Virgin Media announces largest UK fibre broadband rollout

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by rhyds

It would be very interesting to see how they plan to fit out Wrexham. IIRC there's no existing infrastructure.

Then it will be new build FTTP

[Kushan]

I suddenly want to live in Wrexham.






(lol j/k, nobody wants to live there).

[MrIca]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Then it will be new build FTTP

Well yes but where will it connect to?

The building I see the vans going in and out of every day, wouldn't that be needed in an FTTP area?

[vm_tech]

The current FTTH builds use existing hub sites, and I would imagine the would want to keep costs to a minimum so I can't see new hub sites being built. But seeing as out in the street all the equipment is passive, apart from the odd regen cab, there's no reason they can't use existing hub sites

[Ignitionnet]

Maximum distance between DOCSIS CMTS and most distant user is 160km.

If amplification is needed this can be done in a building the size of a shed or even in street cabinets.

All good.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Kushan

I suddenly want to live in Wrexham.






(lol j/k, nobody wants to live there).

But they don't want you there.

[MrIca]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

Maximum distance between DOCSIS CMTS and most distant user is 160km.

If amplification is needed this can be done in a building the size of a shed or even in street cabinets.

All good.

Thanks, good solid facts as ever. Raises a question though, why do they have so many hubsites now then if they can serve 160km? In my area for instance they've got one in Bromborough which seems to serve about 10 miles on every direction and then also some kind of smaller switching site in Birkenhead a few miles down the road.

I'm assuming they've also got a few in Liverpool and Warrington.

[rhyds]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

Maximum distance between DOCSIS CMTS and most distant user is 160km.

If amplification is needed this can be done in a building the size of a shed or even in street cabinets.

All good.

Stupid question: is that DOCSIS over fibre or coax? Bromborough to Wrexham is about 25 miles (town centre to town centre via the shortest road/street route). I'd imagined they'd be building some kind of fibre link (or using an existing dark fibre/ducting) over that kind of distance, or will it be served as a sort of "extension" of any Chester system?

Also, where does the TV side stand with regards to regional programming? Wrexham is in the BBC/ITV Wales/S4C region, would VM have to provide the correct region (as Sky does)? I'd imagine that getting a programme feed wouldn't be too difficult, but would it limit the number of other channels available?

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by MrIca

Thanks, good solid facts as ever. Raises a question though, why do they have so many hubsites now then if they can serve 160km? In my area for instance they've got one in Bromborough which seems to serve about 10 miles on every direction and then also some kind of smaller switching site in Birkenhead a few miles down the road.

I'm assuming they've also got a few in Liverpool and Warrington.

In no small part historic due to the various franchises.

Also space and power for equipment, quality of optical transmission in the network, optical power budgets, etc.

---------- Post added at 12:47 ---------- Previous post was at 12:30 ----------

Originally Posted by rhyds

Stupid question: is that DOCSIS over fibre or coax? Bromborough to Wrexham is about 25 miles (town centre to town centre via the shortest road/street route). I'd imagined they'd be building some kind of fibre link (or using an existing dark fibre/ducting) over that kind of distance, or will it be served as a sort of "extension" of any Chester system?

Also, where does the TV side stand with regards to regional programming? Wrexham is in the BBC/ITV Wales/S4C region, would VM have to provide the correct region (as Sky does)? I'd imagine that getting a programme feed wouldn't be too difficult, but would it limit the number of other channels available?

I'm not sure of the exact mix but it's about timing rather than anything else so in no small part it's dependent on the cables, both optical and coaxial, used.

There's core network fibre at very least close to Chester but I see nothing near Wrexham so I guess they'll either build or lease it.

Regional programming is easy and there's going to be no shortage of capacity for TV channels.

If there's room for the additional optical kit, CMTS and QAMs needed, and if optical power budgets are okay they can home both Chester and Wrexham from an existing site and have a small site or two, or some street-side cabinets, on optical regeneration/amplification duties.

Having never built an RF network I can't really comment authoratitively on the options.

[MrIca]

The core network goes to Chester as far as I know. The original build progressed relatively far in Chester itself, as I say there's plenty of visible NYNEX ducting in the city centre.

As mentioned earlier they would be best doing Chester first and then adding Wrexham on from there.

I still don't understand what the engineers do in the hubsites though. I see dozens going in and out of the Bromborough one. So if they served Wrexham remotely from there you'd have engineers driving long distances constantly. Why do they need to go to the hubsites so often?

[rhyds]

Local CPE/parts/cable/sundries stock maybe?

[MrIca]

Originally Posted by rhyds

Local CPE/parts/cable/sundries stock maybe?

Same vans every single morning. But could be, seems a nice little setup though to go every single morning! There's always one or two vans parked there in the daytime also.

[Pierre]

Some hub sites/head ends have offices within them. Some are also used as stores and as a base for the installation contractors. The one where I work has all three.

[MrIca]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Some hub sites/head ends have offices within them. Some are also used as stores and as a base for the installation contractors. The one where I work has all three.

I see. Well all the vans I'm seeing a Virgin Media direct labour, not contractors.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by MrIca

I see. Well all the vans I'm seeing a Virgin Media direct labour, not contractors.

How do you know, in many instances they use the exact same vans.