During 2015-16, Virgin Media revamped its UK FTTC cable network in order to achieve some of the best figures on the market in terms of reliability and downstream speed. A team from Optiva Media was sent to the field to upgrade CMTS infrastructure to new Arris E6000 equipment in 45 locations across the British Isles. Activities during the project included:
- Pre-installation tasks: site survey, reception and validation of materials.
- Cabinet mounting: CMTS installation, drilling, grounding, card installation and physical configuration.
- Wiring: cable runs, terminations, labelling and verification, including CAT5, fiber, RF, ground, etc.
- Cable dressing: according to Virgin Media’s specs for identification protocols, color codes, and quality of visual appearance.
- Verification protocols:
- Engineering documentation analysis and checklist revision.
- Connectivity between the new CMTS and the core router.
- FMP (First Modem Provisioning) to verify upstream and downstream parameters such as speed, signal levels, noise, etc.
- Verification of optic fiber connectors with fiberscopes.
The project was run by on-field Optiva Media personnel in full coordination with both Virgin Media’s and Optiva Media’s headquartered operations teams for migration control and acceptance.
