Installation process? Not exactly an "issue"

[port 21]

Hi,

Last week i ordered virgin media Large connection and it is due to be installed on friday (the 27th).

I was just wondering what installation entails?

Its just im getting this connection in addition to my connection going over my phone line with bt (because im setting up some services which require a high speed permantly on internet connection ).

My mum (who owns the house, although the contract is in my name because im 18) has the vision of peopel tearing up the walls and floors and laying 3 meter thick cables and the like.

So i just have a couple of questions:

-Will i need to be near a phone line or any other connection? (the line will hopefully be going in my room and i dont have ANY phone line upstairs.)

-Will there be wires inside the house (eg, can i have it goin gup my wall outside then through the wall into my room?)

And finally:

If someone could just take me through the installation process so i can put my mum at ease that'd be great.

Much appreciated, and i apologise for any possible spelling mistakes or formatting problems as im typing this from my blackberry.
And i apologise if this has already been asked.
Richard

[Halcyon]

Hi and :welcome: to the site.

Basically a cable needs to go from the front of your property on the pavement to the wall of your house.
If you have a grass lawn they will make a small trench for the cable to go along. And then put the grass back.
If it is a concrete or a more complicated driveway you may have to do this yourself or have a talk with them.
Cook them breakfast and I'm sure they will be helpful.
You'l end up with a little brown box on the side of your house.
From here they will run a cable to where your phone point will be.
Most likely this will be near to where you want to make phone calls, and the easiest way into your property. They'll drill a hole here.
When they did mine they asked if I wanted white or black cabling.

For the broadband or TV you'l have another cable going to a little box on the wall where you want the services eg, next to TV or next to computer, so to answer your question you won't need to be next to the phone socket.

Yes, you should be able to have the coax cable going along the outside of the wall and through into your room. Just depends on wall thickness, ease of installing, etc.

EDIT:

I'm assuming you have cable in your area. If you are on ADSL your modem will plug straight into the phoneline.
From here you will need to either connect a long ethernet cable to your computer. You can do this yourself. Or hook up wireless access points yourself to avoid wires.

Hope that helps.

[homealone]

Hi :welcome:

They should be quite happy to run the cable around the outside wall, that is how my installation was done.

They have to run a cable from the junction box on the pavement outside your house to the front of the house, where they will fit a connection box from which the cable will be run round the wall - the piccy in the link below is my phone & BB cable going into the upstairs back room.

Depending on the access they have will determine how easy that will be, as the cable from the street should be buried & enclosed in a conduit - my drive is block paved, but they managed to lift the blocks, install the cable & replace the blocks - lawns, flower beds & concrete drives present other challenges ..

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/attachments/62/attachment-15121d1192292811-hole.jpg

<edit> Halcyon types faster than me ;)

[port 21]

Thanks both of you. Appreciate the quick replies.


Halcyon. Yeah, i do have cable, Its not adsl (i dont want to be going back in time, haha).
Im cool with setting everything (apart from the initial installation of course) up myself (i actually work in networking and set up far more complicated networks than this, so i should be cool).
Id like ot think my wall is pretty standard, so it shouldnt be much of a fuss doing it.=P
I also have a drainpipe going up to my roof right where i want the cable to go, so that will diqguise the cable quite well.

I wouldnt have asked these questions if it wasnt for the horror stories ive heard here and from a friend or two which scared the living crap out of me. haha.


So just to clarify, it should be cool for them to run the cable up my wall into my 2nd floor bedroom?

(I dont care too much about them digging up the front garden, it is grass by the way. Because no one else will be in the house when the installation takes place so as long as its put back to relative normal-ness i dont mind).

And im only getting the broadband package, so how long (average) do you think it will take in total? (i work my second job friday eveings/nights)

I might offer them some food or something to keep em sweet, haha.

[homealone]

Second floor may be an issue - as far as I know the safe height working regulations prevent them going any higher than the first floor without erecting scaffolding / nets, etc, which they won't be expecting on a standard installation.

It 'may' be possible to arrange for the appropriate hole to be drilled before they get there & provide a means to pull the cable up & through.

I believe you can contact customer service to request a survey prior to the installation & discuss whether that will be a problem - but don't quote me on that, I'm not 100% sure?

[port 21]

How big a hole are we talking?

