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-   -   General : £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/showthread.php?t=33709513)

bluebaron 14-11-2020 14:31

£3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Hi all,

i'm new to the forum and looking for some advice.

A few months ago I looked at upgrading my Broadband and settled on Virgin Media who have a box about 300m from my front door. However i'm set back on a private road by 150m. They told me if I dug up the lane and installed ducting for cabling to the end on the private road they would connect me up.

I signed up and they supplied me with 600m cable roll and I dug up the road laid the ducting and placed 300m of cable in the duct ready for them to connect to the Box.

Today they came out to connect it, having done so the engineer informed me that 300m is too far to reach from a box and that the signal it not strong enough at the House end for service. (max is about 200m).

Hence i'm now out £3000 (cost of digging up and tarmacing lane).which I never would have laid out if connection wouldn't be possible.

Do I have any recourse with Virgin Media who did the site survey for reimbursement?

Any had this happen before?

Thanks

BB

Grimpy 14-11-2020 15:06

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Have you got paperwork detailing what needed to be done from Virgin Media?

Citizens Advice / Solicitor would be the way to go but may end up costing quite a bit.

RichardCoulter 14-11-2020 16:08

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Grimpy (Post 36058175)
Have you got paperwork detailing what needed to be done from Virgin Media?

Citizens Advice / Solicitor would be the way to go but may end up costing quite a bit.

CISAS may prove helpful too and it's free:

https://www.cedr.com/consumer/cisas/

Paul 14-11-2020 16:12

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Signal boosters ? Optical cable ?
Surely there must be ways to send a signal 300 M.

joglynne 14-11-2020 17:12

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul (Post 36058184)
Signal boosters ? Optical cable ?
Surely there must be ways to send a signal 300 M.

Maybe one of the VM guys can help. Weesteev comes to mind.

General Maximus 14-11-2020 18:16

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
You will definitely have recourse either way because the fact that VM supplied you with equipment AND scheduled an engineer means that they intended to connect your premises. The fact that they failed to show due diligence and perform a proper site survey is not your problem. They can either make it right by installing a street cab at the end of your drive with the necessary bits in to boost the signal or they can refund your costs. Unfortunately they will try and drag the issue out as long as poss and you will throw fits every time you try and ring up and speak to somebody who knows what is going on. The best thing you can do is contact the team you did before to arrange installation and try and get an answer from them in writing stating that they cannot connect you and once you get that I would go down the solicitor route and let them handle it. VM can connect you if they want to, they just choose not to because of the added expense on their part and that is their fault because they should have known what was involved to start off with.

RichardCoulter 14-11-2020 18:24

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by General Maximus (Post 36058205)
You will definitely have recourse either way because the fact that VM supplied you with equipment AND scheduled an engineer means that they intended to connect your premises. The fact that they failed to show due diligence and perform a proper site survey is not your problem. They can either make it right by installing a street cab at the end of your drive with the necessary bits in to boost the signal or they can refund your costs. Unfortunately they will try and drag the issue out as long as poss and you will throw fits every time you try and ring up and speak to somebody who knows what is going on. The best thing you can do is contact the team you did before to arrange installation and try and get an answer from them in writing stating that they cannot connect you and once you get that I would go down the solicitor route and let them handle it. VM can connect you if they want to, they just choose not to because of the added expense on their part and that is their fault because they should have known what was involved to start off with.

:tu:

Sephiroth 15-11-2020 13:06

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
The VM surveyor should have known about the 200m rule. So anything you've got in writing will help your case enormously.

The problem is that the nearest green cabinet (assuming it to be coax not fibre) isn't powered other than by a 60V supply (I think) powered from a launch cabinet not too much further away. That's what's driving the signal down the coax. Now that they're using 700+ MHz in the downstream, that quickly gets attenuated over distance.

VM have a duty to compensate you or go the extra mile to make it work. Making it work would be complicated as they won't find it easy to bring mains power to your nearest cabinet so that they can provide an additional launch facility which would then require another 60V cabinet by your house. Something like that.

Nor would it be easy to give you a fibre link to the nearest active node (also not very far away). It would be easy to pull right to your house but the connection into their network would not be straightforward.

I'm ready to stand corrected by the VM bods who are members of CF.


bluebaron 16-11-2020 19:26

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Thanks for the advice so far.

Unfortunately I don't have much of a paper trail. I have some emails but nothing really laid out as was largely discussed on the phone.

