Virgin Media broadband not working

[Heart108]

Thanks everyone for your contributions.

For the record I intend to write to few consumer

Sites such as Which Guide and get some guidance on

What constitutes a 'failure of service' ie enough to terminate

A contract with an ISP

My problem is that since last October I am locked into

A virgin tv/phone/broadband contract which i would happily

Ditch right now

[dulwichbloke]

I can help you out on that one (maybe).

We (I) got talked into switching phone and internet provider, six months ago, by what looked like a great deal from Talk Talk. The minimum contract period was 18 months.

Switching to Talk Talk was a disaster. The broadband has never worked anything like properly and it took hours of complaining on the phone to get simple caller ID which we had paid for (every time being told something different by someone in India). Half the time we got cut off, while being on hold. Dealing with Talk Talk could not have been worse - I felt like punching myself in the face at times, the frustration became so bad - it would have been light relief.

About 6 weeks ago, without any warning at all, Talk Talk services ceased working with any router other than their own, so our Belkin router had to be replaced. I still can't believe they didn't give any warning and just waited for us to contact them to say our internet stopped altogether.

After getting the 'correct' router our internet has been even slower. Last week the internet speed checker Talk Talk had me run said our line speed was 134kbps (yes- about 1/8 of a Mb!). We have called them maybe 20 times over 6 months. The customer service is a complete joke. Finally, after several more hours of phone time and days of having no operational internet/email (which is a diaster for working from home) I called to aggressively say that they could stuff their fixed 18 month contract period and see me in court if they fancied explaining how they had breached their contract by not providing a service which was fit for purpose.

Before I could launch into my tirade, the person on the other end politely said that was fine - all I needed to do was make arrangements with a new service provider and the contract would be switched over. He said that it was an 18 month contract, but because we had had more than 28 days of problems with the internet, they would not hold us to the full term.

All that is a long way of saying that if you log your problems with the service provider and call them to complain, they will have a note of your calls and my guess is that if they see you have had repeated problems, they may not try to keep you to a long contract. I suppose each company is different, but I shouldn't think any of them would think it was worth holding out if they had provided a crap service for a long period of time. That said, I was ready to cancel my DD before they took any more money from it and would have fancied my chances in any small claim. In reality I don't think they would bother with a small claim. I would be susprised if Virgin wanted to piss off someone with their entire brand for something like this (but might be wrong - it's just a feeling).

Finally, ironically, I was just about to sign up to Virgin Media 50Mb as it is the only fibre optic option around here and I am sick of the crap service copper cable was giving us. I also read about Virgin Media's customer service awards!

Now I'm confused as to what to do!!

[apples]

My experience of Virgin media broadband is that when it works it is fine (and it works a lot of the time - although I haven't paid the premium for 50Mb - I have their 'middle' tariff). But as for the 'Customer Care' they don't care. Luckily for me broadband has not broken at times when I really have needed it. I suspect that with genuine fibre optic they are now the best of the alternatives in our area for a fast connection. But I might look again at BT if they do re-wire East Dulwich later this year.

[peterstorm1985]

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I use BT.OpenWorld Not the cheapest but very

> reliable and competent Engineers available to

> speak

> to if something does go wrong.

Ditto. We moved from TalkTalk because they were so **** awful. BT have been like a breath of fresh air. No marketing crap every few days (someone at TalkTalk had me on speed dial trying to 'upgrade' me to a business package), and no go slows. It just works.

[PhilPhilPhil]

As Apples said, Virgin Media broadband and TV are both fine when they work but they are clearly over-subscribed in East Dulwich now so the service is becoming increasingly patchy, and once you have to deal with their customer service dept you are entering a world of pain. I've not had a working landline for over three years because I got tired of taking whole days off work just for their engineers to come round and say "oh its not your equipment, it's a problem with the box down the road. You'll need one of our other engineers to fix that for you, phone customer service again and they'll send someone round next week...". No idea what the other local options are like as I've been with Virgin for so long but I dont think I'd recommend them.

[Bic Basher]

I tried to get Virgin Media a couple of years ago, the engineer couldn't get to the box which is in a Southwark Council owned cabinet. Various calls to VM and Southwark got me nowhere, so I ended up using a 3G dongle from Three!

[Gilles Dauve]

I haven't read any of this thread but sometimes I don't get signal in my bedroom so have to put the router on the sofa so the signal reaches a bit further. Hope this helps.

[lina]

All the time..at least 4x a week..

