Cant Get Cable? - Maybe We Can Help!

[weesteev]

Hi Guys

I work for the new developments team at Virgin Media, we actively pursue cases where we can add to our cable network either through new build houses or infill in areas we have missed.

I would appreciate any input from you guys if you cant get cable but feel we may be in a position to provide you with cable, we investigate each case individually to see if there is merit in delivering cable to the requested address(es).

At this stage I would like to welcome any request for service in the following areas…

Scotland (including but not limited to… Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Perth)
North West England (including but not limited to… Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton, Wigan, Blackpool, Stockport)
North East England (including but not limited to… Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough)
Northern Ireland (including but not limited to… Belfast, Derry)

We are actively seeking out areas we have missed all over the UK but as you can imagine, some we miss! What we need to check availaibility is your full address and postcode, please leave a comment or PM/email myself and I will look into each oppurtunity and let you know what we can do to help.

For the moment I can only check these areas but if this experiment is successful then I will roll this out across other areas.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to assisting anyone who requires it!

[weesteev]

I would like to keep this thread firmly on topic so please direct queries about other issues to their relevant posts/threads. No details about specific New Development sites will be discussed on this forum for many reasons. Any queries will be responded to discreetly and details of your request will not be shared with anyone else on this forum or disseminated publicly as per Virgin Media's privacy policy.

Please note that any information you do supply will only be used for the purposes of location checks against Virgin Media's access network. If contact details are requested then it is because we feel that we can provide service to your street and you may be contacted for further information.

For full details on Virgin Media's privacy policy please visit the following link...

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/legal/oncable/privacypolicy.html

If you have any queries then please get in touch.

[weesteev]

Hi Everyone

Thanks for the phenominal response so far! At this stage I would like to request that no more examples be sent through at this stage, I currently have over 100 projects to work with now which is considerably more than expected. The Cable Forum members have been especially active giving me the most examples so I would like to thank you guys for your efforts for getting in contact!

Any more PM's cannot be responded to until I have checked over the exiting requests and dont worry if I have been in contact already then that will continue until your request has been completed.

Thanks again to everyone who got in touch, I will restart this process again soon to judge demand very soon.

Best Regards

Stephen

[texr]

hi weesteev,

just came across this topic,
are you still following/replying??

Just wondering how you are getting on with your site investigations, with a view to maybe adding 1 more new build area to your list??

shall await your reply,

thanks

[zing_deleted]

The whole of Chapel End Nuneaton could be lucrative the cable network just stops leaving out a whole area of the town

[RobertinHerts]

Is this being rolled out to the "Home counties" around London? I'm aware of a very large estate without cable whereas there is cable nearby, if it's the spending power of the households that Virgin is worried about: about half are expensive properties.

For one customer it's been very frustrating having to have a phone line installed and paid for when all that was wanted was broadband.

[Paul Ryan]

I had sent you a pm, your advice would be appreicated.

Thanks!

[RobertinHerts]

You can now contact Virginmedia using Twitter: @VirginMedia - seem pretty responsive.

[deanhuth]

After talking with virgin i find out they wont come to cotgrave as they say the town council wont allow them. I have spoke with members of the town council and would welcome virgin to cotgrave. frustrated ,i am as when i speak to anyone at virgin know one seems to know who I need to talk to.with a population of 8500 and growing and everyone i speak to would love to have virgin instead of sky tv .broadband and phone.please some one pull there finger out . an advertising campiagn in our small town would prove fruitful

[weesteev]

Hi Deanhuth

The first problem with providing cable to Cotgrave is its distance from the nearest active network. There would be substantial work to bring service to the town as well as commissioning the extra capacity to support a town of this size. 8k homes is a massive amount to add to the network at once and many problems can arrise with this including lack of space at the local hubsite to support the addition of this many homes.

The next problem is... the number of homes (again). 8k Homes is approximately 18 quadrants or 9-10 MUX or Fibre Nodes. 1 MUX cabinet would cost circa £40k to build and then there is still the job of building the local network to feed these homes and commission all the extra smaller DP or DA cabinets to feed the streets.

From a cost point of view, this would be horrendously high. Main build is still something that is being looked at by the company as new technologys have emerged which may make projects like this more feasible in future, but in the current environment this would just be way too much work and an astonishing cost as well. 8k homes would be circa £7m to build based on the current network architecture.

So while today may not be an option, hopefully if these well publicised trials end up as reality then I would say there is more chance, in the meantime I just couldn't see this happening.

I hope this was useful, feel free to get in touch if you need anything else.

[timacheson]

Please extend your broadband and cable service to my area ASAP!

Having been a Virgin customer (and previously NTL) for over 10 years, I have moved house (5 miles) and now have no access whatsoever to Virgin broadband and cable TB services. I am in the South East of ENgland, less than 30 miles from London!

May I offer some constructive feedback on Virgin broadband? The service is good, where it is available, but Virgin urgently needs to expand their network into new areas! In fact, I wish central government would take action to make this happen. I live in the South East of England, less than 30 miles from London, in Hertfordshire. Yet there are countless villages in my area, such as Hunsdon, where there is no high-speed internet service. In Hunsdon (serviced by the Much Hadham exchange) there is no Virgin service whatsoever, and the maximum available bandwidth is 0.5 MB to 1 MB! This is unacceptable in 2010. Hunsdon is a couple of miles from Harlow and Stanstead Abbots where good broadband speeds are widely available. Are we serious about the digital economy in Britain, or are we happy to be left behind?Virgin media seem to be resting on their laurels, when they should be investing in expanding the UK's internet infrastructure. This is not next-generation infrastructure; it's a case of upgrading from archaic last-gen copper-wire to current-gen fibre-optic cable.