They did make me sign up for a service before they supplied me with the necessary cable. I then installed it as they told me to. I suppose I could argue that they shouldn't have provided the cable and asked me to install it unless it would work? There will also be a record somewhere of the pre site visits.

I've put in an initial complaint and will see where that leads. If necessary I will escalate it first to CISAS then legally.

BB

nomadking 16-11-2020 20:11

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Possible misunderstanding over the 2 distances involved?
The 300m to the front door and the 150m from the road.
Looking at advice to builders of new developments, it specifies a maximum of 150m from L4 Cabinet to the premises whether by fibre or coaxial, and then a maximum of 30m cable from there.
Link to pdf(page 27)

Pierre 16-11-2020 21:36

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
I’m by no means an expert on the HFC network, but I recall the rule of thumb being RG6 Max drop up to 120m, RG11 Max drop up to 160m. (Rule of thumb could possibly be extended)

So there is no way anyone, with even a little knowledge, would or should agree to a 300m drop.

Did anyone actually come out and look at the job before they sent you ? Or was it all done over the phone?

It’s a pretty big mistake to make!

Foo Fighter 16-11-2020 22:43

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Would it be possible to put your own cabinet on the drive and then run power and fibre from the house. Virgin should be able to put the modem in the cab.

Good excuse to add some lighting/cctv too via the ducting

Sephiroth 16-11-2020 23:31

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Foo Fighter (Post 36058490)
Would it be possible to put your own cabinet on the drive and then run power and fibre from the house. Virgin should be able to put the modem in the cab.

Good excuse to add some lighting/cctv too via the ducting

Please see post #8.

Additionally, VM won't get involved with any customer equipment that isn't inside the premises, let alone allow the customer to expose an LV electricity supply to VM's network!



Foo Fighter 17-11-2020 20:06

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth (Post 36058498)
Please see post #8.

Additionally, VM won't get involved with any customer equipment that isn't inside the premises, let alone allow the customer to expose an LV electricity supply to VM's network!



Just a box to house the modem on your boundry is want im talking about, then run your own fibre and media converter from the house to the box and plug into the lan port.

e.g https://www.gatesandfencesuk.co.uk/e...-motor-box.jpg

Pierre 17-11-2020 21:06

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Foo Fighter (Post 36058601)
Just a box to house the modem on your boundry is want im talking about, then run your own fibre and media converter from the house to the box and plug into the lan port.

e.g https://www.gatesandfencesuk.co.uk/e...-motor-box.jpg

You can’t run a fibre from a copper termination, well not without a lot of expensive equipment that doesn’t really exist for this application.

Skie 17-11-2020 22:39

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
I think Foo Fighter just means the customer plonks a box at the edge of the property that has power which VM can put a superhub in, then the customer can be responsible for getting the data back to the house.

Fibre run or a microwave or airfibre link would work. Latter one wouldnt need any additional kit in the box either, straight cat6 out of the hub and up a pole!

weesteev 24-11-2020 18:19

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Hi Bluebaron, do you want to PM me your address details and I will check out your options for connectivity here. I can confirm though that 300m is more than double the distance we would entertain for any kind of drop cable feeding a customer.

Cheers

bluebaron 24-11-2020 23:35

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by weesteev (Post 36059556)
Hi Bluebaron, do you want to PM me your address details and I will check out your options for connectivity here. I can confirm though that 300m is more than double the distance we would entertain for any kind of drop cable feeding a customer.

Cheers


Done thanks Weesteev.

weesteev 25-11-2020 11:14

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Have replied to you now BB, we can drop an update in this thread once we have had a catch up :)

bluebaron 25-11-2020 12:53

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
1 Attachment(s)
Attachment 28705

Thanks, this is a screen shot of the run I installed.

Hugh 25-11-2020 13:12

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Can I suggest you edit the picture to remove the road name, as it identifies your location to anyone viewing the post?

bluebaron 12-03-2021 15:33

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
UPDATE:

I took this to the adjudicator who today ruled in my favour. I have received a judgement for all my out of pocket expenses plus £200 for inconvenience.

Quote,
“ I find that the company does not adequately address or respond to the issues raised by the customer in his complaint. I am also mindful of the customer’s submission in respect of the difficulty he experienced in trying to contact the company about his complaint. Upon careful review of the submissions made by both parties, I find that that the standard of customer service that had been provided to the customer had fallen below a reasonable standard. I find that this amounts to a failure in duty of care owed to the customer by the company”.

Grimpy 12-03-2021 15:56

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Good result!

