Virgin Broadband randomness

miss annie

Ok, I've said it a million times but... BT is fantastic! You should all switch.

miss annie

Oh, and we have BT infinity which is much faster than anything Virgin have to offer. I like most of what Richard Branson does but Virgin broadband is cobblers.

odd stewart

We might have to switch. Do you get tv channels and phone from them too Miss Annie?

miss annie

I have BT phone line and broadband and a free TV digital box. We don't have the superfandago TV as the chap likes to listen to cricket and football on the wireless and we only watch about five different TV programmes a week.

gardener-joe

I don't have a TV aerial on the roof since I went over to Virgin cable, and then had a new roof ... so, will I need a TV aerial with BT to get TV or does it all come down the phone line?

odd stewart

I think you'll need an aerial and a set top box, or a tv with freeview if that's all you want. You could also go the awful dish route. Don't think BT do tv?

harpistic

Yup, no %#%^*€%?<|| broadband here either - it worked for all of about 10 minutes when I got home, then revived briefly while I was on hold to Virgin - just long enough for me to hang up. Grr. O2 is good, or at least they were when I was living in West London. BT was so dreadful, there's no way I'd risk using them ever again. Though if they did TV, I'm imagining early 80s programming..... anyone else? Edit: just spoke to someone who said they're aiming to fix the fault within 48 hours, possibly 24 hours. If you growl, they'll give a £5 credit. Woo.

emine

I'm with BT and have had hardly any problems with them, bar broadband dropping out very occasionally. Their tv service seems good enough - i mainly use their iplayer, recording facility, rent films, and am considering getting sky sports added. The selection probably isn't as good as Virgin tv, who I used to be with (I left them in a huff, though can't remember why now - my grudges last longer than my memory), but why waste your life watching telly? Also if you have bt broadband, you can use the bt wifi hotspots when you're out and about for free. In the interest of balance to this rather glowing review, i'm not entirely happy with the quality of my phone line (though I haven't complained) and their adverts make me feel sick. But I wouldn't do Virgin again, and definitely never having a satellite dish.

harpistic

Thanks @emine - I had a look at other ISPs and what they offer last night, and compared with Virgin, BT's Infinity package sounds wonderful! My only hesitation was how good the service is in the area. Btw, re broadband dropping out very occasionally, do check out OpenDNS - I started using it while on O2 as O2's DNS servers aren't the most robust, so it meant not being at the mercy of their outages. As for being at the mercy of Virgin's crappy router, though....

harpistic

Is anyone else's Virgin broadband down? This is the second consecutive Friday where mine's stopped working within about 10 minutes of getting home. It would help if they had better on-hold music.... Update: spoke to Virgin; obviously as it's a Friday evening, there's a fault in the area. Possibly fixed by midnight - and if not, by midnight tomorrow.

ShaunG

Mine still down now. Been fitful for at least 2 weeks. Annoyingly the service status page never seems to be any use at all.

wisteria53

I was on hold 25+ mins on Sunday afternoon. They are sending a new router (dropped wireless is part of the problem) but wouldn't admit to any outages or problems in the N4 area....

boxrunner

I didn't notice any problems (either with broadband, tv or phone) over the weekend.  Am in N4 postcode using Virgin.  I don't know if that helps, but I have had problems in the past that were fixed by getting a new router.<br>

Ed B

<font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">Mine has been dodgy for about a week. Today it's been on and off, mainly off. According to VM there's a fault that's due to be rectified by midnight of the 26th. We shall see. On a positive level, I got 50% off my broadband charge for the last week (intermittent = 50%).</font><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">I also asked to speak to customer relations and had a good moan about having been a customer for years and still having to fork out £50 for Tivo. Really laid it on about a friend on BT and another on Sky getting up to date boxes just sent to them without them even having to ask. A good old moan, I pay around a £1000 a year etc. etc. Anyway, I got free Tivo, 10 to 30meg and a cheaper bill. That made my day - I recommend this approach.</font></div>

harpistic

Mine just broke - I was in the middle of an important email which has to be sent tonight. That's impressive re discount - I was only offered £5 for Friday-before-last, and nothing for last Friday. Also my router is flaky as hell, but the line is always so bad when I phone them, it's not worth the hassle to raise that as well.

