Virgin Media Setup Questions
Discussion
Just looking for some advice regarding Virgin Media and they’re subscriptions and products.
It’s a bit long but please bear with me.
My mum lives in a top level maisonette split over 2 levels. She has got a Virgin Media subscription with phone, broadband and a TV bundle which was installed to her lounge about 7 years ago.
She’s not been well and is spending more time upstairs in her bedroom and is asking if she can have her Virgin Box moved upstairs.
Usually this would be something I could handle. Rent a boom lift, drill the holes and feed the cables and pin it up where necessary - easy. But it won’t be possible as we don’t have access to the grounds anymore as the ground floor owners fenced it all in. (I don’t fancy being up a ladder 4 stories high!!)
I’ve looked into extending the co-ax and running it internally but it’s going to need at least 20-30 metres of cable to be tidy - running it through pre-existing cable runs. I think I’ll then run into problems with the feed strength so might need something extra to boost it which complicates matters.
We’ve discussed getting her a multi-room subscription and having Virgin come and sort it but that means starting a fresh 12 month contract and paying at least an extra £7 a month for her upstairs box which she doesn’t want to do. Plus, we have no idea how they would install a secondary feed, I guess they would need to come and review the access, get permission and then come back at a later date with the appropriate gear.
We looked into the Virgin Apps but because her box is an older TIVO she can’t stream her recordings from her box and as the iPad is old she can’t run iPlayer natively. The Virgin apps also disable you from being able to cast it or mirror it to something like an Apple TV.
I noticed that VM now do a ‘self install package’. I’m wondering if these require the use of the existing coax into the property or if it’s all done through the internet / virgin hub meaning I can run ethernet up to her upstairs room and then set up her new box up in her bedroom.
I know we’ll need to spend money to make this work but I’m just wondering if anyone has any other ideas or suggestions to help find the best way to do this in terms or value for money, keeping things tidy whilst also considering her somewhat limited tech skills!
Note: She doesn’t need Virgin downstairs at all so the multi-box subscription is a bit of a waste.
It’s a bit long but please bear with me.
My mum lives in a top level maisonette split over 2 levels. She has got a Virgin Media subscription with phone, broadband and a TV bundle which was installed to her lounge about 7 years ago.
She’s not been well and is spending more time upstairs in her bedroom and is asking if she can have her Virgin Box moved upstairs.
Usually this would be something I could handle. Rent a boom lift, drill the holes and feed the cables and pin it up where necessary - easy. But it won’t be possible as we don’t have access to the grounds anymore as the ground floor owners fenced it all in. (I don’t fancy being up a ladder 4 stories high!!)
I’ve looked into extending the co-ax and running it internally but it’s going to need at least 20-30 metres of cable to be tidy - running it through pre-existing cable runs. I think I’ll then run into problems with the feed strength so might need something extra to boost it which complicates matters.
We’ve discussed getting her a multi-room subscription and having Virgin come and sort it but that means starting a fresh 12 month contract and paying at least an extra £7 a month for her upstairs box which she doesn’t want to do. Plus, we have no idea how they would install a secondary feed, I guess they would need to come and review the access, get permission and then come back at a later date with the appropriate gear.
We looked into the Virgin Apps but because her box is an older TIVO she can’t stream her recordings from her box and as the iPad is old she can’t run iPlayer natively. The Virgin apps also disable you from being able to cast it or mirror it to something like an Apple TV.
I noticed that VM now do a ‘self install package’. I’m wondering if these require the use of the existing coax into the property or if it’s all done through the internet / virgin hub meaning I can run ethernet up to her upstairs room and then set up her new box up in her bedroom.
I know we’ll need to spend money to make this work but I’m just wondering if anyone has any other ideas or suggestions to help find the best way to do this in terms or value for money, keeping things tidy whilst also considering her somewhat limited tech skills!
Note: She doesn’t need Virgin downstairs at all so the multi-box subscription is a bit of a waste.
I went with a VM multibox package last year (with V3 boxes), and it's coax into a three-way splitter, with the router and boxes each taking a feed from there - I think self install just means plugging in a box to existing cabling..
I'd be tempted to try the necessary length of extension cable in the current setup first before doing any of the hard work, taking the run from as close to where it enters the property as possible.
I'd be tempted to try the necessary length of extension cable in the current setup first before doing any of the hard work, taking the run from as close to where it enters the property as possible.
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