Sephiroth 12-03-2021 16:08

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Well done, indeed. So that's in excess of £3,000.

Are you able to post VM's submissions? Hardly confidential in a public court. Might be highly revealing.

General Maximus 12-03-2021 16:14

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Fantastic. Shame you had to go through all the red tape.

bluebaron 12-03-2021 17:28

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Yep lucky for me I’m time rich.

VM didn’t even offer a defence so no submissions.

RichardCoulter 12-03-2021 17:32

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Great news. 90% of complaints about VM taken to CISAS result in a positive outcome for the customer, which is revealing in itself.

Hugh 12-03-2021 17:39

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter (Post 36074020)
Great news. 90% of complaints about VM taken to CISAS result in a positive outcome for the customer, which is revealing in itself.

Just to clarify that 90% statistic, 45% were upheld and 45% were settled*.

https://www.cedr.com/consumer/cisas/reports/

* Settled: by mutual agreement of the parties. Upheld: fully or partly in favour of the customer

Chris 12-03-2021 17:43

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh (Post 36074024)
Just to clarify that 90% statistic, 45% were upheld and 45% were settled*.

https://www.cedr.com/consumer/cisas/reports/

* Settled: by mutual agreement of the parties. Upheld: fully or partly in favour of the customer

I assume the 45% settled prior to final judgment are the cases of such egregious customer service even VM won’t try to defend it.

Hugh 12-03-2021 17:44

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Probably...

Jaymoss 12-03-2021 18:13

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
I wonder if they will just pay up or if it will need chasing. If they mess about send the bailiffs in just like that person had to with ATOS

rtho782 14-03-2021 20:25

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Pierre (Post 36058610)
You can’t run a fibre from a copper termination, well not without a lot of expensive equipment that doesn’t really exist for this application.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07X55D7D5 So expensive it basically doesn't exist. Who has ever even heard of this "Amazon" place? Is it being sent from Brazil?!

Pukka 18-03-2021 18:03

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
I have spent a long time reading the forums and thought I would register.

If you can place a small cab near the end of the road and run a cat6 cable you would be able to provide power and data down the cat6.

At the house you would need a POE injector https://www.4gon.co.uk/ubiquiti-poe4...wg-p-6457.html

In the duct 2x 150m apart https://mikrotik.com/product/gper or 3 if needed

In the cab https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-PoE10R-TL-POE10R-PoE-Splitter/dp/B001PS4NWW/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=ctive+PoE+Splitter+P ower+Over+Ethernet+48V+to+12V+2A+for+IEEE802.3at&q id=1616086823&s=computers&sr=1-10

pip08456 18-03-2021 18:23

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Pukka (Post 36074706)
I have spent a long time reading the forums and thought I would register.

If you can place a small cab near the end of the road and run a cat6 cable you would be able to provide power and data down the cat6.

At the house you would need a POE injector https://www.4gon.co.uk/ubiquiti-poe4...wg-p-6457.html

In the duct 2x 150m apart https://mikrotik.com/product/gper or 3 if needed

In the cab https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-PoE10R-TL-POE10R-PoE-Splitter/dp/B001PS4NWW/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=ctive+PoE+Splitter+P ower+Over+Ethernet+48V+to+12V+2A+for+IEEE802.3at&q id=1616086823&s=computers&sr=1-10

Would you now like to post a cost assesment along with the POS?

Sephiroth 18-03-2021 18:53

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Pukka (Post 36074706)
I have spent a long time reading the forums and thought I would register.

If you can place a small cab near the end of the road and run a cat6 cable you would be able to provide power and data down the cat6.

At the house you would need a POE injector https://www.4gon.co.uk/ubiquiti-poe4...wg-p-6457.html

In the duct 2x 150m apart https://mikrotik.com/product/gper or 3 if needed

In the cab https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-PoE10R-TL-POE10R-PoE-Splitter/dp/B001PS4NWW/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=ctive+PoE+Splitter+P ower+Over+Ethernet+48V+to+12V+2A+for+IEEE802.3at&q id=1616086823&s=computers&sr=1-10

In a Virgin Media cabinet, there is no Ethernet. The only means of delivery to the home is coaxial cable or fibre depending on area.

Coaxial cable has a 150 - 200m limit without needing amplification (better than Ethernet btw).

Thus the Cat6 cable idea is unworkable.


Foo Fighter 18-03-2021 21:09

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Pukka (Post 36074706)
I have spent a long time reading the forums and thought I would register.

