Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

Here is my problem. Our broadband service died last week, so VM sent a technician. He tested the wiring and said that it of poor quality and couldn't do anything about it. This is the original wiring used by VM 15 years ago when the block of flats was built.

The technician said there was nothing that could be done and VM would cancel our contract because they could no longer deliver the service.

Currently the primary VM box is in the sitting room connected to superhub and set top box. There is an unused spur in the master bedroom.

The main virgin cabling comes into the exterior meter cupboard in hallway of the common parts but we have no idea how and where those cables are fed into the flat itself, especially since the sitting room is at the opposite end of the flat! (Note were on the 3rd floor)

The technician added a booster which he thought might strengthen the signal. That didn't work. Now we have no broadband or catch up to. For some reason the broadband was intermittent and working before the technician's visit. Might be a coincidence that braid and stopped again after adding the booster.

I find it hard to believe that VM can't find a way to either replace the cabling or to even attempt to be creative to find a solution. am I being unrealistic in thinking it's always possible or, if the cabling isbtruky knackered, there is nothing that I can do other than switch to BT!

any assistance from tech whizzes would be most welcome.

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

What about other tenants within your block?
I would ask what kind of service they have.

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

Most are on BT. A few are are on virgin media and some have had problems, all which seem to different. One neighboir had lots of problems with virgin, decided to switch to sky (!!) then moved back to virgin after 2 months. When reinstalled the service, it took 3 technicians before they got it right. In fact, the 3rd technician said the previous two didn't know what they were talking about.

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

If they are in the walls of the flat then virgin didn't put them there. The house builder would have pre wired the flat. If that's the case then your flat will no longer be serviceable.

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

There are virgin cable wires running from the outside box into the garage, then the cables run up the building next to the lift shaft ( I think) into the external meter cupboard, where there is a splitter be with a number of cables connecting to various flats. ( although not all have subscribed ). The cabling would have been installed by Telewest which preceded VM

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

And we all konw what Telewest was like. 2 cocoa tins and a piece of string.

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

Taking that thought further without hi jacking the thread totally how do those in the know rate the legacy cable installs and networks of the carious operators?

I am in an ex Nynex area for what its worth and was there at the beginning with the old analogue Jerrold boxes..;)

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that Nynex actually did a decent job with their installs. Videotron installed the worst quality equipment they could get away with, which is why their areas in London needed a *lot* of work before NTL could supply broadband to them.

I think both NTL and Telewest suffered a bit because their networks were built up when they took over a lot of smaller cable cos, some of whom had good networks, and some of whom didn't..

Not sure which of the cable cos had good networks and which didn't though.

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

Likewise and they seemed to to a decent job with the wires in green ribby conduits. Later installs have just been tacked to walls and fences.

The good old analog days: I had a multiband, multistandard TV and it could tune a lot of the channels directly there being an RF bypass on the back of the box.

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

That good. :)

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

My brother's block of flats in Cardiff (3 floors) has the VM cable running up the outside of the building in ducts/trunking front and back. Clearly cable turned up after the block was built and that was seen as the easiest way to wire it (BT phones are all run internal). A cable replacement, while difficult, certainly seems possible.

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

It's only possible if Virgin have permission from the Landlord. The document is, i believe, called Wayleave.

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

yes a wayleave, and you need the freeholders permission.

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

I loved my Jerrold cable box. Rubbish for tv, but it provided more heating than the radiator, the house has been very cold since it left ...

Re: Deteriorating quality of Virgin wiring
 

The Pace digi boxes weren't much better.....once saw a smart card that had melted into the card slot......the STB still worked.