Extending hub coaxial cable

[Boosh]

So I'm looking at moving my Virgin Media hub to my TV stand as currently its just on the floor inbetween the living room door and settee.

Initially when installed the technician only left about 1.5-2m of coaxial cable, whereas I now need about 8-10m in length in order to tidy it up a bit. 

I've been through many threads online and I'm getting the consensus that changing the coax is a big no, no... and that Virgin Media frown on it. 

So I rang up Virgin Media technical help, enquired about extending my coaxial cable, to which I was told (twice by two different people) that they do not supply the coax any more and that their system tells them to advise customers to purchase their own coax cable. 

I'm checking this up as much as I can at this point because I'm just continuesly living in a grey area here...

The two people I spoke to at Virgin were adamant that I purchase my own coax and that they will send an engineer to install it if I'm not sure what to do (I know how to install it). My questions to them were;

"am I allowed to do this?"

to which the answer was "yes", then I asked;

"does it need to be a specific grade?"

to which they replied "just take the old coax into PC World/Currys and they'll know which one to give you"

So once again for the umpteenth time, is purchasing/installing your own coax cable allowed now?

[carl_pearce]

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@Boosh wrote:

So I'm looking at moving my Virgin Media hub to my TV stand as currently its just on the floor inbetween the living room door and settee.

Initially when installed the technician only left about 1.5-2m of coaxial cable, whereas I now need about 8-10m in length in order to tidy it up a bit. 

I've been through many threads online and I'm getting the consensus that changing the coax is a big no, no... and that Virgin Media frown on it. 

So I rang up Virgin Media technical help, enquired about extending my coaxial cable, to which I was told (twice by two different people) that they do not supply the coax any more and that their system tells them to advise customers to purchase their own coax cable. 

I'm checking this up as much as I can at this point because I'm just continuesly living in a grey area here...

The two people I spoke to at Virgin were adamant that I purchase my own coax and that they will send an engineer to install it if I'm not sure what to do (I know how to install it). My questions to them were;

"am I allowed to do this?"

to which the answer was "yes", then I asked;

"does it need to be a specific grade?"

to which they replied "just take the old coax into PC World/Currys and they'll know which one to give you"

So once again for the umpteenth time, is purchasing/installing your own coax cable allowed now?

---

Please don't listen to the call centre.

When you change the length of the coax, especially the amount you require, the power levels may need adjusting to keep a stable connection.

So an engineer visit IS required.

Techinically WF100 cable with compression F connectors should be more than sufficent:

https://www.satellitesuperstore.com/satellitecable.htm#wf100

[japitts · Accepted solution]

---

@Boosh wrote:

So I rang up Virgin Media technical help, enquired about extending my coaxial cable, to which I was told (twice by two different people) that they do not supply the coax any more and that their system tells them to advise customers to purchase their own coax cable. 

[snip]

The two people I spoke to at Virgin were adamant that I purchase my own coax and that they will send an engineer to install it if I'm not sure what to do (I know how to install it). My questions to them were;

---

You're sadly not the first person to have been told this in recent times, but it's complete rubbish. VM use specialist grade triple-shielded cable, not to mention the risk of (well-intentioned) DIY jobs causing service issues for yourself and/or neighbours.

Making alterations to your co-ax cabling should be done by VM techs, who can be booked via the faults route for a (bargain IMO) price of £25 - this used to be £99.

If you're having problems with getting the phone-CS people to accept this, then perhaps - in the interests of your blood pressure - give up and wait for the forum staff team to pick this thread up. Ordinarily that would take a day or so, but I've waved a VIP magic-wand and expedited that for you.

I hope they'll also deal with the incorrect advice internally too, for the benefit of others.

[Boosh]

---

@carl_pearce wrote:

---

@Boosh wrote:

So I'm looking at moving my Virgin Media hub to my TV stand as currently its just on the floor inbetween the living room door and settee.

Initially when installed the technician only left about 1.5-2m of coaxial cable, whereas I now need about 8-10m in length in order to tidy it up a bit. 

I've been through many threads online and I'm getting the consensus that changing the coax is a big no, no... and that Virgin Media frown on it. 