If you can place a small cab near the end of the road and run a cat6 cable you would be able to provide power and data down the cat6.

At the house you would need a POE injector https://www.4gon.co.uk/ubiquiti-poe4...wg-p-6457.html

In the duct 2x 150m apart https://mikrotik.com/product/gper or 3 if needed

In the cab https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-PoE10R-TL-POE10R-PoE-Splitter/dp/B001PS4NWW/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=ctive+PoE+Splitter+P ower+Over+Ethernet+48V+to+12V+2A+for+IEEE802.3at&q id=1616086823&s=computers&sr=1-10

Yes, i was thinking similar but think you'd struggle with the POE injector over that distance. If you've run the ducting adding power probably isnt an issue.

A few people in here dont seem to understand the cabinet you'd supply at the end of your drive or whatever is your own services box, nothing to do with virgin they'd just be terminating their services in it.

Sephiroth 18-03-2021 21:18

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Foo Fighter (Post 36074727)
Yes, i was thinking similar but think you'd struggle with the POE injector over that distance. If you've run the ducting adding power probably isnt an issue.

A few people in here dont seem to understand the cabinet you'd supply at the end of your drive or whatever is your own services box, nothing to do with virgin they'd just be terminating their services in it.

Assuming that the nearest cabinet has the usual passive equipment plus a 60V amplifier for the Coax, to meet the Ethernet proposition, VM would have to bring proper power to that cabinet, maybe from as far away a 500m from a launch cabinet. And that is before they have to put a modem into that cabinet, connected to the coax then with Ethernet output to the customer's premises. That simply cannot happen.

Foo Fighter 18-03-2021 22:08

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth (Post 36074728)
Assuming that the nearest cabinet has the usual passive equipment plus a 60V amplifier for the Coax, to meet the Ethernet proposition, VM would have to bring proper power to that cabinet, maybe from as far away a 500m from a launch cabinet. And that is before they have to put a modem into that cabinet, connected to the coax then with Ethernet output to the customer's premises. That simply cannot happen.

Dont think your following. If they can supply as far as the end of the drive once you've installed a suitable cabinet with power to terminate the coax and superhub the rest is easy.

With the added bonus you can CCTV and driveway lighting along the way.

pip08456 18-03-2021 22:19

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Foo Fighter (Post 36074739)
Dont think your following. If they can supply as far as the end of the drive once you've installed a suitable cabinet with power to terminate the coax and superhub the rest is easy.

With the added bonus you can CCTV and driveway lighting along the way.

I don't thnk you are following. At the distance from the VM cab to the users own cab at the end of the drive there would need to be an amplifier before you could push the signal any further.

Sephiroth 18-03-2021 22:45

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Foo Fighter (Post 36074739)
Dont think your following. If they can supply as far as the end of the drive once you've installed a suitable cabinet with power to terminate the coax and superhub the rest is easy.

With the added bonus you can CCTV and driveway lighting along the way.

So, what's being proposed is:
1. Consumer to build a mains powered cabinet at the end of his drive.
2. Distance to the premises active device not to exceed 100, (90m best).
3. VM to dig a channel to the consumer's boundary.
4. VM to provide a coaxial tap cable to the customer's cabinet.
5. Coax not to exceed 150m (whole thing's off if that's not possible).
6. Consumer to fit VM provided modem into cabinet & attach coax cable.
7. Consumer to run output Ethernet into premises.
8. Consumer to attach Ethernet cable to own router and then Da-dah.

If VM agree to that I'll donate money to charity. Support would be a nightmare.

Have I go that wrong?


Jaymoss 18-03-2021 23:06

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
End of the day there are loads of ways it could be done if VM would be prepared to install a modem in a box 150m from the house (OP says 300m to house 150 to end of drive so 150m run to main cab would be possible) . No one in there right mind would do that though so dunno why the argument

Gotta say if the OP has 150m drive then it has gotta be some property and if as rich as a 150m drive may point to maybe consider Starlink as a future option hehehehe

pip08456 18-03-2021 23:36

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth (Post 36074753)
So, what's being proposed is:
1. Consumer to build a mains powered cabinet at the end of his drive.
2. Distance to the premises active device not to exceed 100, (90m best).
3. VM to dig a channel to the consumer's boundary.
4. VM to provide a coaxial tap cable to the customer's cabinet.
5. Coax not to exceed 150m (whole thing's off if that's not possible).
6. Consumer to fit VM provided modem into cabinet & attach coax cable.
7. Consumer to run output Ethernet into premises.
8. Consumer to attach Ethernet cable to own router and then Da-dah.