I hope that BT Infinity will introduce some competition into this neglected marketplace.

[RobboEdin]

Please extend your broadband and cable service to my area ASAP!

Having been a Virgin customer (and previously NTL) for over 10 years, I have moved house (5 miles) and now have no access whatsoever to Virgin broadband and cable TB services. I am in the South East of ENgland, less than 30 miles from London!

May I offer some constructive feedback on Virgin broadband? The service is good, where it is available, but Virgin urgently needs to expand their network into new areas! In fact, I wish central government would take action to make this happen. I live in the South East of England, less than 30 miles from London, in Hertfordshire. Yet there are countless villages in my area, such as Hunsdon, where there is no high-speed internet service. In Hunsdon (serviced by the Much Hadham exchange) there is no Virgin service whatsoever, and the maximum available bandwidth is 0.5 MB to 1 MB! This is unacceptable in 2010. Hunsdon is a couple of miles from Harlow and Stanstead Abbots where good broadband speeds are widely available. Are we serious about the digital economy in Britain, or are we happy to be left behind?Virgin media seem to be resting on their laurels, when they should be investing in expanding the UK's internet infrastructure. This is not next-generation infrastructure; it's a case of upgrading from archaic last-gen copper-wire to current-gen fibre-optic cable.

I hope that BT Infinity will introduce some competition into this neglected marketplace.

You need to get your village up and entering the BT Race to Infinity:

http://www.racetoinfinity.bt.com/

Slow broadband is one of the downsides of moving to village life.

PS I see you are not even on an A road.

[timacheson]

You need to get your village up and entering the BT Race to Infinity:

http://www.racetoinfinity.bt.com/

Slow broadband is one of the downsides of moving to village life.

PS I see you are not even on an A road.

I voted for BT Infinity. I would also like to see Virgin investing in our regional infrastructure in areas like mine. The nearest A road is less than a couple of miles away, and so are the nearest areas which do have Virgin cable services!

[Chris]

You need to get your village up and entering the BT Race to Infinity:

http://www.racetoinfinity.bt.com/

Slow broadband is one of the downsides of moving to village life.

PS I see you are not even on an A road.

I'm not even on a B road. ;)

And when I went on the Infinity site last week it told me my exchange isn't eligible for the 'race to infinity' because there are less than 1,000 lines attached to it (in fact there are barely more than 100).

Unfortunately there is a very real chance that Infinity will fail to help many of the very areas that need it most.

[weesteev]

Please extend your broadband and cable service to my area ASAP!

Having been a Virgin customer (and previously NTL) for over 10 years, I have moved house (5 miles) and now have no access whatsoever to Virgin broadband and cable TB services. I am in the South East of ENgland, less than 30 miles from London!

May I offer some constructive feedback on Virgin broadband? The service is good, where it is available, but Virgin urgently needs to expand their network into new areas! In fact, I wish central government would take action to make this happen. I live in the South East of England, less than 30 miles from London, in Hertfordshire. Yet there are countless villages in my area, such as Hunsdon, where there is no high-speed internet service. In Hunsdon (serviced by the Much Hadham exchange) there is no Virgin service whatsoever, and the maximum available bandwidth is 0.5 MB to 1 MB! This is unacceptable in 2010. Hunsdon is a couple of miles from Harlow and Stanstead Abbots where good broadband speeds are widely available. Are we serious about the digital economy in Britain, or are we happy to be left behind?Virgin media seem to be resting on their laurels, when they should be investing in expanding the UK's internet infrastructure. This is not next-generation infrastructure; it's a case of upgrading from archaic last-gen copper-wire to current-gen fibre-optic cable.

I hope that BT Infinity will introduce some competition into this neglected marketplace.

Its unlikely that Infinity will provide any competition as the vast majority of exchanges being upgraded have little to no Cable access at all.

[timacheson]

Its unlikely that Infinity will provide any competition as the vast majority of exchanges being upgraded have little to no Cable access at all.

I don't think I follow what you mean. Can you clarify? My local exchange (Hunsdon) has no cable infrastructure at present.

---------- Post added at 12:44 ---------- Previous post was at 12:31 ----------

Its unlikely that Infinity will provide any competition as the vast majority of exchanges being upgraded have little to no Cable access at all.


Hi Tim

Its not quite as straight forward as you might think. Firstly, remember Virgin Media is a private company has certain obligations to its shareholders, it currently doesn't have the option of expanding its network as quickly as it would like to.

Small villages are very unlikely to see service from Virgin in the near future, thankfully Ofcom have adjudged that other providers can now access BT's poles and duct's will make it easier for us to distribute in the future but currently we are quite limited to expansion in rural areas due to the immense cost involved.

Rest assured, Virgin aren't ignoring the option of expansion, we are adding 10's of thousands of homes to our network every year and have recently completed major overbuild work in West London where there was previously no digital services.

Hope this helps

Stephen

It's good to know that Virgin are investing in expansion, especially in the South East which is the engine house of the UK economy.

