View Full Version : What will the engineer do
I am having an ntl engineer comming round next week to install bb and tv for me.
I am just wondering what the engineer actually will do?
What is he told he can do?
What equipment would he have available?
What extras do they sometimes do?
The house already has a ntl cable box on one side of the lounge wall.
My TV is on the other side of the lounge of where the original connection box is. and my puta is upstairs.
Will he just plug the stb into the box and stretch a cable straight across the lounge to the tv?
or will he lay it round the wall and door frames?
or will he redrill another hole closer to the tv, but still need to get over door frame?
As for the internet will he just plug in the sacm and say its all yours ?
or will he lay cables up the stairs to the router upstairs?
or will he drill upstairs?
As for the phone will he touch it? drill an extension line upstairs?
Is there anything I should check before he arrives? Or anything I should ask when he arrives?
:wavey: Firstly welcome to the Forum
I am having an ntl engineer comming round next week to install bb and tv for me.
Yay, just before Christmas too
I am just wondering what the engineer actually will do?
What is he told he can do?
What equipment would he have available?
What extras do they sometimes do?
They generally carry everything they need for a full install
The house already has a ntl cable box on one side of the lounge wall.
My TV is on the other side of the lounge of where the original connection box is. and my puta is upstairs.
Will he just plug the stb into the box and stretch a cable straight across the lounge to the tv?
or will he lay it round the wall and door frames?
or will he redrill another hole closer to the tv, but still need to get over door frame?
Remember, this is your house, he should follow your instructions as to how/where you want things, but will obviously offer advice too.
As for the internet will he just plug in the sacm and say its all yours ?
or will he lay cables up the stairs to the router upstairs?
or will he drill upstairs?
The router is not a piece of NTL equipment, so will not cable to it, but will cable to the PC (he might if he's a decent chap). They should also give you an installation pack for BB, but you don't really need it.
As for the phone will he touch it? drill an extension line upstairs?
If you haven't ordered phone ... No he won't, if you have he will do the main box only ... you will have to do the extensions.
Is there anything I should check before he arrives? Or anything I should ask when he arrives?
Get it sorted in your head where you want things installed to, and where you want cable runs to go. Other than that, let us know how it goes. Any probs, I'm sure we can help you out.
:wavey:
paulyoung666
03-12-2003, 13:20
and dont forget to get the kettle on and the choccie bikkies out :D :D :D :D :D
and dont forget to get the kettle on and the choccie bikkies out :D :D :D :D :D
tbh, this cant be stressed enough... I have found you get a pretty good response from the techs that come round for installs and/or repairs if you offer them a cuppa the moment they walk through the door, even if they turn it down, it kind of sets the tone...
Flubflow
03-12-2003, 13:37
Expect the unexpected. That might sound a bit glib but I remember my installation (upgrade). I was on the old analogue cable TV and Broadband ("original" NTL area previously Comcast). When I upgraded to Digital TV they couldn't get both the TV and BB working at the same time and in the end they had to pull a new cable of a better spec through from the box on house to the street and then to the cabinet down the road. They had started the installtion in the early afternoon and they didn't leave till around 7pm. They were going to leave me without any service until the next day but I said no (unless they were going give me a refund/compensation).
Oh and to add insult to injury, the digital STB remote interfered with the remote on the TV set so I had to tape over sensor on the TV.
SMHarman
03-12-2003, 13:52
<snip>
The house already has a ntl cable box on one side of the lounge wall.
My TV is on the other side of the lounge of where the original connection box is. and my puta is upstairs.
Will he just plug the stb into the box and stretch a cable straight across the lounge to the tv?
or will he lay it round the wall and door frames?
or will he redrill another hole closer to the tv, but still need to get over door frame?
<snip>
So there are two cable access points already in your living room?
They will run the cable as you want / they suggest. The ones I have had have done a very neat job. For example it may be neater to go round the skirting of three walls than over the door frame of one wall, the cable does not take right angles well.
<snip>
<snip>
As for the internet will he just plug in the sacm and say its all yours ?
or will he lay cables up the stairs to the router upstairs?
or will he drill upstairs?
<snip>
I would expect that he puts (are there any female installers?) another termination point upstairs near your computer, he will then connect this to the SACM and test the SACM communication. It is usually your responsibility to install software on your PC and get the router up and running.
<snip>
As for the phone will he touch it? drill an extension line upstairs?
<snip>
Ask nicely (the tea and biscuits help here). If he is running coax up to that room anyway, then putting siamese coax in its place and an additional phone socket is not a great deal extra work. Generally it will just be reconnected to the original NTL master socket. They cannot touch the BT master sockets as they are owned by BT!
:welcome: to the wonderful world of NTL tv and broadband. Personally mine works well 99% of the time, I'd just like to plug a sky+ type box into it!
the wonderful world of NTL tv and broadband. Personally mine works well 99% of the time, I'd just like to plug a sky+ type box into it!