If VM agree to that I'll donate money to charity. Support would be a nightmare.

Have I go that wrong?


I think your money's safe Seph. Unfortunately the charity will miss out.:D

Pukka 19-03-2021 09:09

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
1 Attachment(s)
Attached is a photo of a job we did for a customer with 550 meters of fibre.

Does anyone know the power requirement of the virgin modem? ours is in the loft.

For costing

1x Box (305 meters) cat6 £80.00 (make sure is NOT CCA) we use Excel brand here.
1x POE injector £19.20 https://linitx.com/product/ubiquiti-...e-50-60w/14097
2x Ethernet Repeater £19.20 (max 310 meters) https://linitx.com/product/mikrotik-...-source)/16092
2x case for above £7.20 https://linitx.com/product/mikrotik-...p67-case/16167
1x 48v to 12v adaptor https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-...puters&sr=1-10

you will need a box to put the router in. https://www.screwfix.com/p/hylec-ip6...-x-350mm/7766g


This would give you 45V at the cab which should be more than enough for the adaptor. Please note this is only theroy and would need a test before you continue, if it was me I would ask virgin to run 150 meters and then you run 150 meters the other way. put the router in modem mode and then provide your own router in the house

Sephiroth 19-03-2021 10:07

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Pukka (Post 36074783)
Attached is a photo of a job we did for a customer with 550 meters of fibre.

Does anyone know the power requirement of the virgin modem? ours is in the loft.

For costing

1x Box (305 meters) cat6 £80.00 (make sure is NOT CCA) we use Excel brand here.
1x POE injector £19.20 https://linitx.com/product/ubiquiti-...e-50-60w/14097
2x Ethernet Repeater £19.20 (max 310 meters) https://linitx.com/product/mikrotik-...-source)/16092
2x case for above £7.20 https://linitx.com/product/mikrotik-...p67-case/16167
1x 48v to 12v adaptor https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-...puters&sr=1-10

you will need a box to put the router in. https://www.screwfix.com/p/hylec-ip6...-x-350mm/7766g


This would give you 45V at the cab which should be more than enough for the adaptor. Please note this is only theroy and would need a test before you continue, if it was me I would ask virgin to run 150 meters and then you run 150 meters the other way. put the router in modem mode and then provide your own router in the house

The difference here is that your image shows OPENREACH FTTP (the customer’s cabinet). For that to work with VM, he would need to be in a fibre area (FTTP) otherwise it can’t be done.

Chris 19-03-2021 10:29

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Pukka, I'm curious what your line of business is ... what sort of customers do you normally serve with custom installs like that? I'm not sure I've ever come across a residential BT or VM customer putting that sort of kit into their garden to connect to a network.

Pukka 19-03-2021 11:40

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth (Post 36074787)
The difference here is that your image shows OPENREACH FTTP (the customer’s cabinet). For that to work with VM, he would need to be in a fibre area (FTTP) otherwise it can’t be done.

On that install it was FTTC, we had the openreach modem and the router in the cab, then converted it to fibre to run to the customers house. 550 meters away. they had a mains power connection put into this cabinet as they were having electric gates installed (with remote access) and CCTV (IP Camera)

---------- Post added at 10:40 ---------- Previous post was at 10:36 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 36074790)
Pukka, I'm curious what your line of business is ... what sort of customers do you normally serve with custom installs like that? I'm not sure I've ever come across a residential BT or VM customer putting that sort of kit into their garden to connect to a network.

I get involved in quite a few installs, it just about knowing how the OpenReach / Virgin Media system works.

We have done wireless point to multipoint links providing broadband to customers. this is normally a FTTC connection to a host site and then broadcast it on from their.

Sephiroth 19-03-2021 15:12

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Pukka (Post 36074799)
On that install it was FTTC, we had the openreach modem and the router in the cab, then converted it to fibre to run to the customers house. 550 meters away. they had a mains power connection put into this cabinet as they were having electric gates installed (with remote access) and CCTV (IP Camera)

---------- Post added at 10:40 ---------- Previous post was at 10:36 ----------



I get involved in quite a few installs, it just about knowing how the OpenReach / Virgin Media system works.

We have done wireless point to multipoint links providing broadband to customers. this is normally a FTTC connection to a host site and then broadcast it on from their.

What success have you had with VM systems?

Pukka 19-03-2021 17:20

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth (Post 36074815)
What success have you had with VM systems?

