Forum Discussion

jacob9hawkes's avatar
jacob9hawkes
On our wavelength
2 years ago

XGS-PON installation experiences

Hi all,

Hoping someone can offer some information on their experience with XGS-PON installation.

VM have just rolled out the new infrastructure over telegraph poles in my relatives area and I want to know what the installation process is like. If anyone has pictures of the wiring/terminals used that be extremely helpful as well.

I assume that no digging is involed and it would be installed just like existing copper infra - cable to a high point on the building, route inside and then terminate in a wall mouted fibre box?

  • i am currently waiting for the external work to be done, finding this process already painful as i was told they would be done today and nobody turned up. But if they do at some point i will try to post pictures. The pole feeding my house is over the road so i will hopefully see the work being done. Note you get the new 5x Hub that does not have modem mode in case you are thinking of using your own router. You may find this interesting it's an underground install but shows how its connected. virgin-media-xgs-pon-installation 

     

    • sambartle's avatar
      sambartle
      On our wavelength

      My install is a bit different to the one in that link (though its also underground not via pole).. I have (I think) a single fibre all the way from the street cabinet to my router with no joints.. The guy fed it through the wall in the black jacket, then stripped that back to the thin white jacket inside the white plastic cover box with a bit of spare coiled up).. which runs a couple meters to the router,  and that has a little green connector applied directly to it, at the modem. 

      The fibre is much thinner than the one in those photos attached above.. I was worried about getting it into trunking round a 90 degree bend, but it works fine. 



      The router is awful.. If you mess with the settings too much.. itll just reset itself to defaults.. When I first got it (6 months ago) changing the SSID on the WiFi was enough to cause problems, though that does seem to have been fixed recently as I can now change that without issue.

      That said the WiFi signal is much better than my old superhub, and the XGS-PON itself has been significantly better than my old cable service in my old house. 

      • jacob9hawkes's avatar
        jacob9hawkes
        On our wavelength

        Any idea how long the cable they ran was, roughly? My relatives are in a bungalow and there is a fair bit of distance from the telegraph pole to high-point of the house, then into the hallway where they will want the connection for the router to be.

    • jacob9hawkes's avatar
      jacob9hawkes
      On our wavelength

      Please do post some photos if you're able, that would be very useful!

  • Had my install on the 8/11/23 after a delay, said a hard dig was needed, when the cable was put under the lawn & across a concrete path Virgin only just arrived on our street,Box outsideInsideHub 5x, now moved to windowsillWiFi speed in same room on 1 gig

  • WiFi doesn’t extend to the other end of the house but I now have 2 VM WiFi pods which do the trick, now covers the whole of the bungalow now.

    very happy with it, when I was with Sky it was just 51mbps 

    The VM engineer said he couldn’t put the hub in the centre of the bungalow as the fibre cable wasn’t long enough & he couldn’t extend it, anyway I asked VM on WhatsApp, they offered to send another engineer to re site it, I declined because I find the Ethernet connections more useful on the hub where it is now just behind the tv on a windowsill 

    • jacob9hawkes's avatar
      jacob9hawkes
      On our wavelength

      Thanks for the input. Any idea how long the cable was roughly? Also a bungalow, so might have the same length issue.

      Also you mentioned the VM wifi pods, did you have issues with these as there have been reports of the new Hub 5x not working with them correctly?

      • Stephen93's avatar
        Stephen93
        Up to speed

        No issues at all working really good, in the bedroom at the far end of the bungalow before the pods speed was 19mps now with them one side is 212mps & other 125mps, not sure why they are different though

    • Well just had the external work done today. After much false information being provided by the tech support call centre it took about 25 minutes for two engineers to run an overhead fibre to the house. It was very clear that the call centre staff had no idea about XGS-PON and overhead cabling. They are used to the old DOCSIS coax cabling normally provided underground. But the guys from Avonline doing the installation were great.
      My external brown junction box is now ready for the fibre. I was told the fibre from the external junction to the internal is made to length so it can be run anywhere within reason from that point.
    • jacob9hawkes's avatar
      jacob9hawkes
      On our wavelength

      Glad to hear you're all connected externally, should be easier to get solid dates from now on as I assume you deal direct with VM for the internal installation?

      In terms of the external junction box, did they consult you about the internal location you want the fibre to terminate before fitting it, or did they just put it where they felt was best?

    • x2Fusion's avatar
      x2Fusion
      Joining in

      You do realize it's less costly to them to do overhead right? - It doesn't mean the tech has no idea about VM-PON (as vm dubs it)

      Anywho, the overhead fiber lines are far more cheaper fot them than underground. As (wait for bad weather) - that very thin fiber will be cut. Then you will have to wait a life time for them to come out, least with the underground fiber to the premiss you have 0 chance unless... somebody doesn't check plans outside your property and cuts it by digging outside.

      That doesn't happen very offten. ( The overhead fiber lines get cut often from bad weather, debris, etc... But for sure weather non the less, high winds can stretch it. Making it weaker, and less stable. While the fibers in side are being streched.

      You should have demaded them ... do it undergroun. It will cost you in the long run now 🙂

      Regards.

  • fibreking's avatar
    fibreking
    On our wavelength

     2023/24 XGS-PON M500 Install

    Good

    • Pavement micro trenching. They put the tube outlet in the right place (on request on the day).
    • Internal works. Engineer was happy for me to crawl under the floor and put the fibre where I wanted it. Pre-terminated cable with <5mm plug on it went through 20mm PVC rigid conduit (no bends) just fine.
    • Speed / latency.
    • Hub 5x does the job. Coverage overall pretty good.
    • Loving fibre going straight into to router. No coax, no power injector, no separate ONT. Nice.👍🏻 

    Not Sure

    • I’m trying to get a WiFi Pod for signal for the Ring camera outside and for the car to connect. Struggling with the VM Connect App. It either has good signal or no signal but nothing in between to order pods. It will be Ethernet back-haul so really need the right pods (I believe white single rj45 doesn’t have back-haul). I don’t want to be long without this (first world problem) but frustrating you can’t just order one.

    Bad

    • External dig. TBH it is what you see and therefore expect. Tickle the turf bury tube at 1” to 2”.
    • Tube is on the surface through the hedge so if the lawnmower doesn’t kill it, the hedge cutters will.
    • Over the concrete they basically placed the tube on top of a crack in the pavement and cemented over. Wheelie bin already damaged cement- it won’t last a year.

    My advice: if you’ve got a ground install coming I wouldn’t just ‘hope for the best’ like I did. Get some 63mm green twinwall duct dug in at 25cm depth where you want it (don’t run straight inside house - stop at the external wall to stop underground gas leaking into your home).  I’m regretting not having done that originally and it’s what I’m now going to do and get mine moved. Yes I could complain, yes yes. I just want an easy life. Now if they try to charge me to move it… 14 day cooling off period?

     

  • Is that cable from the pavement box up to your house wall just thrown directly into the ground and then some cement poured on top of it?

  • _wibble_'s avatar
    _wibble_
    On our wavelength

    I will join in: here is a picture of my install













    On hold for over 3 months and counting.