Virgin Media Discussion Thread

Hank_Marvin · 1 Feb 2021 at 18:31

I've just moved to VM from BT fibre, wired speed is great but that Superhub 3 is pants for wifi range compared to my BT smart hub 2 which was the first ISP router i've had thats been really good in my three bed bungalow, perfect coverage indoors and well into the gardens.

I'm trying to get a month or two free to fund the purchase of my own router so i can stick the hub 3 in modem mode, anybody done something similar, what did you buy? They said they couldn't give me the new Hub 4.

Just after increased range really from one unit that is much better than the hub 3

Cheers

2004typer · 1 Feb 2021 at 19:37

Does anyone know the most effective way to check if your area is over subscribed?

Had Virgin years ago at my old address and it used to slow to a crawl at peak times to the point I couldn't even stream music, luckily though Openreach installed FTTP in my old area so moved over and never looked back.

No such luck where I live now, maximum is about 65mb on FTTC (so still reasonable), but no FTTP here yet.

But - can get Virgin (up to about 500mb I think), however I'm cautious due to past experiences, would rather have the stable 65mb if there's a chance of over subscription on Virgin, but, if there is a way to check the speeds I would get in peak times and these remain decent I'd be tempted to give it a go again.

ChrisD. · 1 Feb 2021 at 20:08

You can cancel within 14 days so worth giving it a go.

ristac · 1 Feb 2021 at 22:54

I pay £68.00 for a phone line, weekend calls and M500 broadband. I’ve been with them donkeys years, (I have an NTL email address). I had a letter a week or two back informing me of a £3.50 a month increase.

Today I sat on the phone line for 40 minutes when I finally got through I told them I have no use for 500mb speeds so I don’t mind them lowering it for a better price. They offered me my same package for £49.99 and I declined.

I was told I’d be put through to disconnections, I questioned that I assumed that was who I was already speaking to, the operator said I was but I need to be put through to the next department. After another 20 minutes on hold I was cut off.

Fuming I left it until 8pm tonight to try again, the first stage was another 40 minutes but this time an offshore call centre, the second stage 10 minutes UK based. The guy tried to tell me horror stories of companies taking a month or more to connect new customers, he then offered me the same phone line, reduce my Broadband to 50mb for £37 a month.

I declined and I’ve been given a date of the 3rd March for disconnection. I don’t really use the landline so it’s not an issue but now I’m wondering if they’ll call me back with a better offer or do I start looking now for a new provider.

Journey · 1 Feb 2021 at 23:40

ristac said:
I declined and I’ve been given a date of the 3rd March for disconnection. I don’t really use the landline so it’s not an issue but now I’m wondering if they’ll call me back with a better offer or do I start looking now for a new provider.

Have a look at the various providers see what you can get from FTTC/FTTP and such like. With things like Quidco (cashback) and discounts you can easily get a 76Mbps line for ~£22 per month or less, that includes the phone line.

VM will call you over the next few days, so have your info ready and stick to your guns if they give you some pathetic offer, especially when they are tying you in for 18 months, with ever increasing speeds, and reducing prices taking something for 18 months means you have to be sure you are getting good value and good service.

chroniclard · 1 Feb 2021 at 23:46

Hmm BB has been flaky this evening, went down to 15mb earlier, rebooted, still bad, then this happened, checked my account now says M600.

Cyber-Mav · 2 Feb 2021 at 08:08

Whats loaded latency like?
Using fast.com it does a loaded latency test and my one is like 30ms loaded and 8ms unloaded.
My cousins gigafast is 12ms loaded.

Cyber-Mav · 2 Feb 2021 at 08:17

ristac said:
I declined and I’ve been given a date of the 3rd March for disconnection. I don’t really use the landline so it’s not an issue but now I’m wondering if they’ll call me back with a better offer or do I start looking now for a new provider.

