Virgin media broadband cable

CaptainWales

Hi. I am thinking of switching from plusnet to virgin media. Virgin say that if I switched to them that they would have to install a new cable to my property.
Does this mean that if I wanted to then leave Virgin at the end of my contract that I would need to get somebody to install a new line / reinstate my current line?  

iniltous

Plusnet use Openreach, Virgin use Virgin , two different networks.
If you take  Virgin , they need  to provide a Virgin ‘line’ if one doesn’t already exist, the Openreach one will still exists after Virgin is installed, and can be reactivated if you asked Plusnet or anyone else using Openreach to provide your service  ……should Openreach FTTP become available while you are a Virgin customer, then any order with an Openreach provider would require OR FTTP to be installed and the OR copper pair service your current Plusnet line uses is effectively abandoned.
If an alternative like Youfibre becomes available they install a new line , if Zoom becomes available a new line , etc , there is a chance that some property will have 3 or more ‘lines’ if they switch between providers each time a contract expires.

CaptainWales

So, if i went with Virgin i would effectively have 2 lines but only 1 in use? Is Virgin broadband decent? ive been used to plusnet for last 5 years. 

What does FTTP mean? 

iniltous

Yes if you went with Virgin and cancelled Plusnet , you would  have a working VM line and a ‘stopped’ Openreach line , 2 services , only one working ,separate from each other .

Virgin can be good , can be bad, can be average, I used them years ago , no complaints , but went back to an Openreach provider , in effect I now have what you would have but in reverse, an unused VM line and a working Openreach line .

FTTP is fibre to the premises, it’s capable of much faster speeds than copper pair or ‘cable’ from Virgin, but Virgin cable isn’t ‘slow’ and they are also replacing their ‘cable network ’ with FTTP, same as Openreach .

Plusnet , like BT , Sky ( and others ) use Openreach network, Openreach are currently installing FTTP all over the country, once it’s available in an area it becomes the default network for ‘new’ customers 

For most the change from copper to FTTP isn’t a big deal , but housing built in the 1960’s to the late 1980’s may need the house garden excavating to get the optical cable  installed , if this is required ( by Openreach or Virgin ) they don’t just turn up and do it , they ask if it’s OK , if it’s not then you cancel the order .

CaptainWales

Don't like the sound of the garden being excavated - would they know that before turning up or not until the engineer turns up?

jbrassy

I think the term 'excavating' is a bit misleading. They don't turn up with a digger and turf up your lawn. From experience, they dig up a thin strip of turf from the pavement to your house. The strip is about 10cm wide and is replaced straight afterwards. After a week you won't know it's there. 

housebuyer143

CaptainWales said:

Don't like the sound of the garden being excavated - would they know that before turning up or not until the engineer turns up?

If you have telephone lines going to your property, most will connect you to fibre using that route.

CaptainWales

Having looked into this further it says that the have to install a box on the wall outside (which is fine) and a box indoors on the wall (not fine as just decorated the place and also dont have a double plud nearby which they need).
Do any providers just do standard phone line broadband anymore? 

35har1old

jbrassy said:

I think the term 'excavating' is a bit misleading. They don't turn up with a digger and turf up your lawn. From experience, they dig up a thin strip of turf from the pavement to your house. The strip is about 10cm wide and is replaced straight afterwards. After a week you won't know it's there. 

That's the cowboy installation and with that type of installation it is likely in the future to be discovered with a spade Virgin contractors are equally guilty of this
Should be installed to a minimum of 350mm.
If there's a path to cross it also requires ex and if it's a tarmac or concrete surface the patch will be visible 

35har1old

CaptainWales said:

Having looked into this further it says that the have to install a box on the wall outside (which is fine) and a box indoors on the wall (not fine as just decorated the place and also dont have a double plud nearby which they need).
Do any providers just do standard phone line broadband anymore? 

If you have them install to where the router is you could convert the current socket to a double

darleydave

I left Virgin 4 years ago and joined BT. Despite both companies saying there would be no problem retaining my existing landline no I had to have a completely new one with all that entails of notifying all contacts, doctors dentists hospitals utility providers etc it was 3 months disruption. I have just signed up to go back to Virgin on the promise that the phone no will be transferred. I now have an email from them giving me a new number I spoke to an advisor who said that the new number is temporary and that on the day my transfer to them is completed I will get my existing number back. Based on previous experience I m very wary, has anyone transferred from BT to Virgin and was your phone no retained?