Coax Splitter in series virginmedia for flats

[Anjaip]

Hi all… just after some independent opinions…

I have a VM install with 4 units in one building.
The VM the engineer ran one cable from the street to the basement. He then installed a 2 way passive splitter : one output for one unit and then the other output into a cupboard.
In the cupboard he installed a three way passive splitter for each flat.

He then said that he couldn’t get a signal in the three flats (the first unit was OK).

Is it OK to have:
Just one cable from the street to four independent units?
To install two splitters in series?

By my calc the first splitter reduces signal strength to half and the second to one third so each flat sees one one sixth of the signal.

Should he have ran a cable into the cupboard and used a 4 way splitter or ran four cables into the cupboard?

Any opinions appreciated

 

[littlespark]

Is VM Virgin Media?

You’re right…. Signal degradation through each splitter, but I would think 1/4 rather than 1/6… there is only 4 outputs.

Is it possible to have a powered amplifier in place of the 3 way splitter, or a throughput amplifier before any split?

 

[Dan]

Sounds like you could do with some of those ethernet splitters that go into the plug socket. Not sure how this magic works but it does. You can get a WiFi plug then in each room / flat.

Internet part only of course. The actual cable TV wouldn't work the way I've said.

 

[UNG]

Distance / length of cable to the street cabinet can also have a big impact on signal strength. A few years ago my son moved into a flat where the street cabinet was no more 10 metres away the hub needed 2 attenuators inline to stop the signal overpowering it

 

[oscar21]

You can certainly split a VM signal, not sure how many times though. Years ago my mate had internet only from them, he then bought a dodgy box, split the VM cable with a standard aerial splitter and then had free TV for a while.

 

[James]

I think that it is irrelevant what the technicality's of it are.

You have paid for 4 off service connections to different flats.
they should have provided 4 separate service connections to 4 separate flats, there should be no junction boxes in the supply to any of the flats that are not accessible to the tenant of that flat.

call the helpline and tell them that 3 out of 4 were not installed correctly and therefore don't work. this is there problem to fix, not yours.

 

[Anjaip]

Thanks Littlespark, Dan, Ung, Oscar 21 and James for your replies…

0, sorry yes VM is Virgin Media
1, yes I can add an extra power socket in the cupboard for an active splitter.
2, I’m not sure if the issue is signal strength or signal quality (or if that is even a possible distinction?) so I will check with them to see if an active splitter should help
3, I’ll check the distance to the VM comms cabinet but the engineer claimed a good signal at the first splitter as he ran a VM router from that first splitter - although that doesn’t mean a further split would work
4, I think my maths is OK first splitter is 2 way for 50% each output, then one output is split 3 ways so 50% x 33.3% = 16.6% but if one 4 way splitter was used then each output would be 25%, but ….
5, I agree I am paying for 4 lines so why am I getting a split signal… they are coming back on Thursday!

Thanks again. Will post a resolution if I get one for future views of this thread.

 

[Boristheengine]

Hi all… just after some independent opinions…

I have a VM install with 4 units in one building.
The VM the engineer ran one cable from the street to the basement. He then installed a 2 way passive splitter : one output for one unit and then the other output into a cupboard.
In the cupboard he installed a three way passive splitter for each flat.

He then said that he couldn’t get a signal in the three flats (the first unit was OK).

Is it OK to have:
Just one cable from the street to four independent units?
To install two splitters in series?

By my calc the first splitter reduces signal strength to half and the second to one third so each flat sees one one sixth of the signal.

Should he have ran a cable into the cupboard and used a 4 way splitter or ran four cables into the cupboard?

Any opinions appreciated

This is not necessarily as bad as some people have suggested. Cable internet works by having a single coaxial cable running down the street supplying quite a few houses, with splitters in the road. The cable itself probably supports something like 1.8Gbps with that shared amongst the houses on that cable. (The head end in the street cabinet will limit individual subscribers to whatever they have paid for)

It is thus fairly reasonable in a block of flats for the splitter to be in the basement somewhere and isn't necessarily a problem if it is all working.

You can read a bit more about how all this works here: DOCSIS (Cable Internet) - what is it - https://www.draytek.co.uk/information/blog/docsis-cable-internet-what-is-it

 

[Anjaip]

Thanks Boristheengine - I found the DOCSIS material after I posted but your link is pretty informative.

The Virgin engineer came and said pretty much what I expected (and what Boris has said) that so long as the signal strength was ok as measued in the flat (at the router) then all is OK (and running four lines is merely moving the point at which the split would happen by a few feet.

For some reason all the people in Virgin head office/call centre seem to agree that there should be four cables going into the property but maybe they are not engineers and dont understand how the system works.

The Virgin engineer also did not seem concerned by the series splitters either

Anyway I wired it all up (Virgin engineers didnt carry the right connectors for the cable they told me to install !!) and even with the series splitters all four flats seem to have a decent signal strength.

To be honest I am little nervous about the series splitters and things going wrong in the future but given the signal strength I cant really get the Virgin folks to do anything.

Anyway just wanted to close off this thread. Thanks for all the replies