So I rang up Virgin Media technical help, enquired about extending my coaxial cable, to which I was told (twice by two different people) that they do not supply the coax any more and that their system tells them to advise customers to purchase their own coax cable. 

I'm checking this up as much as I can at this point because I'm just continuesly living in a grey area here...

The two people I spoke to at Virgin were adamant that I purchase my own coax and that they will send an engineer to install it if I'm not sure what to do (I know how to install it). My questions to them were;

"am I allowed to do this?"

to which the answer was "yes", then I asked;

"does it need to be a specific grade?"

to which they replied "just take the old coax into PC World/Currys and they'll know which one to give you"

So once again for the umpteenth time, is purchasing/installing your own coax cable allowed now?

---

Please don't listen to the call centre.

When you change the length of the coax, especially the amount you require, the power levels may need adjusting to keep a stable connection.

So an engineer visit IS required.

Techinically WF100 cable with compression F connectors should be more than sufficent:

https://www.satellitesuperstore.com/satellitecable.htm#wf100

---

Thanks for the reply...

What you said seems to be the verbatim that others have said in previous threads I've found through Google...

It baffles me why Virgin are telling their customer support team to advise their customers to purchase their own coax then? I did ask for them to put me into another department but they said they don't know anyone who could help me. 

Just out of curiosity I don't suppose you would know how much do they charge to send out an engineer? I only ask because I've seen some ridiculous quotes in other forums.

[carl_pearce]

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@Boosh wrote:

Thanks for the reply...

What you said seems to be the verbatim that others have said in previous threads I've found through Google...

It baffles me why Virgin are telling their customer support team to advise their customers to purchase their own coax then? I did ask for them to put me into another department but they said they don't know anyone who could help me. 

Just out of curiosity I don't suppose you would know how much do they charge to send out an engineer? I only ask because I've seen some ridiculous quotes in other forums.

---

See above!

[jbrennand]

Its £25 for a non-fault call out. Faults are fixed for free.

[Boosh]

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@japitts wrote:

---

@Boosh wrote:

So I rang up Virgin Media technical help, enquired about extending my coaxial cable, to which I was told (twice by two different people) that they do not supply the coax any more and that their system tells them to advise customers to purchase their own coax cable. 

[snip]

The two people I spoke to at Virgin were adamant that I purchase my own coax and that they will send an engineer to install it if I'm not sure what to do (I know how to install it). My questions to them were;

---

You're sadly not the first person to have been told this in recent times, but it's complete rubbish. VM use specialist grade triple-shielded cable, not to mention the risk of (well-intentioned) DIY jobs causing service issues for yourself and/or neighbours.

Making alterations to your co-ax cabling should be done by VM techs, who can be booked via the faults route for a (bargain IMO) price of £25 - this used to be £99.

If you're having problems with getting the phone-CS people to accept this, then perhaps - in the interests of your blood pressure - give up and wait for the forum staff team to pick this thread up. Ordinarily that would take a day or so, but I've waved a VIP magic-wand and expedited that for you.

I hope they'll also deal with the incorrect advice internally too, for the benefit of others.

---

Mate that's great, thanks for that... for the price of £25 I don't mind getting an engineer out to do it, especially when 10m coax is like £13-18...

The original £99 I saw from others in various forums really put me off even contemplating it.

I just wanted to avoid fudging it and not only ruining my own signal, but everyone else's on my road. 

[Molly_T]

Hi Boosh, thank you for getting in touch to bring this to our attention. I am here to provide a little clarity to this matter - but thank you to the community for offering their support!

We would not recommend that customers purchase their own Coaxial cable. I can only apologise for this misinformation. Please rest assured I will be escalating this internally and ensuring any appropriate action is taken to prevent this happening again in future. 

We will be able to provide the cable that you need as part of the equipment relocation appointment, where the technician will be able to get the cable extended (Or replaced with a longer cable suited to your needs) and relocate the hub. 

These appointments are a chargeable service - as not a fault appointment, and are £25. 

I will send you a PM to confirm a few details and get this booked in for you! We can then return to the public thread with any further updates. 

All the best. 

[Molly_T]

Hi All, thanks to Boosh for PMing with me. 

An appointment has now been booked in the first available slot to get this resolved. I hope it goes well!

Please do come back to us if there is anything further we can help with .

All the best.