UPC upgrade process

IRLConor

Does anyone know what the usual process is for a UPC line to be broadband enabled?

I ask since I've recently moved and was told that my line does not support broadband. I'm in a covered area according to the coverage map, and the installer who moved the TV connection says there's broadband available on the line just that they haven't enabled billing capabilities on the line and hence won't connect me.

Does anyone know the answer to either of the following questions:

• How long does it take UPC to offer broadband after they get to the stage where my line is at?
  
  AND/OR
  
  
• Is there any way to get to talk to someone in UPC who actually knows what the upgrade schedules are?

the_law

I had a similar problem with UPC, which led to my losing €150 to Eircom for a phone line I never used (as on the day it was installed UPC called to say broadband was available).

You may be able to find out more if UPC have cabled externally along the fronts of houses on your street (if you're in an apartment block, the wiring will be internal and you can't see it).

I'm going to waffle a bit, as I've picked up bits and pieces from around the place but never seen it all in the one place...

Cable TV/Internet is distributed from your local node (usually a grey 2-door cabinet on the side of the road or footpath, about 4' high). Such a node may have a number of thick trunk cables running from it, each one usually serving a street or three depending on length and number of apartments.

After some distance of trunk cable, the signal will start to degrade, so an amplifier is inserted in-line. This raises the signal level so that houses downstream still receive adequate signal level. How does the amplifier get its power, I hear you say? The TV and data signals you are interested in on the trunk cable are all up in the Mhz region... so you can simply connect AC power (50Hz) at around 50V to the line, and it won't interfere with the signal being carried.

This thicker black (or grey sometimes) cable runs typically along the front of the houses at roof level, jumping between detached houses on a catenary steel cable. At each house or between every two houses you will see a tap looking something like http://img.alibaba.com/photo/208804043/CATV_Outdoor_Tap.jpg - from this a smaller drop cable is sent to each dwelling. In newer housing estates all of this work is underground where you can't see it.

The infrastructure that UPC inherited from NTL/Cablelink/whenever was of variable age and quality. The key specification in this case is the bandwidth of the cable - simply put, old cable might stop reliably carrying signals over say 500Mhz or less, whereas new cables can reach 1000Mhz. The more bandwidth available, the more TV channels (or broadband channels) you can send down the cable.

When UPC upgrade an area with poor cable, they lay an entirely new trunk cable beside the existing old one, inserting taps as they go until the whole street is ready to go. After testing the new cable, they simply work their way down the street switching your drop cable from the tap on the old cable to the tap on the new cable (which is laid right beside it).

Now, the Internet requires data in two directions: from your house and to your house. The data you download to your house is called downstream and data you send back is called upstream. Even when you're on the old cable, it's probably still good enough to get the downstream signal to you (it's usually around the 400-500Mhz region). I had a downstream signal when I moved into my flat.

However, old trunk cable amplifiers were not designed with the thought that customers might need to send data back through the cable - they may even be designed to block it as a form of interference. For data use you need an amplifier that passes (or amplifies) upstream signals back to the node, usually in the 50Mhz region.

To cut a long story short, I was still on the old cable in an upgraded area, so had the downstream signal OK but no upstream path due to old amplifiers. When the UPC guys came to switch me to the new cable, the upstream path became accessible and I could get broadband. Basically pestering them and telling them they had done most of the work already, just needed to plug it in got it sorted for me.

This may be why UPC won't sell you broadband... if you're on the old cable you have no upstream path. Have a look and see if there are one or two sets of trunk cabling outside... they almost never remove the old one.

Hope this helps.

IRLConor

Thanks for that.

I've since been in contact with someone from UPC and they've been very helpful.

_Sidhe_

If the cable is enabled, it'd just be them telling their internal interface system that it is.
A few weeks at most, but you'd probably have to stick on them.

mickeyboymel

I have a scenario here whereby there are approx 90 apartments in the neighbouring complex,divided into blocks of 10 to 15 apartments.UPC Recently ran a new very thick coax cable from the neighbouring block into ours, which has 8 apartments. They installed the new taps etc and transferred our drop cables onto this new line.

Now with UPC's new online checker I can see all the neighbouring complex has all 3 services available, bar one block (The Furthest down the complex which also happens to be where our new cable was fed from).

My question is does this mean the local node may have run out of capacity already? Or Maybe a new trunk needs to be laid to serve the furthest end of the complex and ours too. Would they not have completed this work when they went to the substantial trouble/planning/getting permission etc of digging and laying this new cable to our block.

All of the the; as UPC call it; "secondary phase" of the upgrade in town here has been completed as in all the taps etc have been replaced. They are not prepared to say when or if indeed ever there will be BB at this location.

Anyone know if UPC upgrade all the "Easy" for want of a better word areas in a town first,ie those streets which are closest to the new Node Cabinets, then at a later stage once it has been tested and proves to work ok, go back and do the required tweaks and recabling of areas which were not included in the secondary phase. I did manage to get it out of a tech service support agent that there was a third phase in any upgrade.Or are there areas they just dont ever bother with finishing off and upgrading.

Sorry for all the questions but when I saw Sierra digging here outside my door in Jan, I presumed we would have the cable BB option by March as I was promised at the time by UPC, but now it seems as far away as ever, and as usual Customer Service say the will write out when the services are available.