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XGS-PON installation experiences

jacob9hawkes
On our wavelength

Hi all,

Hoping someone can offer some information on their experience with XGS-PON installation.

VM have just rolled out the new infrastructure over telegraph poles in my relatives area and I want to know what the installation process is like. If anyone has pictures of the wiring/terminals used that be extremely helpful as well.

I assume that no digging is involed and it would be installed just like existing copper infra - cable to a high point on the building, route inside and then terminate in a wall mouted fibre box?

16 REPLIES 16

ovi75
Tuning in

i am currently waiting for the external work to be done, finding this process already painful as i was told they would be done today and nobody turned up. But if they do at some point i will try to post pictures. The pole feeding my house is over the road so i will hopefully see the work being done. Note you get the new 5x Hub that does not have modem mode in case you are thinking of using your own router. You may find this interesting it's an underground install but shows how its connected. virgin-media-xgs-pon-installation 

 

sambartle
On our wavelength

My install is a bit different to the one in that link (though its also underground not via pole).. I have (I think) a single fibre all the way from the street cabinet to my router with no joints.. The guy fed it through the wall in the black jacket, then stripped that back to the thin white jacket inside the white plastic cover box with a bit of spare coiled up).. which runs a couple meters to the router,  and that has a little green connector applied directly to it, at the modem. 

The fibre is much thinner than the one in those photos attached above.. I was worried about getting it into trunking round a 90 degree bend, but it works fine. 

PXL_20231228_200830156.MP.jpg

The router is awful.. If you mess with the settings too much.. itll just reset itself to defaults.. When I first got it (6 months ago) changing the SSID on the WiFi was enough to cause problems, though that does seem to have been fixed recently as I can now change that without issue.

That said the WiFi signal is much better than my old superhub, and the XGS-PON itself has been significantly better than my old cable service in my old house. 

Stephen93
Up to speed

Had my install on the 8/11/23 after a delay, said a hard dig was needed, when the cable was put under the lawn & across a concrete path Virgin only just arrived on our street,Box outsideBox outsideInsideInsideHub 5x, now moved to windowsillHub 5x, now moved to windowsillWiFi speed in same room on 1 gigWiFi speed in same room on 1 gig

Stephen93
Up to speed

WiFi doesn’t extend to the other end of the house but I now have 2 VM WiFi pods which do the trick, now covers the whole of the bungalow now.

very happy with it, when I was with Sky it was just 51mbps 

The VM engineer said he couldn’t put the hub in the centre of the bungalow as the fibre cable wasn’t long enough & he couldn’t extend it, anyway I asked VM on WhatsApp, they offered to send another engineer to re site it, I declined because I find the Ethernet connections more useful on the hub where it is now just behind the tv on a windowsill 

Please do post some photos if you're able, that would be very useful!

Any idea how long the cable they ran was, roughly? My relatives are in a bungalow and there is a fair bit of distance from the telegraph pole to high-point of the house, then into the hallway where they will want the connection for the router to be.

Thanks for the input. Any idea how long the cable was roughly? Also a bungalow, so might have the same length issue.

Also you mentioned the VM wifi pods, did you have issues with these as there have been reports of the new Hub 5x not working with them correctly?

No issues at all working really good, in the bedroom at the far end of the bungalow before the pods speed was 19mps now with them one side is 212mps & other 125mps, not sure why they are different though

ovi75
Tuning in
  • Well just had the external work done today. After much false information being provided by the tech support call centre it took about 25 minutes for two engineers to run an overhead fibre to the house. It was very clear that the call centre staff had no idea about XGS-PON and overhead cabling. They are used to the old DOCSIS coax cabling normally provided underground. But the guys from Avonline doing the installation were great.
    My external brown junction box is now ready for the fibre. I was told the fibre from the external junction to the internal is made to length so it can be run anywhere within reason from that point.