Can I unplug this isolator cable? (Setting up new broadband)

jsj25

Hi guys,

Apologies if this isn't the right section to be posting in. I've just purchased a flat and am in the process of setting up broadband. The previous owners had a Virgin Media subscription and I've signed up for a broadband-only deal with them myself.

The previous owners have left quite the mess of cables in the living room and I'm a total newbie when it comes to this stuff. As you can see from the below, they have a VM wall socket already installed, but this leads off to a three-way splitter. The bottom two cables aren't plugged into anything so presumably can be removed, and the top one is attached to a blank socket in the wall - no idea what this leads to but thought it might have been related to Virgin TV cabling as the previous owners didn't have an aerial and therefore had to rely on Virgin's cabling.

Anyway, to install my own Media Hub I was planning on simply removing the existing isolator cable which leads to the splitter and plugging in the new one that Virgin send me. However, someone suggested that I should be wary of doing this in case it disconnects the other flats' connections. Is this at all likely?! I didn't think so because this cabling is all in my living room, not any communal area. I've attached photos of the cables below for reference. As mentioned, this is all totally new to me so am just trying to get my head around everything!

flashg67

I'd say you're right but I don't think I'd be able to resist removing the blanking plate to have a look! Is it possible it feeds n extension elsewhere in you flat rather than someone elses. I've not seen many to compare but usually they split off before they go to each flat, not once inside the flat?

jsj25

flashg67 said:

I'd say you're right but I don't think I'd be able to resist removing the blanking plate to have a look! Is it possible it feeds n extension elsewhere in you flat rather than someone elses. I've not seen many to compare but usually they split off before they go to each flat, not once inside the flat?

I can definitely take off the cover to take a look before I do anything - the only issue is once it's open I'll have zero clue what it is I'm looking at! But yes, it's certainly my impression (hopefully not incorrect) that any wiring related to other flats wouldn't be dependent on wiring in my living room. No sense there!

The wall socket won't have been specially configured for the splitter, will it? Ie. if I remove it and just plug the new isolator cable in, there'll be no impact on performance or anything?

Brewer21

I've just disconnected my virgin media cables and now have Sky. I only had the splitter going into two cables, the white cables. So from the wall box the one cable goes to the two white cables, one is TV service and the other broadband, you decide which is which by trying to connect. Both cables are identical in how they connect. Haven't got a clue what or where the black is going but going to have a stab at an extension for TV to another room or least favourite a coaxial cable (normal TV aerial cable) but what's it doing connected there?

jsj25

Brewer21 said:

I've just disconnected my virgin media cables and now have Sky. I only had the splitter going into two cables, the white cables. So from the wall box the one cable goes to the two white cables, one is TV service and the other broadband, you decide which is which by trying to connect. Both cables are identical in how they connect. Haven't got a clue what or where the black is going but going to have a stab at an extension for TV to another room or least favourite a coaxial cable (normal TV aerial cable) but what's it doing connected there?

Actually now you mention it one of the bedrooms does also have its own Virgin wall socket - no splitter on that one, just a white cable (a coaxial cable?) so could that explain it?

If one of your white cables was for the broadband, in theory if I left the splitter in and replaced one of the white cables with the new isolator cable for my Hub, would that also work?

[Deleted User]

If you are not going to use the splitter, then probably best to connect direct to the wall box for your broadband and totally bypass it.

prowla

The longer box looks like a Virgin one to me.