Virgin Media Rollout - infrastructure vs BT

Virgin Media are expanding their network in Northumberland in areas that have no existing cable infrastructure.

I’ve never lived anywhere with cable so I’m only familiar with BT FTTC and what I’ve read on here for BT FTTP.

I’m trying to work out whether the rollout will come close to me or not.

What infrastructure should i expect to see?

Does the modern virgin product still use street cabinets?

For homes with BT poles rather than underground provision should I expect virgin to supply via a pole?

Finally the pole is to the rear of our terrace and I guess if I want cable TV does it need to come in via the front of the house?

Virgin use a mix of doing their own micro trenching and using existing Openreach ducts and poles via PIA (Physical Infrastructure Access).

Nobody will know for sure how yours will be delivered but Virgin have been using more and more PIA lately and the majority of their deployments now appear to be PIA.

Virgin still use cabinets, with smaller grey cabinets in most streets that are connected back to much larger cabinets.

It doesn't matter if your pole is out the front or to the rear of your property.
If Virgin are using Openreach poles in your street they will serve you from the pole at the rear.
They would simply need to feed cable around (or through) your property to where you want the modem and/or tv box placed, usually the living room.

Edited by j0hn83 (Tue 04-Oct-22 18:56:26)

Thanks for the reply, hopeful I might be able to get a faster connection soon. We’re on the list as a town for BT FTTP by 2026 but no idea on the scale of that deployment.

I can get decent FTTC service but it’s been a long time since that became available with no increase in speeds since then.

Will be interesting to see how they deliver it to my area of the town as 90% of people get their BT line from the rear of their property which isn’t ideal for TV service. As it’s all 1900s terraces you can’t exactly go around an external wall.

How does the internal cabling work? Does the TV just need Ethernet or to be connected to the main fibre?

Currently on new deployments Virgin runs fibre to a media converter on your external wall. From there they use coax to the modem and to the tv box.

Virgin are perfectly happy to go round skirting boards and through walls to reach your living room.

BT TV and Sky's new dishless tv service could face the same logistical issues as Virgin TV, coming from the exact same pole.
It wouldn't be unique to Virgin.

You also don't need to get TV from Virgin. You can simply get broadband as you do now.

Not sure of the specifics but BT and Sky can use Wi-Fi Ethernet or powerline I assume to get data to the TV location so I think it’s less intrusive.

I’ll hope they come to the front via a trench then or consider broadband only service.

In reply to a post by Kr1s69:

Not sure of the specifics but BT and Sky can use Wi-Fi Ethernet or powerline I assume to get data to the TV location so I think it’s less intrusive.

That's partly why I said it could be an issue and not it would be an issue.

Both BT and Sky have tv boxes that aren't wireless.
On the flip side I'm sure Virgin now have a tv box that is wireless.

No idea what TV box Virgin are currently giving to customers or if the box varies depending on the package you choose.
Virgin have gone through a few TV boxes in the last couple years so it's hard to follow.

Keep an eye on the local rollout. It should be easy enough to spot if they are using Openreach's ducts and poles.
To complicated matters Virgin can also skip Openreach's ducts, dig their own trench to an Openreach pole and then use the pole for the final drop. Though that particular rollout method seems unlikely for you with poles to the rear of the property.

Ashington is supposed to be included it the Openreach rollout in the next couple of years. There has been a lot of work recently in the ducts etc over the last couple of months which couple of months which can't be bad.

Virgin are working in various areas of Bedlington and Stakeford and the exchange area is not, currently, part of the Openreach plans.

FTTC was done in Ashington before Bedlington if that makes any difference.

Both BT and Sky have tv boxes that aren't wireless

The new BT TV box's can use ethernet or wireless

All Sky Q boxes have wireless - the original 1TB Sky Q box specs show it supports both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz (802.11ac). It was launched over 6 years ago in the UK.

I got FTTC as soon as the cabinet went live - I’m less convinced FTTP will come to my area of Ashington as it’s the less affluent area and FTTP tends to have a price premium for the higher speeds.

I’ve tracking the virgin media rollout in Bedlington and stakeford via one.network. A couple of Ashington locations were added last week.