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brickdust's avatar
brickdust
Joining in
17 days ago

OAP needs help and advice

Can any body explain this to me:-
Use to be with Sky for all 3 services but had terrible overcharged broadband service from them, so when Virgin came into area and agent called round I decided to change to Virgin (I had been in a previous property and had Virgin for about 18 years with no problems)
Explained to agent that my Sky TV service overran my Broadband/Phone service by 6/7 months and we wanted the ability to record TV progs when required with Virgin as we had been use to with Sky.
As my Sky broadband/phone service contract finished in Dec 2023 and my Sky TV ended in May/June 2024, he indicated that this was not a problem and I would initially receive a Streambox (only capable of Terrestrial TV at the time) along with my 1gig connection in Dec 2023 which duly happened, the agent also said that after the switchover from Sky TV to Virgin TV in May/June 2024 I would receive, as a new customer, in exchange for the Streambox, a Virgin TV 360 as I believe these were In the process of being rolled out.
May/June 2024 came and went as did Sky TV, was now able to use the Streambox in full,
Waited a few months still no Virgin TV 360, tried contacting Virgin about the situation Virgin TV 360 but was told it would happen shortly, this was after numerous attempts to get through to support.
It is now April 2025 and we still have not got the 360 box. That is 10/11 months after the change over to Virgin TV.
Imagine my surprise and anger when I got through to Virgin again the week and after explaining it all again I was informed that I could not get a Virgin TV 360 box or any other box that would allow us to record TV as we had a full fibre connection (presume they meant the 1gig I,m on) and this does not accommodate the use of  a recording box, why this should exclude me from this service I don,t understand. Can any body please explain to this OAP why this is, and have I been misled initially by the agent (who said he was a ex Virgin engineer) and maybe what steps I can take now.

Sorry  about the length of the post and thanks for any help in advance.

6 Replies

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  • carl_pearce's avatar
    carl_pearce
    Superstar
    17 days ago

    If you have FTTP and HUB 5x, so a connector like this:

    this means a Virgin TV 360 box would never work as it uses a coax connection on the older HFC or RFoG infrastructure.

  • Cardiffman282's avatar
    Cardiffman282
    Wise owl
    17 days ago

    Carl and the phone agent are correct re you being unfortunately stuck with the Stream box. You were missold your contract. Contact Citizens Advice. 

  • nodrogd's avatar
    nodrogd
    Very Insightful Person
    10 days ago

     I was informed that I could not get a Virgin TV 360 box or any other box that would allow us to record TV as we had a full fibre connection (presume they meant the 1gig I,m on) and this does not accommodate the use of  a recording box, why this should exclude me from this service I don,t understand. 

    Virgin Media now runs two types of network. The vast majority is traditional cable network using radio technology over copper coaxial cables. This carries TV in a similar way to terrestrial & satellite TV, with the internet "bolted on" using DOCSIS technology down the same cable. This type of network is a) expensive to build, & b) has a lot of complications with contention (lots of customers sharing resources). Therefore, all the new network is now full fibre XGS-PON. This is purely internet distribution, so cannot carry the traditional cable TV services that V360 recording boxes run on. Hence you are only offered Streaming boxes. It has nothing to do with the speed of your connection.

    I assume when you had Sky you were using a SkyQ box. These are now no longer provided as standard to new Sky TV customers, who are offered either Sky Stream or Sky Glass instead, neither of which can record.

    • cje85's avatar
      cje85
      Wise owl
      10 days ago

      Sky Q is still very much available to new customers, it's just not actively marketed anymore.

      https://www.sky.com/tv/sky-q

      • nodrogd's avatar
        nodrogd
        Very Insightful Person
        10 days ago

        So is V360, providing you are on the traditional network & are prepared to pay a £50 activation fee. It's just no longer advertised.

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta
    10 days ago

    New TV customers only get the Apollo box (renamed from Flex which was renamed from Stream) regardless of what network they are on. It's part of the migration to IPTV.