UPC connecting TV & Broadband to box

fuse

I was setting up UPC broadband and horizon TV there yesterday.
The house has a nice tidy white UPC box with two connector outlets. It all looked simple.

So I tried the TV on both connectors and got it working with the right one on the UPC box.
Then I put the broadband cable into the left connector expecting that to work but nothing.

I switched them around and then broadband worked but no TV.

So I realise I need one of those metal splitter boxes.

No longer a nice tidy operation at the back of the TV, just more cables to manage.

Total first world problem, but why are these things always over-complicated and ugly?

But what is the function of the left connector on the UPC box then? Would it not make sense to have the splitting done inside the white box?

No wonder Chromecasts and Apple TVs are taking over.

total former

The tap on the left is for FM radio.

Seriously, this is a rant over nothing.

Wabbit Ears

fuse wrote: »

I was setting up UPC broadband and horizon TV there yesterday.
The house has a nice tidy white UPC box with two connector outlets. It all looked simple.

So I tried the TV on both connectors and got it working with the right one on the UPC box.
Then I put the broadband cable into the left connector expecting that to work but nothing.

I switched them around and then broadband worked but no TV.

So I realise I need one of those metal splitter boxes.

No longer a nice tidy operation at the back of the TV, just more cables to manage.

Total first world problem, but why are these things always over-complicated and ugly?

But what is the function of the left connector on the UPC box then? Would it not make sense to have the splitting done inside the white box?

No wonder Chromecasts and Apple TVs are taking over.

sooooo, you went with a separate modem and horizon box rather then use the all in one box and are now complaining about the additional need for equipment and cabling?

fuse

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

sooooo, you went with a separate modem and horizon box rather then use the all in one box and are now complaining about the additional need for equipment and cabling?

Looks like it! I was never offered an all in one box.
Last time I had it done a guy just came a lashed in a splitter box with a cable going to the wall and two more to the boxes and told me nothing about the all-in-one. Not the prettiest of setups.

fuse

total former wrote: »

The tap on the left is for FM radio.

Seriously, this is a rant over nothing.

Thanks. Yep it's a bit nitpicky. But still, it's like having taps in a house with no indicator as to which is hot and cold.
If it's exclusively for FM, surely the box could have FM written somewhere near it?

Wabbit Ears

if its a horizon box you have the all in one unless you very specifically asked for it to be split... This thread is weird.

fuse

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

if its a horizon box you have the all in one unless you very specifically asked for it to be split... This thread is weird.

I may have my terminology wrong so!
I have what looks like this box

I have Horizon Wi-Free but TV subscription may not be horizon. Although I can view some HD channels and record programmes.
I also use the Horizon Go app and it works so I just figured thats what it's called.

coylemj

That's the old UPC remote so its not a Horizon box.

As you've already discovered, only one of the ports on the wall box delivers broadband and TV, the Horizon box can take this as a single feed and give you digital TV and broadband, otherwise you need a splitter because you need a separate router for broadband.

icdg

That is most certainly a UPC Mediabox, not Horizon.

Which is odd because I understood the Horizon box was the standard for any new customer, unless they either took Digital Value on its own, or paid the extra "deconsolidation" fee.

You don't need to have the Horizon box (or indeed a Horizon subscription) to use Horizon Go, rather confusingly (IIRC it confused me when it came out first!).

icdg

fuse wrote: »

If it's exclusively for FM, surely the box could have FM written somewhere near it?

They used to for decades, RTÉ Relays, Cablelink, and NTL all did it. UPC possibly don't want to highlight the fact that the FM service is actually still there.

Wabbit Ears

I'd PM UPC reps on Boards and enquire as to why you have the old box and separate modem and not the horizon box.

coylemj

icdg wrote: »

They used to for decades, RTÉ Relays, Cablelink, and NTL all did it. UPC possibly don't want to highlight the fact that the FM service is actually still there.

+1 They don't bother advertising the FM service at all but just let them try to take it away!