I welcome Ofcom's position, but more is needed. If it costs too much to lay cables, Virgin should seek funding and help (e.g. forcing landowners to help where reasonable) from local and central government.

I don't believe it would be prohibitively expensive to extend cable services to Hunsdon. We're a couple of miles from existing infrastructire. The cost/benefit would not look as good as a more densely populated area, but it would still be profitable. There are 3K to 4K people here. Also, it would also pave the way to further extensions and more customers in the future.

I believe that Virgin has a duty to extend the service to less densely-populated areas where it is feasible, and as the next village along, adjacent to major towns in the area, Hunsdon would be one of the most feasible options among smaller rural villages. You have to start somewhere. Villages like Hunsdon would be a good place to start.

[RobboEdin]

I believe that Virgin has a duty to extend the service to less densely-populated areas where it is feasible, and as the next village along, adjacent to major towns in the area, Hunsdon would be one of the most feasible options among smaller rural villages. You have to start somewhere. Villages like Hunsdon would be a good place to start.

What duty does a private business have to anyone? Their only criterion for investing in expanding their current infrastructure is profit.

[weesteev]

I don't believe it would be prohibitively expensive to extend cable services to Hunsdon. We're a couple of miles from existing infrastructire.

It would be a lot more expensive than you might think ;)

A couple of miles as the crow flies doesn't sound like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but its a very long way when deploying a Telecoms network.

[timacheson]

What duty does a private business have to anyone? Their only criterion for investing in expanding their current infrastructure is profit.

There is an onus on private enterprise in various respects, including legal and moral corporate responsibilities. E.g. A corporation cannot discriminate against somebody by refusing service on certain grounds. Private enterprise, in partnership with central and local government, has a duty to ensure that important services are available to people as widely as possible (e.g. rail and bus services, water, telephone, electricity, shops, bank branches) -- even in rural locations where it is not profitable.

I would emphasise that expanding cable services to Hunsdon should be profitable.

[Chris]

Private corporations most certainly can discriminate against you, if they don't believe they can make a profit out of you and in the absence of any regulations that might force them to serve you regardless. And I promise you, there are no such regulations with regards to Virgin Media cabling up small villages.

The universal service obligation rests squarely on BT's shoulders, and at present the service obligation with regard to data speed is (IIRC) a measly 33kbps (possibily even slower). So even BT is already doing more than the minimum you are legally entitled to.

If you believe that your village would be profitable for VM to cable up, then you should prepare a case for them to invest there and take it directly to them. But don't be surprised if they're not interested. Cabling the 50% or so that has already been achieved in the UK brought the entire industry to the brink of financial ruin and it is only now, many years later, that Virgin Media is prepared to even think about expanding its network.

[timacheson]

"Private corporations most certainly can discriminate against you, if they don't believe they can make a profit out of you "

I take your point, of course. Yes. And I choose to take a stand against it. I don't want to bankrupt private enterprise; but I do believe in universal service, within reason.

I want to see close to the whole UK connected with high-speed internet. That's where we should be aiming to be. I think that goal is important and worthwhile for everybody. I won't easily accept that the cost is too high. If the cost is too high, perhaps we're doing it wrong. I advocate common-sense infrastructure in the UK. I've had enough of the stupid old ways, for instance seeng different companies dig the same hole on different days at double the cost and inconvenience, or being told that a huge profitable company like Virgin can't service my village because BT won't let them use their wooden poles.

:)

[RobboEdin]

We obviously disagree on this.

While I respect your 'universal service' panacea, that's simply not going to happen.

You chose village life for a reason and unfortunately fast broadband is unlikely to be on the agenda.

Of course, you have many other delights in your village that we New Town residents will never get.

[Chris]

Tim, I agree - I'm on a rural exchange with fewer than 120 subscribers, on the end of more than 4 miles of copper cable. I would very much like to see high-speed internet for all.

But I think you're barking up the wrong tree. The universal service obligation lies with BT, not with Virgin. Your exchange will be eligible for their 'race to infinity' promotion, provided it has more than 1,000 subs on it. You are more likely to get somewhere if you mount a local campaign to get people to sign up for that.

[paulofwar]

I live in CV22 5az and the main road near me is CV22 5ab has fibre optics.. my road is only 400 yards long in total. I wrote to cablemystreet and got the following response

Hi Paul

Thank you for your correspondence.

To provide our services to your property has costed in at £981.49, this is the price per home and it was based on the 29 homes in your street.

The total cost for us to supply your street is £28,463.15. Our current budget is £300 per home, which would allow us to contribute £8,700 to the cost. If you and all of your neighbours were willing to contribute the difference then the work could be done. This contribution would work out at £681.48 + VAT. The less people interested the more the contribution would be for the remaining interested parties.

As you may appreciate this is very expensive, with the majority of the cost coming from the digging and resurfacing the pavements and pathways.

Please be assured our team have investigated this very thoroughly and will continue to look for other solutions that may help us achieve this in the future.

Best regards

Alison


28,463.15 YEAHHHH RIGHT

[Chris]

You work in roads maintenance then?

[Sirius]

You work in roads maintenance then?

Indeed.

The biggest cost hit on most of the Business circuits i plan is put down to civils.

[paulofwar]

There is no way my tiny street would cost 30 grand to have cable supplied to 29 homes unless the fibers in the cable were constructed of diamond fibers

[Peter_]

There is no way my tiny street would cost 30 grand to have cable supplied to 29 homes unless the fibers in the cable were constructed of diamond fibers
It is the cost of digging the pavement up including permissions and planning obtained from the council, they cannot just turn and dig holes anywhere which is the reason for the £30,000 cost.