[sambless]

Thanks GIlles, that worked a treat! Who would of thought it! Thanks!

[Heart108]

Update Sunday 26th

23rd June update:

The purpose of starting this thread was to share and gather information about broadband issues and how to cope with them in the East Dulwich area. So many of us are self employed and rely totally on the internet for communications and business from home that it would be useful to share as much detailed and practical experiences here on EDF.

It is not my intention to plug or slag off any particular ISP - my previous letting of steam phrases notwithstanding : )

* * *

I have to say at the outset from a Virgin Media point of view, that if you can persuade someone on the helpline to send a technician you will learn a lot:

Since I originally posted, my broadband is now working - not great.. or fast as it should be ( video streaming still sticks occasionally, pages dont load that fast, and broadband online test upload/download is not great but at least it is working).

As a general principle do a broad band speed check on a regular basis from the same site. ( I use www.speedtest. not)

You get 3 results: upload, down load and ping. Take a Screenshot ( ie on Macs: Command + Shift + 4 and you get a photographic snapshot of the test & save it to a file. ( There is probably an equivalent on PC but I dont use them).

You can then build up a profile of the signal over days and

~~~~

As far as the Virgin Media Service is concerned there are some good points to note:

The day after I complained ( ie the day after the original post of this thread) A very helpful Virgin Media technician turned up in the allotted time slot and proceeded to test the line.

? google broadband speed check and do a series of regular checks to your internet connection

??he disconnected the modem and tested the signal from the street. There was virtually no signal coming into the property. He said he would need to ramp up the signal from the junction box. This means apparently that there is leeway to boost the signal from a given junction box which is done depending on how near or far the box is from a particular property. The further away the junction box from your home the weaker the signal and the more it will need to be 'boosted' from that box. ( ie this is something you can ask about)

??he tested the signal on the outside entry box from the street and concluded there was no signal coming into from the street.

This meant that all the VM customers in the surrounding street would have been without service.

??he got onto the company's engineers and said they would be round to fix the box within a couple of hours - this indeed happened and by the end of the afternoon the broadband was working.

? also noticed that I had an older model modem and said that I could be fitted with a newer one.

* * *

The VM broadband is working but not particularly well - streaming video still sticks.. it is definitely not a consistent 50Mg rate that VM delivers and

I would suggest that it is not worth paying this rate as in East Dulwich it is not noticeabley better than the old 20 meg rate I was paying for last October 2010

Hope this is of interest

[dulwichbloke]

Thanks. Just out of interest, what is your speed at the moment on the Speedtest program?

My Talk Talk is at 168Kbps and my streaming does not 'stick' - there is no streaming!

[Bic Basher]

dulwichbloke Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Thanks. Just out of interest, what is your speed

> at the moment on the Speedtest program?

>

> My Talk Talk is at 168Kbps and my streaming does

> not 'stick' - there is no streaming!

Now that is shocking! I get faster speeds on my 3 dongle.

[peterstorm1985]

dulwichbloke Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Thanks. Just out of interest, what is your speed

> at the moment on the Speedtest program?

>

> My Talk Talk is at 168Kbps and my streaming does

> not 'stick' - there is no streaming!

If this is a download speed, then you can't call it broadband. When we were with TalkTalk we got around 3Mbps. Now with BT it's never less than 4.5, more usually 5.0Mbps, on their cheapest service and with really old telephone cable coming into the house (so lots of potential losses). It's worth noting that we're on the Dulwich exchange as I think it's one of the slowest in the area.

[ianr]

I get even less than dulwichbloke on a Virginmedia ADSL connection that routinely synchs at 7Mbps. It shows every sign of being permanently capped, and my usage is well below the levels at which they say they will cap broadband rates.

[Peckham native]

I'm with Virgin for broadband & TV, their basic 10MB package via fibre optic cable. Have been with them since they took over from NTL and have had very few problems. When speed tested never had under 9MB and normally 9.6MB. Think this is because I'm SE15. Problems with Virgin seem to be mainly within SE22.

[Digby]

Since we moved down the road in December, our VM has had a total of 45 days of outages, due to 1 cm of snow on the installation date that pushed it into the New Year, but also general outages lasting up to 3 weeks at a time

[Heart108]

@dulwich bloke 9.25am

The www.speednet test right now 10.oopm Monday night on my computer is:

