im thinking of changing my isp but want some advice

Langlest

Langlest

Langlest

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Joined
11 Jun 2006
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Location
Middlesborough
im currently with virgin but since about a week ago i keep getting really slow connection speeds after about 6pm, its always fine again in the morning tho and this makes me think its something to do with a high amount of activity

i phoned them on friday night and spoke to someone in india as always and tried to explain the problem to them, they told me to unplug my router so the modem was connected directly to the pc and then they did a few tests and told me it was fixed, i thought it was a dodgy router at this point to i didnt bother to reconnect it but then at about 6pm on saturday the connection gets slow again..

called them back and explained and they told me there was a blockage in the line and they had to send some data to unblock it (sounds like a load of crap to me) and after a while the internet seemed ok again

today it happened again tho and this time the guy said he was going to change some settings at his end and in 30mins it would be ok again.. 2 hours later i call them back to tell them its still slow and i get cut off mid phonecall, now whenever i try to ring them it cuts me off after picking the options :mad:

i play world of warcraft and with my connection how it is now im getting a ping of around 1600ms and its unplayable

i think its about time to change providers and i have been thinking about going with bt as i already have a bt phoneline and it would be half the price of what im paying virgin (also half the speed but i never feel like im getting the full 50meg anyway), i just wanted to know a few things about them.
do they have uk call centers? is the connection speed any good? any horror stories about them i should know about? :p
 
Where is your exchange? Pop along to Samknows and you can check to see what LLU providers are in your area or if BT have done the 21CN in your area. Then when you know who you can go with for LLU pop along to Thinkbroadband and compare the ISPs.
 
Langlest said:
called them back and explained and they told me there was a blockage in the line and they had to send some data to unblock it (sounds like a load of crap to me) and after a while the internet seemed ok again
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I cant believe somebody told you that :D
 
Langlest said:
they told me there was a blockage in the line and they had to send some data to unblock it
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Have you never seen a hosepipe with a kink in it? Sometimes the cables from the UBR can struggle under the weight of their neighbours, and the extra traffic at peak time can end up with packets backing up under the "kink" in the line...

platinum87 said:
This is legendary
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;)
 
Virgins 50mb service has got problems atm due to them updating things for 10mb upload next month so maybe it will be worth waiting before you change?
 
Morgoth said:
I'd leave them just for talking rubbish on the phone.
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Pretty much why I left them (they were NTL at the time) had a fault, called them up and they ended up talking complete rubbish and saying that the problem was with my computer. Actually it was with all four computers that I plugged in seprately after they refused to even deal with my call while I was plugged in to a router.
 
thanks for all the replies :) i think ill give bt a phone tomorrow and talk to someone there to see what they have to offer

cant believe i missed the networks & internet connectivity section :o didnt think to check under hardware for it so im sorry for posting in the wrong place

the blockage in the line thing wasnt the first time they have been stupid :p
when my internet goes down they keep me on the phone for about 30mins unplugging cables and restarting only to tell me after that there is maintanence in my area, even when i am specific and tell them to check if there is maintanence first they tell me there isnt any and make me go through the whole procedure before saying that there is maintanence afterall :mad:

seems to me like the company has gone downhill since virgin bought them, i dont remember having a single problem when it was telewest
 
Maybe someone cut the line and was steeling some packets :p

Answer me this, do you live in a bad neighbourhood?
 
Langlest said:
seems to me like the company has gone downhill since virgin bought them, i dont remember having a single problem when it was telewest
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Virgin didn't buy Telewest, Telewest bought Virgin Media and the rights to the name. ;) Which package are you on? It sounds like it's not 50 meg. In your shoes I'd probably upgrade, there's way less hassle on the DOCSIS3 50 meg platform.

Good luck whatever you decide. :)
 
Langlest said:
do they have uk call centers?
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I'm not sure anymore. I've spoken to English people in the past but the last few times I contacted them I ended up speaking to people in Asia (presumably). They've never been that helpful either. The last time I called them with a problem I was advised to "google it", which wasn't particularly helpful seeing as my internet was down at the time.

is the connection speed any good?
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I live in Croydon, within a couple of miles of the nearest exchange, my "up to 8mb" connection averages a download speed of 2.5mbps. Their fair usage policy limits me to 100gb a month (I'm not sure if that's standard) which was fine until I discovered Steam. I'm limited to 1mbps for 30 days. FF is a little slower but I can still game, BF2 still runs lag free over wifi.


edit- If you do decide to switch to BT it might be worth pestering them about throwing in a free BT Vision Box, something to think about.
 
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ill give them a call again tomorrow and have a moan at them :p
maybe ill get some money off my bill and get the problem fixed, i noticed they are giving away a free wireless router with the 50meg package but i didnt get one when i upgraded to it so ill try to get one of those too
 
I had a similar issue at my previous house. After many days of harassing them eventually asked me to download some (large) files from one of their servers so they could monitor my connection. After this they finally admitted it was a contention issue, which I knew all along. This will undoubtedly be what your problem is.

They tried to fob me off with various rubbish including telling me the problem would be fixed the next morning (off peak), but I asked them would the problem not just come back in the evening (peak). "Oh yes sir, you're right. Will send and engineer out" :rolleyes::mad:

Persistence is the key. Just keep running Speed Test everyday until it's sorted, and ask them to make a note of everything each time you phone. They can and will fix the problem, you just need to escalate to the right person. If you feel someone is talking rubbish ask to speak to someone more senior.

Then ask for discount, and keep pushing until they give you something substantial.
 
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Rainmaker said:
In your shoes I'd probably upgrade, there's way less hassle on the DOCSIS3 50 meg platform.
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I am facing exactly the same choice. I have a crappy 10 meg connection from Virgin at the moment. I very rarely get more than 6 meg and sometimes it dips below 1 meg!

However, I live only about a quarter of a mile from my BT exchange. Do I upgrade to 50 meg from Virgin (requiring a new 12 month contract), or do I get mt BT line reconnected and switch to O2/Be?
 
well i just phoned them about it and spoke to someone in the "thinking of leaving us" department, after explaining how the indian guy spoke to me like i was a idiot they have agreed to credit me £25 and upgrade me to the 50meg package for free (turns out i was only on the 20meg)

as this involves a tecnician coming to my house im pretty sure he will be able to sort any problems im having too :)

ill know on saturday
 
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