Change ISP from Virgin Media to BT?

Retired · Post by **Retired** » Sun Sep 24, 2023 1:30 pm

Hi,

Help please I'm a 76 year old dinosaur. Over 30 years ago my wife and I signed up to NTL cable now Virgin Media for broadband; TV & landline. Our current contract ends shortly and we're aware much better deals are available. Our current deal costs £61 month it this price due to a £25 month discount but is due to rise to £86 month.

We have M125 broadband.
Mix TV
Landline evenings & weekends.

I'm looking for advice please not having done this for so many years. If we change to say BT what would be involved; could we retain our landline phone number also our two emails NTL & Gmail? All we need is rather basic stuff; not interested in Netflix or any sport but we do want YouTube which is most of our TV viewing.

Giganet isn't yet available for us but I've just sent "An interest" to BT awaiting their reply.

I find it difficult to take everything in it's overwhelming me with so much to choose from.

18 months ago we received a letter from VM stating the bundle price was to increase but we could get similar for half price by shopping around; hardly a way to treat loyal customers also this year we've had lots of problems with buffering or freezing on YouTube videos and in March we completely lost all TV for a full week; it took three visits to sort this problem out the first two technicians were useless so we've waited patiently for our contract to end.

Kind regards, Colin.

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Sun Sep 24, 2023 1:57 pm

If you change your Internet Service Provider it is up to the new ISP can they take your phone number, not a question of will they take your phone number. 99% of the time, yes they can.

You will lose your NTL email address but keep your gmail address (You could always start a new gmail account, I have 3 of them)
BT are doing away with traditional phone lines, mine changes tomorrow (Well It's supposed to) it is being changed to "digital" so instead of using 50v down a copper wire (as they do now) it will become Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) which means my phones will no longer work unless I buy a special router and a plug in gadget for each other phone (A bit like having a Broad Band filter for each phone used to be) but we haven't used the landline phone for almost 24 months, so it doesn't bother us. We will continue to use mobile phones, as we have done.

We pay just over £30/month we get (I just checked) 66.59 Mb/s Download 17.77 Mb/s Upload Youtube works very well, we also have Freesat (Cancelled SKY years ago)

If you want to know anything else, please ask.

aeromech3 · Post by **aeromech3** » Sun Sep 24, 2023 3:25 pm

When mine was changed over to VOIP the adapter for the land line phone was just an ADSL to RJ45 patch lead which plugged into the back of the router.
Retired will need a new router from BT and a BT line and socket for the router.
My 8 year old Panasonic wireless phone works well with new set up.

Neelix · Post by **Neelix** » Sun Sep 24, 2023 3:56 pm

Ring up VM and haggle with them

Our price was due to rise from £40 to £76

After some discussion we agreed on £53

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Sun Sep 24, 2023 5:11 pm

aeromech3 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 24, 2023 3:25 pmRetired will need a new router from BT and a BT line and socket for the router.

I figured that, but said nothing as he will be a new customer they will post it out to him, but I admit, I hadn't thought about the actual line, hopefully he still has his old BT socket.

Retired, unless you stay with virgin, you will need a cable to your house, they can't use the VM cable you have now, have you still got a BT socket from before you went to VM?

aeromech3 · Post by **aeromech3** » Mon Sep 25, 2023 4:06 am

Back at my old house I had VM as a follow on from NTL, at the time it was the fastest and we had a standard TV package but in 2019 it was costing £84/month.
My present contract with Voda which includes my mobile 5G (my phone) with reasonable data 6GB, free sms and standard calls, costs about £35/month, it just went up and so will be this until next tax year; it does not include any TV; I nearly always call them to get a loyalty discount.
I have a good freesat reception and at present annual Amazon which gives me video; I tried the free with adverts but it keeps buffering, even on the lowest definition so I have considered this a rubbish broadcast.
A mate of mine, living just within new ULEZ ( had to update his car model comfy low mileage Lexus to Yaris £19,000) is still on ADSL internet; cable has arrived in his street; in anticipation he had an additional power point installed near the master socket, as apparently they will use same brick route into the house But need to fix a new cable from the new pole outside his house to his roof-line and into his semi; this gives him an headache as he has concrete gutters and another cable will make ladder access to them more difficult, if they don't remove the original line from another post.
For us retirees life seems more complicated; if you have a medical condition the new VOIP can leave you, in a power outage, without a house phone, progress no, same mate has had a failure of his ADSL and VOIP in first month and so he is calling them on his mobile, they said it was external fault, but the Techy still knocked on his door at 08:30 without warning, to connect a tracing device, line fixed same morning.
I mentioned, ULEZ, my Son ran me to Heathrow in his 2006 VW diesel transporter, only to realise Heathrow is in the new ULEZ,