Reckon if i say "i'll give you an extra 20 quid if you could do it" he'd do it? Bribary has got me out of some tight spots, so its a possibility, right? :D


edit: just to clarify, its not second floor, it'd be first floor if your talking about it going

2nd floor
1st floor
ground floor

Its a standard house with 2 storeys.
I dont know if that clears it up.

further edit: And whats stopping him drilling from the inside =/

[homealone]

How big a hole are we talking?

Reckon if i say "i'll give you an extra 20 quid if you could do it" he'd do it? Bribary has got me out of some tight spots, so its a possibility, right? :D

About 7.5mm should be sufficient, as for the bribe approach, I guess that will depend on the installer - basically he isn't insured to go higher than the first floor & if he does - and gets injured, then he won't qualify for compensation & will probably be sacked for ignoring the rules.

Some may be willing to take a risk, some may not ...

<edit> just seen your edit, first floor shouldn't be a problem.

- drilling from the inside can cause a large chunk of brick to break away on the outside, making it difficult to seal & prevent ingress of water. Any 'damage' to the inside wall caused by drilling from the outside will be covered by a face plate or junction box.

[port 21]

Awesome.

I got worried for a sec there because if he cant do my bedroom floor im screwed =P.
Its just your house, not a flat or anything higher.

So will that be alright then? Im at home so ive taken a pic of the house:

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/7571/img1776sc5.jpg
The red dot is where the floor in my bedroom floor starts, so where i assume it will be drilled.

[homealone]

Awesome.

I got worried for a sec there because if he cant do my bedroom floor im screwed =P.
Its just your house, not a flat or anything higher.

So will that be alright then? Im at home so ive taken a pic of the house:
The red dot is where the floor in my bedroom floor starts, so where i assume it will be drilled.

that looks fine, it is about the same height as mine was drilled :tu:

[port 21]

Awesome.

Appreciate your help a hell of a lot mate, put my mind at ease.

One or two more question before i quit bugging you:

How long will the process take? I know it depends on the situation (eg, paved or lawn etc). But on average?

Will my connection be up immediately? Its an independant connection and doesnt rely on phone etc. And im keeping my bt phone and bt internet connection.


Cheers.

[homealone]

Awesome.

Appreciate your help a hell of a lot mate, put my mind at ease.

One or two more question before i quit bugging you:

How long will the process take? I know it depends on the situation (eg, paved or lawn etc). But on average?

Will my connection be up immediately? Its an independant connection and doesnt rely on phone etc. And im keeping my bt phone and bt internet connection.


Cheers.

No problem - It is the purpose of the site, after all :)

I'm trying to remember how long my installation took & I think it was about an hour & a half.

How long it takes for the connection to be up can sometimes vary, depending on the area, as far as I know - however mine was working before the installer left, he made a call on his mobile to arrange the modem to be 'hit' & it was pretty much instant. He will only check that the modem synchs with the signal, though, he won't set it up on your computer.

You won't get access to the full internet, at first, the first time you launch a browser (which must have javascript enabled), & browse to

http://activation.virginmedia.com/

you are taken through a registration process, during which you set up your user name & are allocated a password for email & webspace access. You should have had a 'welcome' letter with a PIN number on it for use during this process - if not, ask the installer.

The above is very much from memory, so if anyone else reading notices any error, please do point it out :)

[port 21]

Yeah, awesome. I was just making sure it wasnt like "it takes 7 days for connection to be activated" or anything.

Everything almost seems too good to be true (famous last words before you see me bitching about it friday night haha.

[homealone]

Yeah, awesome. I was just making sure it wasnt like "it takes 7 days for connection to be activated" or anything.

Everything almost seems too good to be true (famous last words before you see me bitching about it friday night haha.

:LOL: - my first attempt at being installed was a failure due to the conduit from the 'swept T' (The connection point outside your house) to the street cabinet being blocked with concrete, so they couldn't pull the cable . :erm:

It was sorted very quickly though &, to be fair, it was very soon after the street cabs, etc were installed, so I presume that similar problems don't occur so often, nowadays ...

[BenMcr]

You won't get access to the full internet, at first, the first time you launch a browser (which must have javascript enabled), & browse to

http://activation.virginmedia.com/

you are taken through a registration process, during which you set up your user name & are allocated a password for email & webspace access. You should have had a 'welcome' letter with a PIN number on it for use during this process - if not, ask the installer.

