Forum Discussion

pidgecymru's avatar
pidgecymru
Tuning in
3 months ago

Advice on getting 3rd 360 box

I’m c12 months into an 18 month contract for  tv, phone & broadband package with two 360 tv boxes (mini boxes ?) one upstairs one downstairs which used the existing cabling so no engineer visit was r...
  • newapollo's avatar
    newapollo
    3 months ago

    Hi pidgecymru 

    If adding a third 360 box then it would be a mini box which is half the height of what was a V6 box before it was migrated to the 360 system as the mini box doesn't contain a hard drive. You would still be able to watch recordings on the third box and set them up from there, but the recordings would be stored on the main box.

    It would cost an additional £5 a month for the third box and would also probably cost £25 for a tech visit to add the necessary coaxial cable to the new location and install the new box.

    You might need to emphasise to the agent that it's an additional box and that you don't want to be recontracted to a new minimum term.

    Also make sure that they don't change your package when adding the third box as that would commence a new contract and possibly result in you losing channels such as TNT Sports which might be part of your current package, and also lose any current discounts that you currently have.

pidgecymru's avatar
pidgecymru
Tuning in
3 months ago

Many thanks for your response that’s very helpful ~ I should have mentioned also, that since I started this 18 month contract about a year ago, we’ve had ongoing problems with one of the two boxes we had (I think a 360 box and a mini box). It was the upstairs box so I’m assuming it’s the mini box. We tried all sorts of solutions, thinking it was probably due to the bedroom being in an extension and  ordered a booster but nothing helped - since we were mostly watching tv in the bedroom we tried switching boxes and voila no more problems upstairs.

Unfortunately we have all the same problems downstairs now we’ve moved the problem box there, it’s effectively not fit for purpose.  Problems include not being able to access recorded shows, not being able to stream, not all channels being available.

So we’ve established it’s def the box … would that also require an engineer visit or could they simply replace it when installing the new cabling for the 3rd box ? (Assuming I can get an agreement that box 3 would be an addition to the current contract and wouldn’t extend or restart it) or would I have to deal with this as a separate issue ?

thanks again for your help 

newapollo's avatar
newapollo
Very Insightful Person
3 months ago

 

It does sound like the problem box is the mini box (which would be half the height of the other (main) box.

VM do tend to send engineers out to check problem boxes as sometimes they can be fixed without being replaced, however if getting the third box installed then they  would need to recalibrate the signal levels and that would involve checking the current boxes and replacing them if necessary.

You won't be able to watch recordings if the main (fully working) box is powered off either at the wall or by the on/off switch on the back of the box. It needs to be turned on or in standby.

On both boxes go to Settings > System > Standby Power Consumption 

There you will see 3 choices.
Fast start  - the 360 starts quickly but is less energy efficient
Active start - more energy efficient than fast start but the box takes a little longer to start up
Eco start - the most energy efficient and probably the one you're using. It uses minimal power but takes a while to start.
The first two options are best if you have a mini box and want to watch a recording on it so I suggest that you make sure they are both on either Fast Start or Active Start

Regarding the problem box not being able to stream, this might be due to a lack of internet connection :-  Does the program guide (EPG) on that box populate (update with current TV listings) or does it have a lot of channels showing, 'To Be Announced'?  If most are showing To Be Announced then it's likely not connecting to the internet which would be why you can't stream on that device.

Both boxes should be connected to the internet. If you can stream on the main (bedroom) box then that suggests it has a working internet connection - if your VM hub is in the same room as the problem box it would be best if you can connect them together using an ethernet connection (a wifi connection should be sufficient there but a wired (ethernet) connection is always preferable. Whilst the recordings are held on the main box, VM's Horizon system (the operating system for both boxes) stores the actual links for the recorded programs in the cloud, so again the boxes need the internet connection to grab the links for the recorded programs in order to play them.

It sounds like the problem box hasn't been provisioned with all the TV channels if some aren't available. Which actual TV channels aren't available on the problem box? It's more than likely subscription channels such as Sky Movies/Sky Sports/TNT Sports.  That should be an easy fix as VM can sent the correct codes to the box to enable you to watch those missing channels on it.