Virgin Media Discussion Thread

Orcvader · 16 Oct 2013 at 12:52

bulldog147 said:
Your cabinet could be coming next! Email openreach NGA and they will tell u if you will getting FTTC cabinet date

Ergh, I decided to check the Infinity checker and it finally gives a due date of Oct - Dec 2013, it gave no date a couple of months ago. I'm already trapped in a 9 month student package and I doubt my flatmates will be willing to change. If only they gave us this date sooner, could have gotten Plusnet ADSL and upgrade to FTTC when it was ready

.

Van Diemen · 16 Oct 2013 at 13:50

kefan77 said:
wooot. how come they charge you £13.85 for that. on my bill it is £27.50. (+ phone; - loyalty discount)

No idea to be honest & I'm not about to ask them.

I'm more concerned with what will happen come April.

KIA · 16 Oct 2013 at 14:40

Orcvader said:
Ergh, I decided to check the Infinity checker and it finally gives a due date of Oct - Dec 2013, it gave no date a couple of months ago. I'm already trapped in a 9 month student package and I doubt my flatmates will be willing to change. If only they gave us this date sooner, could have gotten Plusnet ADSL and upgrade to FTTC when it was ready .

They might be willing to let you out of the contract early if the performance is unacceptable.

bulldog147 · 16 Oct 2013 at 14:55

KIA said:
They might be willing to let you out of the contract early if the performance is unacceptable.

No, incorrect. They say you need at least 2 x normal tech guy to come out then 1 x senior tech guy to come out, if all three tech guys agree there is a problem, then u can leave virgin media without disconnection charge or fee while still under contract. The performance unacceptable is only credited your money in your account if u asked them.

Steampunk · 16 Oct 2013 at 15:13

Orcvader said:
I've been noticing that the internet connection sometimes hang and loses connection during peak times, so I did a TBB graph. And sheesh at the latency...

Tried calling up Virgin if they can do anything but they just said I'm in an over-subscribed area. I guess this is what I get for living in a student area...

That's what happens when VM:

1. Continue to sell contracts they can't fulfil and pack more customers onto over subscribed segments.

2. Wait until well over the normal utilization thresholds before triggering an upgrade cycle. Then they cry about how it takes so long to get permission from councils to upgrade street cabs.

If you want out, I'd try arguing that VM have breached the contract by not supplying the service that was agreed upon. It's not your fault they don't have enough equipment in place to service all their customers.

NZB · 16 Oct 2013 at 16:43

bulldog147 said:
No, incorrect. They say you need at least 2 x normal tech guy to come out then 1 x senior tech guy to come out, if all three tech guys agree there is a problem, then u can leave virgin media without disconnection charge or fee while still under contract. The performance unacceptable is only credited your money in your account if u asked them.

They can and do let you out of contract without charges if you have ongoing problems, without specified numbers of tech visits. It's the same as getting a lower price from them you often just have to call a few times until you get the right person.

NZB · 16 Oct 2013 at 16:46

I'm kinda stuck in limbo atm. I want to cancel the landline and try for a better deal on the 120mb price but at the same time i don't want to be locked in as i also want to change to FTTC which should be here any week now (been saying that for months).

Paying £44 ish a month for a phone that's never used other than what seems like receiving spam calls lately and BB that can't even match FTTC's upload speed which is what i need. Pain in the bum.

R3X · 17 Oct 2013 at 00:44

whats this customer loyalty discount everyone seems to be getting can I just ask virgin media for it also since I been with them for like 15+ years ?

Also is it true if I pay for my telephone line 1 year up front I get a nice discount on it ?

thx

kefan77 · 17 Oct 2013 at 00:53

it's the account credit you get, when you phone them up saying you want to leave. they have no reason to offer it to you, if you just keep on paying your bills calmly month after month, year after year. if you're under contract they will pretty much gtfo you most of the time, but when you're renewing you can get some nice deals.

yes, it's called Line rental saver.

HighlandeR · 17 Oct 2013 at 12:50

kefan77 said:
it's the account credit you get, when you phone them up saying you want to leave. they have no reason to offer it to you, if you just keep on paying your bills calmly month after month, year after year. if you're under contract they will pretty much gtfo you most of the time, but when you're renewing you can get some nice deals.

yes, it's called Line rental saver.

Nice, will have to remember those 2 factors when haggling away.

NZB · 19 Oct 2013 at 22:01

I see they've nerfed upload speed during peak time even further, it's now back to -65% reduction so you get this after uploading a measly 2.5gb

12mbit upload speed my backside

Zaim · 19 Oct 2013 at 22:05

NZB said:
I see they've nerfed upload speed during peak time even further, it's now back to -65% reduction so you get this after uploading a measly 2.5gb

12mbit upload speed my backside

Yep, its a shame how they're getting away with it, fully capped you only get 65mbit dl and 4mbit upload. That's poor..

