted to hear about the router but still if modem mode and 3rd party equipment will solve I guess it's no big deal. Do you have another hub that doesn't have this problem even if it means moving to 1gb connection if available. Am I correct in thinking 1gb is the only service that utilizes another type of hub? Thanks.

 

-tony-
Alessandro Volta

dont take my comment as gospel - i did say there is/was a bug - am not up to date so a may have been resolved - i have a hub4 so cannot check the state of the hub3 - hubs are still in short supply afaik so you may get a 4 on the lower speed 

you mention that you have your BT hub connected to a switch - you could change the switch for a 3rd party router with the VM hub in modem mode - in fact i would think you could use the BT hub as a router - forget its modem and just connect from the VM hub to a lan port on the BT hub - not 100% sure on that but it should work

____________________

Tony.
Sacked VIP

337edy2
On our wavelength

Thanks for the suggestions although that idea might not be practical as most of my cat6 wiring goes to existing router location so I'd probably end up going a long way round to get things right. As you say the issue with firmware may have been fixed. I'd rather receive and use hub3/hub4 without having to add additional gear if possible. If available and the hub 4 is a more efficient hub the I'd sooner get that even if it meant I'd have to go to 1gb although you have suggested I could possibly get it whilst having lower speed which would be great. To be honest I'd been a virgin customer virtually since the advent of the internet and always enjoyed good fast connection. I left because of bad customer service and some issues regarding mobile phones, taking all my business to BT. I don't envisage doing that again! Not one of my better ideas! So it will be great to get back to proper broadband! 🤣

Z92
Trouble shooter

The hub4 doesn't seem any better than the hub3 from reading the forums, it seems both seem to have problems with configurations randomly resetting themselves - it seems to be something to do with better WiFi - it's managed for you in the cloud and you can also get additional WiFi plugs which are also remotely managed. It's definitely better to just put the hub in modem mode and connect your own router to it.

As for your telephone connection, it's a simple adapter (no electronics) just converting rj11 to BT style socket so any existing BT style wiring you have you can connect to.

337edy2
On our wavelength

Thanks for that. I suppose my next question would be, what's the best router to get should I decide to use hub as a modem? I've looked through forums but they seem to be geared towards getting best WIFI which is exactly the opposite of my requirements. Everyone is searching for better WIFI and I'm searching for how to keep it permanently switched off. I don't have any interest in a hub that could possibly switch my WIFI back on whenever it feels like it. Can anyone make any suggestions. Netgear nighthawk is mentioned a lot although it seems more so for its WIFI ability which I don't need.

Z92
Trouble shooter

Forget the typical WiFi routers then, you just need a plain router. I use a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X which can be bought for about £45, but they are not that simple to setup if you don't know a lot about networking, but they are fast, have a built in firewall, etc. It then gets connected to a 16 port switch to each room in the house.

Something like the Trendnet TW100-S4W1CA might do you good if you have only have 4 devices.