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Internet based "Land Line". I'm having a problem.

(42 Posts)
Aely Thu 17-Apr-25 14:11:39

Sometime last year, when my Vigin Media landline became unusable (water in the junction box a few roads away), instead of fixing the problem, they moved me onto the "Broadband land line" which operates through my Hub. Government policy is that all landlines will, in due course, use this system and telephone wires will be ripped out. I was also given a battery powered handset which, in the event of a power cut, would connect as an emergency telephone - also through the Hub.

It's terrible! I keep getting an "intertmittent" and fluctuating strength Broadband signal. The landline keeps losing the signal and cutting out. Sometimes the sound goes first. I tried ringing Vigin Media. It cut out before I got to anybody, so I tried using the Emergency Mobile handset - and it cut out before getting to anybody. So what use is it? It uses the same wiring!

The bad signal is also causing Pixellation on the TV and intermittent loss of Internet on my laptop. Emails won't get sent for ages. But it is a difficult situation. I can't contact them unless the system is behaving itself, (which it does, more or less, on occasions) so how can they diagnose and fix something which is no longer happening?

I can live with (but not like) spotty TV and slow or freezing internet but I need my phone. I rarely go anywhere so don't use a mobile. The cost of broadband with or without landline is virtually the same so getting one wouldn't be cost effective.

I have been with Vigin (originally NTL) for at least 25 years and my phone hardly ever had a problem. Are broadband landlines a good idea? I'm thinking they aren't.

pably15 Fri 18-Apr-25 14:09:21

I was repeatedly being asked to change to the new full fibre lines, I kept ignoring it till recently, because they will be changing from the old copper lines sometime soon, a couple of weeks ago my landline went dead....check line cord was the message I got , as I have a smart phone and a mobile that I take with me everywhere, I didn't bother letting my broadband and phone provider know, and openreach were installing full fibre last week, I'm with vodafone and trying to get through to a human,,,who is not in India that I was able to understand is almost impossible.. so I left it till last week when full fibre was installed, a small box was fitted to the wall and the router connected to that and my phone line attached to the router, openreach told me that it could take 12 hours before I was able to send and recieve calls....it was too...next day...I have a pair of phones, one upstairs and one down, they both work perfectly, I was worried that the one downstairs wouldn't work. but I'm not too happy about the fact that if there's a power cut, you can't even phone emergency services, that is not good...and anyone who has an alert button won't be able to use it either...not thought out well enough

MiniMoon Fri 18-Apr-25 15:56:09

Aely I had a problem with my smart TV when we first got it. Streaming channels eg Netflix were buffering. I asked my son to offer a solution. He provided me with two ethernet cables, one to plug into the router and the other to plug into the television. This sorted the problem with the weak signal.
I would give this a try.

MiniMoon Fri 18-Apr-25 15:59:56

I ought to have said that my router is situated upstairs in my bedroom hence the weak signal.

Aely Tue 22-Apr-25 16:11:17

MiniMoon, I don't think my TV has an Ethernet connection. It is far from Smart! It connects directly into the VirginMedia Tivo box. I think there is probably a problem with the cabling. CableTell head office was just down the road in the late 90s so we got cabled up very early and they are now what Virgin use. Perhaps some dry joints?

valdavi Tue 22-Apr-25 20:18:15

Elowen33

I have Virgin but do not have a landline. Virgin has the worst customer service I have ever come across.

I contact them when my contract ends and the price more than doubles, It has never taken less than an hour to speak to somebody to bring the price back down to a reasonable level.

I second this. Absolutely unbelievably bad customer service, (unless it's something like a broken remote for the TV box which is a standard option on their internet proforma & AI can do it).
We went with another provider in the end, they were just so bad I couldn't stomach paying Virgin another penny.

RedRidingHood Tue 22-Apr-25 20:30:06

We were forced into the same two years ago.
We have virtually no mobile signal and frequent power cuts.
We use WiFi calling for mobile calls and have a ups (battery) back up which keeps the router going for a few hours in power cuts.
Like the OP it's flaky, whether I use landline or WiFi calling on a mobile my calls drop out despite having super fast fibre broadband.
@Katek try WiFi calling. Most modern mobile phones have it. We did buy new mobiles for this but it's been transformative to be able to use mobiles.

What has helped is getting three boosters for the WiFi. Get onto your internet provider and get it upgraded. Also what helps is proximity to the router.

Aely Wed 23-Apr-25 14:11:32

I lost my internet again just now. I decided to contact Virgin and complain. I'm fed up with it. My Broadband phone didn't work of course but the Emergency "mobile" handset took over. It wasn't working either! I have Internet at the moment, enough to to get on here (but who knows for how long) but both phones are still out of action. What good is an emergency "mobile" handset if it stops working as well? And for this, plus TV, they are now charging me over £100 per month!

Aely Wed 23-Apr-25 14:15:09

Oh, and by the way, my laptop is about 6 feet from the Hub. I have a wireless landline set and the advice is not to have it near the hub because of possible interference, but of course I can't get it more than 4 feet away because the base has to be plugged into the hub. Ridiculous.

Aely Wed 23-Apr-25 15:18:08

Internet is working and managed to "chat" online with a person. Engineer booked for tomorrow pm - although they tried to tell me it was MY equipment. I pointed out the Emergency phone was THEIR equipment. No phoneline still but I will try a reset on the hub. I may then have to reset my internet connection to the laptop - but have no idea how! My daughter set it up for me and don't know when I will see her as she lives 40 miles away and works full time, so I might not be back on my laptop for some time. Fingers crossed!

Aely Wed 23-Apr-25 15:55:03

Ok, did reset and everything is working (for the moment anyway!

Aely Thu 24-Apr-25 21:00:45

Hopefully the final message from me (until the next time!) Engineer came, did some checks, said "Nothing you could have fixed yourself", spent nearly an hour and a half here and at the road "box" doing what he does and my Internet speed is up from 53 MbPs to over 100 and appears stable and both the phones are working. No pixelation on the TV either.

gentleshores Fri 25-Apr-25 01:28:16

M0nica

gentleshore
They will probably tell us all to get red button call alert thingies - my Dad used to have one round his neck. I have no idea how that worked.

These too work off your telephone line. No telephone reception, no operational red button alert.

Hmm. So how are emergency call alerts for vulnerable people going to work in future then I wonder? Unless they get them working on mobile networks instead.

gentleshores Fri 25-Apr-25 01:29:13

How about walkie talkies for emergencies? We have a pair of those ......... They keep their charge a long time when switched off.

WelwynWitch3 Fri 25-Apr-25 21:28:51

BT/Reach are changing all landlines to broadband/Wifi, sorry I’m not technically savvy. Had BT landline for decades but it is all changing, we don’t have choice, it will all be WiFi. The problem is if there is no WiFi then landline will not work so it will be impossible to make outgoing calls even in an emergency. I personally have only just become owner of iPhone, not new, passed on by granddaughter so at least I will have some outside contact, fingers crossed..

Aely Sat 26-Apr-25 16:01:40

You can request an additional Emergency "landline" which is supposed to kick in using it's battery if the broadband isn't working because of a power cut. It actually works as a mobile.

Aely Tue 29-Apr-25 21:26:18

Surprise, surprise! I'm back!

Just now, the broadband went down. So did my internet phone (of course). So did the so-called Emergency Handset. What flaming good is that?