wrong equipment sent to me for setting up my landline phone

[Ennda]

I have had a Virgin Broadband and mail account for a long time and recently decided to switch my landline from Shell to Virgin. The switch is now in process of completion but is taking me hours of wasted time on the phone to both Virgin and Shell to sort out and confirm details. Tonight somebody who finally answered me on the Virgin number hung up while I was in the middle of talking to him. Virgin sent me a kit for setting up my landline phone with a Virgin hub but it's the wrong cables and the Virgin set-up instructions online don't match what was sent to me and the Hub I have. How do I find somebody who can tell me how to do the set-up? I'm old and this isn't easy for me. Can I get an engineer to do the set up without paying an extra charge? Moreover, Shell sent me an email today saying my landline was being moved to TalkTalk Communications but that's wrong! It's supposed to move to Virgin landline as Virgin has confirmed. I'm tearing my hair, can anybody help?

[Adduxi]

You should have received a simple adapter for the Hub.  It's a BT type phone jack at one end, and an RJ11 at the other end to go into the Hub.  If you need any more complex wiring, then a VM technician will be needed.

If you wait here a couple of days a VM Mod will pick this up and discuss with you directly.

[Client62]

What has been sent might look a like this ...

[Daniel_Et · Accepted solution]

Hi @Ennda 👋 Thank you for your post 😀

We're sorry to hear about the problems you've been having and that you feel this way 😔

Does the kit you've received match up to what @Adduxi and @Client62 have advised?

General advice on how to install the Fibre network can be found on our website here. 

Regarding the porting of your telephone number, have you been able to clarify the situation with Shell?

Please pop back to us at your earliest convenience and we'll do our very best to help.

Regards,
Daniel

[Ennda]

Many thanks Daniel. I couldn't make sense of the info on the first two links you mention but have copied and saved the text from the Virgin link that you added. This info is different from the one I read on Virgin Media previously (about setting up a home phone landline) so I will check if these instructions apply to my existing equipment..but fingers crossed! Below I'm attaching 2 photos I've taken and annotated, I hope they're self-explanatory. As for Shell, yes, they have confirmed that my landline switch is to Virgin on 16th June, but as yet I don't have confirmation that my existing phone number will be retained (as Virgin assured me). Any help much appreciated, best of all would be for a Virgin engineer to come and do the landline set-up for me on the relevant date. Is it possible to arrange this?

 

 

[Adduxi]

The photo that @Client62 posted is exactly what you need to use.  Ignore the other extension cable.  You just plug the adapter into the Hub ( as shown ) and the BT phone jack into that adapter. ( again as shown in the photo.)

It should now work, PROVIDING VM have switched on the VOIP (telephone) function within your Hub.

[Ennda]

Thanks again VIP Adduxi. I started answering you about an hour ago then was interrupted and when I came back here my detailed reply had vanished. So I'm starting again. if you  look at the photos I posted in my reply to Daniel they may explain my difficulties. . On my desk is my iMac  with several cables attached to it, including one going to the Virgin Hub, also cables to my keyboard and mouse and  printer, as well as to an old Macbook which I still  use. (I work with graphics and need all this stuff). I will also be connecting an iPad very soon. Therefore there are a lot of inlets and outlets, as you can imagine. My landline phone is on a side table near my desk and, at the moment,  it's still connected with the old-fashioned (non-digital) wiring installed by BT more than 20 years ago. When my new Virgin landline connection begins on 16 June, this will obviously change. Therefore I really need to be sure that the new landline phone installation is done correctly because I must be able to continue using my computer and all its attached equipment. I know about but don't like wireless substitutes like Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse etc. etc. Of course I'm worried about getting it right which is why I'd prefer that a Virgin engineer does the installation. I'll wait a few days, as you suggest, and hope my appeal is taken up by Virgin Media. Thanks again.

[goslow]

The usual arrangement when you port an existing phone number to VM is that VM will give you a temporary phone number to begin with. You can use this to ring in/out but it will be on the temporary number to begin with.

On the day of your switch over of numbers, the temporary phone number for your line will be automatically replaced by your ported number. You may possibly need to restart the hub on switchover day for your ported number to take effect.

Has VM told you when your phone service will start and already activated the landline on your hub with the temporary number?

Look on the back of the hub and refer to the photo posted earlier by Client62 connecting the VM adapter to the TEL1 socket as per the pic.

For the purposes of a test, use the VM adapter supplied and plug your phone in as per the photo. See if you have dial tone and can dial in/out on the temporary number. If you have no dial tone the line may not have been provisioned yet.

That is the only setup, as such, you need to do.

If you need the phone on a side table, you can just get a phone extension cable from one of your local DIY shops and extend the connection from the hub/adapter.

[Ennda]

Thanks goslow, I  much appreciate your and the other replies I've had to this issue. As I mentioned before, the actual switchover day is not until next week, on the 16th of June. I have phone extension cables, that's not a problem. And the temporary phone number was sent to me. What concerns me is what I wrote yesterday in replying to Aduxxi (just above your reply to me). It's not only about connecting my landline phone to the VM Hub but also ensuring that all the other cables connected to the hub from my Apple iMac computer and other digital equipment that I use daily for my graphic work can stay in place and that their functioning will not be disrupted by adding this new VM phone line. There must be many people who have cables from various computer equipment plus a landline phone plugged into their VM hub but I just don't know those people! It would be great to hear what, if any, specific tech problems may arise with multiple connecting cables.

[goslow]

Not entirely sure what your concern is ref connecting multiple cables but the hub is designed to run phone equipment and computer equipment at the same time. The phone socket is a separate socket exclusively for phone use only so adding a phone connection won't take away from any of the existing connections.

If you are worried about disturbing wires when connecting the phone, take some photos of the existing arrangement before you plug in the phone.

Alternatively, or in addition, put some little labels on each cable end identifying where it goes into the hub or the computer equipment. That way, if anything gets disconnected, you can reconnect very easily.

Do a Google search on

computer cable management

and you will find all manner of ties, clips, sleeves and so on to organise and tidy cables in a working area as well as YouTube videos with advice on what to do to use them.