Newish virgin installation- shifting the box

[Tigercubrider]

trying to help a lady at work
She has a virgin feed that terminates ona wallplate.
A lead then seems to go between here and a plug into a multiway breakout lead

I hope to shift it by about 4 metres so want to get a 5 m type F lead (I think)

Am I correct?
I am relying on her measurements as the idea is to buy then one visit to fit if I can
Only issue is that I don't know if it's male-male or male female.
Gonna try to add pix

 

[Lucid]

Virgin is usually coax cable up to the splitter. The connections are the satellite type F connectors. The wall plate and plier will have the F sockets ( looks like a threaded bolt - same as socket on rear of Sky box). The cable will have the male plugs with the nut; again same as Sky sat cables.

What you'll need then is just a long male-to-male cable. Don't bother with extending the existing cable. Just replace as a single length from socket to splitter.

Be careful when looking for cable. Virgin uses a triple shielded coax cable rather than the double shielded used as TV/sat coax. The cheap sat extension kits from ebay are poor quality for double shielded cable. They're not up to it for this job.

Look for Webro HD100 cable. That's as- good-as or better-than Virgin spec.

The reason the cable is so important is three-fold. First, Virgin are putting a wide range of signals down their coax including data, so it's more sensitive to interference than sat or TV signals. Second, unlike TV or satellite, any cabled homes are hardwired to the network, and so interference has a path to other customers and the local hub. Third, Virgin gear is only ever on loan. Their Ts & Cs make it clear that the install including the cabling is theirs and not the customer's. If something a customer does to change the install then causes problems for themselves, other subscribers, or for VM then the company are entitled to charge to put it right.

Extending using a new cable to add an extra 5 or so metres really shouldn't be an issue unless bad cable is used or it is routed poorly. Just watch for bending the coax too sharply.

 

[Tigercubrider]

cheers.

it seems the odd bulge in the cable is an isolator

 

[turanafon]

all the white covers in the rooms should have an isolator inside them.]
just buy a ready made coax cable with F type connectors.
and replace the cable that comes from the white box to the splitter.

 

[Lucid]

all the white covers in the rooms should have an isolator inside them.]
just buy a ready made coax cable with F type connectors.
and replace the cable that comes from the white box to the splitter.

The greater majority of premade cables are crap. The shielding quality is appalling. Since there's no way to check that quality without destroying one end of the cable, one can never be sure that any problems aren't being caused by- or made worse by- this unknown element in a system.

I have encountered dozens of installs where bad coax fly leads have been the cause of the trouble. Often it's the "cheap" 1.5-2.0m TV fly lead from the wall to the telly or recorder. They're prone to picking up interference because the shielding is ineffective. The same low grade coax is used in TV coax extension kits and premade F-to-F leads. If 1.5 mtrs of this rubbish can pick up enough interference to cause picture break-up with Freeview, then imagine how much more a 5m length will let in.

Replacing with a piece of well-shielded coax is often all that's needed to fix the problem.

Something is only "cheap" if it undercuts rival products and still does a good job. If it causes problems that then cost extra money to fix, then it stops being cheap and becomes very expensive indeed.

Webro HD100 is not expensive. There are folk selling it in 10m lengths online for under £6 delivered. That's a couple of quid more than a 5m length of the bad pre-made coax. How penny-pinching does someone have to be to risk screwing up their install for the price of a coffee?

 

[turanafon]

I totally agree about the cable issue.
I never use the premade leads, i use my own made leads.

i was not aware they made pre made leads in Webro HD100, so thanks for the heads up.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Just to close I have done this now. Quite simple once I realised that the mess of cables was a breakout
Mine is a simple coax to modem. No TiVo .
Hers was a short coax to breakout that went to the TiVo, modem, rj45

I managed to fix a 5 metre cable from the entry to skirting board, under a door frame and then into some trunking along a wall.
I connected it up first without moving anything to ensure that the cable run/length was ok.
Cheers