virgin with old ntl cable? little worried

[buildermat]

hi,i have been a sky customer for about 10-11 years,i recentley decided to go with virgin media(broadband,phone,tv) sky broadband was one of the main reason for this, my next door neighbour just had virgin put in aswell,we have seen virgin guys running a new cable for them and they installed a little box aswell connected to the their front wall,we got our dates now and they are coming next week! but on the phone we have been told that we already have a virgin cable!! the people who used to live in this house( 15 years ago) had NTL!! i just checked outside and yes we also have 1 of them boxes installed on our front wall! next door one is brand new,our looks about 15-20years old and it doesnt say virgin on it!!

i have been told by virgin that they will be using this box and old cables already there!!!! the only reason i changed to virgin is coz of fibre obtic broadband! would those old cables and the box i got there good enough for new virgin fibreobtic broadband or not! i mean i still have 5 days to cancell it all and im panicing abit!

could someone please help me what i should do? i dont want them cables if they dont support fibreobtic and i will be stuck with them 18months!!
any help would be greatfull
thanks

Don't panic. A separate team will check your cable without needing to come into your house a day or two ahead of your installation. They will change it if needed, otherwise they will leave it as is.

Virgin's fibre-optic cable comes as far as a large street cabinet close to your house (probably not the one actually in your street though). From there, it is coaxial cable similar to that used in a TV aerial.

Virgin bangs on about having a fibre optic network, but more accurately it is an HFC (Hybrid Fibre/Coaxial) network because the fibre doesn't come all the way to your house.

[buildermat]

ty chris for explanation,hopefully it all goes to plan or wifey will kill me for cancelling the sky,that coaxial cable is under the driveway that i put in years ago,hopefully i havent damaged it, my only concern is the quality of that coaxial cable! obviously its old,would it effect the speed i will receive ?
thanks

Damaged coax would render your services liable to all sorts of disruption, but unlike with ADSL if it's resulting in you getting half the advertised speed, they will change the cable to get your speed up to what you're paying for.

A properly functioning cable internet service should operate at, or close to, the advertised speed, unlike ADSL where the advertised speed is merely the maximum the technology is capable of, and not in any way related to what the line into your house will support.

If they need to change the cable they will look to lay it around any obstacles rather than digging up your drive. I wouldn't assume that they are going to need to change it though.

[djmagnifique]

If it's any comfort i've been with virgin at three different addresses since the cables were first layed where I live and that was in 1995. Back then it was Comcast that was the provider which later changed to NTL and then Virgin, i've had no problems at any of my homes with regrads to signal quality and the previous occupiers existiong cables have always been used.

[weesteev]

Same here in Edinburgh, since 1992 when it was United Artists... the coax should be fine, if theres any damage then the cable can be repulled. Very likely the tech will replace any NTL branded kit for you as well so it looks a bit shinier!

[buildermat]

tvm guys for your helps,feel much better now