Can I take my Virgin Media box to another address?

whiteswan · 16/10/09 - 14:30

Hi

I don't mean a house move..........

I am going away for a few weeks and my sister has a virgin media line in her house - she doesn't have any services.

Can she use my box for a few weeks ?

The line was in when she moved in......will she get all the services I sybscribe to or will she just get freeview channels or will she get nothing?

Is the channel package etc decided by the signal they send to the box or by the box itself?

Dave

Nilrem · 16/10/09 - 14:35

If she's in the same street as you and the line is still connected at the green street box she will probably get the same stuff you get (but connecting it up will be breaking the TOS) assuming the line level is also good.

If she's more than a street or two away from you it probably won't work (different town almost certainly won't, with the chances getting less the further away you get), likewise if she's not been a customer for a long time there is a good chance she's been disconnected at the street box.

[Deleted User] · 16/10/09 - 16:03

Nilrem wrote: »

If she's in the same street as you and the line is still connected at the green street box she will probably get the same stuff you get (but connecting it up will be breaking the TOS) assuming the line level is also good.

If she's more than a street or two away from you it probably won't work (different town almost certainly won't, with the chances getting less the further away you get), likewise if she's not been a customer for a long time there is a good chance she's been disconnected at the street box.

Hi , yes it will work as long as it is still connected outside ,

if you try and use it outside the same franchise area that you live in your interactive services wouldn't work.......
But in you could take your box halfway accross the country and it would work you might loss a few channels..:)

whiteswan · 16/10/09 - 16:10

Shes has an old box that the preious occupier left behind and it gets the main 5 channels plus a few others - i think some shopping, history etc - probably just the freeview channels.

So that means there must be a signal going to the house from Virgin doesn't it?

Dave

[Deleted User] · 16/10/09 - 19:29

Yes it does. So it should work if she lives in the same area.

hurrikane313 · 17/10/09 - 10:03

Yep if you are in the same area it should work just fine without any problems, ignore people saying "same street" because they do not know anything. I have taken my stb to both my brothers house and a friends house both of which are not with VM and both live between one and a half miles and two and a half miles away from me, and never had any problems received all channels I am subscribed to, all on demand content, and all other interactive services.

whiteswan · 17/10/09 - 11:28

Thanks for the replies - will try and let you know.

Dave

[Deleted User] · 17/10/09 - 14:14

The boxes work on certain franchises so the fact it's even 20 - 30 miles still doesn't matter. As long as it's the same franchise it will work.

Ernie_C · 17/10/09 - 16:17

I trust that your sister appreciates her position while you are away for three weeks?

[Deleted User] · 17/10/09 - 16:35

The only thing to remember is that you will be billed for any premium services she uses.

whiteswan · 17/10/09 - 16:52

Ill pin code the pay per view stuff !

pinkteddyx64 · 25/12/11 - 17:17

I know this is an old thread, BUT:

I have got a V+ box with the XL package and my grandparents have got an old NTL digital box with the L package. They have got an HD ready TV and I am going round to their house to celebrate New Year's Eve. Ideally, I want to watch the London New Year's Eve fireworks on BBC One HD. If I took the box to my grandparent's house, and temporarily disconnected their old NTL box and plugged my V+ box in, then return the boxes back to their original places once the party is over, would BBC One HD be available on the box or have Virgin Media now implemented technology so that their set top boxes are locked to the customer's address? I know I could simply get a cheap Freeview HD box from Tesco, but even though Freeview HD boxes can be had for as little as about £20, it is a bit hard for me to justify get a Freeview HD box just for one occasion. And my grandparents are in no rush whatsoever to get a V+ box.

[Deleted User] · 25/12/11 - 19:16

pinkteddyx64 wrote: »

I know this is an old thread, BUT:

I have got a V+ box with the XL package and my grandparents have got an old NTL digital box with the L package. They have got an HD ready TV and I am going round to their house to celebrate New Year's Eve. Ideally, I want to watch the London New Year's Eve fireworks on BBC One HD. If I took the box to my grandparent's house, and temporarily disconnected their old NTL box and plugged my V+ box in, then return the boxes back to their original places once the party is over, would BBC One HD be available on the box or have Virgin Media now implemented technology so that their set top boxes are locked to the customer's address? I know I could simply get a cheap Freeview HD box from Tesco, but even though Freeview HD boxes can be had for as little as about £20, it is a bit hard for me to justify get a Freeview HD box just for one occasion. And my grandparents are in no rush whatsoever to get a V+ box.

No it should work, as BBC HD/BBC1 HD are FTA

timpo · 25/12/11 - 20:32

If she's more than a street or two away from you it probably won't work (different town almost certainly won't, with the chances getting less the further away you get)

Thats total tosh, it will work as long as the cable into her property is still live, she could, as a poster said above, be 20/30 miles away, and it would still work.

mersey70 · 25/12/11 - 20:58

timpo wrote: »

Thats total tosh, it will work as long as the cable into her property is still live, she could, as a poster said above, be 20/30 miles away, and it would still work.

