Virgin Media Fibre Optic

rippedoffbyspark

Hi there im writing on behalf of a friend whos been with Virgin since the ntl telewest days approx 6 years now.

Up until next week shes been getting 10mb virgin broadband through the old style virgin cable modem then connecting it to a netgear router so friends can have wireless.

my question is in a few weeks shes going up to 60mb broadband still with virgin but ive had a look on the net and it says she can get 100mb broadband now heres where im confused


Can she get fibreoptic or and if so will that get rid of the cable modem and the seperate wireless router she uses or will she have to keep the old style cable modem.

thanks for any advice in advance.

penrhyn

She already has what Virgin like to call fibre optic broadband. Even with the upgrade it will still be delivered via coax copper cable from the street cabinet. She may have to upgrade her cable modem/router.

Mrs_Arcanum

rippedoffbyspark wrote: »

Hi there im writing on behalf of a friend whos been with Virgin since the ntl telewest days approx 6 years now.

Up until next week shes been getting 10mb virgin broadband through the old style virgin cable modem then connecting it to a netgear router so friends can have wireless.

my question is in a few weeks shes going up to 60mb broadband still with virgin but ive had a look on the net and it says she can get 100mb broadband now heres where im confused


Can she get fibreoptic or and if so will that get rid of the cable modem and the seperate wireless router she uses or will she have to keep the old style cable modem.

thanks for any advice in advance.

Worth contacting Virgin directly as she will need a superhub (this is needed for anything over 30mb).

rippedoffbyspark

Thanks guys shes getting one of thos superhubs when they come to upgrade it. all advice helped thanks. (what confused me was because she was with ntl in first place she has this quite big white box on her wall (to connect the tv etc in first place because upone signing with virgin she was on 1mb broadband with ntl through internet tv, and then virgin came to install 10mb broadband gave her the cable modem and shes had that since 2008..

me thinks will have to get rid a few of the wires in future or make a new SUPER wireless net where u dont have these huge clunky wires etc with virgin,

Mrs_Arcanum

rippedoffbyspark wrote: »

Thanks guys shes getting one of thos superhubs when they come to upgrade it. all advice helped thanks. (what confused me was because she was with ntl in first place she has this quite big white box on her wall (to connect the tv etc in first place because upone signing with virgin she was on 1mb broadband with ntl through internet tv, and then virgin came to install 10mb broadband gave her the cable modem and shes had that since 2008..

me thinks will have to get rid a few of the wires in future or make a new SUPER wireless net where u dont have these huge clunky wires etc with virgin,

We are Comptel>NTL>Virginmedia customers and have had fibre optic for ages. Indeed when we upgraded to 30mb they just sent me a superhub which I set up for myself.

spike7451

rippedoffbyspark wrote: »

Thanks guys shes getting one of thos superhubs when they come to upgrade it. all advice helped thanks. (what confused me was because she was with ntl in first place she has this quite big white box on her wall (to connect the tv etc in first place because upone signing with virgin she was on 1mb broadband with ntl through internet tv, and then virgin came to install 10mb broadband gave her the cable modem and shes had that since 2008..

me thinks will have to get rid a few of the wires in future or make a new SUPER wireless net where u dont have these huge clunky wires etc with virgin,

The white box on the wall is a combined splitter/isolator which splits the incoming feed to the TV & the cable modem,the Isolator is sort of a surge protector & is a vital piece of kit.
Some old platforms used the cable set top box to provide broadband instead of the SACM modem (stand alone cable modem,) which we used over here.
When they come to upgrade the modem,you could ask them to relocate the modem to another room which can be done by running a CoAx feed from the ETB (box on the outside of the house) to the room the PC is in,but they might charge extra for this,you'd need to ring up & check.
To expand on what Penryth said,it is fibre optic to the node mux (two cabinets next to each other) then copper from there to the cabinets & onto the house.

Buzby

Mrs_Arcanum wrote: »

We are Comptel>NTL>Virginmedia customers and have had fibre optic for ages. Indeed when we upgraded to 30mb they just sent me a superhub which I set up for myself.

This will be 'virtual' fibre then. YOu still have the same copper coax connection as you always have done, and VM are using the same FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) connection somewhere in or adjacent to your location. Ever since Comptel/NTL you've had a fibre link - so this has not changed.

The sad fact is unless you get fibre through the door - you do not have a fibre connection, and it would be foolish to claim otherwise. Virgin don't offer fibre to the end user (called FTTP).

rippedoffbyspark

So really in a way Virgin Fibre optic broadband which they claim they give her is not real fibre optic. (So if i went with i dont know bt infinity would that actually differ ?? As long as the speeds there and its stable she wont mind.

ic

rippedoffbyspark wrote: »

So really in a way Virgin Fibre optic broadband which they claim they give her is not real fibre optic. (So if i went with i dont know bt infinity would that actually differ ?? As long as the speeds there and its stable she wont mind.

Its fibre optic to the green cabinet on the road. From there its coaxial. The same applies for BTs new infinity service (down the phone line from the cabinet). Coax is more than fast enough for your friends need. BT will be bringing in fibre to the home and should offer 300Mb/s, but you can sure that will be an at eye watering cost to very limited areas.

spike7451

ic wrote: »

Its fibre optic to the green cabinet on the road. From there its coaxial. The same applies for BTs new infinity service (down the phone line from the cabinet). Coax is more than fast enough for your friends need. BT will be bringing in fibre to the home and should offer 300Mb/s, but you can sure that will be an at eye watering cost to very limited areas.

Not entirely correct,
It's Fibre Optic to the Mux exchange,which is two boxes sited next to each other,one for the TV/BBand,known as the DA,& the other one for the phone,the Mux.
From there it is copper to the cabinets & then onto the home.Part of the job of the DA is to boost the signal strength onto the cabinet &,in the case of the larger 'DP' cabinets,the signal level is boosted again to the smaller 'E' type cabinets.
In both the 'DP' & 'E' cabinets are different strength connections & you're connected to the one that is suitable for the signal demands for the services you have.
These boxes can be up to 1/2 a mile from your home.