katy_47 wrote:
Hi, I also urgently need to remove old virgin media cable and box to allow for my own supplier to use the existing hole in the wall rather than drill another.
Please advise what needs to be done with the black wire sticking out of the front of my house and going down a green pipe. Virgin media hasn't been used at this property for years.
Can the wire be cut at the point it goes down the green pipe.
Why is this such a problem for everyone and VM seem to offer nothing to help?
The answers are; ‘yes’ is can simply be cut away - there’s no danger, the voltages and power levels in them are ridiculously low. And secondly, think of it from VM’s perspective, it has cost them money to install the cables in the first place, which they have recouped from the previous occupants’ subscriptions. Now you don’t want to be a customer (obviously), and aren’t prepared to pay VM any money. For them to send someone out and remove it all, will cost them money which they will never, ever get back. So basically, they have absolutely no incentive to do anything, do they? Be honest, in their position, would you?
Now if there is a definite Health and Safety issue, that might be a different issue, but, imagine that you purchase a house which has an existing cable draped across the lawn and is a tripping hazard. It could be argued that you couldn’t help but be aware of this before making the purchase, hence you accepted it and, presumably are prepared to put up with it! Certainly you are well within your rights to rectify this yourself, via the aid of cable cutters and a convenient skip; but I doubt that VM are legally obliged to do anything.
In the past, there were posts on here claiming that the VM cables, once installed are regarded as ‘a service’ alongside gas/water pipes and power is and always was a load of old rubbish, I suspect someone reading but not understanding the various Telecommunications Acts, luckily this old wives tale of a story doesn’t seem to get repeated much now. Another oft mentioned story is that just cutting the cables ‘can interfere with other user’s connectivity, and VM could take action against you’. This is theoretically, technically true (well the interference part anyway, the VM, Courts, Police might take action; is rubbish), so it could be argued that it is actually in VM’s interest to turn up and remove unwanted cabling and make sure it is properly terminated etc.
Ultimately, what you do with anything on your own property is entirely down to you (well, within reason anyway), the best advice is to request that VM remove the cables, posting on here as an official VM communication channel, should legally suffice. Give them ‘reasonable time’ (and often the Law regards two weeks as ‘reasonable) to comply or acknowledge your request with a firm date, and if and when that passes simply cut the whole lot away and dump it.
In the (very unlikely) event that doing so causes inconvenience to other customers - sorry but not your problem! If VM’s infrastructure can’t cope with this, plus you did give their fair opportunity to mitigate against this, then that is absolutely their problem and not yours.