??PING 8ms ( this is very good - it refers to the round trip time the signal takes to get to the server which is in Sittingbourne)

? download 22.17 Mb/s ( this is dreadful and typical of Virgin Media - I have a record of this kind of amount most of the time. Their website promises for 50Mb ( which is what I am paying for) "49.5 is what our customers typically get"

??upload 4.45Mbs ( this is not great)

FYI I am paying about ?47.00 month for a combined VM package: TV ( most basic version with catch up, broadband 50Mg and a second phone line which I never use except as a receiver for faxes)

[dulwichbloke]

Thanks. That's all interesting.

IanR - I'm afraid you have lost me - I don't know what your reference to 'synch'ing at 7Mbps means - like my line speed, my knowledge quickly reaches its limit! Anything with Mbps rather than my Kbps sounds fast to me, (I am running on low hundreds in terms of Kbps) but I'm keen to know if there are other measures of capacity out there, that I ought to be aware of.

[ianr]

dulwichbloke - each time your ADSL modem connects to the exchange, the apparatus there engages it in a conversation in which line condition, etc, are tested, and then decides what seems to be a realistic connection rate achievable for the session. So, for example, the typical modem log entry for my current session:

"00:00:58 (since last boot) xDSL linestate up (downstream: 7808 kbit/s, upstream: 960 kbit/s; output Power Down: 19.5 dBm, Up: 12.0 dBm; line Attenuation Down: 39.0 dB, Up: 22.0 dB; snr Margin Down: 11.5 dB, Up: 6.0 dB )"

But, as I said, all my downloads, whatever, whenever and wherever they're from, whichever computer or modem I use, and however they're measured , all come close to 110 kbyte/s. That's on Virgin Media National ADSL, on the Dulwich exchange, for which I pay Virgin ?18.35 a month.

[Edited, to avoid spurious smiley, and amend 110 kbit/s -> 110 kbyte/s]

[Mamma Mia]

Slightly different topic, but has anyone got experience of Virgin Media mobile performance? Considering the Blackberry Curve 8520 for my almost-teen which is being offered on a really good contract deal at the moment for VM customers. Anyone had any signal or performance problems with VM?

[jills]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, but I was hoping to tap into the font of knowledge above. I'm trying to get my Virgin broadband signal to reach to the kitchen (router/hub is installed in the front sitting room and kitchen is furthest possible room at back). I've heard it all from Virgin re signal can't get through the walls, kitchen interference, etc, and because I can't move the hub without miles of re-cabling, they said a repeater/signal booster might help. But because Virgin doesn't sell these, they couldn't advise further.

Could anyone tell me what a repeater is, if it might help, and where to get one?

I get fairly decent bb from Virgin, just as long as I'm close to the hub. Am SE22.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[Penguin68]

This is a typical product - search on 'wireless range extenders'

http://www.sitecom.com/range-extenders-and-access-points

[Penguin68]

I should have added that there is also an interesting product that extends the range for fixed connections piggy-backing on your mains circuits - the router connects via an ethernet to a special plug into your ring main - another plug with an ethernet connecter can then be plugged into the back of your computer.

[Heart108]

@Jills and @Penguin

This is indeed a viable way to boost your signal of a wireless router and it was recommended to me some time ago by another Virgin Mobile technician.

Just to recap what Penguin is saying:

Normally you have a modem and a wireless router.

The modem takes a cable direct from your phone line or in the case of VM a dedicated cable running into your home from the street.

You then connect via an ethernet cable OUT of the modem and into the back of the router.

The router beams the signal to the rest of your home, but rooms far away may get a week signal.

Maplins sell a product which consists of what look like 2 chargers.

You plug one into the wall near your router - and then from the router you connect via another ethernet cable to the wall charger.

This sends the signal into your electric ring main circuit.

Lets say you have a room upstairs far from the the router.

You plug the second unit into the wall and from there you take another ethernet cable and plug that directly into your computer upstairs.. that increases the signal.

* * *

I tried one which I bought in Maplins but it did not work that great... it did not seem to make a lot of difference but the KEY THING is to ask a proper technician who does this every day for a living. Who can assess whether the signal really is degraded by the interfering walls/distance from the router..

...0r whether the signal coming into your home is just weak

HTH :)

[jills]

Penguin68 and Heart108 - thank you!

This sounds like a great solution - providing the signal is strong enough from the sounds of it. How do you find a technician that will assess your signal? Do I have to get a Virgin tech to come out?

I started searching around for these online - 'powerline' and 'homeplug' cropping up - am I on the right track or is there a more generic term? They're a bit pricier than I thought...