[Sirius]

There is no way my tiny street would cost 30 grand to have cable supplied to 29 homes unless the fibers in the cable were constructed of diamond fibers

Ok if you know so much,

How much per meter for civils construction in the footway ???, Hint you will be installing a 96mm duct and termination points to each house, Paying a construction company and its construction gangs to dig and install and supplying the duct work its self.

Next you have the cabling, How much per meter for coax, how much per meter for 50 pair telco cable, hint you will be paying for the cable pulling, Termination of the cables, E2E testing to specification by the cabling company and there cabling gangs

Then how much for the Cabinets amps and termination points in the cabinet.

Finally cost for the engineers to Install and activate the amps and cpe.


????? So

[Chris]

There is no way my tiny street would cost 30 grand to have cable supplied to 29 homes unless the fibers in the cable were constructed of diamond fibers

Thank you for avoiding the question. ;)

As you clearly don't work in roads maintenance, you ought to take note of what the other posters are saying here this morning - several of them work for the company so they should know.

And as someone who lives along a non-council road, with a share of the costs of maintaining/repairing it, let me tell you some of the quotes we have seen for re-surfacing down the years have been absolutely eye-watering. And that's for no ducting, fibre or anything, just removing/replacing the surface.

[Ignitionnet]

It is the cost of digging the pavement up including permissions and planning obtained from the council, they cannot just turn and dig holes anywhere which is the reason for the £30,000 cost.

VM have code powers, outside of conservation areas they can dig without planning permission, subject to caveats from Traffic Management Act, etc.

---------- Post added at 10:44 ---------- Previous post was at 10:42 ----------

Its unlikely that Infinity will provide any competition as the vast majority of exchanges being upgraded have little to no Cable access at all.

FTTC/P will eventually overlap about 80% of the current cable network. Nearly 2/3rds of the market lead FTTC rollout will be within cabled areas - for exactly the same reasons that those areas were chosen for cable.

---------- Post added at 10:53 ---------- Previous post was at 10:44 ----------

How much per meter for civils construction in the footway ???, Hint you will be installing a 96mm duct and termination points to each house, Paying a construction company and its construction gangs to dig and install and supplying the duct work its self.

That's always the rub with any telecomms network, the cost of the civils.

The other costs are also subject to huge variation depending on what's available in the area. At very least though you're talking at least two line extender, and of course for a 400 yard road it'll need two new cabinets as I don't think VM build line based distribution, however weesteev would probably be the man to confirm that.

If line distribution then a couple of line extenders, taps, etc, which requires more work underground as that's where everything will have to go, so nice big inspection pits every 20 meters perhaps for taps with bigger ones for the line extenders.

A good part of the reason for the cost is 29 homes in 400 yards - that's not exactly dense and increases fixed costs due to RF power budgets while having fewer homes to split those costs between.

Anyway enough waffle - the estimate is probably quite reasonable.

[Peter_]

VM have code powers, outside of conservation areas they can dig without planning permission, subject to caveats from Traffic Management Act, etc.


It will still cost around £30,000 to fit cable to 29 houses regardless though and as the road is not provisioned they would probably still need permissions to dig from the council otherwise we would have a really massive network.

[Sirius]

It will still cost around £30,000 to fit cable to 29 houses regardless though and as the road is not provisioned they would probably still need permissions to dig from the council otherwise we would have a really massive network.

We have permission to dig most places . We do have to give notice but generally the local councils will give permission to dig very quickly.

The Bigger picture is the cost which can be massive depending on type of dig and who will be doing it. The main reason we stopped the build in the first place was the spiraling costs of civils from what i was told.

[Peter_]

We have permission to dig most places . We do have to give notice but generally the local councils will give permission to dig very quickly.

The Bigger picture is the cost which can be massive depending on type of dig and who will be doing it. The main reason we stopped the build in the first place was the spiraling costs of civils from what i was told.
I cannot imagine Virginmedia footing a £30,000 bill for anyone as they need to get it back.

[Sirius]

I cannot imagine Virginmedia footing a £30,000 bill for anyone as they need to get it back.

I full agree :)

[Ignitionnet]

Indeed. Unless it's a nice big business tendering out for stupidly large amounts of bandwidth on nice, long, lucrative contracts it's not going to happen.

---------- Post added at 13:21 ---------- Previous post was at 13:13 ----------

We have permission to dig most places . We do have to give notice but generally the local councils will give permission to dig very quickly.

The Bigger picture is the cost which can be massive depending on type of dig and who will be doing it. The main reason we stopped the build in the first place was the spiraling costs of civils from what i was told.

I read much the same thing. The cable builds underestimated costs of rollout and were being done with the thought that the take up would be similar to that in the United States where OTA TV wasn't up to much and cable was pretty much the default if you wanted more TV - over 70% of people took cable at one point.

Sky and terrestrial channels ensured that didn't happen. Just as is happening in the US actually where thanks to FiOS, UVerse, DTA and DTH cable penetration has dropped to around 60% of passed areas - only a little over 10% higher than VM's ;)

The business models were in the clouds - not uncommon at the time, remember how close even Sky came to going bust, they were on the verge and the merger with BSB to form BSkyB only just managed to keep them afloat, both were essentially dead in the water without this.

