Virgin media possibly getting serious on dodgy boxes?

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

As far as I am aware none of the boxes are chipped and they have not been since the analogue days. VM boxes are modified and 3rd party boxes are modified via firmware. Unless something has changed since last time anyone told me anything about them the only chips these boxes have seen come with a fish supper

Nitpicking. Whether chipped or not, they are still used to obtain services that are not being paid for (even taking into account the fact that most hacks require a basic subscription, they may still be used to access premium channels).

Actually they dont afaik the only reason people pay a sub is stay off the radar. I know people who have modified VM boxes and only a BB sub(and these were installed by VM staff on their day off). I do not condone this BTW. This subject is surrounded by myth and obviously can not be talked about on this forum but a lot of what those who do not know believe is totally off track

As far as nitpicking is concerned call it education. I do not profess to know that much about it but I know some

[Ignitionnet]

Taking of a basic service is purely to ensure that the cable connection to the house stays there, otherwise VM can disconnect your feed from the cabinet at their leisure.

None of the equipment used for obtaining TV illegally requires a basic service, it's the same signal hitting the home whatever the subscription, or lack of.

[winny1977]

Hey I don't care that's up to them man and they will pay for it when they get caught with a heavy fine. I pay for my virgin media and would like to record cartoons for my kids.I bought a dvb-t digital tv pci card but for some reason the media centre doesn't find the channel its perfect on a standard tv so why carn't the pc find the signal.Had it 3 months cost me £60 and not even seen anything work.Even though the device manager says its working.pls help

Originally Posted by winny1977

Hey I don't care that's up to them man and they will pay for it when they get caught with a heavy fine. I pay for my virgin media and would like to record cartoons for my kids.I bought a dvb-t digital tv pci card but for some reason the media centre doesn't find the channel its perfect on a standard tv so why carn't the pc find the signal.Had it 3 months cost me £60 and not even seen anything work.Even though the device manager says its working.pls help

winny1977, this might be better posted in the VM Cable TV forum or the General IT Discussion forum than here

[Great One]

VM might want to clamp down on their own staff while they're at it.

When I originally signed up to VM (Telewest at the time) in Oct '06, the engineer that came to install everything, told me about the dodgy boxes and left me his private mobile number if I wanted to take up his offer, said he can sort it all out for me at a price...

I wasn't that clued up on such practices and declined

I'm guessing he isn't the only member of staff to do this

[keyholder]

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

Taking of a basic service is purely to ensure that the cable connection to the house stays there, otherwise VM can disconnect your feed from the cabinet at their leisure.

In a way yes. I see your point, but that wont happen! it never does. how many vm engineers do u know of that have / will d/c non used coax lines? its costs vm time and money + potential customers not getting thier line conected due to engineers sitting at green boxes d/c non offical lines

ive not long moved into my current house with cable in, this house has been empty for over a year! yes the cable for VM was still active and Access points all over house in each room for cable/ tv.

I know of over 30 people that have not got a current subscription with VM and are using flashed modems and other forms of boxes for tv, and quite frankly i dont blame them. No restrcitions, no outages, nothing!

I was thinking of grassin a few of them up but im not even going to waste my own breath telling VM. Untill VM actually start delivering a decent service then they can go whistle. AS other people have stated in these replys, what do VM actually want as proof that people are using forms of equipment to obtain services they havent paid for??because by the looks of things all this advert is about is calling peoples bluff.

I also have had a letter stating about using a 3rd party box, i then rang up vm and said ive recieved this letter blah blah, come and check my house. they said sorry, it was just a warning letter stating what could happen etc.

vm do provide a decent internet conection yet thier traffic usage is Crap which sits next to the Steaming pile of crap which is called Windows Vista, ( But thats another topic).

What do us the loyal and frustrated customers get for reporting these ILEGAL crimes? jack didly squat no doubt.

And they think that by shoving people on to docsis 3 will help them prevent reflashed boxes working on thier network . HA dont make me laugh There has been awork around this for years.

ohwell we all live in hope that VM will be the daddy of all BB in the uk .... One day with better prices & better traffic management

[nasinclair]

Originally Posted by Great One

VM might want to clamp down on their own staff while they're at it.

When I originally signed up to VM (Telewest at the time) in Oct '06, the engineer that came to install everything, told me about the dodgy boxes and left me his private mobile number if I wanted to take up his offer, said he can sort it all out for me at a price...

I wasn't that clued up on such practices and declined

I'm guessing he isn't the only member of staff to do this

I am sorry to say, the exact same experience I had in Wigan when I had my install done.
It seems its the some of the staff too who are to blame.