Retired · Post by **Retired** » Mon Sep 25, 2023 8:49 am

Hi,

Many thanks for both your replies S-E. Interesting point regarding land lines being phased out but can still be used with appropriate adapter; my wife and I have a mobile phone each but only for emergencies; our mobile phones aren't welded to our ears. Keeping our landline phone number will save lots of hassle. We have double your download speed and yet we suffer buffering at times on YouTube. No we only have the phone line NTL put in all those years ago so no phone line from BT it will be a new installation no doubt at a cost. Thanks yes I'll ask if I need further help.

Thanks aeromech3 for both your replies. BT do state they post the new router and it's designed to go through a letterbox; our landline phone is well over twenty years old; I do have an extension phone on my desk it's a BT and a docking type. I'm well aware we've paid well over the odds for many years remaining loyal to VM but they are taking the Mickey; when we last signed up for this current package VM actually wrote to us saying we could obtain a similar package for about half price if we shopped around; enough is enough so now I've got time I'm looking at our options. Two friends have gone over to Giganet and are happy but Giganet isn't available in our area at the moment and our contract with VM ends in a few weeks. I dislike this modern technology and I can't stand anything with a battery; as an apprentice mechanical engineer with The National Coal Board back in 1963 I used to cycle to the pit for 6am start in all weather 4 miles mostly uphill and I'll never forget those dire mornings in sleet & snow with a dead battery in my cycle lamp; it sticks with me to this day and we won't be replacing our 2.0L diesel Yeti for a milk float. Our Yeti is clean it being the Adblue model attracting £35 per year road tax and is allowed in the restricted zones.

Four year old kids are much better than I am with modern electronic gizmos like mobile phones I've got zero interest in the things.

I'm gathering information Neelix; thanks for your reply. When I've got actual figures I will indeed phone VM; if VM will let us carry on at £61 per month for the same bundle we'll remain with them but this time I can shop around not under any pressure; we don't mind paying for good service but we do mind being ripped off.

Off topic but things are getting an whole lot worse; VM ripping off customers who have been loyal to them for over thirty plus years and now our Skoda main dealer trying it on; in July our Yeti sailed through the MOT with a totally clean sheet. How come then the service sheet flagged up needing new front brake discs & pads at only 32,000 gentle miles I drive using gears not brakes. £352 was quoted for the job in total. I visited a local franchise and bought Borg & Beck discs & pads costing exactly £100; I installed them myself but then I decided to measure the original discs & pads; given our 4,500 miles per year the discs were good for another ten years the pads also with 6mm pad remaining would last for years. I sent a polite email to the main dealer explaining what I'd found stating we wouldn't be dealing with them again in future; how strange no reply. I've now found a local very well regarded independent to look after the Yeti in future. Whom can we trust these days?

Thanks again everyone.

Kind regards, Colin.

aeromech3 · Post by **aeromech3** » Mon Sep 25, 2023 9:52 am

Retired wrote: ↑Mon Sep 25, 2023 8:49 am Interesting point regarding land lines being phased out but can still be used with appropriate adapter

Not quite correct;: landlines out but adapter to use from your phone lead that would have been plugged into the master socket now to fit into back of router.
Now if you do not have internet, I guess they will be obliged to supply a digital to analogue convertor box Or then again, they are likely to dump a cheap digital handset onto you, expecting you will scrap any cordless phones with base stations; the consumer suffer.
Common money maker, have heard of several main dealers changing discs and pads with the reasoning you could sell the car to a high mileage driver or excuses about age of the metal, laugh!

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Mon Sep 25, 2023 10:32 am

This might help https://www.bt.com/help/landline/manage ... services-t

DWD

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Mon Sep 25, 2023 11:30 am

I can't help but think that to leave VM and go elsewhere you will still need a BT phone line. Reason being VM (Or what local cable company it was in your area) had all new ducting etc installed, so when (if) you wanted their service all they need do was pull a cable in from your place to the nearest (now) VM distribution box. Where as BT all the cables are already in place, and if you went to say plusnet, plusnet would rent the cable from BT, and if you have a problem who comes out? Open Reach (Or an OR contractor) You still see VM boxes and cables going into houses (Depending how rushed the installer was)

Our digital service was supposed to be today (Monday) but it has now been changed to tomorrow, and yes that means our landline will be "dead"
As said, yes I have a mobile, but no, its not glued to my ear, It's where I last left it, when home I put it down and leave it there, if someone calls I call them back when I remember to. (Then leave the phone there)
I am supposed to be able to plug one phone into the router, into the green socket, ours doesn't have a green socket, it is said it may be under a sticker, not looked, not fussed.