[Sirius]

they were on the verge and the merger with BSB to form BSkyB only just managed to keep them afloat, both were essentially dead in the water without this.

I also remember the ongoing argument over which system was better Sky's or BSB's

[Ignitionnet]

It will still cost around £30,000 to fit cable to 29 houses regardless though and as the road is not provisioned they would probably still need permissions to dig from the council otherwise we would have a really massive network.

See previous, all about the pounds sterling.

A simple 'Oh I forgot about the code powers' would have been fine. They don't generally need permission it's more a case of telling the council they are digging and the council having to find a pretty good reason, within the law, to argue ;)

The code powers are like planning permission backwards, without code you ask for permission, with code you are giving notice, not asking for permission, and the council if they have a problem with it have to point to the relevant legislation.

---------- Post added at 13:26 ---------- Previous post was at 13:25 ----------

I also remember the ongoing argument over which system was better Sky's or BSB's

Oddly in many ways BSB. Their squarial (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squarial) was a fantastic piece of kit, miles ahead of its time. Sadly had to be retired as the Marco Polo satellites were too expensive and it was more viable for the company to use Sky's Astra transponders :(

[Peter_]

See previous, all about the pounds sterling.



Which is why they would not foot the bill for that amount as it would probably get a poor return in revenue.

[Skie]

Quick question, but just out of interest. Do VM connect new builds if they are in existing cabled areas?

There have been loads of new residential blocks thrown up in Liverpool recently, some claim "cable ready" connections but VM dont list them as being serviced addresses. It would seem silly not to connect a 300 apartment building that is sitting next to the network. But then, I can see Sky trying to buy the rights to provide service exclusively with the building owner.

[Digital Fanatic]

Quick question, but just out of interest. Do VM connect new builds if they are in existing cabled areas?

There have been loads of new residential blocks thrown up in Liverpool recently, some claim "cable ready" connections but VM dont list them as being serviced addresses. It would seem silly not to connect a 300 apartment building that is sitting next to the network. But then, I can see Sky trying to buy the rights to provide service exclusively with the building owner.

VM have been doing deals with lot's of building companies, and where it makes economical sense they will cable up buildings/streets and estates.

[JayJay]

VM have been doing deals with lot's of building companies, and where it makes economical sense they will cable up buildings/streets and estates.

May well be doing deals with companies to get the ducting in etc but im not seeing much pre wiring going on. Ive been to a few in Plymouth recently where the route of the cable from the front to the living room on the 'middle' floor is shocking and looks awful! More pre wires please!!! ;)

[jungleguy]

absolutely non going on in my area, in fact a developer here, redeveloped an existing site of 50 homes (were army barracks) that were cabled by NTL, they ripped out all VM duct and did not re-instate it. VM even had to move the cabinets. Apparently, at the time of planning this redevelopment, no one at VM was interested.

[JayJay]

In the next couple of years, a HUGE estate in Plymouth is about to get redeveloped. Most of it is getting knocked down and rebuilt, the rest of it is going to get renovated. I'd like to see VM get these new houses prewired, if this area doesn't get re cabled, that is ALOT of loyal customers lost!

[redone]

Quick question, but just out of interest. Do VM connect new builds if they are in existing cabled areas?

There have been loads of new residential blocks thrown up in Liverpool recently, some claim "cable ready" connections but VM dont list them as being serviced addresses. It would seem silly not to connect a 300 apartment building that is sitting next to the network. But then, I can see Sky trying to buy the rights to provide service exclusively with the building owner.

The new appartments on man island are vm only buildings as is stella nova by the strand in bootle but some regenerated areas like under the bridge in garston and l30 that have been knocked down and rebuilt are still cabled areas but because who ever redid the pavements with new tarmac and didnt didnt reinstate are t"s (acess points) vm cant touch them for a year unless they take the warranty over so them customers have to wait

[weesteev]

The new appartments on man island are vm only buildings as is stella nova by the strand in bootle but some regenerated areas like under the bridge in garston and l30 that have been knocked down and rebuilt are still cabled areas but because who ever redid the pavements with new tarmac and didnt didnt reinstate are t"s (acess points) vm cant touch them for a year unless they take the warranty over so them customers have to wait

Correct redone, we have just released the first 80+ apartments for sale there, I believe the rest will follow soon. The blocks at Mann Island are all internally wired to master sockets, there is no visible cabling or cabinets as the amplifier and Telco equipment are all in the comm's room. Looks brilliant!

[ccarmock]

Would VM be prepapred to provide service where two new houses were built on spare land betwene other properties that all have VM service? Ie the cable runs right past but those two new houses are not shown as servicable? I guess there woudl be no 'T' for those properties.

[jungleguy]

Would VM be prepapred to provide service where two new houses were built on spare land betwene other properties that all have VM service? Ie the cable runs right past but those two new houses are not shown as servicable? I guess there woudl be no 'T' for those properties.


yes

[weesteev]

Yes we would.

If you are the developer (or coordinating the works onsite) then email the site details and any site plans you have to newbuild@virginmedia.co.uk and our team can assist you further.

http://help.virginmedia.com/system/selfservice.controller?CONFIGURATION=1002&PARTITION_ID=1&TIMEZONE_OFFSET=&USERTYPE=1&%20&VM_CUSTOMER_TYPE=Cable&CMD=VIEW_ARTICLE&ARTICLE_ID=344572&contactjourney=true

[Ignitionnet]

My experience with this so far has been a bit of a disaster :(

EDIT: See signature for more information.

