Virgin Media Community

[gobezza123]

Hi all, I have a Hub3 and would like to relocate it to the other side of the wall, I need an extra 3m on the already 3.5m cable. Is this just co-ax? ANy advise on the best cable to get? Am I looking at this too simplistically or is there more to it?

Thanks

[-tony-]

its coax but not just any old coax - its tripple shielded or gold plated or whatever - its said to be special to VM so you should not add to it - plus adding 3 metres could have an effect ob the input to the hub

in short you need a tech to do it and that will cost you £99 as a non fault call out which they will not do until covid lockdown is over

so alternatives 

1 - its worth giving them a ring start with UK retentions

dial 150 or 0345 454 1111 and follow the prompts to - 'thinking of leaving us' - dont worry about that they do much more - open 8am -10pm 7 days a week - should take you to a UK call centre

ask nicely they do do a 3metre cable that comes with the TV box - someone might be able to send you one - if you are out of contract you could twist an arm by mentioning 30 days notice even if you are not serios

2 - assuming you get nowhere with one and dont want to pay £99 for a cable - leave the hub where it is - put it in modem mode and buy a 3rd party router - better value for your £99 and put the new router where you want it - connect it back to the hub with a lan cable - sorted

[HowardML]

Way too simplisticly. Remember your GCSE physics? What happens to the electrical characteristics of circuits if you change their composition or length of wiring. You are forbidden by VM's T and Cs from interfering with the network side of the installation. That is VM's property. And the network side of the installation includes the coax feed into the home. The coax used is highly specialised to prevent the entry of noise to the circuits.  You can't buy it. If you make unauthorised changes you risk introducing noise and upsetting the balance of the circuit - both yours and everyone else connected to that segment of the network that serves you. The consequences for you could be very expensive.

VM will extend the cable for you for a fee of £99 as a no fault call out. However these are not being done at the moment to reduce the exposure of their techs to the virus and to protect customers to, avoid unnecessary home visit.

Watch this form for news of when non-fault visits will start again.

[Eeeps]

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@HowardML wrote:

... You are forbidden by VM's T and Cs from interfering with the network side of the installation...

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I can see anything about being 'forbidden'. The T&C state...

'Please do not move any equipment.  Should you later wish to alter the routing or location of any existing equipment such as cables or wall sockets, you should contact us.'

Note the wording. 'Please' and 'should'. Not 'must'.

Also, I can't find anything about consequential damages.

My VM provided cable is not triple screened (or gold plated). It's not even copper.
As far as the screen is concerned, it's an aluminium foil over the inner insulator and a wire braid over that.
(that's what the installer provided to me to pull which he then terminated).

[jbrennand]

I have posted this tale of woe several times in the past as an example of what can (and did) happen when you mess with VM cabling...
___________________________________________

A year or two ago, my neighbour was having "noise" problems on their BB connection and the investigating VM tech team just happened to knock on my door and ask to see our connections. Long story short... their noise problem was caused by MY daughter (unbeknown to me) moving her V6 box and using some "official VM co-ax cable" (sic) she had got from Amazon! The VM tech's changed that cable and connectors in her room to the VM stuff and "hey presto" the neighbour's issue was immediately sorted and we weren't billed for causing a network fault - but lesson learned!

[stabilo00]

There is a lot of tosh talked about on here regarding the cable being special. It isnt. Its good quality yes but not special or exclusive to Virgin.

[Z92]

That 'lesson' seems to indicate that if you do a DIY job that causes problems vm will just fix it free of charge, so you are better doing that than paying the £99 non fault callout fee.

Now if virgin charged you £199 for unauthorised modification of their equipment that would be a different story. 

[Adduxi]

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@Z92 wrote:

That 'lesson' seems to indicate that if you do a DIY job < snip>

I think the problem is "diy proficiency" if you get my drift.  I would suggest VM are caught with this one. Do they allow uses to add or remove short lengths of cable? What if the user makes a complete mess?  Granted some users will get the best low impedance high quality co-ax and make a sterling job, but some users will, without doubt, make a mess. 

However, it's easier and best to say no changes and charge a fee.  The amount however, is debatable. 

[-tony-]

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@Adduxi wrote:

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@Z92 wrote:

That 'lesson' seems to indicate that if you do a DIY job < snip>

I think the problem is "diy proficiency" if you get my drift.  I would suggest VM are caught with this one. Do they allow uses to add or remove short lengths of cable? What if the user makes a complete mess?  Granted some users will get the best low impedance high quality co-ax and make a sterling job, but some users will, without doubt, make a mess. 

However, it's easier and best to say no changes and charge a fee.  The amount however, is debatable. 

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its not only about the cable - changing the length can affect the signal level - changing the length by a metre od so either way is unlikely to be a problem but there has been posts on here where 10 or 15 metres has been mentioned - that would surely have an effect that would need a tech visit

[Adduxi]

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@-tony- wrote:

its not only about the cable - changing the length can affect the signal level - changing the length by a metre od so either way is unlikely to be a problem but there has been posts on here where 10 or 15 metres has been mentioned - that would surely have an effect that would need a tech visit

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Yes Tony, I know.  That's why I did mention short lengths only.  It was more the point of DIY proficiency really  🙂