odd stewart

Anyone else getting joke dial-up speeds in the evenings with Virgin broadband?<br><br>It's rubbish, what a rip off.<br><br><br>

andpol62

<P>I have had serious issues with my Virgin wifi broadband for nearly two months now. The only way I can get a stable connection is by being directly plugged into the modem, but then nobody else in the house can get the internet without the connection constantly dropping; if it does work, we are talking about speeds of a few kbs a second.</P> <P>After numerous phone calls to Virgin they eventually admitted that their equipment serving my are can't cope with the capacity and that it is due to be replaced. However, this won't happen until 30th May! Supposedly, this is because it has to be custom-built in Japan by Motorola. It beggars belief that it should take so long.</P> <P>What's more, it emerges that unless you complain loudly, they will not even give you a reduction in your bill (from the day of your complaint). In other words, they are keeping quiet about the fact that their service has been diabolical, that the problems are their end - so, unless you insist, they will carry on charging the full amount. I would have expected any respectable company to admit it has a problem and automatically adjust its customers bills.</P> <P>The only reason I'm hanging on at the moment is that when the new equipment is installed, it should be part of Virgin's general doubling of broadband speed. If I still have problems at the beginning of June, then I'm changing provider.</P>

rainbow_carnage

They told you June? They told me October.<div><br></div><div>Complained loudly. Got one month of free broadband. Plus they put us on a more expensive plan for free.</div><div><br></div><div>You have to ask to speak to customer service. The most you can get from the tech support people is a couple quid each time the service is down.</div>

vetski

I had phone probs last week and demanded - and got - a £5 rebate for a week of no incoming calls, encouraged by reading about rebates here.<div><br></div><div>Maybe this would be a good time to suggest something I've been wondering about - picketing the local Virgin service centre!! Anyone fancy it? </div>

odd stewart

All a bit shady if you ask me. Our virgin media 'service' has included: our phone breaking for over a week three times, the wires being badly installed on the front of the house draped everywhere with no box just a tangle of cables, two technician no-shows, unkept promises of credits, and joke-slow evening speeds. Even the landline charges are high. We're only still with them because our freeview is shit due to a wet aerial cable (someone else on here had this). There has to be an alternative that doesn't involve a shitty dish.

Ali

<P>It is not a suprise that Virgin is not so good everywhere you go their cabinet covers are lying about the place open to the weather. The access network to people s house is also crap and getting quite old as it must be nearly 20 yrs ago it was laid.  The BT Infinity box on SGR down the road towards  teh tube nr to the post office looks armour plated. BT vsioin is  a PVR box with freeview and is connected to Internet so you can down  load catch up sports, movies  etc. Works pretty well on out 9 Mb connection I think you need a minmum.</P> <P> </P> <P>You might want to wait for this     http://www.youview.com/</P>;

odd stewart

Some possibly good news:<br><br>I logged in to the Virgin site this morning and there was a 'find out if we're doubling your speed yet' button.<br><br>Put my postcode in, and it said they were going to triple it instead, from 20mb to 60mb, and the upgrade is ready for use now.<br><br>This requires a new router/hub, which you schedule for delivery on the site.<br><br>Mine's coming 21st May.<br><br>I'm going to sort this and give it a couple of weeks to see if things improve.<br><br>

harpistic

Meh, lucky you. I put my postcode in, it said October. Meh.<br>

vetski

October 2012-July 2013. Double meh, and only increasing from 10-20MB.<div><br></div><div>*Hmm, wonder if @oddstewart lives close enough for me to hack into his service? Or I could just park outside his house...*</div>

odd stewart

Oh. Sorry that must've been a bit annoying. It's too good to be true anyway, they'll mail me saying they've made a mistake.<br><br>Triple what I have at the moment, in the evenings, would be about the same speed as dial-up in 1992.<br><br>I think those parking outside my flat might be a bit disappointed.<br><br><br><br><br>

odd stewart

Hang on a minute I just read that they're not even starting the upgrade until Feb 2012!<br><br>Lying scum. <br><br><br>

harpistic

*stifles chuckle * <br><br>Oh dear.... <br><br>Is anyone tempted by the "upgrade to 100MB" offer? <br>