[weesteev]

Your situation is nothing to do with network expansion Igni, I would ask you update your comment. Your issue is related to a construction issue with the local install teams. This thread is specifically related to network expansion to unbuilt nodal and distribution areas.

[Ignitionnet]

Your situation is nothing to do with network expansion Igni, I would ask you update your comment. Your issue is related to a construction issue with the local install teams. This thread is specifically related to network expansion to unbuilt nodal and distribution areas.

This premises is previously unserviceable and had to go through the linked form (http://allyours.virginmedia.com/forms/unserviceableLeads.html) and have a spotter visit to get service, so yes it is.

EDIT: The actual work I'm waiting for is a usable t-junction to be installed and a bit of underground work. Making a previously unserviceable address on the edge of the network serviceable seems like a (small) network expansion to me.

Services available at:
TW1 3xx
You're in a Virgin Media National broadband area
You're not in a fibre optic cable area, so we can't give you TV. But we can give you Virgin Broadband using your existing phone line.

My apologies if I was confused, the thread title 'Can't Get Cable? - Maybe We Can Help!' implied the thread was for discussion of any instance where cable can't be purchased as opposed to entirely new nodal builds.

[frogs3]

I currently leave in a new build estate called Regency Park in Bewsey, Warrington.

As it is a new build it has been allocated a random postcodes WA5 0EF. When you place this into google and other search engines (sat nav etc...) it places you at the other end of Warrington, noway near our house. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&so...,0.154324&z=13

But infact we live here - http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=...fbdbb1c75ad70b

According to your website when you type in the postcode it says Virgin Media not in your area and when I have phoned up customer Service they also do not listen to me and just say that it is not in our area. The road behind me, Lovely Lane (postcode WA5 0AF) has virgin and also the road that is on the front of the estate, "Bewsey Road" (postcode WA5 0LG) has virgin media also. Surly we all run on the same exchange etc... I am also not sure but think at the front of our houses we have a little grey box, not sure what it is exactly but it does look a little like the virgin media box that we had on the front of our previous address. It would not take much for us to be incorporated into the network as everybody around us all ready has it.

Regards

Tim

[weesteev]

Hey Frogs3, have replied to your PM with an answer.

Cheers

[Ignitionnet]

Sorry Steve, as it turns out I never had any need for excess construction, everything was fine, apart from whomever assuming the T was broken, that there was no viable path from drop to tap and never actually bothering to check.

On that note I'll leave the thread be.

[weesteev]

Sorry Steve, as it turns out I never had any need for excess construction, everything was fine, apart from whomever assuming the T was broken, that there was no viable path from drop to tap and never actually bothering to check.

On that note I'll leave the thread be.

Thats surprising... but great news! If you have any install probs mate let me know.

;)

[Ignitionnet]

Thats surprising... but great news! If you have any install probs mate let me know.

;)

Apart from being put to the back of the queue :mad: fine, thank you Steve.

[vixpix]

I live in a village with cable but my scheme only has it in the first couple of street, another couple of streets were built about 12 years ago and another couple of streets in the last few years.
If there is cable 1 street away can we get it?

[Synthetic]

Is this still on-going?

[jdsp]

Hi having just moved to UK from Sweden I am confused why there appears to be such poor service in UK here. After receiving an offer from Virgin Media via post with correct postcode and having a friend working in Virgin, I was elated, not the 100/100 that is everywhere and normal in Sweden but maybe 50 available.

So I contacted Virgin store in Cambridge and guess what where I live does not exist. it's in Ferndale Rise and new build (8 flats) half way up street that has customers to the left and right on strret about 20m from the duct (bt and the only duct in the road).

So I contacted cable my street first time ... nothing no feed back disaster.

Contacted cable my street again .. a reply ... they will look into it... well maybe

Then since i need internet wonderful option from BT between 1 and 3.5 expected 2 ... better than nothing .... took 10 days ... it is very difficult work(thank god they had to just enable a circuit otherwise would have been 6 months) and yes it runs at 635/312 up down really really bad.

Then I saw this, it is madness in UK no one interested, and customer service well less than interested (Cambridge Virgin store told me thier national broad band would take at least 15 days and I may as well go to anyone ??? odd retail service).

So I just hope its trivial to fix and I would be so happy if fixed, postcode is CB5 8ET .... hope you can solve this madness.

JDSP

[weesteev]

JDSP I have asked the team to email you with a response.

Cheers

[pepper6981]

We moved house less than a mile up the road and cannot get Virgin - we reverted to SKY but because we now live next to trees this is a complete nightmare and I hate the servcie from SKY anyway. I contacted Virgin they advise no plans for our street , however houses at the bottom seem to have it and we keep getting fliers through the post for the full packages from virgin, are they doing any new streets we are in Edinburgh EH13 9NZ.

[BomberAF]

Why doesn't VM gets it's finger out of it's arese and put some fibre down in Chester before I move there. They have fibre in Ellesmere port which is only a few miles away, Birkenhean and they even have it in Flint but not Chester, why is this. Surely Chester would be a great place to stick fibre as it is very affluent so loads of people would snap up the 100Mb service.

Are there any plans to introduce fibre to chester?

