Broadband/Phone installation and block paving driveways

[thrawn]

Hi all,

I'm thinking of switching to Virgin for broadband and phone. My main concern is how the cable will be run to my house. My entire front garden is block paved driveway. Does anyone know how the cable is run from the street to the house in this situation?

Cheers.

[homealone]

:welcome:

When my service was installed they lifted the blocks at the edge of the drive, laid the cable, then replaced the blocks.

I'm not sure if they used any conduit to contain the cable, or laid it 'bare', but it was a long time ago & we haven't had any problems ....

[thrawn]

I know different installers will have a different quality of work but did they do a good job of restoring the blocks? Only reason I ask is I had a pipe burst under the drive last year. The guys who took the drive up to get to the pipe were brilliant. The team that came a few days later to relay it were terrible. Nothing worse than a sinking driveway.

[jungleguy]

lets get something straight, installers install, they don't lift block paving unless they have very little work to do that day. If they do lift the blocks they will not go down as well as they were originally laid, thats not to do with the quality of work of the installer, but to do with the nature of lifting blocks, and relaying it back onto cable.

[homealone]

I know different installers will have a different quality of work but did they do a good job of restoring the blocks? Only reason I ask is I had a pipe burst under the drive last year. The guys who took the drive up to get to the pipe were brilliant. The team that came a few days later to relay it were terrible. Nothing worse than a sinking driveway.


The blocks were right at the edge of the drive, adjoining a wall. There is no weight on the drive at that point, so 'sinking' wasn't an issue.

lets get something straight, installers install, they don't lift block paving unless they have very little work to do that day. If they do lift the blocks they will not go down as well as they were originally laid, thats not to do with the quality of work of the installer, but to do with the nature of lifting blocks, and relaying it back onto cable.


To be fair my installation was back in the day when Diamond Cable directly employed the installation teams, so I take the point that my experience may not reflect current practice.

[virgin_tech]

all installers are different, they may lift blocks if its not to far a distance... but mainly they will just lay it on top and cable clip it flat, or just leave it for you to lift the blocks.

to be fair it can be an awkward job, they are told not too and don't get paid for it

[thrawn]

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm happy with them just clipping the cable down if that is acceptable to VM. It would be a large number of blocks to lift and reseat and it's not really in their job description :).