Virgin Media Discussion Thread

[Simon42]

Well I've been having a chat your him just now.

He is worried about damaging the exterior house wall, but he thinks that drilling his own hole for the fibre cable, from outside to the inside would be the best option, because then you can just plaster over any damage on the inside wall.

I think going below the damp course is not a great idea, so hopefully he won't do that...

I've told him we should try to do it as simply as possible (not plan for future fibre cables from other providers, not planning for future fibre cable cables from other providers with a rope pulling system, and so on), so I hope he will agree.

For future ISPs, you can just use a single hole in the wall, remove any previous wall boxes etc, then just reuse the same hole...

I've done extensive renovations to every home I've had (all my own work) and drilling below the DPC isn't required to avoid damp as the DPC is just to stop rising damp. If drilling holes in walls was an issue then we would be in trouble with windows and doors (although sadly many window companies don't get this right when fitting replacement doors/windows).

All that is needed is to drill so that the hole is higher on the inside than out so there is no water ingress even without sealant into the cavity or internal walls. I mostly drill inside out although it depends on the situation and disable SDS/hammer drill (if used) before reaching the other side to avoid brick burst which ISP fitters seem to like so much .

 

[Caged]

I prefer drilling outside to in, it means you can get the hole through a mortar line ensuring that removing the cable in the future can be done easily and patched up.

Fibre installers won't do this though because their insurance will depend on following agreed procedures that will always specify drilling inside to out. A lapse in concentration or a slightly confusing house layout would make it easy to drill into the back of a radiator, a pipe, cable etc. bear in mind they have to do 4-5 of these things a day and a lot of people's houses are going to be complete dumps where you'd almost feel the need to wipe your feet on the way out I can understand why they follow this procedure. It doesn't stop the end customer having a hole prepared in advance - I have a hole through the wall behind the existing BT capping where my copper line used to come in that I opened up and put a 20mm conduit through that comes straight into the back of a double 47mm deep backbox and then siliconed on the inside and mortared on the outside and plug with a foam cap when cables aren't being actively pushed through it, there's an Openreach and a CityFibre cable coming in this way and both sets of engineers were happy to use it.

Pre-drill a hole below the floor level if you want to get the cable below the floorboards, I can't see anybody objecting to using it. I would always sleeve the hole with something though just to stop the cable getting lost inside a wall cavity or future work dislodging some snot off the back of one of the brick leafs and damaging the fibre on the way down.

 

[Simon42]

I prefer drilling outside to in, it means you can get the hole through a mortar line ensuring that removing the cable in the future can be done easily and patched up.

I've drilled many thousands of holes through walls as I used to install various electrical system professionally and with some seriously long bits well over 1m, but I calculate angles to make this reliable and rarely miss. For difficult positions I drill the internal block and then trace the bit externally to adjust the final hole angle through to the outside to ensure its exactly where I want it. I do the same from outside on occasion but angling up over a long distance from a low position can be impractical for some locations. Sadly despite all this kit and years of practice these days colour matching filler and patching bricks is trivial so it doesn't really matter.

I agree some prep is worthwhile as I've got three ISP services and with a bit of prep I have all of them in flexible/rigid smooth bore conduit from point of entry to the CSP/back box for two FTTP services and the back box with port for the HFC VM service. Not a surface mounted cable anywhere else other than next to my server rack.

 

[Sparx]

He is worried about damaging the exterior house wall (mostly just how that would impact the appearance), but he thinks that drilling his own hole for the fibre cable, from outside to the inside would be the best option, because then you can just plaster over any damage/ cracks on the inside wall.

I've had fibre installed 2-3 in my old place and current, the engineer has always marked and drilled from the outside in. As you say it's to avoid blowing the brick or render.

Sounds like he's really over thinking it, just talk it over with the engineer on install day, I'm sure if he's looked after it'll be done to a good standard.

For future ISPs, I assume you can just use the same single hole in the wall, remove any previous wall boxes etc, and get them to install in the same place. My dad does not want lots of holes in the wall basically...

Nothing stopping you pulling the old fibre out back to the termination point on the exterior wall. I did that with my old Openreach copper line to make way for an Altnet fibre install last year.

 

[Avalon]

Well I've been having a chat with him just now.

He is worried about damaging the exterior house wall (mostly just how that would impact the appearance), but he thinks that drilling his own hole for the fibre cable, from outside to the inside would be the best option, because then you can just plaster over any damage/ cracks on the inside wall.

I think going below the damp course is not a great idea, so hopefully he won't do that...

I've told him we should try to do it as simply as possible (not plan for future fibre cables from other providers, not planning for future fibre cables from other providers with a rope pulling system for the garden, and so on), so I hope he will agree.

For future ISPs, I assume you can just use the same single hole in the wall, remove any previous wall boxes etc, and get them to install in the same place. My dad does not want lots of holes in the wall basically...

With the greatest of respect, your dad is saying things that would concern any reasonable person familiar with installing things in houses. You don't drill from the outside in, as you blow the plaster on the wall, you drill inside out, as you cover the - less likely - blow out with the box on the other side and mastic as appropriate. You also don't - normally install below the DPM, and water coming in a sealed hole above it is pretty unlikely. He is of course free to drill his own hole and insist they use it, but it sounds like he's going to make a worse job than an installer at this point.

 

[Mr Oxide]

Just out of curiosity. Does the 14 day cool off period apply once the service equipment is installed? I'm thinking since I received my BRSK order confirmation on 16th December. I was just thinking about it as am on 14th/ 15th day. Cold feet I'm kind of getting, but I'll push on. Just some bad reviews was all.

 

[Caged]

It depends on the T&Cs that you agreed to. Some providers count from the day of the installation (Virgin Media), but my understanding is that it was never meant to operate as a way of trying the service out after the installation work has been completed, and that it's completely legal to ask you to pay install charges and pro-rated usage charges in certain circumstances.

 

[Mr Oxide]

It depends on the T&Cs that you agreed to. Some providers count from the day of the installation (Virgin Media), but my understanding is that it was never meant to operate as a way of trying the service out after the installation work has been completed, and that it's completely legal to ask you to pay install charges and pro-rated usage charges in certain circumstances.

It says my contract begins on the date that my BRSK service is activated. It was that my order cool off period ended and that got me wondering how that would actually work if I wanted to cancel the install. I guess, I just got interested with the installation being outside of that period(3rd Jan) as it does say that I entered into terms and condidtions stated on the document on 16th December.

I will be charged a pro rata from activation date to billing date, which is fine.

I was reading the bad reviews and probably shouldn't have read too many, but some of them are things like wifi black spots, which means nothing to me as rarely use wifi and if do I'm 2 meters from router. Other reviews made me think twice for a bit.

I did ticket their support today to inform them to make notes on my installation details to inform the engineer to make sure they have long ladders as flat is high up and extra fiber cable in case. I got a reply to that within 10 mins via email that they will let them know and have received a text about my install date & time shortly after.

Fingers crossed. I need rid of VM.