The above is very much from memory, so if anyone else reading notices any error, please do point it out

This no longer applies. There are no PIN numbers any more :D

The first time you now try and go online to ANY site, you should be automatically be directed to the registration pages (If not then the activation site is correct)

EDIT: If it is a manned install, the installer should now ask you to turn on your PC, hook the modem up to it and go to a specific 'installer' page which confirms that the modem is properly talking to Virgin. You then follow the normal registration process

[homealone]

This no longer applies. There are no PIN numbers any more :D

The first time you now try and go online to ANY site, you should be automatically be directed to the registration pages (If not then the activation site is correct)

EDIT: If it is a manned install, the installer should now ask you to turn on your PC, hook the modem up to it and go to a specific 'installer' page which confirms that the modem is properly talking to Virgin. You then follow the normal registration process


:cool: - thanks :tu:

[port 21]

Haha, one more thing i was wondering:

Where is the cable, and how does it get to my house?

I know it goes through the lawn, but.....well.....where do they "tap it" from?

[homealone]

Haha, one more thing i was wondering:

Where is the cable, and how does it get to my house?

I know it goes through the lawn, but.....well.....where do they "tap it" from?

Well I presume they will have checked this when you signed up, but if you look along the pavement, just outside each house there should be a quite small flush cover with a logo on it.

Ours is about 2 or 3 inches square & says 'Diamond Cable', but the design will vary, depending on which franchise did the original installation.

The cover conceals access to a conduit leading to the nearest 'street cabinet', which is a node for the various connections to the neighbouring houses. The cable is pulled through the conduit from the street cab & thence to your house. You can think of each conduit access point as as T junction off a ring road.

[port 21]

Yep, just ran outside, i have a triangle shaped panel with CATV on it. (CAble TV). And its right nex tto my wall, so minimal screwing about, yay.

[Spitfire12]

Good Luck Port 21

From the Horrors i had , ull need it :P

[port 21]

haha, i appreciate your optimism!

What are the chances, (percentage wise) of mine going well?

[BenMcr]

Higher than this forum would suggest ;)

Most go fine, but the ones that go wrong seem to go badly wrong lol

[Spitfire12]

When it was C+w it was Great!

NTL was good to...

Virgin Media are doing down the Pan

Traffic Shapping Phrom etc 100+ Pings to UK Servers , Problem was on VM Network yet they failed to fix it..

port 21 - i saw in your first post your require your net on 24/4 , you do know you get traffic shaped on the amount of data...

[port 21]

Yeah. I know. Its going to be low bandwidth intensive though. So i should be okay.

Wewt, should be installed in approximately 5/6 hours :D

[Spitfire12]

Yeah. I know. Its going to be low bandwidth intensive though. So i should be okay.

Wewt, should be installed in approximately 5/6 hours :D

let us know how it went , the installation :P

[port 21]

Installation was a breeze.
Was up and running within an hour of them arriving.

:D

Really nice guys as well.

[joglynne]

Installation was a breeze.
Was up and running within an hour of them arriving.

:D

Really nice guys as well.

Nice to hear that your install went well. Have fun but don't forget that there are loads of members here to give you advise if anything happens in the future.

[BEASTLEYLIZARD]

Hi guys,
Quick question with regards to installation, this looks like the right place to ask. I have just upgraded to V+,but i had my first install done with NTL, will they need to replace any existing cables? If so, will they run the new cables the same way as the old ones? As they were run in an arc across my garden(:mad:) rather then going in a straight line along my fence, which would have been alot easier for them lol. Also do any of my cables inside need to be replaced at all?

[homealone]

Hi guys,
Quick question with regards to installation, this looks like the right place to ask. I have just upgraded to V+,but i had my first install done with NTL, will they need to replace any existing cables? If so, will they run the new cables the same way as the old ones? As they were run in an arc across my garden(:mad:) rather then going in a straight line along my fence, which would have been alot easier for them lol. Also do any of my cables inside need to be replaced at all?

When our samsung2100c was upgraded to V+ the installer simply removed the sammy & connected the V+ to exactly the same connection that the sammy had been on - no cables needed moving/replacing at all. :)

[BEASTLEYLIZARD]

When our samsung2100c was upgraded to V+ the installer simply removed the sammy & connected the V+ to exactly the same connection that the sammy had been on - no cables needed moving/replacing at all. :)


Lovely, thanks for that.:)

[port 21]

One slight problem. I think its the router though.
The connection drops every now and then, and my NAT was tighter than by boss's wallet =P I couldnt find any servers on xbox or PC.

I think i sorted it by power cycling, but it was freaking annoying.