I was looking at giganet and they don't make it clear what you need.

If you ask do I need a landline they say as it is full fibre you don't need a landline.
Question. How is the full fibre going to get from where it is to your house? Fibre needs a cable (No, not copper, a fibre optic cable) so you will need a cable, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

aeromech3 · Post by **aeromech3** » Mon Sep 25, 2023 2:21 pm

It is about time the Gov stamped on VM and BT; back in the late 1970's early 80's NTL were allowed to dig up roads and footpaths to install trunking for fibre cable; now BT need to do the same for their fibre cable system; the two should be made to share; plenty of room in the VM trunking.
I have VM into my house, but BT/ Voda use the standard paired cable for what is used for my upgrade and so thin 35 year old copper and corroded connectors, to a box somewhere in the vicinity and then fibre to an exchange.
VOIP is just another catch up with the NTL system, I had their phone and a BT at my last house; when I had a BT line fault I would report it from my NTL phone and when I wanted to give that number for call back they said No good, but a mobile is okay, however I lived in a dip and mobile cover in those days was a walk into the street haha gotcha again; my neighbour worked for VM and could be seen in the street with his Co. mobile to his head most evenings.
When I use this checker it tells me only VM can offer full fibre.
https://www.cable.co.uk/broadband/check-my-area/

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Mon Sep 25, 2023 4:38 pm

aeromech3 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 25, 2023 2:21 pmback in the late 1970's early 80's NTL were allowed to dig up roads and footpaths to install trunking for fibre cable; now BT need to do the same for their fibre cable system; the two should be made to share; plenty of room in the VM trunking.

I am on neither side:
What you say sounds a good idea, but it has so many problems it's not worth bothering with.

1) The VM ducting was sent to sub contractors, these contractors were paid by the metre. It was supposed to be buried at 30cm (Or there abouts) it never was, some places round here you can actually see the ducting as its starting to break through the footpath. (Tree roots)

2) Both VM and BT will argue over who fixes what when its damaged (Trust me)

3) BT HAVE been running fibre optic all over the place for years, but as they can't be everywhere at the same time, it takes time to "roll it out" I have fibre cable at the telegraph pole (Perhaps it should be called Internet pole) opposite my house. I know this as I was curious why these couple of blokes were there a few days running, so I asked, they showed me, they are sorting out the fibre cable for the houses. But for the time being I am on copper cables to the big junction box at the end of the road.

4) Only VM offer full fibre in certain areas because what was BT own all the infrastructure which as I said they are upgrading it, and they have more cables than VM ever will.

5) Milton Keynes has had full fibre for at least 3 years (Probably longer)

So far today I have had 4 landline calls to tell me my "digital service" will be up and running by midnight tomorrow. It may take up to 48 hours for completion. I don't care, we don't use the land based telephone. (Much to BT's surprise when we changed contracts, nice sales lady checked, and genuinely sounded surprised when she checked, we really don't use the landline phone.)

aeromech3 · Post by **aeromech3** » Tue Sep 26, 2023 4:19 am

My last house 1980 build, private close, NTL had to asked permission to cut into our road and paths; for my connection from a small square black box in the path they dug a shallow trough through my open plan front lawn to the house and installed a box next to the original BT box; I do note some houses around here, especially where they have a small front wall, the connecting black conduit pops out about 200mm to go through the wall.
Kind of reminds me of the Beta-max vis VHS story, I digress.

Retired · Post by **Retired** » Tue Sep 26, 2023 10:41 am

Hi,

Many thanks everyone for your interesting and informative replies it's appreciated.

I'm fuming with anger at VM; it's like joining hands to contact the dead; VM know we only have the landline so I'm trying to contact them through their chatline; they keep asking for a mobile number but I've been persistent for about half an hour now I'm informed an agent will be available in just over an hour; I've let VM know I want to cancel so presume now I get the run around.

: Rubbish Virgin Media.JPG (28.44 KiB) Viewed 1637 times

I'm 76 will I live long enough. I refuse to be forced into using a mobile phone; VM are supplying our landline. The last time I looked I couldn't even find an address to mail a letter to; this is absolutely stupid considering VM are a communications company.

Kind regards, Colin.

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Tue Sep 26, 2023 11:01 am

They are robot chatlines, utterly useless. Talk to BT they can arrange the switch, and you can get a human. Try O800 800 150

DWD