Buying house - confused on broadband speeds

MatsyLR

MatsyLR

MatsyLR

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Joined
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UK
Buying a house soon and broadband has me confused.
According to Rightmove, comparison sites and a phone call to virgin say they can offer me 1gig speeds.

When testing the postcode on various speed sites they are telling me the maximum fibre speed is around 74mb. Even on broadband deals website it says the max speed is around 74mb.
When I checked my brothers postcode on the same sites it gives true speeds of around 500mb which I know my brother gets.




Can anyone shed any light here?
 
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Virgin is not the same as the fibre you are checking and what your brother has. Check the post code on Virgin Media's website.
 
ChrisD. said:
Virgin is not the same as the fibre you are checking and what your brother has. Check the post code on Virgin Media's website.
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Thanks for the quick reply.
He's currently with virgin for his Internet.
Putting his postcode into virgin site says he already has virgin media installed.

When I put the new houses postcode it says virgin media is available where you live and gives time slots to have it installed.

From this I'm I right in thinking they can literally install the cables from a nearby box to offer the purchased speed? Or is that completely wrong?
 
They’ll do what’s required. Either pulling in a new cable or just activating if the house already has been done. If it’s offering an install date they’ll pull one in and put a box on the outside and from the box route a cable to where you want it inside.
 
ChrisD. said:
They’ll do what’s required. Either pulling in a new cable or just activating if the house already has been done. If it’s offering an install date they’ll pull one in and put a box on the outside and from the box route a cable to where you want it inside.
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Thanks very much it was hard work trying to get it out of them over the phone.
You have clarified it for me :)
 
Gig1 was recently rolled out to practically every VM customer the other week.

If you put your new houses postcode in and it says you have it available then you can ofc order it.

If the current owner already has VM then you’d just be sent a new hub 4 and self install using the existing cable. If you need it relocating you’d have to opt for the engineer install which costs. Or if not cabled at all they’ll fit it wherever you desire within reason.
 
Sparx said:
Gig1 was recently rolled out to practically every VM customer the other week.

If you put your new houses postcode in and it says you have it available then you can ofc order it.

If the current owner already has VM then you’d just be sent a new hub 4 and self install using the existing cable. If you need it relocating you’d have to opt for the engineer install which costs. Or if not cabled at all they’ll fit it wherever you desire within reason.
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Sadly 1.2m subscribers are still waiting for it Gig1 availability, but it's literally due any week now as they are still saying by the end of the year :) M500 (M600 has been quietly dropped) is the best they can currently get.
 
Sparx said:
Gig1 was recently rolled out to practically every VM customer the other week.

If you put your new houses postcode in and it says you have it available then you can ofc order it.

If the current owner already has VM then you’d just be sent a new hub 4 and self install using the existing cable. If you need it relocating you’d have to opt for the engineer install which costs. Or if not cabled at all they’ll fit it wherever you desire within reason.
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Thanks for the information.
Pretty sure they don't have VM already (why would the speed show as max 76mb for the general area if they had it already?)

My concern is that for the life of me I can't find any of those virgin media boxes (the big green or grey rectangle boxes on the pavement where they run the wires from) anywhere around the property. I drove around the entire estate and a bit outwards and not a box in sight We have one just across the street where I currently live (not connected yet to anyone as it was only put in a few weeks ago)

When I put the postcode and house number in it comes back with "Awesome news! Virgin Media is available where you live." with a list of packages up to 1gig. I have given an offer on the property and the seller has accepted (early stages) but the internet speed is a big worry for me.
Maybe its me being paranoid but surely if it says its available...its....available and they can't just come to the property and tell me I can't have it lol?
 
MatsyLR said:
Thanks for the information.
Pretty sure they don't have VM already (why would the speed show as 76mb if they had it already?)

My concern is that for the life of me I can't find any of those virgin media boxes (the big green or grey rectangle boxes on the pavement where they run the wires from) anywhere around the property. I drove around the entire estate and a bit outwards and not a box in sight We have one just across the street where I currently live (not connected yet to anyone as it was only put in a few weeks ago)

When I put the postcode and house number in it comes back with "Awesome news! Virgin Media is available where you live." with a list of packages up to 1gig. I have given an offer on the property and the seller has accepted (early stages) but the internet speed is a big worry for me.
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The newer boxes are grey, but what does it matter?
 
ChrisD. said:
Yes but it shows as being available on the VM site so what does it matter where the box is?
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I just thought it had to be somewhat close, I can literally see 2 of them from my window next to me, each street has its own box. I drove around quite a distance and didn't see any of them.
I'm probably just over thinking it, I don't want to buy the house and then turns out I can't have it done :/
 
MatsyLR said:
I just thought it had to be somewhat close, I can literally see 2 of them from my window next to me, each street has its own box. I drove around quite a distance and didn't see any of them.
I'm probably just over thinking it, I don't want to buy the house and then turns out I can't have it done :/
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If you don't know what you're looking for then stop wasting time looking for it. If it's specifically listed on the VM address checker online and allows you to go through, select the property and then go to a package, then it's almost guaranteed to be serviceable. Call VM, ask them to check the serviceability status screen of the specific property (the 'SS' screen). That will tell you everything you need to know, just as them going to key an install (IN) will stop them instantly if it's not showing as serviceable in the SS screen. Even if it shows serviceable, circumstances can exist that make it non serviceable, for example i've seen people knock down and re-build properties and then wonder why they can't have service in 3 houses where one used to be or construction/wayleave issues. Different areas have different deployment strategies, for example here we have a single cabinet supplying two streets, if you moved into the street without one, you'd not know where to look, the giveaway is (and again it varies) the CATV access points in the street.
 
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If the Virgin website says you can have their service then you can have their service. However, if the cables haven't been installed yet then there's always a possibility that your house cannot be connected due to duct issues or similar. You won't know if this is the case until you place an order.

I've seen people round here have their driveways done and the cowboys doing the work have managed to cover over the toby boxes that VM use to link properties to their network. It won't cause any issues until the cable needs replacing but then suddenly you're having to dig holes to try and find the end of the duct.
 
Is it a new build? Could be FTTP all underground, cabinet could be a fair distance away if that's the case. Or even if an older estate could've been retrofit FTTP as part of VM's project lightning?

I moved house earlier this year, it was a 7 yr old new build but the last few months before we left, VM came and fit a cabinet 1/4 mile away and sent fibre down Openreach's ducts all around our estate. No mini/big cabinets anywhere on our estate with this FTTP retrofit, only 1 big cab outside the estate much further down the road outside a neighbouring estate.

If you're really going that mad over it, feel free to drop me a PM with the address and I'll sanity check for you. :p
 
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