Install of 50 Virgin Mb/s

1socrates1

I am to have the Virgin 50 Mb/s internet installed today and the technician gave me a courtesy call about 20 minutes ago. Anyway he asked me if I had Virgin cabling installed already, I answered I have the 20 Mb/s at the moment. This struck me as an odd question because I thought the 50 Mb/s used a different cabling system to the 20 Mb/s. Any ideas?

Nilrem

All VM services use the same cables in general (unless there is a signal problem, in which case one of the options is to use even better cabling).

However the various cable TV and Modem services can/do use different frequencies and sometimes different encryption etc

Chances are he was checking to see what he'd need to bring from the van, as if it's a straight forward swap from 20 to 5omb he won't need as many tools (and asking in advance saves him from either trying to carry everything he might need to run cabling in one go, or making two trips from the van).

1socrates1

Thanks for the explanation, I just thought the 50 Mb/s being so fast needed special cabling.

spike7451

The reason he was asking is if you did'nt have an existing Cable service then he'd have to rebook the install for a 2 man crew.Fresh installs cant be done by the 1 man crew due to what's involved in it.

As to the cabling,the most common drop cable is RG6,then you get the thicker RG7 then the even thicker RG11 Siamese. (Siamese because the phone & tv line are joined together)

As a general rule,the further the home is from the street cabinet,the thicker type of drop cable is used,Same for the number of TV services being run as well (Cable broadband runs over the same system as the TV)

Internally,the two sizes of cable are RG49 & RG6 however for external runs around the house,flooded RG6,normally split off from the phone line,is used.

HTH,
Spike (ex NTL/VM Engineer)

iamcornholio

spike7451 wrote: »

The reason he was asking is if you did'nt have an existing Cable service then he'd have to rebook the install for a 2 man crew.Fresh installs cant be done by the 1 man crew due to what's involved in it.

(ex NTL/VM Engineer)

Surely the cable company knows if the customer has cable installed or not, and makes sure the correct team attend?

spike7451

iamcornholio wrote: »

Surely the cable company knows if the customer has cable installed or not, and makes sure the correct team attend?

Not always, Often (and I've came across this before) a landlord/homeowner/idiot will rip out the cabling when decorating or the existing home will be demolished & rebuilt so even tho the job is routed correctly to the correct team,when they get out on site they find the exisitng cabling is damaged or ripped out altogether,especially if the garden has been dug up.
I've also had jobs where the address is listed on the SMS as,say 150 London Road,you go to the address to find it's really Flat 4-150 London Road as it's been converted into flats or the original install was done in Flat 1,but the address captured does'nt mention flats,therfore the install in flat 4 cant go ahead as it's not cabled.
The same also applies to Sky however they are'nt an issue really as Sky's easier to install,

iamcornholio

Ok thanks

What exactly is involved in the install?

I have virgin 10mb (with the virgin modem and my own n-router) and want to upgrade, and the CS rep says that the engineer must come out to set me up - and charge me for the privilage.

AFAIK, my existing modem can do 50mb or I can fit a new Virgin modem (like I did when they posted a replacement last year and asked me to fit it instead of one of their engineers needing to come out). And I don't need their router, but again could plug it in if need be.

So what exactly does the engineer need to do for £35 "installation" fee, and what needs to be done for the £20 "connection" fee. All the other cables and wall box is fine.

Can't someone in their call centre just press a button on screen which says "50mb" instead of the "10mb" button?

spike7451

iamcornholio wrote: »

Ok thanks

What exactly is involved in the install?

I have virgin 10mb (with the virgin modem and my own n-router) and want to upgrade, and the CS rep says that the engineer must come out to set me up - and charge me for the privilage.

AFAIK, my existing modem can do 50mb or I can fit a new Virgin modem (like I did when they posted a replacement last year and asked me to fit it instead of one of their engineers needing to come out). And I don't need their router, but again could plug it in if need be.

So what exactly does the engineer need to do for £35 "installation" fee, and what needs to be done for the £20 "connection" fee. All the other cables and wall box is fine.

Can't someone in their call centre just press a button on screen which says "50mb" instead of the "10mb" button?

No,
On a install,be it TV or Broadband,the signal levels at the modem/tv isolator ( the white box on the wall) are tested to see if the is enough signal going thru to the modem.If the is'nt enough or too much,the engineer can increase it by changing the tap & port in the street cab or by using an 'Attenuator' to decrease the signal strength.
Chances are as well,the is a new modem required for the faster speeds,for example,the NTL 100 could only handle speeds of up to 10Mbps.
The forward & return path as well needs to be checked to ensure the slope at,iirc,136 & 576 is as close together as possible,if not then a forward/return path equaliser can be fitter.
The steeper the slope between the two readings,the harder the modem has to work.
Now saying all that,you might not get 50Mbps speed,it depends on a lot of variables,not just the signal levels but also the number of services you have,the distance you are from the street cabinet,the type of street cabinet,the size & length of drop cable ran from street cab to house.
The reason they can send you a new modem on an existing service is that everything is assumed to be working,on your new service,it may not,for the reasons I've given above.