Got a Cabletel Hatch, Should I Be Able to Get Virgin Cable?

risko

Hi all!

So I've been looking at trying to upgrade to fibre broadband for a while but our cabinet is not fibre ready and has no estimated date, so thought I might try and see if I could get Virgin Media.

Virgin don't seem to think they have coverage in my area, but I do have a 'Cabletel' hatch right outside my building (if my memory serves me correctly, Cabletel were bought over by NTL who were then bought over by Virgin). It's about 10cm square with the Cabletel logo on it. Is this maybe an indicator that we've dropped off the records somehow, or are they maybe right and we maybe just have some outdated cabling?

They said they would send out an engineer, who we didn't think had turned up (nobody knocked on our door), but they claim he did an external assessment and it wouldn't be possible. Should I trust they actually did it?

Thanks!

mije1983

The problem is, even if you could actually get it, if Virgin insist you can't then you can't! Not sure there is a way you could prove them wrong.

It could also be that the cable was laid many years ago but for one reason or another was never actually connected. I'm assuming this 'hatch' is on the public highway rather than on your property?

risko

Yes, that's right, it's just on the pavement. I did think as well that maybe the cables were maybe laid a veeeeery long time ago and have gone out of commission. It's just frustrating when people across the road (literally 10m away) have access to fibre and the three buildings on my side of the road are connected to a different box and can't get it. It's a business property as well so having 5 - 10 people relying on 8mbs down and 0.3mbps up is a nightmare!

Nilrem

From memory the fact the duct says "cable tel"* doesn't mean it's in use by VM for cable services, or not for services on that street/area.

If neighbouring properties can get service you may be able to talk to someone higher up, especially if you are after a business service.

IIRC VM operates business services over it's cable as well as consumer ones, but they may be different departments, VM also run non cable connections for businesses such as backbone fibre and leased lines.
So it's possible that the boxes may be for leased lines which will likely be a completely different department to the normal one and need to be provisioned specifically

Try giving VM business a call if you haven't, although business services tend to cost more (but also give a better SLA if something goes wrong).

*There are several areas where VM couldn't get permission to dig up the roads to replace old cable that wasn't suitable for digital services and they ended up cutting them off completely in the end.

risko

Thanks for your reply Nilrem. The odd thing is that on the VM Business postcode checker says that we can get it with speeds up to 300mbps, though the domestic postcode checker says there's nothing available.

My colleague was the one who arranged for an engineer to come out (where they nay'd the install though we weren't sure if they even turned up), and I believe they actually dealt with VM Business.

I think we're almost resigned to giving up hope, and might just have to hold out until Openreach finally upgrade our cabinet.

cookie365

Ask on Cable Forum
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/

There are experts on there including VM staff who will be able to tell you.