If you can get the address on the system or get a spotter out. then its very good. we will always use openreach first as their system is much easier to work with, we can just place an order for "green cab, 15 winsor road, london, ET2 1NN".

I think the hardest virgin job, the cab was on the customers back garden fence, but no duct on the front of the house (it ws a barn conversion) once a spotter came out he said yes and it went through the system. that took about 2 months.

Sephiroth 19-03-2021 17:44

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Pukka (Post 36074823)
If you can get the address on the system or get a spotter out. then its very good. we will always use openreach first as their system is much easier to work with, we can just place an order for "green cab, 15 winsor road, london, ET2 1NN".

I think the hardest virgin job, the cab was on the customers back garden fence, but no duct on the front of the house (it ws a barn conversion) once a spotter came out he said yes and it went through the system. that took about 2 months.

But that's not the OP's situation with regard to the nearest VM cabinet.

The OP hasn't reported what the Openreach situation is in his area.

Foo Fighter 20-03-2021 01:02

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Pukka (Post 36074783)
Attached is a photo of a job we did for a customer with 550 meters of fibre.

Does anyone know the power requirement of the virgin modem? ours is in the loft.

For costing

1x Box (305 meters) cat6 £80.00 (make sure is NOT CCA) we use Excel brand here.
1x POE injector £19.20 https://linitx.com/product/ubiquiti-...e-50-60w/14097
2x Ethernet Repeater £19.20 (max 310 meters) https://linitx.com/product/mikrotik-...-source)/16092
2x case for above £7.20 https://linitx.com/product/mikrotik-...p67-case/16167
1x 48v to 12v adaptor https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-...puters&sr=1-10

you will need a box to put the router in. https://www.screwfix.com/p/hylec-ip6...-x-350mm/7766g


This would give you 45V at the cab which should be more than enough for the adaptor. Please note this is only theroy and would need a test before you continue, if it was me I would ask virgin to run 150 meters and then you run 150 meters the other way. put the router in modem mode and then provide your own router in the house

Nice work, case and point :D

We tend to only install Mayflex's kit too.

Its not uncommon to see these installs on high end residental propeties or rural business and building sites etc.

Pukka 22-03-2021 09:24

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth (Post 36074826)
But that's not the OP's situation with regard to the nearest VM cabinet.

The OP hasn't reported what the Openreach situation is in his area.

If the OP asks virigin to install to his little box 150 meters from the cab. If they is a draw string in the duct, if you are nice to the engineer (make a cup of tea) and have a little chat they are normally very accommodating. just make the job as easy for them as you can.

Sephiroth 22-03-2021 12:57

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Pukka (Post 36074949)
If the OP asks virigin to install to his little box 150 meters from the cab. If they is a draw string in the duct, if you are nice to the engineer (make a cup of tea) and have a little chat they are normally very accommodating. just make the job as easy for them as you can.

As it's street furniture, wayleave/council permission will be needed. Very little chance VM will do anything unusual.

Pukka 22-03-2021 17:28

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth (Post 36074966)
As it's street furniture, wayleave/council permission will be needed. Very little chance VM will do anything unusual.

Its a private drive way.

Sephiroth 22-03-2021 17:34

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
OK then. You're theory bets on the distance from the existing VM cabinet to the edge of the OP's drive to be 150m or less.

Pukka 22-03-2021 18:02

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
If he can get a virgin connection to his boundry, getting it to his house is easy.

rtho782 25-03-2021 20:30

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth (Post 36074996)
OK then. You're theory bets on the distance from the existing VM cabinet to the edge of the OP's drive to be 150m or less.

From the first post:

Quote:

A few months ago I looked at upgrading my Broadband and settled on Virgin Media who have a box about 300m from my front door. However i'm set back on a private road by 150m. They told me if I dug up the lane and installed ducting for cabling to the end on the private road they would connect me up.
Apparently the customer has a very long drive/private road. But they do state that it is 150m from the VM cabinet.

bluebaron 29-03-2021 15:06

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Well I spoke to soon!

So even though the adjudicator ruled in my favour, due to an admin issue on my end( I forgot to upload a receipt), they have only awarded around. 1/2 the costs. I’ve spoken to VM and explained the situation but they are now saying if you want to full amount you will have to reject the adjudicator decision and proceed to court.
I explained that this will will probably mean they will end up with additional costs and will be pretty much wasting the courts time as they will probably find reach the same conclusion but they said they didn’t care!