Flukester · 20 Oct 2013 at 06:16

Just how often do you upload that much in one hit ?

I'm a heavy net user and I can't think of any time I've ever needed to upload 2.5gb except the odd website restore

Maybe uploading 1080p to youtube but even then exceeding 2.5gb is hard for mr average

NZB · 20 Oct 2013 at 06:54

Often enough that it matters to me, 2.5gb of data is nothing in this day and age and upload is the only reason i have the 120mb package in the first place. If "Mr Average is happy with a 65% reduction after such a small amount then good for him.

Flukester · 20 Oct 2013 at 08:57

What do you upload ? ....still can't think why you need that kind of upstream over 2.5gb

2.5gb is not a small upload...if you don't like it find another provider and leave more bandwidth for those who actually like the service

It sounds like are demanding too much from what is a home user service, with caps in place to protect normal users from people abusing the service. You are hitting the cap, and I'm glad tbh

NZB · 20 Oct 2013 at 11:07

Why on earth would you be glad i get reduced by 65%? Or are you one of those people who assume everyone who doesn't like caps (especially when they are constantly being changed) are hammering their connections to the limit 24/7?

I hardly think that 5-10GB being uploaded 3 to 4 times a month is "demanding too much", it's attitudes like yours that let them walk all over us with the limits.

wam7 · 20 Oct 2013 at 12:20

Flukester said:
What do you upload ? ....still can't think why you need that kind of upstream over 2.5gb

2.5gb is not a small upload...if you don't like it find another provider and leave more bandwidth for those who actually like the service

It sounds like are demanding too much from what is a home user service, with caps in place to protect normal users from people abusing the service. You are hitting the cap, and I'm glad tbh

Firstly, you make make a great error in judgement to question and criticise someone's use of a service they've paid for. I work with large video files that I have to FTP from home to work. 2.2Gb is easy for me to upload which takes 30mins and then the first 50% reduction cap kicks in. On the weekend, when I can do a lot of work that cap runs for 12 hours, in the day!

When I first joined VirginMedia I paid for what was advertised as an UNLIMITED service, and it was. There were no caps or STM on the what was then 100Mb. This was introduced later.

The problem is not people using the service they paid for but the infrastructure being able to accommodate peoples usage. The fault firmly lies with VirginMedia who then penalise it's customers as a way to alleviate the problem.

Flukester · 20 Oct 2013 at 12:48

No you pay for a service that has throttling / usage caps. Maybe they didn't years back but due to increasing burst speeds they offer they are needed as the infrastructure can't cope...I'm sure without any throttling the whole network would just die.

Even being throttled 50% it's still a good upstream speed compared with other services ?

It really isn't a service or designed to be a service for moving large video files on A daily basis surely. It's for people at home to enjoy a media rich internet experience. Problem is with the high bandwidth VM offer it's easy to lose sight of this and assume it's some dedicated private connection for them to spam with crazy demands, when in reality it's not and not meant to be, hence the caps.

End of the day 50% throttling on upstream just makes you wait a little longer.... Not sure you will find a better service for home users in the UK

Flukester · 20 Oct 2013 at 12:51

NZB said:
Why on earth would you be glad i get reduced by 65%? Or are you one of those people who assume everyone who doesn't like caps (especially when they are constantly being changed) are hammering their connections to the limit 24/7?

I hardly think that 5-10GB being uploaded 3 to 4 times a month is "demanding too much", it's attitudes like yours that let them walk all over us with the limits.

I feel those files are too big yes....

Walk all over us ?, nah, we just pick the best service for us, being consumers. I challenge you to find a better one tbh even for your unreasonable file uploads.

If it is such a poor service just leave... But I think even you will admit you won't get anything better elsewhere

wam7 · 20 Oct 2013 at 13:16

Flukester said:
..It really isn't a service or designed to be a service for moving large video files on A daily basis surely. It's for people at home to enjoy a media rich internet...

I suspect that I won't be the only one to be slightly aghast with incredulity that you could make such a fatuous statement. Please stop being an apologist for VirginMedia.
The service is for whatever you choose to legally do on the internet!

Flukester said:
End of the day 50% throttling on upstream just makes you wait a little longer

It goes to 65% (it used to be 75%) Your inaccuracies underline your lack of an informed response, and your understanding what is being talked about and what is really going on.

Flukester said:
...Not sure you will find a better service for home users in the UK...

See above. You did know that Sky/BT FTTC do up to 20Mb upload with no caps? And before you inanely ask 'So why don't find another provider', I suspect when the my exchange is updated I will, but in the meantime should I, along with others choose to bemoan the measures VirginMedia have now introduced to combat their lack of foresight and investment in the infrastructure, then at least counter with some cogent reasoning.