Wouldn't that make multiroom subscriptions somewhat insecure?

Dosen't make sense to me.

pinkteddyx64 · 25/12/11 - 21:18

mclarenf1 wrote: »

No it should work, as BBC HD/BBC1 HD are FTA

I thought that ALL HD channels are encrypted, even the BBC HD/BBC One HD, because of having to pay the HD activation fee?

mersey70 · 25/12/11 - 21:35

pinkteddyx64 wrote: »

I thought that ALL HD channels are encrypted, even the BBC HD/BBC One HD, because of having to pay the HD activation fee?

All HD channels are securely scrambled in Nagravision 3.

pinkteddyx64 · 25/12/11 - 21:36

mersey70 wrote: »

All HD channels are securely scrambled in Nagravision 3.

But it won't stop me temporarily taking my V+ box to my grandparents house and using it there will it?

mersey70 · 25/12/11 - 21:39

pinkteddyx64 wrote: »

But it won't stop me temporarily taking my V+ box to my grandparents house and using it there will it?

I don't know but if you think about it that would make the multiroonm sub a joke.

You could get a second box and then share the sub bill with someonme else. I doubt VM are that daft.

Maybe the street cab has an identifier? Dunno really.

pinkteddyx64 · 25/12/11 - 21:48

mersey70 wrote: »

I don't know but if you think about it that would make the multiroonm sub a joke.

You could get a second box and then share the sub bill with someonme else. I doubt VM are that daft.

Maybe the street cab has an identifier? Dunno really.

Well my uncle swapped his V+ box with my grandparent's NTL box once, so that he could watch Sky Sports whilst he had his Sunday dinner at my grandparent's house and it worked, but that was last year. so maybe Virgin Media have toughened things up since then?

[Deleted User] · 26/12/11 - 13:11

i moved from one area sw2 to se20 now that 2 different franchise areas still got the same tivo box the tec said it been multi platform for about 2 years now the only thing he had to is reprogram the box to get on to the right tivo server no card change no box change so kept all my recordings to

mersey70 · 26/12/11 - 18:46

pinkteddyx64 wrote: »

Well my uncle swapped his V+ box with my grandparent's NTL box once, so that he could watch Sky Sports whilst he had his Sunday dinner at my grandparent's house and it worked, but that was last year. so maybe Virgin Media have toughened things up since then?

Very interesting. I have no idea if i'm totally honest but logic would say it makes no sense being able to move boxes between properties, unless VM know about it anyway.

I know Sky are very strict regarding multiroom boxes, if they don't get a callback from the desiginated landline they will give you a warning and failing that they convert the multiroom sub to a main one. They don't seem to much care about single box households having the box connected to a line even if they say they do, mine hasn't been for months as we broke the connector and when my niece got Sky they never even connected it to a phoneline!

It wouldn't seem very secure if you can just move boxes around properties though.

pinkteddyx64 · 26/12/11 - 21:08

mersey70 wrote: »

Very interesting. I have no idea if i'm totally honest but logic would say it makes no sense being able to move boxes between properties, unless VM know about it anyway.

I know Sky are very strict regarding multiroom boxes, if they don't get a callback from the desiginated landline they will give you a warning and failing that they convert the multiroom sub to a main one. They don't seem to much care about single box households having the box connected to a line even if they say they do, mine hasn't been for months as we broke the connector and when my niece got Sky they never even connected it to a phoneline!

It wouldn't seem very secure if you can just move boxes around properties though.

How long does it take before Sky send you a warning? What if you was to disconnect a multiroom Sky box and use it at a different address for say 2 hours and then reconnect the box again at your own address? Even if Sky got suspicious, couldn't you just lie, by saying that there was an intermittent fault with the phone line?

mersey70 · 27/12/11 - 00:37

pinkteddyx64 wrote: »

How long does it take before Sky send you a warning? What if you was to disconnect a multiroom Sky box and use it at a different address for say 2 hours and then reconnect the box again at your own address? Even if Sky got suspicious, couldn't you just lie, by saying that there was an intermittent fault with the phone line?

Sky require a multiroom billing callback at least once a month.

If you say there is a fault on the line they merely covert the sub to a full individual one.

No getting away from paying!

[Deleted User] · 27/12/11 - 10:59

pinkteddyx64 wrote: »

But it won't stop me temporarily taking my V+ box to my grandparents house and using it there will it?

It won't work as they are on the L package they would have to pay £5 per month to use V+.

pinkteddyx64 · 27/12/11 - 12:00

Wayne~ wrote: »

It won't work as they are on the L package they would have to pay £5 per month to use V+.

Will the L package allow access to BBC One HD?

Besides, I thought the smart card in my V+ box determined what package and functionality is available, not which address it is being used at?

Hey there!

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