Downtime when switching from VM to Plusnet (+Sky)

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Soldato
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Hi guys. I have a BT engineer coming to switch me over from VM to Plusnet fibre. On the same day a Sky engineer is booked to install my dish/Q etc.

My VM contract doesn't expire for another 2 weeks after this date, and I read that the Sky engineer needs a working internet connection to check everything is ok.

I was hoping somebody could talk me through what exactly is going to happen here. Will my VM connection cease to work once the BT engineer flips his switch for Plusnet or will I in effect be able to run both connections simultaneously?

I wanted to book them on the same day so I only have to work from home once, but now slightly paranoid the Sky guy is going to want to check everything and my VM will be dead and the Plusnet not up and running :confused:
 
Great thanks everyone. Now that I'm at home I can see obviously the VM cable going in to my router :p

I'm assuming the Sky guy will need to drill a hole in the wall to wire in the dish. My TV unit is pretty much right up against the wall, I'm guessing I will need to give him some space?
 
Cool. Now, discussing this with my girlfriend she is sure that when the landlords refurbished the flat they mentioned that they'd put in cabling for VM or Sky. At the time we were annoyed because they neglected to wire up the TV aerial (we just wanted Freeview) but hey we went with VM :o

The faceplate we have is here, looks to be err.. two coax cables? They're the same, the one on the left is VM currently plugged in. By any stretch of the imagination will this be the right cabling for Sky as they suggested? It would be lovely if he can avoid drilling a new hole in the wall and installing some fugly faceplate. https://imgur.com/cf7kYg4

What does a SkyQ faceplate look like? :confused:
 
And by the way, you need to give VM 30 days notice so make sure you do that otherwise you'll end up paying twice in one month.
 
They didn't for me!

Another question, what exactly is the BT engineer going to do in the house? I have a phone line coming in (the VM one, obviously). Will he just flip a switch in the exchange or something? It'll takeover the same phone line right?
 
Hmn well obviously the phone line itself is on its own "master" socket, separate from the VM cable sockets. Surely he can use that? I don't want him fitting another master socket only for my VM phone line to be deactivated two weeks later and sit there empty?
 
Well, firstly I'm in a rented property so not sure I should be doing all that. When the landlords refurbished the flat they got the cabling for VM done (no aerial, BT line apparently). Oh, they're going to be rather unhappy if I end up with two more hold in the wall for Sky and BT :o
 
Avalon said:
Surely you have checked your tenancy agreement before doing this or at least run it by the letting agent/landlord?
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We deal directly with the landlord and believe me we've had a lot of discussion regarding getting the Sky dish install. However I honestly thought that a phoneline was a phoneline and that the BT engineer can just take ownership of the existing one coming into the property from VM as I won't want it anymore. Seems rather stupid to run another cable when there's one sitting there doing nothing once my VM account is closed :confused: I mean, surely it goes to the same exchange, we're transferring the number!
 
Avalon said:
No. VM has its own private network, they provide it via fibre and cable (CATV), it has separate cabinets, ducting, hardware, access pits, fibre/copper cables, method of entry and is 100% privately owned by VM and nothing to do with OR. VM can’t use OR’s network, ducting, cabling or indeed touch it’s equipment and vice versa. (snip)
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I understand what you're saying in reference to the cable socket but I was talking specifically about the phone socket here. If you were suggesting the BT guy would have to install a new phone socket in my flat (which was what I was asking) then you're wrong. I had the install yesterday and all went swimmingly. The Openreach guy migrated my existing phoneline (including socket in my lounge) from VM to BT/Plusnet. No new socket needed, thank god. He migrated my phone number which started working immediately, and the Plusnet followed shortly afterwards. Brilliant. He showed me that there was a VM box outside, and a BT box. He just moved the cable from one to the other. Easy.

The Sky engineer was great too. Dish is out of sight from the front and back of the house practically and he tacked the cable very neatly against the external wall. Can't see my landlords complaining. My other question was if the second socket on my VM cable faceplate was for Sky, but he tested that and had to drill a new hole through. Which was expected, and fine.

So, happy days. Now I just need to sit down and reprogram my Harmony remote etc. before I go away for work for 3 weeks and leave my girlfriend to it :o
 
I think we're getting confused here. I'm only saying he used my existing phone socket. I agree with you regarding the cable/coax. The Sky guy did not use the existing ones. And I totally understand why (I was just hopeful he could)

However the OR guy did use my existing phone socket. Afterall it's nobody's property but the landlords -- they put in those sockets when they refurbished the flat. VM or OR didn't. Anyhoo no need to go over what's done and dusted.
 
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