A Few Questions...

fel32 · 20-06-2012, 22:13

Hello there! I've just ordered Virgin Media Cable (Broadband+Phone - No TV yet, waiting to see what Sky can do with the price...).

I've been reading for a while now and some of the threads on here are really interesting and have already answered a few of my questions. I do have one or two more about the installation.

1) Do VM provide a phone for their Phone service, or can you just use a bog-standard POTS one? If it's a VM one, how does it connect to the network? (Coax? Ethernet?)...

and...

2) There are extensive NYNEX works on our street (cabs, pits, pull points etc) but I can't find our "pull point" (The ones on our street are little circular thing with a "Duraline" cap on it at the foot of our driveway). Either it's been paved/lawn'd over or we never had one? Our next door neighbors have VM installed and the box is right next to our front garden (we live in two detached houses). Is it possible the tech will take a feed from this instead of pulling a cable for us (at our invisible pull point...)?

and...

3) Any important prep work to do (other than the stuff on the VM site) before the engineer arrives? Any questions to ask before he leaves, things to check?

Cheers in advance,
Damo

BenMcr · 20-06-2012, 22:17

1) You have to supply your own, any normal phone will work

2) It's possible to share one 'pull point' between two addresses if needed, however you should really get your own cable from the street to your house

3) Clear a path in the rooms where you want the cable so he can get to where you want it to go

fel32 · 20-06-2012, 22:30

Great! Cheers for the fast reply Ben. Just a little extension on Q2. If our address is marked as being able to get cable, does that mean we have a cable point or just that we're within range of one and so installation is possible? I assumed that VM got the data when they inherited it from NYNEX/NTL/Telewest etc, so they know exactly which houses have a "pull point" (Not sure of the correct term for those!). Is this the case, or is there a bit of guesswork?

Thanks again!!

BenMcr · 20-06-2012, 22:35

To be honest, all installs are subject to survey. VM have a list of addresses that are potentially servicable (and obviously know which ones have previously had service) but all sorts of things can happen between that record and your install

Generally it's down to contractors or previous householders damaging ducts or cables

Depending on what your house may / may not have had before appropriate crews may be sent to 'pre-pull' cable through to the address so that the engineers can install it.

fel32 · 20-06-2012, 22:51

And if the pull point for us has been destroyed or lost, could an install still take place? The conduit must run under our garden to get to our neighbors' Omnibox on the wall (the cable emerges from a green conduit right next to their wall).

BenMcr · 21-06-2012, 09:09

Virgin are well practiced in resolving these things, so only rarely will it cause an install to be cancelled completely.

fel32 · 29-06-2012, 08:30

Just an update, engineer just visited, told me we were down as already having had cable and had a look around the street for our swept-T thing. I told him about the neighbours having a conduit < 1m from our front wall but he didn't seem interested in that.

Said his manager will be attending soon. Not looking good for an install today, how did I know this would happen? -.-

fel32 · 30-06-2012, 23:23

Another update, manager was a no-show. No phonecall. Phoned today to find order was cancelled (!?!?). Rebooked install, struggled to get them to bring the date forward despite the snafu with the first order. They're sending a two man team next time. Fingers crossed.

fel32 · 13-07-2012, 16:35

Hope this doesn't constitute thread resurrection but here's another update:

Install scheduled for tomorrow, virgin showed up today to put a swept tee in at the bottom of the lawn. Done nice and neatly and quickly, threaded some cable too I think. All looks good for tomorrow!

joglynne · 13-07-2012, 16:43

..

..and good luck for tomorrow.

Don't forget to offer Coffee and Choccy Biscuits.

fel32 · 13-07-2012, 17:23

Cheers! And I'll have the tea and biccies on standby! Will let you guys know how it went this time tomorrow!

fel32 · 16-07-2012, 15:51

All done! Install was executed professionally and neatly. Install quality is really neat, cable routed as we asked and the broadband speed is incredible, tests to dead on 102Mbps down and 9.5 up. Checked all the values in the Network Status section of the Superhub and they all conform to the standards advised here and elsewhere.

Nothing negative to mention except the number transfer will take some time as we kept the BT contract running while we were having installation delays with Virgin; until then, we've got two phone numbers - hey ho! :P

Guys were very nice and enjoyed their brews too :P. All in all, impressed and a happy customer so far.

joglynne · 16-07-2012, 17:57

Glad to hear it all went well. Waiting for the installation is always the worst part as we are always trying to second guess what could go wrong so I am delighted that your experience has been so good.

DJSADERS · 21-07-2012, 20:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by fel32

All done! Install was executed professionally and neatly. Install quality is really neat, cable routed as we asked and the broadband speed is incredible, tests to dead on 102Mbps down and 9.5 up. Checked all the values in the Network Status section of the Superhub and they all conform to the standards advised here and elsewhere.

Nothing negative to mention except the number transfer will take some time as we kept the BT contract running while we were having installation delays with Virgin; until then, we've got two phone numbers - hey ho! :P

Guys were very nice and enjoyed their brews too :P. All in all, impressed and a happy customer so far.

We need more happy customers like yourself to say thanks and appreciate our hard work

There is soo much negativity on here... but rarely any good feedback

I'm glad it all went well for ya bud

carlwaring · 21-07-2012, 20:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJSADERS

There is soo much negativity on here... but rarely any good feedback

And this is the problem; and not just for VM. Anyone searching for information on something will see all these negative comments and jump to the wrong conclusion.