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Virgin Media socket but no aerial

phoebemonkey
Tuning in

I’ve just left Virgin Media after 6 years of having broadband/phone. My new provider is 5G so I didn’t need any of the existing connectors etc. 

However… Virgin now obviously wants their hub etc back. Which is fine. Except the instructions tell me to disconnect the coaxial cable and put a cover on the socket. 

I did this, and then quickly realised that cable was not connected to my hub - it was connected directly to my YouView set top box! (And the box was connected to the hub) When I disconnected it obviously I lost my Freeview signal. 

I think this bizarre set up is the fault of the Freeview aerial guy who came to sort out missing channels etc a few years ago. 

There is no other aerial socket in my entire flat.  The main aerial for the entire building is connected to the Virgin socket. The tv only works when connected to the Virgin socket (despite my service already being terminated). Can I just leave it connected like that? It’s not attached to a router or anything and the YouView box isn’t getting internet, just Freeview channels. 

14 REPLIES 14

nodrogd
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

YouView boxes don't work on Virgin cabling. They are only for free broadcast channels.

All the channels on Virgins network are encrypted (with a few minor exceptions), even the free ones. They can only be decrypted by a Virgin supplied TV box. So if you are getting all the Freeview channels the socket is connected to the communal rooftop system & not to Virgin. In flats there would be a splitter connected to Virgins cable with one coax going to the hub & the other to the Virgin TV box. Aerial installers won't touch Virgin cables.

 

VM 350BB 2xV6 & Landline. Freeview/Freesat HD, ASDA/Tesco PAYG Mobile. Cable customer since 1993

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Adduxi
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

@phoebemonkey wrote:

I’ve just left Virgin Media after 6 years of having broadband/phone. My new provider is 5G so I didn’t need any of the existing connectors etc. 

However… Virgin now obviously wants their hub etc back. Which is fine. Except the instructions tell me to disconnect the coaxial cable and put a cover on the socket. 


What that means is remove the VM Broadband cable from the back of the VM Hub and put a termination cap on the end.  It's nothing to do with your TV setup.  If you didn't get a termination cap from VM, then ring in to get one.  If it never turns up, don't worry about it as the technician can disconnect your cable in the street cabinet.

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I can’t put a cap on the end… the cable is connected to my YouView box. It was not connected directly to the Virgin Hub. I’ve already unplugged and disconnected that (and I’m using my new router/modem). 

I’m assuming the main aerial connection is connected to the Virgin socket. Otherwise it would make no sense that I can get a Freeview signal from it to my YouView box. I have no Virgin connection anymore. 


@nodrogd wrote:

YouView boxes don't work on Virgin cabling. They are only for free broadcast channels.

All the channels on Virgins network are encrypted (with a few minor exceptions), even the free ones. They can only be decrypted by a Virgin supplied TV box. So if you are getting all the Freeview channels the socket is connected to the communal rooftop system & not to Virgin. In flats there would be a splitter connected to Virgins cable with one coax going to the hub & the other to the Virgin TV box. Aerial installers won't touch Virgin cables.

 


I’m really confused by this. I’ve seen it stated multiple times in various places… so how does that explain that my YouView box (which only has Freeview) is connected directly to the Virgin socket with a coax cable, and is showing live TV? I’ve never had Virgin TV. 

There’s never been a splitter attached to the socket - it was my understanding that Virgin only provide them if you have Virgin TV as well as broadband. Now that I have disconnected the Hub, it is clear that the socket was connected directly to the YouView box, and then that connected to the Hub. It is a bizarre set up, and not how it was connected before the Freeview aerial engineer visited. He spent hours swopping around cables and checking the connection to the building’s roof aerial. 

Unfortunately I’m a wheelchair user so wasn’t able to check what the engineer had actually done - I was just pleased he’d supposedly fixed the Freeview signal issues. 

I’m assuming I’ll just have to leave the YouView box connected to the Virgin socket and ignore Virgin’s instructions to put a cap on it. Otherwise I will have no live TV signal. 

Tudor
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

I’d it possible to post some photos of the cables and sockets?

If for some reason the TV aerial cable and the incoming VM coax we’re joined together there should be an ingress of noise on the circuit that would have affected you and all other people on the street box.


Tudor
There are 10 types of people: those who understand binary and those who don't and F people out of 10 who do not understand hexadecimal c1a2a285948293859940d9a49385a2

nodrogd
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

@phoebemonkey wrote:

I can’t put a cap on the end… the cable is connected to my YouView box. It was not connected directly to the Virgin Hub. I’ve already unplugged and disconnected that (and I’m using my new router/modem). 

I’m assuming the main aerial connection is connected to the Virgin socket. Otherwise it would make no sense that I can get a Freeview signal from it to my YouView box. I have no Virgin connection anymore. 


So you have already disconnected your Virgin HUB. Your Hub had a white coaxial cable going in. This is the ONLY connection you had to Virgins network & this is the one that needs capping. You never had Virgin TV as you say, so your YouView box is not part of the Virgin setup apart from being conneted to the Hub for internet access, and this would not have been from the same white cable going to your Hub.

Some flats have satellite outputs (usually marked SAT1 & SAT2) that can be used for Virgin connections via a connector block in the equipment cupboard in a communal area. As per the previous post, if you attach pictures of the setup it may help.

VM 350BB 2xV6 & Landline. Freeview/Freesat HD, ASDA/Tesco PAYG Mobile. Cable customer since 1993

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54DE5697-BD51-4A10-9200-EBF3B091AE51.jpeg

79F28D74-E155-4951-A6F2-65900FC327E4.jpeg

Apologies for the rubbish photos - the socket is in an awkward location! (The one at the back almost out of sight is the phone socket - nothing connected at the moment since I have no landline anymore). 

There’s no other tv/aerial sockets in the entire flat. This is only connected directly to the YouView box at the moment. 

nodrogd
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

That is an offset TV antenna outlet, which would only be used for Freeview.

As before, where did the white cable from the back of your Virgin Hub connect to?

VM 350BB 2xV6 & Landline. Freeview/Freesat HD, ASDA/Tesco PAYG Mobile. Cable customer since 1993

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more

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Okay… if this is only a tv aerial socket then I have no idea where the Virgin socket even is… nowhere as far as I can see? The problem is that the cable disappears behind a bookcase which is bolted to the wall.