Problems with Virgin Boardband Phoneline and Alarm & Care alarm for elderly

Alowicious28

I'm not sure that I have posted in the right place? House phone used to be plugged into BT box but was paid to Virgin media along with TV and broadband.  There was a problem so an engineer came out and said 'we're upgrading everyone to broadband lines' so he unplugged the house phone and plugged it into the broadband box and left.
Trouble is he didn't ask my elderly mother if she had any other services plugged into the BT box - she does!! her care alarm box (Well-being) for if she falls and her House burglar alarm box (ADT), so now both of these no longer work. Spent an hour on the phone with Virgin who say it's not to do with them and call the providers of these services.  Called the providers of both and they say that Virgin needs to connect them to to the broadband line and then we need to pay £300 - £900 to upgrade the alarm.  
I asked Virgin to put it back to the BT box today and they have refused.  I am at a loss as what to do??? At the moment as we are about to enter into a new contact with Virgin (Due to a death) I am verging on cancelling the contract completely and switching to BT.  Anyone had this problem and managed to sort it out at all???? Advice gratefully received

ThisnotThat

The only thing you can do (other than paying to have it connected to the broadband "box") is to switch to BT.  If Virgin wish to supply their services via the "box" that's their prerogative.

Perhaps worth adding that this problem may crop up again in future. Traditional phone lines are going the way of the dodo and anyone wanting a phone service is eventually going to have to use a VoIP service via a broadband connection. (Although if they are elderly perhaps this won't be an issue in their lifetime.)

Diamandis

I have one of these alarms. When I switched to virgin they split the line and plugged it into the alarm too. It took them an extra minute or two. I'd escalate your complaint with virgin media, their customer service is outsourced and its probably unlikely it's not something they come across that often. I dont see why you would need a new alarm system though. That part makes no sense.

custardy

Just to check. VM wouldnt be using any BT hardware AFAIK.
So the 'BT box' is irrelevant. Are you saying you simply need a phone line splitter to run a phone line to some 3rd party box?
If theres a traditional phone in the property, then you have a line going to that you can split out.

MattMattMattUK

Switching to BT is not an option as all the old copper lines are being decommissioned, everything will be VOIP by 2025 at the latest, but in many areas the change has already happened and new builds have not had copper for 3-4 years now. 

anniecave

What is the exact specifications of the care alarm box? I know someone with one and it is just like another phone, so it would simply need a phone line splitter so that both items can be plugged into the phone line at the same time.  Similarly the ADT alarm, if it was working before just all on a single line (only paying once for one line to Virgin Media) then that may be the case too.

If you plug the care alarm in instead of the home telephone, does it work? 

anniecave

If this thread was moved or re-posted on the broadband / home phone board you will probably get people who know more about this. 

Alowicious28

custardy said:

Just to check. VM wouldnt be using any BT hardware AFAIK.
So the 'BT box' is irrelevant. Are you saying you simply need a phone line splitter to run a phone line to some 3rd party box?
If theres a traditional phone in the property, then you have a line going to that you can split out.

Hi, thanks for your reply.  They used to use the old BT box as that's what everything was plugged into before we had a problem with them.  They then unplugged the master phone from the BT box and put it into the phone line on the Virgin Broadband so it now works with VOIP.  My issue is that the house alarm and the Care alarm used the BT box too and neither work when plugged into the Virgin Broadband phone line - I'm guessing because neither will work over VOIP.  But Virgin say sorry contact ADT and Well-being and both of those businesses say nothing to do with them it's Virgin's issue to sort.

Alowicious28

anniecave said:

What is the exact specifications of the care alarm box? I know someone with one and it is just like another phone, so it would simply need a phone line splitter so that both items can be plugged into the phone line at the same time.  Similarly the ADT alarm, if it was working before just all on a single line (only paying once for one line to Virgin Media) then that may be the case too.

If you plug the care alarm in instead of the home telephone, does it work? 

anniecave said:

What is the exact specifications of the care alarm box? I know someone with one and it is just like another phone, so it would simply need a phone line splitter so that both items can be plugged into the phone line at the same time.  Similarly the ADT alarm, if it was working before just all on a single line (only paying once for one line to Virgin Media) then that may be the case too.

If you plug the care alarm in instead of the home telephone, does it work? 

Hi, Thanks for your reply. I tried plugging the Well-being box into the broadband phone line directly and it could dial out but then made lots of repetitive beeping tones and the people who monitor the alarm couldn't speak to us.  It is just a box that plugs into a normal analogue phone line.  Well-being don't make one that works on VOIP

Alowicious28

Diamandis said:

I have one of these alarms. When I switched to virgin they split the line and plugged it into the alarm too. It took them an extra minute or two. I'd escalate your complaint with virgin media, their customer service is outsourced and its probably unlikely it's not something they come across that often. I dont see why you would need a new alarm system though. That part makes no sense.

Thanks for your reply.  They are coming tomorrow thankfully so I will ask them then.  They should have however asked my elderly Mother if she had any other services using the phone line.  I am so angry about that.  Imagine if she had no one to sort this out for her!!  The Engineer should have asked so I am going to complain about their terrible service, thank you.
The Alarm company are saying that the alarm is old and we have to upgrade it now to enable it to dial out on the VOIP broadband line.  I am looking into trying an ATA adaptor but not sure if I could configure it easily. It's now looking like we'll have to get BT to fix and reconnect the old analogue line and pay extra for that so we don't have to do the Alarm upgrade.  Not being tight as she can afford it, but why should she have to when Virgin caused this issue in the first place??  It worked perfectly well before they switched her to VOIP 

MattMattMattUK

Alowicious28 said:

anniecave said:

What is the exact specifications of the care alarm box? I know someone with one and it is just like another phone, so it would simply need a phone line splitter so that both items can be plugged into the phone line at the same time.  Similarly the ADT alarm, if it was working before just all on a single line (only paying once for one line to Virgin Media) then that may be the case too.

If you plug the care alarm in instead of the home telephone, does it work? 

Hi, Thanks for your reply. I tried plugging the Well-being box into the broadband phone line directly and it could dial out but then made lots of repetitive beeping tones and the people who monitor the alarm couldn't speak to us.  It is just a box that plugs into a normal analogue phone line. 

Is the box independently powered? A lot of the legacy devices use power supplied over the copper line and used far more than the specificiation technically allowed, but worked because the system was not very tight on compliance. The broadband connections are designed for self-powered devices, they provide only the amount of power needed to show the line is active, not to power devices.

Alowicious28 said:
Well-being don't make one that works on VOIP

They do not, however they have now switched all devices over to mobile networks. It looks like they have stopped selling the analogue line options because they know that they will not work for much longer and have gone down mobile route instead.
https://www.welbeing.org.uk/