[Chris]

No, ther aren't. They may fill in missing streets within their network over the next few years but they're not going to build into any entirely new locations. It's just too expensive.

[Digital Fanatic]

Why doesn't VM gets it's finger out of it's arese and put some fibre down in Chester before I move there. They have fibre in Ellesmere port which is only a few miles away, Birkenhean and they even have it in Flint but not Chester, why is this. Surely Chester would be a great place to stick fibre as it is very affluent so loads of people would snap up the 100Mb service.

Are there any plans to introduce fibre to chester?

I'm sure they aren't allowed to dig up the roads in Chester... the original cable companies didn't try anyway.

[Peter_]

Chester is a World Heritage site so it would be very unlikely for them to allow a cable company to dig roads and lay cable.

[BomberAF]

Chester is a World Heritage site so it would be very unlikely for them to allow a cable company to dig roads and lay cable.

True, but they still dig the road up for water works etc.

[Chris]

Chester is a World Heritage site so it would be very unlikely for them to allow a cable company to dig roads and lay cable.

Trust me, there are parts of Chester where 'heritage' is the last word that springs to mind. Plenty of places where VM could lay cable, if they were minded to do any completely new build.

[Sirius]

Why doesn't VM gets it's finger out of it's arese and put some fibre down in Chester before I move there. They have fibre in Ellesmere port which is only a few miles away, Birkenhean and they even have it in Flint but not Chester, why is this. Surely Chester would be a great place to stick fibre as it is very affluent so loads of people would snap up the 100Mb service.

Are there any plans to introduce fibre to chester?

I'm sure they aren't allowed to dig up the roads in Chester... the original cable companies didn't try anyway.


Nynex was refused access to Chester when the build was at its height in the North West. It was the council putting barriers in there way to do with the dig that killed it off. I know of no plan's at present to try again.

[Gareth123]

Hi, not sure if it falls under your area as I am in the south (Farnborough) but you may be able to point me in the right direction.

I am in a small cul-de-sac with no cable, the main road 35m from my house has full virgin cable, I have contacted: cable my street at virgin and they have said it is possible to cable me!! yay!

But, there is a £600 cost and they will only pay £300, not a problem I have said I will pay the extra £300 as a one off, seems fair I am paying for a service I want.
The reply I got was there is no budget, contact us again in 2012. Is that right even when I have offered to pay the difference and sign up to a long contract??

Thank you in advance
Gareth

[Chris]

Every business hands out annual budgets to each of its departments. While the 'cable my street' department is willing to cable your street for you, it would appear that it has already spent its budget for this year.

Sounds like a case of willing, but unable. It may be worth contacting them again to find out when they plan to start scheduling projects to be paid out of their 2012 budget so you can be in touch at the right time to get your street at the top of their list.

[weesteev]

Hi, not sure if it falls under your area as I am in the south (Farnborough) but you may be able to point me in the right direction.

I am in a small cul-de-sac with no cable, the main road 35m from my house has full virgin cable, I have contacted: cable my street at virgin and they have said it is possible to cable me!! yay!

But, there is a £600 cost and they will only pay £300, not a problem I have said I will pay the extra £300 as a one off, seems fair I am paying for a service I want.
The reply I got was there is no budget, contact us again in 2012. Is that right even when I have offered to pay the difference and sign up to a long contract??

Thank you in advance
Gareth

Yes Gareth this is correct, give the team an email again and get them to explain this for you.

[snakedoctor]

Do you know if there's any plans for VM to lay cables in the (NE15 6) part of Newcastle upon tyne? There's a massive housing regeneration scheme going on there for the next few years and it would seem like a good time.

[Airwaves]

Just want to try and get some clarification on what 'infill' actually means here. Where I live the nearest cabled area is half a mile away in one direction and about the same distance in the other. As I'm between the two does that class my area as 'infill'. I've been informed that running through where I am is the link to the two separate networks. The main road a stones throw away has CATV manholes and the tarmac track/black cap arrangement but no service is available so that must be where the linking between the two is run.

Just interested to know if there is any chance my location is likely to be added to the network or not at some stage.

[mikeey2]

Hi,

Would you be able to help for a business install. have spoken to a sales and across the road has cable and telephone but we only have telephone.

Seriously looking at the new business 50Mb Internet.

In Stockton-on-Tees if that helps.

Cheers
Michael

[weesteev]

Hi Michael, best speak to the business team, check their website at virginmediabusiness.com.

[martd]

Hi Weesteev, how about Lymington? Postcode SO41 - So41 9 to be more precise
Little bit more southern than you were after but why not ask?! ;)

Ive been hoping that Virgin would be available for some time now and i'm getting more and more fed up with Sky!

Cheers

[madmacfan10]

Hi there. please bear with me as i'm a newbie to this site. I have tried to keep this as short as possible, so please do bear with me.

I live in Plaistow East London, Part of the old Bell cablemedia network laid down in the early 1990's by a company called Encom. What I would love to know, is, Will the cable network in my area ever be upgraded to digital. The analog tv service was recently switched off with no digital replacement, However the cable landline service is still alive and kicking. i know this because I subscribe to a cable Landline service, Size L evenings and weekends, which comes from a brown box outside the front of my house and goes to a Green cabinet at the end of my street.

