Sorry - I've moved these questions from the ongoing 50Mb thread as that seems to be concentrating on the pricing now:
Hi all, I've qot a few questions in preparation for a new VM fit next week that I hope people can help me with please:
I'm moving from Sky+ HD and BT Phone + Broadband 3 to VirginMedia bundle
Im getting XXL Broadband, standard (M+) TV and (L) phoneline
Can I ask some simple questions as though I'm a technical person I have little knowledge of cable setups:
1/ I've requested to transfer my BT number to Virgin. BT have said that they'll complete this transfer on 12th Sept. My current Virgin installation is set for the 7th. Does this mean that
a) I'll have everything working apart from the phone side?
b) the phone side will work but it will be on another temporary number or
c) am I soon going to get a call/letter from virgin saying my installation has been delayed to coincide with BT?
d) When does BT 'terminate' everything? - I was going to rely on services overlapping (well maybe not a working phone number from BT - but definately broadband) - that way if I wasn't happy with Virgin I could still go back (within 28 days you can cancel for a full refund?)
2/ My property had some old NTL wires/box on the outside wall of my terrace - I just checked and whoever fit my drive chopped/buried the house end of the cable - groan. I imagine if I can find the twin cable then they'll fit a new box on the outside of the house - but -
a) how does this then get split between TV, BB and Phone? My BT phone line comes in elsewhere into the house and ends up at a master socket on the opposite side of the house to the old wires coming from the NTL/NYNEX box.
b) how to they wire in old telephone/extensions?
c) and how to they normally wire to the TV/STB and BB Router? I have STB(with Cables from Sky LNB) coming into my lounge, a dedicated ADSL socket and my router in back upstairs bedroom and phone coming into hall - what are they prepared to do in terms of wiring?
d) if I can't find end of old cable what will they do? I can see a loop of the cable popping up and down a hole on the pavement but no idea what they could do with that...
3/ General question - how are all the signals partioned/multiplexed and what is the effect of sharing these cables (to the street cabinet) in terms of bandwidth allocation? e.g. if I am getting 40+Mbps on my router/pc what happens when I watch HD TV? any difference between VOD content/iPlayer content and 'normal' HD channels?
4/ Is it worth wiring the Ethernet port up on the STB? What is the benefit? (seems slightly counter intuitive connecting one part of the setup to a signal derived from the same cable ....)
5) I love the quality of Sky+ HD on HD channels (normally BBC HD and Sky1, C4 HD) -
a) how does this compare to what I'll get with V+HD?
b) what does the SD picture look like? the SD picture on Sky is pretty good IMHO
6) Anything else to watch out for on the day? I've got all sorts of gear hanging off my network, NASes, PCs, PS3, Yamaha DSPZ-7, Samsung Series9 LCD - I'm expecting this all to _just work_ - no tweaking, changing MTUs etc right?
7/ Once I cancel Sky (1 pack, Sky+ and HD) I'll be saving £27 pm. What can I still do with this setup?
The system was definately setup more than a year ago - so I'm hoping I'm not in any contract (they don't reset your contract if you change/downgrade channel mix do they?)
So... a) are they likely to come and take back SkyHD box?
b) if they don't will I still be able to get free channels? (is there a difference between 'freeview' and 'freesat' BTW) including HD? e.g. BBCHD?
c) or will I need a 'FreeSat card'? [with a freesat card will Sky+ record/pause functions work?]
d) I read on another forum that you can just leave your normal Sky card in and the record functions on the SkyHD+ box will continue to work (for the free channels) - is this right?
I appreciate any feedback you can give me.
Thanks
Bill
Hi all, I've qot a few questions in preparation for a new VM fit next week that I hope people can help me with please:
I'm moving from Sky+ HD and BT Phone + Broadband 3 to VirginMedia bundle
Im getting XXL Broadband, standard (M+) TV and (L) phoneline
Can I ask some simple questions as though I'm a technical person I have little knowledge of cable setups:
1/ I've requested to transfer my BT number to Virgin. BT have said that they'll complete this transfer on 12th Sept. My current Virgin installation is set for the 7th. Does this mean that
a) I'll have everything working apart from the phone side?
b) the phone side will work but it will be on another temporary number or
c) am I soon going to get a call/letter from virgin saying my installation has been delayed to coincide with BT?
d) When does BT 'terminate' everything? - I was going to rely on services overlapping (well maybe not a working phone number from BT - but definately broadband) - that way if I wasn't happy with Virgin I could still go back (within 28 days you can cancel for a full refund?)
2/ My property had some old NTL wires/box on the outside wall of my terrace - I just checked and whoever fit my drive chopped/buried the house end of the cable - groan. I imagine if I can find the twin cable then they'll fit a new box on the outside of the house - but -
a) how does this then get split between TV, BB and Phone? My BT phone line comes in elsewhere into the house and ends up at a master socket on the opposite side of the house to the old wires coming from the NTL/NYNEX box.
b) how to they wire in old telephone/extensions?
c) and how to they normally wire to the TV/STB and BB Router? I have STB(with Cables from Sky LNB) coming into my lounge, a dedicated ADSL socket and my router in back upstairs bedroom and phone coming into hall - what are they prepared to do in terms of wiring?
d) if I can't find end of old cable what will they do? I can see a loop of the cable popping up and down a hole on the pavement but no idea what they could do with that...
3/ General question - how are all the signals partioned/multiplexed and what is the effect of sharing these cables (to the street cabinet) in terms of bandwidth allocation? e.g. if I am getting 40+Mbps on my router/pc what happens when I watch HD TV? any difference between VOD content/iPlayer content and 'normal' HD channels?
4/ Is it worth wiring the Ethernet port up on the STB? What is the benefit? (seems slightly counter intuitive connecting one part of the setup to a signal derived from the same cable ....)
5) I love the quality of Sky+ HD on HD channels (normally BBC HD and Sky1, C4 HD) -
a) how does this compare to what I'll get with V+HD?
b) what does the SD picture look like? the SD picture on Sky is pretty good IMHO
6) Anything else to watch out for on the day? I've got all sorts of gear hanging off my network, NASes, PCs, PS3, Yamaha DSPZ-7, Samsung Series9 LCD - I'm expecting this all to _just work_ - no tweaking, changing MTUs etc right?
7/ Once I cancel Sky (1 pack, Sky+ and HD) I'll be saving £27 pm. What can I still do with this setup?
The system was definately setup more than a year ago - so I'm hoping I'm not in any contract (they don't reset your contract if you change/downgrade channel mix do they?)
So... a) are they likely to come and take back SkyHD box?
b) if they don't will I still be able to get free channels? (is there a difference between 'freeview' and 'freesat' BTW) including HD? e.g. BBCHD?
c) or will I need a 'FreeSat card'? [with a freesat card will Sky+ record/pause functions work?]
d) I read on another forum that you can just leave your normal Sky card in and the record functions on the SkyHD+ box will continue to work (for the free channels) - is this right?
I appreciate any feedback you can give me.
Thanks
Bill
