You can contact our support team by using a sign language interpreter. To use this service just visit our secure page where you can download the plug-in when prompted. Make sure you have a webcam then press ‘Make call’. It’s as easy as that. But don’t forget, you’ll need a broadband speed of at least 1Mb.

You can use our service Monday to Friday 9am until 8pm and Saturday and Sunday 9am until 4pm. If an Interpreter isn’t available immediately, simply hold or try again later. Outside working hours just leave your contact details in a video message, and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

If you have any problems connecting to the interpreter or would like to feedback on the InterpretersLive! service, simply get in touch with our partner, SignSolutions. You can contact them via a sign language interpreter at www.signsolutions.uk.com or send an email to office@signsolutions.uk.com.

If you can't speak on the phone, or prefer not to, you can use the Text Relay service.

All you have to do is type your conversation into your textphone's keypad and wait for the other person to reply.

It doesn't matter whether the person you're talking to has a telephone or a textphone because a relay assistant will help you and the person you're calling.

Oh and guess what? You get a discount on your calls via Text Relay with Virgin Media. Calls to UK local and national numbers, made via the TextDirect service with the 18001 prefix, get an 80% discount. Whilst calls to UK mobiles, made via the TextDirect service with the 18001 prefix, get a 20% discount.

Text Relay is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Find out more about Text Relay

Next Generation Text Relay Service

The Next Generation Text Relay Service does everything our current Text Relay service does and a whole lot more.

If you currently use Virgin Media’s Text Relay Service, you won’t have to make any changes to the way you currently make or receive phone calls. You’ll still be able to use your BT Textphone, Minicom, Uniphone or similar device – and we’ll automatically connect you to the relay service as before. The only difference is you’ll have some nice extra features when you connect to Text Relay, thanks to our improved service.

Text Number

As part of the upgrade of Virgin Media’s Text Relay Service, we’ve introduced Text Numbers as an alternative to the 18002 prefix. In addition to the 18002 prefix option currently available, you can now use the Text Numbers service if you’d prefer to connect to Text Relay in this way.

Find out more

Next Generation Text App

Prefer an app to using a textphone? No problem. Virgin Media customers with accessibility needs can download and install our easy to use Next Generation Text app.

The Next Generation Text app works with a home, office, or mobile phone and provides a text connection in parallel with the phone call you make through the Next Generation Text service.

The app is available on a range of compatible devices like your laptop, tablet and smartphone, so all you need is a good WiFi connection to download it. It’s also totally free to download and available from the usual app stores. For any updates, don’t forget to check back here.

Find out more

How to make a text call

1. Starting a call

   To start a call, dial 18001 then the full phone number of the person you want to call, including the area code (and international country code if you're calling outside the UK).Prefix 18001 +Area code 01234 +Number xxx xxx. There's no need to pause between numbers. In the above example, you would simply dial: 1800101234XXXXXX.When the person you're calling answers, if they are on a telephone, they will receive an automated message informing them this is a Text Relay call and there will be a short delay while a relay assistant joins the call. If the person who answers is on a Textphone users receive call progress information whilst the call is being established.

   During a call

   Each person takes their turn to type or speak. When you've finished typing your message, type GA, which stands for 'go ahead'. Lowercase ga is also suitable.Remember to allow enough time for the relay assistant to read your message to the person you're calling and type their response back to you.

   Ending a call

   When you want to end your call, type BIBI SKSK, which means 'bye bye' and 'stop keying'. Alternatively, type 'bye' or 'goodbye' and wait for their reply – this gives them the chance to say something else, in case they don't want to end the call.

2. Receiving a call

   When your textphone flashes or rings, answer the call in the way described by your textphone manual. You will then see the following message on your display: TXD CONNECTING TEXT RELAY... if the caller is using a telephone, or: TXD CONNECTED TEXT TO TEXT. GA if the caller is using a textphone.

3. Using your telephone

   Most textphones (sometimes called a Minicom) plug directly into your phone line and allow you to make and receive calls by typing and reading the conversation on a display.

   Textphone display messages

   As well as displaying the typed conversation, the screen on a textphone will display information about the call. A full list of the Textphone display messages are available on the Text Relay website.

Here are some of the access features of this website:

Keyboard navigation

• Easy navigation for keyboard users.
• Links that work with screen readers.
• Links that are highlighted with keyboard focus.
• Skip navigation links let you skip content. For sighted users, the 'skip to' links are revealed by pressing the tab key after the page loads. Sometimes you can skip to different areas of the page.

Screen reader navigation

If you're using a screen reader, you can browse this page by using these keyboard commands:

• H to move forwards through the page headings.
• Shift + H to move backwards through the page headings.
• 1 to navigate to the next level 1 heading (or 2 for the next level 2 heading, and so on until heading 6).
• Shift + 1 to navigate to the previous level 1 heading (same applies for headings 2-6).
• Insert + F5 to get a list of all form controls on the page.
• Insert + F6 to get a list of all headings on the page.
• Insert + F7 to get a list of all links on the page.

Changing the colour and font of the display

You can also use the controls in your browser to change the size of the text or the colour of the display.

For example, to change a website font and colour settings in Internet Explorer:

• Open Internet Explorer.
• Click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.
• Click the General tab, and then click Accessibility.
• Select the 'Ignore colours specified on web pages', 'Ignore font styles specified on web pages,' and 'Ignore font sizes specified on web pages' boxes', and then click OK twice.

Links, new windows and layers

Links to pages and other websites will open in the same window unless we say so. Some links can also open in a pop-up window on top of the page you're viewing.