My postcode is E13 8BA. It used to show up on the virgin postcode checker as only being able to recieve analog services, but now it shows up as not being able to obtain cable services at all.The cable network in my area is Definitely NOT owned by BT, It was owned by virgins predecessor NTL , so effectively it's owned by virgin media. Areas such as Stratford and leyton, which are part of the same network, have already been upgraded to digital, so why has my area been missed.

Any news regarding the upgrade of my area would be greatly appreciated. If the staff at VM could look into this further for me, it would also be very much appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

[Peter_]

If you put your postcode into the checker on this page you should see this below.http://shop.virginmedia.com/home.html?buspart=Portal_HP_topnav_1_1

You're in a Virgin Media National broadband area

You're not in a fibre optic cable area, so we can't give you TV. But we can give you Virgin Broadband using your existing phone line.

[madmacfan10]

hi there. I definitely do have a cable landline. I can PM you with my VM account number and area reference. If you could look into this further for me. this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

[Peter_]

hi there. I definitely do have a cable landline. I can PM you with my VM account number and area reference. If you could look into this further for me. this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
We cannot take such details as this is not an official Virginmedia site and it would be a breach of the Data Protection Regulations, also that is one of the reasons you will find that you cannot PM me as most employees have that function disabled.

Your address does come up in that link, door numbers 1 to 58 and all can get Virgin national broadband through a BT phone line.

Try calling tomorrow on 0845 454 2222 for further help and information.

[madmacfan10]

Thanks I will call up the number tomorrow morning. As I have previously said I definitely do have a cable landline, as I have a separate BT landline box with a Completely different landline number to that of my NTL branded cable landline socket/ box.

Thanks once again.

[ShaggyRS6]

Hi, I am very new here and I am not sure if this is the right forum/thread to post in. The problem is, I am pulling my hair out. I am currently suffering a degrading service by BT, my Sync rate has fallen 6MB over the course of a year and im fed up with a non responsive service.

I would love to sign up with to a full TV and Broadband pacjakge with Virgin Media to enable me to take advantage of really High Speed broadband but everytime I speak to a Virgin representative I get the same old story. Sorry But.................

What is infuriating is that house, no more than 50 feet from my house have the ability to use your fibre Network. Walking past the little brown boxes every day knowing what it can provide in terms of speed is like some form of torture.

We live down a little off shoot of road that was missed when the installtion was done orginally. 50 feet, if that, I have canvased my neighbours too who cant get the service, they all say they would sign up in a heart beat.

Is there anything Virgin can do to help? my Post Code is ME88TL .

[ShaggyRS6]

Sorry to put a bump on this one. I wondered if you who monitor this thread have any thoughts?

Cheers People :)

[verox]

I'm having literally the exact same problem Shaggy is, terrible BT service and no virgin coverage to my house but there is to a house across my street. Particularly annoying.

[ShaggyRS6]

Yeah, i cant get the fact around I want to pay them nearly £100 per month for all the services. Phone, HD TV, Internet etc

[verox]

No reply off anyone?

[TelM]

I live on an estate which is almost surrounded by cable. I know for example the cable runs along the back of our garden but so far we can't get it. We've even rang Virgin on several occasions and offered our garden as a route though to the estate but offer not taken up.
Our postcode is NE29 8LR ... help us please escape from BT.
We get flyers all the time from Virgin telling us about the great service, prices and network speed but are only offered a DSL (maximum speed of 1.5Mbps) service when we call. The area all around us has had cable for ages and we don't understand why we can't have it too.

[skidrow]

do you know if virgin cable is ever going to come to middleton,leeds?(Ls10 4LL) other areas of leeds that are less than 1 or 2 miles from middleton e.g. Beeston(LS11) and Morley(LS27) both have Virgin cable services. A lot of people would be intrested in getting cable since we only get speeds ranging from 2mb to 230kbs here.

[weesteev]

Guys, there is an official point of contact now, you can email your request to cablemystreet@virginmedia.co.uk and you should get a response from the team directly.

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Fibre-optic-broadband-cable/Want-Cable-been-told-it-s-not-available-We-might-be-able-to-help/td-p/20585

[xAnthonyFordx]

Robroyston glasgow G33 1SJ =] FASTER BROADBAND PLEASE? (;

[markoo7]

i live in wakefield west yorkshire, wf28yb the house around me and a very short walk from me have fibre optic broadband but i can`t for some reason, i`m with 02 at the moment and have been told its been sold to sky i don`t want sky i want virgin please help

[spiderplant]

i live in wakefield west yorkshire, wf28yb the house around me and a very short walk from me have fibre optic broadband but i can`t for some reason, i`m with 02 at the moment and have been told its been sold to sky i don`t want sky i want virgin please help

Snapethorpe Gate and the roads off it don't appear to be cabled, but send an email to cablemystreet@virginmedia.co.uk and they'll be able to confirm.

[izziwiz]

Hey Weesteev

Desperate to get Virgin fibre optice in our street. My inlaws have it in FK5 3EF, but for some reason, we never got it in our estate when it was built about 10 years ago. Our postcode is FK5 3DU. Sky have NO competition in our street and the existing broadband is DIABOLICALLY slow! Get yourselves down to Stenhousemuir - we need dragging out of the dark ages. Please? :angel: Do people need to get their neighbours to sign up in principle if they would change to Virgin to encourage Virgin to get the ball rolling?

[nodrogd]

You would do better e-mailing cablemystreet@virginmedia.co.uk

Westeev has been inactive for over a year now.