Skie 29-03-2021 22:46

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Go via small claims. Has a small submission fee but if you have enough evidence it should be a fairly straightforward case that VM probably wont even fight.

bluebaron 31-03-2021 15:28

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Claim filed this morning!

RichardCoulter 01-04-2021 02:22

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
You did right. I had many problems with this dreadful company at the end of last year; legal action is the only language that they appear to understand.

IMO their MO is to be as awkward, time consuming and difficult as possible with their paying customers. Their lack of business sense & arrogance is jaw dropping and even Ofcom have told them to 'up their game'.

In their current state I don't believe that they are fit to hold a licence to operate, but if they lost it it would risk a lot of jobs. The best we can hope for is for it to be sold.

Jaymoss 01-04-2021 11:08

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter (Post 36075873)
You did right. I had many problems with this dreadful company at the end of last year; legal action is the only language that they appear to understand.

IMO their MO is to be as awkward, time consuming and difficult as possible with their paying customers. Their lack of business sense & arrogance is jaw dropping and even Ofcom have told them to 'up their game'.

In their current state I don't believe that they are fit to hold a licence to operate, but if they lost it it would risk a lot of jobs. The best we can hope for is for it to be sold.


Is it not the MO of pretty much every company to avoid paying back or out anything that could be avoided including taxes refunds and so on? Greed is the ugly side of capitalism

Carth 01-04-2021 11:46

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaymoss (Post 36075889)
Is it not the MO of pretty much every company to avoid paying back or out anything that could be avoided including taxes refunds and so on? Greed is the ugly side of capitalism

You've got that right :tu:

I reckon the job of most Company/Business owners is to make money hand over fist, whether that's to repay investors, upgrade infrastructure and equipment, or simply just to buy a nice yacht in Monaco.

99% of managers will tell you their job is to make money, not make people happy ;)

Itshim 01-04-2021 18:06

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
I'm in by
Quote:

Originally Posted by Carth (Post 36075894)
You've got that right :t

99% of managers will tell you their job is to make money, not make people happy ;)

Pretty pointless running business and lose money. :erm:

---------- Post added at 17:06 ---------- Previous post was at 17:00 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carth (Post 36075894)
You've got that right :t

99% of managers will tell you their job is to make money, not make people happy ;)

Pretty pointless running business and lose money. :er
Personally if it had be me l would have not gone down that route.. l would said that you supply and fit it. I will pay you once and only once it is working. . :dig::dig:

rtho782 02-04-2021 19:55

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter (Post 36075873)
You did right. I had many problems with this dreadful company at the end of last year; legal action is the only language that they appear to understand.

IMO their MO is to be as awkward, time consuming and difficult as possible with their paying customers. Their lack of business sense & arrogance is jaw dropping and even Ofcom have told them to 'up their game'.

In their current state I don't believe that they are fit to hold a licence to operate, but if they lost it it would risk a lot of jobs. The best we can hope for is for it to be sold.

Totally agree. Never in my life have I dealt with a company that just don't care like VM. They know, that over most of their network, they have little or no competition - "Oh, don't like how we operate? Go ahead and cancel your 500mbit connection and live with 30mbit FTTC". Nobody takes ownership of anything, their primary objective is just to get you off the phone, or just put you back in the call queue for another 45m wait in the hope you give up. Or ignore a complaint for 3 months until you have forgotten the details of the complaint.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaymoss (Post 36075889)
Is it not the MO of pretty much every company to avoid paying back or out anything that could be avoided including taxes refunds and so on? Greed is the ugly side of capitalism

Not every company. Some want to keep their customers, and avoid bad publicity. Some ISPs are even B Companies, or CICs. Zen is a B company. ( https://bcorporation.uk/ ) I think B4RN were originally a CIC?

Jaymoss 02-04-2021 20:01

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by rtho782 (Post 36076007)


Not every company. Some want to keep their customers, and avoid bad publicity. Some ISPs are even B Companies, or CICs. Zen is a B company. ( https://bcorporation.uk/ ) I think B4RN were originally a CIC?

