[themissingelf]

Hi,

Hope this is the right place to ask this question about the cabling for my Virgin services.

I have both V+ cable TV and Virgin Broadband. The cable comes in to the house and connects to a small metal junction called a TV/Data Isolator (one cable in (labelled "IN"), one cable out (labelled "TV/DATA")). The out cable goes to another small metal junction called a 2-way splitter (one "IN" and 2 x outputs - one of which goes to the V+ box, the second to the broadband modem).

I want to know if I can get rid of the first box and just plug the main cable coming in to the house straight in to the 2 way splitter?

Cheers

[widgeroo]

The isolator is needed in case of surges from lightning etc. If this is removed then your protection is removed. It will work fine if you remove it and just use the splitter. What you need is the old school isolator with 2 outputs on it but they are like rocking horse ****. I used to be a tech for ntl and half the time we didnt even use isolators, your choice..

[themissingelf]

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll leave it in place.

[Kdot]

Now your question is seemingly answered, I'll hijack slightly, with a related question...

I have three Virgin services - phone, broadband and tv.

The phone appears in the hallway; the tv in the lounge; and the bb in an upstairs bedroom.

All I'm looking to do is move the cabled internet access into the lounge. Is it possible to split the TV signal, and move the cable modem from upstairs to provide that, as opposed to getting an engineer to move the wiring?

I'll check later, but I assume all the service cables lead back to one main junction box, split from the original feed. In which case, I guess the alternative is to manually re-route the broadband cable from upstairs.

Hope that makes sense - thanks for any pointers you may have.

Cheers.

[themissingelf]

I can tell you about my set up and what I've done...

Original Virgin/NTL installation:

1. Phone in office (may as well be "hallway" for the purposes of discussion)
2. Broadband modem behind TV (via the aforementioned splitter*)
3. TV (erm, behind the TV - the 2nd split from the splitter*)

* The single line in to the splitter came through the wall in to the living room from the NTL box on the outside wall.

The phone also starts life in the NTL box on the outside wall - it's just routed along the outside of the building before coming in through the office wall.

I've moved the modem in to the office and the TV over the other side of the room so...

Made an aesthetically pleasing small Oak box on the inside of the wall where the TV and broadband comes in to the building (forget the phone) and:

In the box:
Main line in to the building in to the isolator, short coax in to the splitter, two coax lines out labelled "modem" and "TV1" which disappear out of the bottom of the box under the floor...

In the office
"Modem" appears up through a hole in the floor (haven't decorated in here yet...) and in to the modem, then a router, etc...

Over the other side of the living room
"TV1" is routed via some trunking buried behind the skirting board/plaster up through a brush plate and in to the V+ box.

Hope this helps.

PS. Because the TV is away from any outside walls (and I'm just about to lay carpet etc and don't want cables for Freesat, Sky+, or whatever comes next tacked along the skirting, I also have a redundant single coax and a dual (for Sky+) coax running from the Oak box and up via the brush plate behind the TV (TV2 and TV3...)

[Kdot]

Thanks TME.

I'll check the actual cabling tonight, and see what I can see.

I just want to transfer the in-point of the broadband from upstairs to down, but can't work out (so far) whether that needs to be done inside the house, or outsied, and whether it needs an engineer visit to do so (which I doubt).

[Kdot]

So, on the doorstep, I have the cable feed, which goes into a 3-way splitter.

Output 1 goes upstairs for the broadband; output 2 round the house for TV; output 3 is empty. There's also some telephone cabling in there, separate.

Where the cable feeds into the lounge is a small white termination box, which I couldn't get to last night (behind the TV); it is Telewest branded, and has the cable TV feed coming from it (at the bottom).

I need to get in there and see whether that it is the only out or not. If it is, I'll need to split somewhere - either inside or out. I believe I could simply re-route the cabling from upstairs to down, but that'd require another hole drilled through to the lounge. So, I need to investigate splitting inside the house, although this will obviously be a split of a split, unless that wall box has multiple output feeds.

Will try and get in behind the TV this evening.

[widgeroo]

cabling is so easy. broadband and tv use the same cable which makes it easy. you can leave the upstairs(ex broadband)live and use as a tv aerial, you will need a belling adaptor(maplins) to connect to your tv, its just a stupid screw in silver thing. downstairs split the tv input(2 way splitter, maplins) and send one to your modem. You might want to swap the three way splitter in your omni box(outside, front wall) for a two way. When you split the signal it does degrade, so this will balance it out.

[Kdot]

Had a ferret around in the lounge last night...behind the TV is a small white box, from which the tv feed comes out. There is a similar box upstairs for the broadband, however the one downstairs has two feeds coming out, upstairs one. I opened the upstairs box, and found (effectively) a one-to-one splitter. Makes sense.

Back downstairs, with the other box, tried both the cable modem and tv box on the second output, but got no signal. I wanted to have a look inside that box, but it appears to require some form of flower-shaped nut-spinner, as they have not used standard screws, as upstairs.

So, I need to try to work out how to get inside that box, without destroying it, to find out what kind of splitter is inside. Seems weird that the male socket is there to connect to, but no signal is being sent down it. Obvioulsy not simply a 'dumb' splitter in there, otherwise it should be way to go, one would assume.

[Ianjohnson]

Originally Posted by widgeroo

cabling is so easy. broadband and tv use the same cable which makes it easy. you can leave the upstairs(ex broadband)live and use as a tv aerial, you will need a belling adaptor(maplins) to connect to your tv, its just a stupid screw in silver thing. downstairs split the tv input(2 way splitter, maplins) and send one to your modem. You might want to swap the three way splitter in your omni box(outside, front wall) for a two way. When you split the signal it does degrade, so this will balance it out.

I thought that the Virgin cable couldn't be used for a tv aerial?? Is this true or has something changed?

[Ben]

Originally Posted by Kdot

I wanted to have a look inside that box, but it appears to require some form of flower-shaped nut-spinner, as they have not used standard screws, as upstairs.

So, I need to try to work out how to get inside that box, without destroying it, to find out what kind of splitter is inside.

This thread may be of some use to you.

Originally Posted by Ianjohnson

I thought that the Virgin cable couldn't be used for a tv aerial??

It can, but only for the analogue terrestrial channels. You can't tune in Freeview with it.

[Ianjohnson]

Ahh. oh well