[sollp]

Originally Posted by nasinclair

I am sorry to say, the exact same experience I had in Wigan when I had my install done.
It seems its the some of the staff too who are to blame.

Unfortunately because of the decision to badge and uniform the installers as Virginmedia employees, they aren't, well indirectly you'll find that there will be a company like Kelly's who then in turn sub contract the installation side to another company. So in fact the installers especially, are contractors who are employed by Kelly's or one of the other companies that are around the country, to carry out installation and sometimes service work as well.

Now im not saying the even the Virginmedia employees aren't whiter than white, but with the installation side, there loyalties aren't exactly with VM.

So if you are approached by someone who are obviously doing work on the side, and also dealing in ilegal STB's/Modems, then you should report these to VM.

---------- Post added at 19:13 ---------- Previous post was at 19:08 ----------

Originally Posted by keyholder

In a way yes. I see your point, but that wont happen! it never does. how many vm engineers do u know of that have / will d/c non used coax lines? its costs vm time and money + potential customers not getting thier line conected due to engineers sitting at green boxes d/c non offical lines

ive not long moved into my current house with cable in, this house has been empty for over a year! yes the cable for VM was still active and Access points all over house in each room for cable/ tv.

I know of over 30 people that have not got a current subscription with VM and are using flashed modems and other forms of boxes for tv, and quite frankly i dont blame them. No restrcitions, no outages, nothing!

I was thinking of grassin a few of them up but im not even going to waste my own breath telling VM. Untill VM actually start delivering a decent service then they can go whistle. AS other people have stated in these replys, what do VM actually want as proof that people are using forms of equipment to obtain services they havent paid for??because by the looks of things all this advert is about is calling peoples bluff.

I also have had a letter stating about using a 3rd party box, i then rang up vm and said ive recieved this letter blah blah, come and check my house. they said sorry, it was just a warning letter stating what could happen etc.

vm do provide a decent internet conection yet thier traffic usage is Crap which sits next to the Steaming pile of crap which is called Windows Vista, ( But thats another topic).

What do us the loyal and frustrated customers get for reporting these ILEGAL crimes? jack didly squat no doubt.

And they think that by shoving people on to docsis 3 will help them prevent reflashed boxes working on thier network . HA dont make me laugh There has been awork around this for years.

ohwell we all live in hope that VM will be the daddy of all BB in the uk .... One day with better prices & better traffic management

Look at what i have highlighted, then think about it. One sentence you are saying i don't blame them for using flashed modems, then in another one, you are then complaing about VM traffic usage being cr+p.

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by sollp

Unfortunately because of the decision to badge and uniform the installers as Virginmedia employees, they aren't, well indirectly you'll find that there will be a company like Kelly's who then in turn sub contract the installation side to another company. So in fact the installers especially, are contractors who are employed by Kelly's or one of the other companies that are around the country, to carry out installation and sometimes service work as well.

Now im not saying the even the Virginmedia employees aren't whiter than white, but with the installation side, there loyalties aren't exactly with VM.

So if you are approached by someone who are obviously doing work on the side, and also dealing in ilegal STB's/Modems, then you should report these to VM.

---------- Post added at 19:13 ---------- Previous post was at 19:08 ----------



Look at what i have highlighted, then think about it. One sentence you are saying i don't blame them for using flashed modems, then in another one, you are then complaing about VM traffic usage being cr+p.

Indeed... it's thieves that spoil it for the paying customer across many areas... such as shoplifters... illegal downloaders etc... puts the price up for everyone who pays (who without there wouldn't be a service!) and causes poor network performance/investment for VM.

[Pushkar]

Even if somebody reports somebody else for no benefit to themselves, how can VM identify they have a chipped box, they can't exactly walk into the house to see if they are using dodgy stbs.

[BenMcr]

I'm sure there are quite a few things they can do without having to walk into a property.

First of which is check to see if someone actually has a valid TV account and how many STBs they have

[Pushkar]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

I'm sure there are quite a few things they can do without having to walk into a property.

First of which is check to see if someone actually has a valid TV account and how many STBs they have

How can they trace the chipped boxes, if the point of the chipped boxes is not to be detectable on the network thus VM can't do anything really!

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by TaiLZ

How can they trace the chipped boxes, if the point of the chipped boxes is not to be detectable on the network thus VM can't do anything really!

They have their methods. They won't discuss them (for obvious reasons) but they do have them.

[Pushkar]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

They have their methods. They won't discuss them (for obvious reasons) but they do have them.

Then why are they still around today?