Virgin phone line/BT Phone line different?

mark_dumpleton

Hi,
I'm moving into a new house on 1 July and Sky have insisted on activating the BT line in the house on 1 June (they won't change this!)

The existing tenants have a phone line with Virgin...

Is the virgin phone line via cable and therefore there won't be a problem, or are the Virgin and BT lines using the same infrastructure and therefore there will be a conflict?

Thanks!

jem16

They are on two separate infrastructures so there won't be a conflict.

Why are Sky insisting on activating the BT phone line - are you having a phone or broadband through Sky?

spike7451

Cable phoneline work entirely differently than BT & are not connected in any way to the BT network.You cannot have any ADSL based broadband (BT,Sky,O2 ect) on a cable phoneline.

Spike (ex NTL/VM Engineer)

Heinz

Virgin used to be (coax) cable only but, now, does 'ordinary' lines too.

What has Sky got to do with it?

BTW, Sky cannot activate a BT line. A BT line is a BT line.

mark_dumpleton

Yeah, i'm taking out a TV as well as phone/ADSL service with Sky and even though TV is being installed on 1 July they insist on activating the BT line in the house on the 1st June.

Just checking I won't annoy the existing tenants by destroying their current phone service that they have with Virgin Media!

macman

There are two Virgin services. VM via cable, which won't be affected by a new ADSL line, and Virgin National, which is simply a resold BT Wholesale ADSL product and cannot be on the same line as Sky broadband. Which service are you referring to? If the area cannot get VM cable, then it must be Virgin National ADSL

metheny_man

Hi. I think you'll find that Sky insist on you having your Digital Set Top Box connected to a phone line. This is mainly so they can check that the box is being used at the address it was installed at. Lots of people report having unplugged their boxes from the phone line although some say they have received calls or letters from Sky asking them to reconnect.

jem16

metheny_man wrote: »

Hi. I think you'll find that Sky insist on you having your Digital Set Top Box connected to a phone line. This is mainly so they can check that the box is being used at the address it was installed at. Lots of people report having unplugged their boxes from the phone line although some say they have received calls or letters from Sky asking them to reconnect.

This would only happen in the case of a multiroom package where they do check to see both boxes are installed at the same address.

Very unlikely to happen at a one box installation.

If it was only for Sky TV a Virgin phoneline is adequate. However it seems the OP is getting phone and broadband from Sky.

Mark_In_Hampshire

jem16 wrote: »

This would only happen in the case of a multiroom package where they do check to see both boxes are installed at the same address.

Very unlikely to happen at a one box installation.

If it was only for Sky TV a Virgin phoneline is adequate. However it seems the OP is getting phone and broadband from Sky.

We had Sky about 8 years ago, for about a year. Then we moved (we had to, in order to get broadband as dial up was too painful) and could get cable so did not take Sky with us.

When the dish was installed the engineer could not get the part which works over the phone line to communicate, left it disconnected and said we'd need to pursue it, noting it on his report. This might have been because the phone line was so poor that even dial up was problematic.

We never had any need of the interactive stuff so didn't bother but I did modify the contract before I returned it, very prominently, crossing out the bit about the phone line needing to be connected, and with a covering note.

5 years and 2 addresses later I get a letter from a DCA saying I owe Sky 75.00 for some unknown reason. It transpired it was because the box wasn't connected to the phone line. I did explain that that did not apply to us, and invited the DCA to sue me - the letters just went in the bin and it stopped after about a year.

Oddly enough, the 75.00 would have been waived had we signed up to Sky again.

Considering the billing issues with them, this then meant that Sky then found their way into my fairly short list of "scum" companies who I would never deal with again.

OldGreyFox

If the existing tenant is a Virgin Cable customer and not a Virgin Net now Virgin National non cable customer who have their calls and broadband with Virgin but still pay their line rental to BT,or who have moved their line rental to Virgin National it should be ok.

jem16

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

5 years and 2 addresses later I get a letter from a DCA saying I owe Sky 75.00 for some unknown reason. It transpired it was because the box wasn't connected to the phone line. I did explain that that did not apply to us, and invited the DCA to sue me - the letters just went in the bin and it stopped after about a year.

To get the discounted box through Sky you must have the phone line connected for at least the first callback. After that it can be disconnected.

You can also have Sky installed with no phone line for an extra one off £25. (not sure if this amount is correct)

Perhaps when your phone line was unable to connect you should have followed it up?