Me too! :scratch:
Generally it will just be reconnected to the original NTL master socket. They cannot touch the BT master sockets as they are owned by BT!
This didn't stop the engineer who did my install offering to 'convert' the BT socket into an ntl one. I said 'no' with one eye on eventually selling the house as both fully BT- and NTL-ready, as I had no idea that would be illegal.
As for where they'll put cable - should be anywhere you ask them. Don't take any moopoo like 'we can't go there because it's on the opposite side of the house to the box'. I live in a terrace; the guy refused to sling cable over the roof and he refused to run it through the loft (in case he caused damage and got sued). He left me 'enough' cable to run it up the wall, through the ceiling, across the loft and down into my spare room, which turned out to be nowhere near enough. I queued on to CS for an hour to ask them to send him back with more cable. He did come back that afternoon, but I'm certain that was only because he left one of his tools behind at my house.
Cheers, Thanks for all the responses so far.
As I dont drink tea or coffee, looks like I have to practice my tea/coffee skills. Dont suppose he'll accept beer? ( I am assuming it will be a bloke. I may be wrong.)
So its sounds like he will run a cable from the box along skirting board and door( the other way would be more complicated) to the STB.
And possible another up the wall to study for the SACM. (Does SACM have to go via STBs, or is there a hint in the "Stand Alone" bit?). From there on to the PC or router Ill take care of it. Not much change from my old Pipex connection.
And if I ask nicely he could slap the phone line along it too. Reusing the bt sockets upstairs would be a bonus. If he is not allowed to touch them, am I?
In time I was planning to run tv & ethernet coaxes all around the house (perhaps not to the bathroom), so will i need to redrill, widen the holes he makes? Or will he use some sort of conduits? Obviously I would make other holes to other rooms myself.
Why not just get a wireless router?
That would meen buying new router and cards when i already got all the other gear.
Had the wireless or not discussion/argument loads of times with collegues and friends. Speed, cost, interference, radiation was most of the issues. Although 'g' standard and cheaper prices has made it more attractive. My mates tales of being in bed till lunch working on his laptop is interesting, but then I dont have a laptop and work demands me being there at 9am.
Anyway it is mostly the TV signals from arial, ntl box, video i want to ship around. Although now there are some wireless option for that as well, but i prefer good old coax.
th'engineer
03-12-2003, 16:51
The best way is under the floor boards if its in manchester. Some of the crews may do this. i already had a string going from the rear of the STB to the other room. They just tied on the cable and pulled it through far better than running round the skirting Board.
Another thing which series of STB do you have if its not a 2000 you may be with us on this forum for quite some time
The best way is under the floor boards if its in manchester.
Why, what's special about floorboards in Manchester? :confused: :D
th'engineer
03-12-2003, 16:57
Why, what's special about floorboards in Manchester? :confused: :DUnderstand that not all crews will do this, but some will and manc floorboards have to be special rain proof
BTW forgot something Install Crews and Techs not Engineers :D
SMHarman
03-12-2003, 17:08
Cheers, Thanks for all the responses so far.
As I dont drink tea or coffee, looks like I have to practice my tea/coffee skills. Dont suppose he'll accept beer? ( I am assuming it will be a bloke. I may be wrong.)
So its sounds like he will run a cable from the box along skirting board and door( the other way would be more complicated) to the STB.
And possible another up the wall to study for the SACM. (Does SACM have to go via STBs, or is there a hint in the "Stand Alone" bit?). From there on to the PC or router Ill take care of it. Not much change from my old Pipex connection.
And if I ask nicely he could slap the phone line along it too. Reusing the bt sockets upstairs would be a bonus. If he is not allowed to touch them, am I?
In time I was planning to run tv & ethernet coaxes all around the house (perhaps not to the bathroom), so will i need to redrill, widen the holes he makes? Or will he use some sort of conduits? Obviously I would make other holes to other rooms myself.
SACM uses its own separate coax, not the one to the STB. So in my install I have 3 coax coming from the external grey box, running neatly round the outside of the house to the SACM and two STBs
Should be able to run a phone socket up there too. You will be able to connect your extension phone sockets into the NTL system (having disconnected them from the BT one), its just that first socket connected to the BT network that is theirs. Normally it has a two piece front.
ntltech32
03-12-2003, 22:17
I am having an ntl engineer comming round next week to install bb and tv for me.
I am just wondering what the engineer actually will do?
What is he told he can do?
What equipment would he have available?
What extras do they sometimes do?
The house already has a ntl cable box on one side of the lounge wall.
My TV is on the other side of the lounge of where the original connection box is. and my puta is upstairs.