Ali

<P>Looked out this morning for the Virgin wires comming out of the pavement through the covers with CATV on them.  It seems between Nandos and Wodstock Road they have about a third with wires hanging out. I also saw a guy lying on the pavement  with Virgin Hi Vis on cemneting in one of their CATV plastic covers around Peteks.</P> <P> </P> <P>It is not surprising thsi dosn't work very well.  Randomness is linked to this, go and inspect your connection outside your house/flat and into the street ?</P>

ADGS

Of possible interest; http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/11/broadband-speeds-slower-than-advertised<br>;

Ali

<P>for those thinkingh about BT I just got this form them</P> <P> </P> <P> <TABLE id=yui_3_2_0_1_13373389980337133 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY id=yui_3_2_0_1_13373389980337132> <TR> <TD><FONT style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14px; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px" face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#333333 size=1>Did you know that BT has the largest free and unlimited wi-fi network in the world? </FONT></TD></TR> <TR> <TD><IMG style="DISPLAY: block" height=16 alt="" src="http://www.btvision.bt.com/newsletters/_2012/wifi/2012-10-05/World Active/images/spacer-vert.png" width=1></TD> <TD></TD></TR> <TR> <TD><IMG style="DISPLAY: block" height=20 alt="" src="http://www.btvision.bt.com/newsletters/_2012/wifi/2012-10-05/World Active/images/spacer-vert.png" width=1></TD> <TD><FONT style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-SIZE: 14px; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px" face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#333333 size=1>We've now got more than 4 million hotspots across the UK, and more than 1.5 million in over 100 countries abroad.</FONT></TD></TR> <TR> <TD><IMG style="DISPLAY: block" height=16 alt="" src="http://www.btvision.bt.com/newsletters/_2012/wifi/2012-10-05/World Active/images/spacer-vert.png" width=1></TD> <TD></TD></TR> <TR> <TD><IMG style="DISPLAY: block" height=20 alt="" src="http://www.btvision.bt.com/newsletters/_2012/wifi/2012-10-05/World Active/images/spacer-vert.png" width=1></TD> <TD><FONT style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14px; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px" face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#333333 size=1>More handy hotspots </FONT></TD></TR> <TR> <TD><IMG style="DISPLAY: block" height=20 alt="" src="http://www.btvision.bt.com/newsletters/_2012/wifi/2012-10-05/World Active/images/spacer-vert.png" width=1></TD> <TD><FONT style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-SIZE: 14px; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px" face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#333333 size=1>We know you already use your wi-fi, and the good news is you can now get free and unlimited wi-fi coverage in even more locations on your smartphone, tablet or laptop. So you won't have to use your data allowance while you're out and about.</FONT></TD></TR> <TR> <TD><IMG style="DISPLAY: block" height=16 alt="" src="http://www.btvision.bt.com/newsletters/_2012/wifi/2012-10-05/World Active/images/spacer-vert.png" width=1></TD> <TD></TD></TR> <TR> <TD><IMG style="DISPLAY: block" height=20 alt="" src="http://www.btvision.bt.com/newsletters/_2012/wifi/2012-10-05/World Active/images/spacer-vert.png" width=1></TD> <TD><FONT style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14px; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px" face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#333333 size=1>Easier to connect with our new apps</FONT></TD></TR> <TR id=yui_3_2_0_1_13373389980337155> <TD><IMG style="DISPLAY: block" height=20 alt="" src="http://www.btvision.bt.com/newsletters/_2012/wifi/2012-10-05/World Active/images/spacer-vert.png" width=1></TD> <TD id=yui_3_2_0_1_13373389980337154><FONT style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-SIZE: 14px; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px" face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#333333 size=1>We've also improved our existing apps, meaning it's even simpler for you to make the most of our free wi-fi wherever you are. You can upgrade to our new BT FON app from your app store</FONT><FONT style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-SIZE: 14px; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px" face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#333333 size=1></FONT><FONT style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-SIZE: 14px; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px" face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#333333 size=1></FONT><FONT style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-SIZE: 14px; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px" face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#333333 size=1>Seems quite impresive as it comes free with your Broadband</FONT><FONT style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-SIZE: 14px; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px" face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#333333 size=1></FONT><FONT style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-SIZE: 14px; LINE-HEIGHT: 17px" face="Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#333333 size=1></FONT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></P>