Maximum Distance from a VM Green Cab?

[dslam]

Hi All,

Are there any techies or installers in here who know what the maximum length of coax can be from the VM Green Cab to a customer premesis?

From reading posts in here it seems that the main 'limitation' of Broadband is the power level of the modem must sit between +8 to +58dBmV to work correctly, too far or too weak a signal and you get random connections?

Im only guessing but 350-450 metres sounds about the cutoff point, as the further you go the more power the modem needs to talk back?

Does anyone know a realistic distance so I can weigh up my chances of getting VM BB?

[reason im asking: I am still trying to get my premesis cabled up but im having to do all the legwork]

Any advice much appreciated,

Cheers!

[Graham M]

Do any of your neighbours have VM Cable?

[dslam]

This is a fairly new street but the older houses adjacent from here all have cable. I am right on the edge of my estate overlooking unadopted land.

There is actually a Green VM Cab 400m from this house, the nearest house with cable is 200m away. So this means bridging a gap of 200m...

If 400m is electronically an 'OK' dist from the cab for the BB to work then its possible as far as im concerned!

From my own observations, It actually would be possible to run cables from this house out the back and over (under!) unadopted land
(no planning permission req, builders asked council when doing drains)

Builders are out the back laying replacement drain pipes and I asked if they could run cables if req, they said not something they have been asked before but the good thing is they could do this as no crossing of any pavements or roads, theres just unadopted land (muddy/grass) separating this estate and the cabled houses. Nothings going to be built there in the future because its way too small, and they wont cut down the woodlands, i have checked.

I know it sounds far fetched but its just a matter of finding out if

A) Is 400m too far for servicability technically? (hence modem power question)
B) getting builders to run a cable/pipe for me whilst theres a big trench already being dug up
C) getting VM to agree the connection (which they seem to be entertaining to a degree)

They take my order but their tech who visited 'doesnt know' the specifics so its on hold.

So frustrating because BT is rubbish here, so so slow. I want a bit of 10/20/50Mb LOL

Many Thanks

[yorkshireborn]

This is a fairly new street but the older houses adjacent from here all have cable. I am right on the edge of my estate overlooking unadopted land.

There is actually a Green VM Cab 400m from this house, the nearest house with cable is 200m away. So this means bridging a gap of 200m...

If 400m is electronically an 'OK' dist from the cab for the BB to work then its possible as far as im concerned!

From my own observations, It actually would be possible to run cables from this house out the back and over (under!) unadopted land
(no planning permission req, builders asked council when doing drains)

Builders are out the back laying replacement drain pipes and I asked if they could run cables if req, they said not something they have been asked before but the good thing is they could do this as no crossing of any pavements or roads, theres just unadopted land (muddy/grass) separating this estate and the cabled houses. Nothings going to be built there in the future because its way too small, and they wont cut down the woodlands, i have checked.

I know it sounds far fetched but its just a matter of finding out if

A) Is 400m too far for servicability technically? (hence modem power question)
B) getting builders to run a cable/pipe for me whilst theres a big trench already being dug up
C) getting VM to agree the connection (which they seem to be entertaining to a degree)

They take my order but their tech who visited 'doesnt know' the specifics so its on hold.

So frustrating because BT is rubbish here, so so slow. I want a bit of 10/20/50Mb LOL

Many Thanks


if the cable stops at the last property and theres a 200 yard gap to your property it would cost a fortune to lay cable to your house, it costs roughly a £100 per metre to lay cable this is something virgin would not do even if you offered to pay.

[Welshchris]

i think i read somewhere Virgin wont run to a property if its more than 50m away.

[gasdetector]

i think you have little or no hope of getting an install done. 400m is too great a distance. 200m from the cab is about the max on an rg11 cable. And thats even if you persuaded virgin to shell out a fortune to extend the ducting to your property, which i don't think will happen. Its not cost effective for them.

[The Installer]

400m is too great a distance. 200m from the cab is about the max on an rg11 cable.

Not true :erm:

It all depends on the type of system in operation in your area as to the max distance from the cab to the property. It is possible (network depending) to have a 400m pull in RG11 but at that distance don't for one minute think oh great i can have a modem, V+ and a V box as it won't happen as there will NOT be enough signal to do this and no they will not upgrade a cab for you either. You should get away with a modem only depending on the architecture in your area.

Good luck but i wouldn't get your hopes to high ....

[Nedkelly]

400m is a long way but getting levels from a tap plate even on RG11 cable at the end they would not be good .If a feed straight from the amp then it might be possible .But it depends on the network but i would think going over unadopted land could be the falling block here :)The only way to find out is to try and get a spotter out

[Motorman]

VM will not authorise anything that requires over 3 metres of footway construction under normal circumstances. (usually takes about a week)
If its a carriageway dig the same applies but there is no timescale (anything up to 3 months is usual).

>200 metres is generally not much Kop

did you say a tech visited? what it a spotter?
do you think he did not know the specifics or perhaps he just let you down gently

can you get FreeSat?
I guess it would be a real bummer to go through it all and then find it still wont work because you are too far away from the Base unit!

[thamesvalley]

400M!? That must be some magic RG11 cable!
400m of RG11 would loose a maximum of 12Db on the bottom-end BUT would lose 56db on the top-end!!
Assuming you were aiming for +10 flat at the house, that means you'd have to launch from the amp (or tap) at +66db on the top-end - then try an find an equaliser to bring the bottom end down by at least 40db.
that would be one long stack of jelly beans! lol

Joking aside, you cant feed a single dwelling over 400m on regular drop cable - it would require a significant extension of the network including additional cabinets, amplifiers, through-pits and possibly extra power feeds for the amps.
This would require planning by VM and would only be considered if there were multiple dwellings being built in a new development e.g a whole street and also the developers were prepared to install the plant.
I'm not exactly sure nowdays but they used to ask the developers to contribute financially for the plant as well.

---------- Post added at 20:36 ---------- Previous post was at 20:34 ----------

try finding someone man-enough to pull a 400m drop cable in!