Will he just plug the stb into the box and stretch a cable straight across the lounge to the tv?
or will he lay it round the wall and door frames?
or will he redrill another hole closer to the tv, but still need to get over door frame?
As for the internet will he just plug in the sacm and say its all yours ?
or will he lay cables up the stairs to the router upstairs?
or will he drill upstairs?
As for the phone will he touch it? drill an extension line upstairs?
Is there anything I should check before he arrives? Or anything I should ask when he arrives?
Ok this is what I would do...
1stly.. consult the customer as to what and where they want the connections. if there is a problem ie, not able to drill out due to gas, elctric etc then discuss an alternative route.
Usually if it's a a "TAG" job Meaning the house is already cabled the tech would normally just reconnect the NTL Master phone socket, if you have booked and paid for extentions then these are connected from the master socket or from the "omni Box" grey box on front of property...
Also if the house has previousl digital or analouge and the isolator was situated close to your tv you have two options, neatly tack the rg6 coax (white) round skirting avoiding any harsh kinks. and then terminate it with enough slack to reach the stb. or if it's miles away relocate a new isolator as per customers request etc.
If you are having bb installed ina seperate room and not using the stb as the cm but standalone cm such as the ntl:home200 then the tech will drill out onthe external wall in that room and neatly tack a black rg6 cable from the white isolator round the house to the omni box. or if it's terraced back bedroom etc up fron tof house into loft space over eves and out the back down wall into wall etc..
It's not reccomended to go via the loft as it's all to often we get sued for damage we have not even caused.. most techs are very willing to leave you enough terminated cable for you to run your self.
on a full install (cable pulled from DP in street to house) then you have every say in where it all goes...
As for BT sockets, We are not allowed to touvh the master socket or change it for a ntl face plate but can connect existing extentions if the customer is nice or has already booked it, it's usually just a case of running some telco from ntl master to bt master faceplate or 77a.
hope this clears most things up..
Oh and on sat mornings bacon rolls and cup of tea goes down really well!!! other days a cuppa willl do =)
ntltech32
03-12-2003, 22:18
Ok this is what I would do...
1stly.. consult the customer as to what and where they want the connections. if there is a problem ie, not able to drill out due to gas, elctric etc then discuss an alternative route.
Usually if it's a a "TAG" job Meaning the house is already cabled the tech would normally just reconnect the NTL Master phone socket, if you have booked and paid for extentions then these are connected from the master socket or from the "omni Box" grey box on front of property...
Also if the house has previousl digital or analouge and the isolator was situated close to your tv you have two options, neatly tack the rg6 coax (white) round skirting avoiding any harsh kinks. and then terminate it with enough slack to reach the stb. or if it's miles away relocate a new isolator as per customers request etc.
If you are having bb installed ina seperate room and not using the stb as the cm but standalone cm such as the ntl:home200 then the tech will drill out onthe external wall in that room and neatly tack a black rg6 cable from the white isolator round the house to the omni box. or if it's terraced back bedroom etc up fron tof house into loft space over eves and out the back down wall into wall etc..
It's not reccomended to go via the loft as it's all to often we get sued for damage we have not even caused.. most techs are very willing to leave you enough terminated cable for you to run your self.
on a full install (cable pulled from DP in street to house) then you have every say in where it all goes...
As for BT sockets, We are not allowed to touvh the master socket or change it for a ntl face plate but can connect existing extentions if the customer is nice or has already booked it, it's usually just a case of running some telco from ntl master to bt master faceplate or 77a.
hope this clears most things up..
Oh and on sat mornings bacon rolls and cup of tea goes down really well!!! other days a cuppa willl do =)
Righty. It is now all installed.
Engineer came, ( cheekiely called at 11.56, 4 minutes before the end of my install time of 8-12 to say he was going to be late, but he did come when he did, so fair enough) and installed it all.
Tv is working and modem has flashy lights.
Cable laid round skirting board and over door. Girlfriend not going to be happy with all the wires, but no way round it really.
Hole drilled to study from outside and SACM set up.
So all was installed as i wanted it. Engineer/technician was nice chap. Seemed in a hurry, but thats what you get with performance related pay.
Only concern is the plugs in the new holes in the wall seems very flimsy and loose. Didnt put a box on the wall in the study, just a cable straight to the modem. Hope water wont run along the cable on the outside as there is definetly a gap between washer/seal and the wall.
Need to register the broadband next though. Will probably find a windows partition to boot up in, dont think the cd will work well in Linux... or perhaps try the only registration option I read somewhere.
Mr.Moony
10-12-2003, 15:28
Someone who uses Linux wouldnt need to use the cd rom anyways! Just do a manual install
paulyoung666
10-12-2003, 15:46
Someone who uses Linux wouldnt need to use the cd rom anyways! Just do a manual install
go on then pray tell :D :D :D
Manual Install?
I thought there were some steps the cd did that I couldnt do manually. Like registering the mac address registration, username creation?