I never said every company I said pretty much every company which allows for the few that are not. I would also put it to you the when I said paying back or out or anything that could be avoided including taxes refunds and so on? does not just apply to CS. I would hazard a fair few of the ones you mentioned avoid as much tax as possible and some may even pay minimum wage

bluebaron 29-04-2021 13:13

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Update:

CCJ awarded today, (all costs plus court costs). VM have 30 days to make payment or I move to enforcement, which I guess means I call "can't pay we take it away" and they raid the offices! lol

Jaymoss 29-04-2021 13:21

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by bluebaron (Post 36078287)
Update:

CCJ awarded today, (all costs plus court costs). VM have 30 days to make payment or I move to enforcement, which I guess means I call "can't pay we take it away" and they raid the offices! lol

excellent result. I hope they just cough up nicely. Once finished I would sell the story to the tabloids to or at least get it public. VM could have so easily made this a lot easier for you

Skie 02-05-2021 00:34

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by bluebaron (Post 36078287)
Update:

CCJ awarded today, (all costs plus court costs). VM have 30 days to make payment or I move to enforcement, which I guess means I call "can't pay we take it away" and they raid the offices! lol

Noice! That'll be a 5% fee thank you ;)

RichardCoulter 02-05-2021 02:05

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by bluebaron (Post 36078287)
Update:

CCJ awarded today, (all costs plus court costs). VM have 30 days to make payment or I move to enforcement, which I guess means I call "can't pay we take it away" and they raid the offices! lol

Excellent news, but I wouldn't be surprised if they ignore the court order and you have to take further action.

---------- Post added at 01:05 ---------- Previous post was at 01:02 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaymoss (Post 36078289)
excellent result. I hope they just cough up nicely. Once finished I would sell the story to the tabloids to or at least get it public. VM could have so easily made this a lot easier for you

Agreed. Telling the story will help to get the word out about them so that potential customers are forewarned. The Telegraph have been very good about getting the word out.

bluebaron 16-06-2021 13:54

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Well as mentioned above they totally ignored the CCJ and my follow up letters so I took it to the high court and sent the Bailiffs round to their offices in reading.

They have recovered the amount from them now so just have to wait a legal 14 days before they can send me the money.

Jaymoss 16-06-2021 14:14

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Hope it ends up on TV

Just imagine. If you don't pay we'll take it away executes warrant on Virgin Media offices. Would love it

I know it will hardly hurt their pockets but it would have cost them quite a bit more making it harder for you. Shameful really

Chris 16-06-2021 15:23

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by bluebaron (Post 36083440)
Well as mentioned above they totally ignored the CCJ and my follow up letters so I took it to the high court and sent the Bailiffs round to their offices in reading.

They have recovered the amount from them now so just have to wait a legal 14 days before they can send me the money.

I would absolutely love to have seen that. Makes you wonder whether they got cash or goods, and how often it happens. It must have cost them a small fortune in fees on top of your claim. What a bunch of muppets.

Sephiroth 16-06-2021 15:47

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Watchdog

General Maximus 16-06-2021 19:35

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
They should be ashamed of themselves. I imagine they have a code of conduct and ethics as a responsible business and employer and if an investigation or review was done into this incident I wonder what the report would say..........

Skie 16-06-2021 22:45

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Should have sent them to a headend. Lots of juicy kit there for resale at knockdown prices at auction.

aptsys 16-07-2021 21:26

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth (Post 36074787)
The difference here is that your image shows OPENREACH FTTP (the customer’s cabinet). For that to work with VM, he would need to be in a fibre area (FTTP) otherwise it can’t be done.

Not quite understanding your misunderstanding here. We've done exactly what was pictured before with the Virgin Cable equipment in there too. No issues at all.

Sephiroth 16-07-2021 21:36

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by aptsys (Post 36086515)
Not quite understanding your misunderstanding here. We've done exactly what was pictured before with the Virgin Cable equipment in there too. No issues at all.

That was 4 months ago and the matter was resolved by VM refunding the customer's outlay.

As to your point, the this was all about how to get fibre to the customer's premises from a VM coax cabinet, which VM won't/can't do for reasons I've explained in the thread. I've not misunderstood anything.

Skie 16-07-2021 21:43

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephiroth (Post 36086517)
That was 4 months ago and the matter was resolved by VM refunding the customer's outlay.

As to your point, the this was all about how to get fibre to the customer's premises from a VM coax cabinet, which VM won't/can't do for reasons I've explained in the thread. I've not misunderstood anything.

Well it took a court judgement and then bailiffs, so not quite the passive "refunding the customers outlay" you're implying ;)

Sephiroth 16-07-2021 21:51

Re: £3000 spent and Virgin can't connect me
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Skie (Post 36086518)
Well it took a court judgement and then bailiffs, so not quite the passive "refunding the customers outlay" you're implying ;)

Well, that wasn't the point I was addressing. Apparantly, I misunderstood the whole technical thing.


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