Anyone know how long it takes for new cables to be ready?

Does anyone know how long it takes for Virgin to be ready to order after laying cables? They've just started laying cables today but I switched provider on the OR network yesterday meaning I have a 14 day cooling off period. The area they did down from me a good few months back says its all available to order (I didn't check weekly so no idea how long it finally took) If it's 5-6 weeks then I could use mobile broadband for that, but if it's gonna be like 4 months or longer then it'll be best to stick with what I've got

If they've only just started digging it's a piece of string question to be honest as it depends on a bunch of things.1

Often months after passing your house unless you're 1 of the last on the node to be done.
They tend not to activate little bits at a time.

They passed my property this week and I'm hoping it's available to order by the time my contract expires in April 2020.

Driving down the road yesterday I see the large cabinet that will serve my area is still sitting empty (doors wide open) so not a chance anyone is live yet.

The Virgin chap was at my door this morning asking how the install went and asking if I had any complaints.
They're estimated my area to go live around March.

My street was done in October 2017, was able to order in April 2018.

In reply to a post by R0NSKI:

My street was done in October 2017, was able to order in April 2018.

That timing would suit me perfect and is about what I would expect.

Probably not what the OP wanted to hear though.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

Often months after passing your house unless you're 1 of the last on the node to be done.
They tend not to activate little bits at a time.

They passed my property this week and I'm hoping it's available to order by the time my contract expires in April 2020.

Driving down the road yesterday I see the large cabinet that will serve my area is still sitting empty (doors wide open) so not a chance anyone is live yet.

The Virgin chap was at my door this morning asking how the install went and asking if I had any complaints.
They're estimated my area to go live around March.

They'll probably leave the doors open even when they install the equipment. They like to leave the doors open. Although, it's usually contractors busting the locks when they don't have the keys..

In reply to a post by gary333:

They'll probably leave the doors open even when they install the equipment. They like to leave the doors open. Although, it's usually contractors busting the locks when they don't have the keys..

Those guys won't have access to the larger virtual hub cabinet the poster mentioned.

Howdy,

I have had VM come to me 2 weeks ago to ask about interest to infill my street and the next day requested wayleave from all 18 houses on the street because of the positive feedback, everyone agreed (bar 1, but they are going to just go around them).

A few days later, VM were back again to sign some of the people up to services. 2 days ago I had lots of VM emails with package details / install dates / direct debit information along with VM account number and area code. This allowed me to sign up to the My Account. The install date was set to the "max allowed" it looked like, which was a exactly a month from when all the welcome emails came in. The direct debit is setup to come out on the 20th Dec, find it all a bit strange as its going to take at least 5 weeks to start the digging (nothing on local council planning website yet) and it looks like I am going to be getting billed before the service is even in. I just hope it is just a placeholder for now, but I have a feeling that setting up a direct debit is not a placeholder type thing.


So my question is as I live in a cul de sac and part of infil, am I also looking at months before everything is ready?

Edited by maddawg_feeps (Fri 18-Oct-19 14:21:54)

They are simply extending out to you.
Your area is live already.
The main cabinet you will be connecting to is already live/commissioned.

It's a much more complicated build starting from scratch as they are for my area.
We have no Virgin Media within a few miles.
Ronski was also in a new build area.

A month is not overly ambitious to extend to a cul-de-sac they've passed with a live network.

Edited by j0hn83 (Fri 18-Oct-19 14:29:32)

In reply to a post by maddawg_feeps:

So my question is as I live in a cul de sac and part of infil, am I also looking at months before everything is ready?

Providing an update to this incase anyone searches and wants to know time scales, VM have finally set a date for the start of Feb to mid Feb to complete the groundwork. So it has taken a fair old time to get some infil work signed off (costs / planning / pre-construction work), looking at 6-7 months, and by the time the network is all setup and I can get the home install booked in (tee to home), looking at March / April, which takes us to upto around 8 months.

I was originally told it was going to be the hybrid FTTP network that was to be laid, but upon asking again the other day, now looks to be a HFC extension.

Edited by maddawg_feeps (Mon 20-Jan-20 08:47:33)

Wow. They've dug up the street to lay cables literally the day after the cooling off period expired after signing up to BT fttc for a long contract speed is rubbish too only 30mbps. To rub it in VM have parked a grey cabinet on the street right outside my window.

6-8 months before going live makes me feel somewhat better about it.

Less than 4 weeks after passing my house I could order from Virgin.
They were still digging the other side of my street, but still allowed this side of the street to order at the same time.

My line was activated 2 weeks later, about 6 weeks after finishing my side of the street.

The neighbour across the road went live the same day as me, before they had even finished tarmac'ing over the trench on his side of the street.

Definitely not 6-8 months later.

I'm not in an infill area. This is a brand new Virgin FTTP area with no Virgin around for miles.
I'd imagine some infill areas are usually quicker.

Providing another update to this.

Ground work all completed, rushed but completed by the 3rd party civils contractor and had install booked in for the 25th Feb.

On the 24th Feb I get a call from VM to say the install is on hold as more "network configuration is needed", keeping tabs on the local planning website I could see more roadworks planned for our street the for the week after, so I said on the call about this to which the person on the call came clean and said about the contractor installing the wrong size trunking into the ground so it all needs to be done again.

Work is planned for 9th-11th March, so hoping for an install date soon after, expecting just before April now.

Further update :

Planned work never went ahead on the 9th-11th to fix blockages.Then it all got forgotten about, until April when I pinged an email into the construction team asking what was going on, to be told "All was well, no idea what the issue is, will get your install booked in for 22nd April".

Saw I had a pre install check booked in for the 14th April, NMCM turned up and scratched their heads about what was going on, the 2 blockages that had been marked 2 months prior were still blocked. So more planned work went into the council for later that week (quick turn around!) and on the 17th the blockage was fixed.

22nd April rocks up, the engineer visit vanishes off the portal. I get a phone call in the afternoon of the 22nd to say that a house on the street isn't happy that their garden has a VM chamber in it and are not allowing VM in to feed cables from it to the cab around the corner to connect me and others on the street up. They say its their garden, VM say it is a service strip because there is no path and their front garden meets the road.

I have since spoken to the developer of the housing site who also confirms it is a service strip (as it also has a street light there!).

This has been going on a while from what I can gather. Any one have any knowledge on these types of "legal" matters? How they get resolved etc?

Edited by maddawg_feeps (Mon 27-Apr-20 01:34:43)

Nothing to resolve. The extent of that person's boundary will be on their deeds and the site plans.

Service strips are adopted public highway.

That house on the street is probably wrong though it's not exactly uncommon. Think about how many people think, after getting the curb lowered, they now own the pavement in front of their property?

Entirely depends on what VM do, really. If it's a service strip, which seems likely, they have every right to have that chamber there and every right to put cables into it. Whether they actually pursue the matter to its fullest extent is of course different.

Surely they wouldn't have put the chamber there in the first place without checking that its public land?

In reply to a post by alexatkin:

Surely they wouldn't have put the chamber there in the first place without checking that its public land?

That plus wayleave was granted by that house (along with all others on the road). A planning document got posted to each house with where things were going, they didn't dispute it then, only when the work was done.

Edited by maddawg_feeps (Mon 27-Apr-20 16:18:12)

In reply to a post by maddawg_feeps:

That plus wayleave was granted by that house (along with all others on the road). A planning document got posted to each house with where things were going, they didn't dispute it then, only when the work was done.

Then they're stuffed and may indeed go forth. That chamber is Virgin Media's property and they've no right to obstruct access to it.

https://store.virginmedia.com/content/dam/eSales/net...