True, any net conf needed wouldnt be a problem, and untill dabs manage to deliver the router to the correct address, ill use one of the pcs as the router.
The engineer called in the mac address of the modem, so maybe i dont need that step.
The reg site i mentioned before https://autoreg.autoregister.net doent seem to work. it didnt like me clicking on broadband.
paulyoung666
10-12-2003, 16:19
Manual Install?
I thought there were some steps the cd did that I couldnt do manually. Like registering the mac address registration, username creation?
True, any net conf needed wouldnt be a problem, and untill dabs manage to deliver the router to the correct address, ill use one of the pcs as the router.
The engineer called in the mac address of the modem, so maybe i dont need that step.
The reg site i mentioned before https://autoreg.autoregister.net doent seem to work. it didnt like me clicking on broadband.
from the server status page
Broadband registration - Cable Modem
10 December 2003 12:54
If you are an ntlhome Broadband Internet customer you may be experiencing intermittent problems when completing registration. This is due to a technical fault. Our engineers are aware of this issue and are working hard to resolve the problem. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. :(
ah . that explains it.
that may delay my registration a bit.
ps. mr paulyoung666, your first reply today was post 999
paulyoung666
10-12-2003, 16:31
ah . that explains it.
that may delay my registration a bit.
ps. mr paulyoung666, your first reply today was post 999
ooooooooooooo look i broke a 1000 posts :smokin: :) :) :) :)
Mr.Moony
10-12-2003, 16:36
The current reg server problems wouldnt stop you clicking on broadband, only stop you from completing the registration. What are you accessing the registration page through ?
Sociable
10-12-2003, 16:41
ah . that explains it.
that may delay my registration a bit.
Assuming your are posting using the new connection the modem is already registered so nothing further will be required for you to do to use the connection.
If the autoreg site is the only one accessable then yes you will need to get the registration sorted.
My bet is that knowing about problems with the autoreg site the engineer/CS may have already done the registration for you and all is well, if not it can be done by phone I think and all you will need are the same pin number and other details from the letter they should have sent to you for use on autoreg.
Lord Nikon
11-12-2003, 14:50
Ok, Instructions to hook up to NTL using ethernet when you have the Install CD
1) Make yourself a coffee
2) open the CD and place the CD face down on the desk
3) place coffee mug on CD
4) Switch off CM
5) configure the PC for DHCP allocated IP and DNS
6) power up the CM and wait for the lights to stabilise
7) either reboot the PC or release and renew the DHCP lease
8) open a web browser ensuring it isn't configured for a manually defined proxy
9) register.
Ok, Instructions to hook up to NTL using ethernet when you have the Install CD
1) Make yourself a coffee
2) open the CD and place the CD face down on the desk
3) place coffee mug on CD
4) Switch off CM
5) configure the PC for DHCP allocated IP and DNS
6) power up the CM and wait for the lights to stabilise
7) either reboot the PC or release and renew the DHCP lease
8) open a web browser ensuring it isn't configured for a manually defined proxy
9) register.
:rofl: :rofl: :tu:
Well, Im and running.
Ran the setup cd from windows. Not too worried what it install, I zap that partition frequently anyway. Curious to what it did really. Worked fine, so im not complaining. Except for the pin number checks, but the engineer said i had to make a few stabs at that anyway.
My kerio log did show up loads of hits straight away, mostly from whitehat.org or similar. Much more than my previous pipex line.
Plugged in the new router and configured up the other hosts, so all my network is now fine. Wish i had brought with me my ip to work, so i can set up my dns and ssh home, but i suppose i dont have to do everything right now. :)
Pleasently suprised with the router, http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=34&scid=29&prid=433,
it has most features I could think of and then some. Buildt in support for dyndns.org was a bonus.
dannyboi2003
17-06-2005, 15:29
Hi Guys,
When I had NTL installed some years ago, prior to the install I had a rough idea of where I wanted cables to go. I wanted the grey external termination box inside the passage door as I didnâ₠¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t want it on the front of the house, then I wanted the cables running up the wall, into the ceiling and over to my room where I wanted the SACM and phone line installed, only cables visable are where they emerge from the floor and run into the phone socket/coax splitter. Prior to the guys arriving on the install date I lifted the floorboards and drilled all the holes required through the ceiling/joists/floorboards, offered them a cuppa when they arrived and they installed everything how I wanted it. Very nice couple of guys, very quick and tidy and even left me one of their mob numbers in case I had any problems, almost 5 years later and no problems at all.
All the best
Dan
Graham M
17-06-2005, 16:06
Way to open a thread thats nearly 2 years old :rolleyes:
dannyboi2003
17-06-2005, 16:44
Didnt notice the date but hey why not :)
vBulletin® v3.8.11, Copyright ©2000-2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.