Its (mostly) all about the phone

[ukdavvy]

Hi

Im strongly considering VM for all my home media but have a few questions Id love answered

The biggy is about the phone
On the other side of the wall to the most obvious place for my outside cable box is our master BT socket

We dont actually have anything plugged into this master but it does lead to a daisy chain of cable runs around the house including the socket that we actually have our main phone base station plugged into

My main worry is about this
The base station would be a nightmare to run a new cable to from the outside
Im not sure if VM would take over my main BT socket as their first run into the house - which would be easy - or if they would need to run a cable from the outside to where my cordless phone dock is connected which would be a nightmare

Opinions welcome on this

Secondly the VM website says outside cables are buried but the 2 mates I have locally with VM cable have just had the cable run along the surface of their garden in a plastic sheath
Is this lazy local installers or is it what actually happens everywhere?

My install is a potential nightmare
The trianglular box outside the house is in the most stupid position imaginable
The run from this would go through a whole heap of bushes and trees - the roots of which are going to make burying pretty tough

The thing is I really do need it buried as we have a dog who will chew through the connection before I can say "Sky" !!!!!!

So comments welcomed

Do I need the phone to go all the way thro the house to my master base station or can they parasite it into the BT socket just by where the VM outside box will be?

And is the installer paid a flat fee by VM because if so they just will not be bothered to make the effort for my install thro the garden?
If they get paid for their effort then fair play and I will be a happy customer for many years

Thanks

[Stuart]

to the forum.

Unfortunately, the telephone master socket is the property of BT so VM will be unable to touch it.

I think they *can* connect extension sockets though..

[v0id]

Originally Posted by Stuart

to the forum.

Unfortunately, the telephone master socket is the property of BT so VM will be unable to touch it.

Unless you got a shady installer, and offer them a choccie biscuit with their tea ...in the Telewest days anyway

[ukdavvy]

Many thanks

Hmmmmm

I think I need a survey before I commit to a contract:

The cable run will be a disaster from the street thro my garden
(But if the street point was 10y away would be fine)

And the phone run will be difficult too to where I would want my main phone
(Although there is preexisting phone wiring from the BT master)

Cheers

[raging bull]

What I did was dewire extention wiring from master socket (BT) this then allowed new cable supplied phone to be wired into existing phone circuit.
Brian

[Taf]

Next door just had a repull...instead of reusing the buried conduit, they just nailed the cabling to the garden wall... no protection at all.....

[ukdavvy]

Just spoken to VM's call centre

All installation questions are handles by the sales team which I hadnt realised

If I had signed up now they would have booked an installation, set up an account and asked me to sign a contract then sent an engineer round next week to make sure everything would be OK

I then asked about how to set that up on the web if I used Quidco which was perhaps naive of me

I was told if I use Quidco or the VM website my new friend wouldnt get any sales commission and that he also wouldnt be helping me any further

Which was nice

[weesteev]

You contract is only valid upon a successful installation of service, Even then you have a 28 day money back guarantee.

You can request a pre-site survey when you speak with sales, they can book a spotter to come round and explain your options. The installer will also confirm the install process and cable routes on the day.

Quidco is a referring website to a sales portal linked to virginmedia.co.uk, its just another step rather than going direct to website. Quidco normally provides incentives to sign up so to get that incentive you will need to sign up by however they advise as they are providing the incentive not VM. Also, mentioning this to a sales person at VM may well lead to a cold response... they are losing commission of you do this :-)

HTH

[ukdavvy]

Thanks steev - I wish it was you on the other end of the phone an hour ago
I can understand the guy getting arsey about losing his commission but having questions like mine answered by the sales team is asking for it isnt it?

My main concern is terminating BT, SKY and my ADSL and then finding out VM cannot connect me due to tree roots

There must be an easier way than to sign a contract before they will send someone round for a quick peep

[weesteev]

It might be impossible to tell until an installation begins. What I would do is book my Sky disconnection for 1 week after my Virgin Install, this allows ample "bedding in" time. Your phone number will only port over to Virgin once the Tech has successfully installed your line and started the "porting" process.

If all goes well then your Sky service disconnects 1 week later as expected.

I would tell the sales person when you order that you know the cable is cut though, this will allow sales to book a 2 man team (may take slightly longer than a standard install) rather than a 1 man crew. If there has been cable at the address before the the default install method is a 1 man crew.

Hope this helps, let us know how things go.