A text link is like this: Follow Richard's challenge (opens in a new window) The text (opens in a new window) is hidden for screen reader users.

Accessibility guidelines

We've made this section of our site conform with the AA standard of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0). These guidelines are recognised all over the world as a benchmark for building accessible, user friendly websites.

Assistive technologies

The following assistive technologies are compatible with this section. They won't work on areas with accessibility limitations.

• JAWS version 12.0, 13 and 14 Screen Reader.
• Dragon Naturally Speaking 11 and 11.5.
• ZoomText 9.1 and 10 Screen Magnifier.

If you have any problems with older versions of these applications or other assistive technologies, please tell us.

Browser compatibility

This section works with modern browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer 8+, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome 10+ and Opera 10+.

If you have any problems with older versions of these browsers, please let us know.

Web standards and technologies

This website was made to meet World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards for HTML 5 (HyperText Mark-up Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

This website uses HTML and CSS. It also uses JavaScript in places.

If you're a textphone user and you need to call the emergency services (police, fire or ambulance), dial 18000.

Starting a call

To start a call, dial 18002 then the full phone number of the person you want to call, including the area code (and international country code if you're calling outside the UK). 
Prefix 18002 + Area code 01234 + Number xxx xxx

If the person you're calling picks up using a textphone, you will hear a recorded Text Relay greeting message while you wait for a relay assistant to join the call.

If the person you're calling picks up using a telephone, the call will be treated like a standard telephone call. However, if at any point the person you’re calling switches to a textphone, you will hear a recorded Text Relay greeting message while you wait for a relay assistant to join the call.

During the call

Each person takes their turn to speak or type. When you've finished, say 'go ahead'. For example: Hi Ryan, how's the new job going? Go ahead.

Remember to allow enough time for the relay assistant to type your side of the conversation to the person you're calling and read their response back to you. 
 Please note: The other person might use their own voice to speak to you, but they cannot hear your reply. If they do speak directly, don't try to reply until they have said go ahead.

Ending a call

When you want to end your call, just say 'bye' or 'goodbye' and wait for their reply – this gives them the chance to say something else, in case they don't want to end the call. For example:OK, give me a call Saturday and let me know about your week. Bye.

Receiving a call

If you receive a call from Text Relay, you will hear the following recorded message: Please hold for an operator-assisted call from a textphone user.

A relay assistant will then be connected to the call. Once connected, you will hear the relay assistant say: Hello, you have a call from a deaf or speech-impaired person and I will be relaying the call. Please say 'go ahead' when you have finished speaking. If you have not used Text Relay before, you can ask the relay assistant to explain how it works.

If you can't read or hold a telephone book very well, you might like our Directory Enquiries service.

If you want to contact a local business, just call 195 from your Virgin phone and we'll find the number you're looking for, free of charge, up to 10 times a day.

How to call Directory Enquiries from your Virgin Phone

1. Call 195 to register.
2. You'll be given a PIN to use whenever you dial Directory Enquiries again. Don't forget to make a note of it.
3. Tell us what number you're looking for and we'll find it for you. We'll even put you straight through if you like (although this will cost you a bit more).
4. Call 195 whenever you want to use Directory Enquiries again.

Priority fault repair:

We understand how important it is to be contactable and have the ability to contact others. So when it comes to faults with your phone, we give priority to customers who have an impairment and have an urgent need for repair. To make use of this service, we ask customers with an impairment or health condition to pre-register their requirements with us. Just give our Customer Care team a call on 150 from your Virgin Media Phone or Mobile, or call 0345 454 111 – Select option 2.

Please note: we’ll prioritise your repair over standard care levels but there may be circumstances beyond our control that mean we can’t. For example, inclement weather conditions like floods or storms can stop our engineers carrying out repairs to overhead cables or working down manholes.

Just to let you know, priority fault repair service is available where you have no dial tone or cannot receive or make calls on your landline phone. It is not available for Broadband and TV faults.

Tone callers are little gadgets that connect to your phone socket and make your phone's ringtone much louder. They're great if you miss calls because you don't hear the phone ring.

Models usually have a volume control, a choice of different tones and flashing lights that tell you when the phone is ringing.

Tone callers work with a Virgin Phone line. But make sure you don't have too many phones plugged in to your phone line around the home, as this might stop them from ringing. Try disconnecting one of the phones if this happens to you.

You can buy a tone caller from stores like Maplin or Amazon.

Talk Protected is designed for customers whose home phone is their lifeline.

The price of the package is frozen at £17.99 for as long as you're a Virgin Phone only customer and it comes with inclusive calls to UK landline, mobile, 0845 and 0870 numbers on evenings and weekends.***

You also receive some great additional services offering more control over your phone line and how you pay your bills. Plus discounts on other Virgin Phone plans if you choose to upgrade your service.

Benefits of Talk Protected

• No price rises as long as you’re a Virgin Phone only customer*
• Free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines and UK mobiles, and 0845/0870 numbers***
• Discounts off other Virgin Phone plans
• Free calls to directory enquiries (118 180)
• Paper billing at no extra cost
• Free caller display and voicemail
• Option to pay in a way that suits you (non-direct debit)

* If you add Virgin TV, Virgin Mobile or broadband to your account, you'll no longer be eligible.

Eligibility

Talk Protected is automatically given to Virgin Phone only customers over the age of 65 and those with:

• Limited mobility
• Limited speech and language
• Limited dexterity
• Cognitive or learning disabilities
• Blindness or poor sight
• Deafness or being hard of hearing

No action is required if you are an eligible customer. Talk Protected will automatically be added to your account.