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Rich20022002's avatar
Rich20022002
Joining in
4 days ago

Flex Package from Sky Q

Question: Last week my elderly parents have just swapped from SkyQ to Virgin Media for Broadband, TV and Phone purely on a price basis. Their installation was last Wednesday. Their bungalow in Nottingham already has a NTL/Virgin cable to it. I have helped them with the switchover but we have just Virgin Broadband and phone so I know nothing about the TV side of things. 

They received a Virgin router and 3 small boxes which they guy installed under the Lounge, bedroom and conservatory televisions. They and I assumed you could record programs on the main box in the lounge just like Sky Q. But I read that it is a streaming service only. Can the main box be easily replaced with a 360 box for the main Lounge TV and still keep the 2 remote streaming boxes connected via wifi and does a 360 box have to be connected via cable to the router which would be too much trouble?  

4 Replies

  • newapollo's avatar
    newapollo
    Very Insightful Person
    4 days ago

    The Stream (Flex) box became the default TV choice for all of VM's new customers around 8 or 9 months ago.  VM's recordable TV set top boxes (TV360) only work on the older DOCSIS cable network which uses coaxial copper cables which carry both the linear broadcast TV channels & the DOCSIS internet.

    A TV360 box (if available) can be connected to the hub via wifi if the signal is strong enough instead of by the ethernet cable, but it does need to be connected to the VM coaxial cable for a live TV signal.  

    The 360 box carries a £49.99 activation fee and can only be ordered by contacting the sales team on 0800 183 1234. 

    When you use the online postcode checker to confirm if VM can provide a broadband service at your elderly parents address https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/postcode-checker  does it offer a 2 Gig connection amongst the various broadband options?  If so then it's in one of the current expansion areas which only supplies a full fibre connection for new customers, and in those areas only IPTV is available via a Stream box.

     

    • Rich20022002's avatar
      Rich20022002
      Joining in
      4 days ago

      Very comprehensive reply thank you so much. This might take a while for me to digest but initially I think I will steer them in perseverance with the streaming aspect of the 'future' with the install. I tested the internet speed and it was 400+. I believe that FTTB has been installed in their area. But I will check the Postcode checker again. Once again, Thank You

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

    The clue to the network type available is in the original post.

    Rich20022002 wrote:

    Their bungalow in Nottingham already has a NTL/Virgin cable to it.