If your in Northampton that should be live with gigafast so check vodafone website.
As for booking time, i got price hike email ffrom virgin on the 8th jan. 9th jan i signed up with voda gigafast and soonest they can install date booking for me was 3rd march. So 2 month wait queue.
I made the call to virgin to disconnect last sunday 2 days ago and booked disconnection for the 8th.
So before you called virgin you should have hunted around for alternatives.
Check with voda with your postcode. They are no longer doing the 500meg for 35 a month offer its back at 38 a month but when contract ends its same 38 a month no increase.
My contract is 2 years 35 a month then goes to 38 after the 24months.
If you have a vodafone contract sim then you get extra 2 quid off a month.

chroniclard · 2 Feb 2021 at 08:58

Cyber-Mav said:
Whats loaded latency like?
Using fast.com it does a loaded latency test and my one is like 30ms loaded and 8ms unloaded.
My cousins gigafast is 12ms loaded.

Not too bad, though unsure maxing out the connection is a realistic test of loaded latency?

Not like I will be downloading linux distros when gaming.

fezster · 2 Feb 2021 at 10:11

ristac said:
I declined and I’ve been given a date of the 3rd March for disconnection. I don’t really use the landline so it’s not an issue but now I’m wondering if they’ll call me back with a better offer or do I start looking now for a new provider.

I posted a number a few pages back which puts you through directly to retentions.

200M broadband should be £29 with phone line.
300M broadband should be £35 with phone line.

There might be better deals available, but this is what outbound retentions offered me (they call you from a mobile number).

Avalon · 2 Feb 2021 at 10:26

Cyber-Mav said:
i got latency issue with hub3 noticeable on geforce now game streaming to the shield tv. shield tv is wired.

That's a largely pointless statement - streaming to Shield with GForce Now/Live is problematic for many, many people, it's been that way for years, some games are more forgiving than others, other factors such as LAN connection type are relevant, but even local streaming via a wired connection is not without issues and 'certified routers' are a joke. Similar story with the steam box set-up, it's a gimmick rather than a credible alternative to physically playing direct on the hardware. Onlive was about the only time I ever felt this was working OK given the context, even then it wasn't perfect, but sadly that ended up being snapped up by Sony who largely killed it rather than make it great.

ChrisD. · 2 Feb 2021 at 10:52

I've just read up on the UDP issue, not good. I hope it doesn't affect me too much after I've moved since I spend most of my working day on video calls.

Ayahuasca · 2 Feb 2021 at 10:54

Not had any issues with video calls across numerous platforms, teams, adobe, zoom etc.

chroniclard · 2 Feb 2021 at 10:56

Should be fine, been using zoom, teams, whats app video almost daily for work and social for a year without issue.

ChrisD. · 2 Feb 2021 at 10:58

chroniclard said:
Should be fine, been using zoom, teams, whats app video almost daily for work and social for a year without issue.

What package are you on? From my (limited) reading, it only seems to affect the higher tier packages.

thewanted · 2 Feb 2021 at 11:04

I get the odd audio glitch on Zoom when using VM, but it's difficult to say if it was VM or not because I didn't have a ping test running at the same time.

Can't say I've experienced the same audio glitches when using Plusnet VDSL2 though.

chroniclard · 2 Feb 2021 at 11:14

ChrisD. said:
What package are you on? From my (limited) reading, it only seems to affect the higher tier packages.

M600 as of last night. M500 for the previous year, pretty much used for calls daily and no issues.

I do use my own router and hub in modem mode though.

xb8browney · 2 Feb 2021 at 11:42

I guess I'm just lucky but I can't fault virgin been with them probably 7 years

Cyber-Mav · 2 Feb 2021 at 12:14

Avalon said:
That's a largely pointless statement - streaming to Shield with GForce Now/Live is problematic for many, many people, it's been that way for years, some games are more forgiving than others, other factors such as LAN connection type are relevant, but even local streaming via a wired connection is not without issues and 'certified routers' are a joke. Similar story with the steam box set-up, it's a gimmick rather than a credible alternative to physically playing direct on the hardware. Onlive was about the only time I ever felt this was working OK given the context, even then it wasn't perfect, but sadly that ended up being snapped up by Sony who largely killed it rather than make it great.

No your wrong on this. For me geforce now is fantastic in itself when its working with no lag.
And i use gamestream from pc to shield tv with no lag at all thats noticeable to gameplay. Street fighter 5, mortal kombat 11, dirt 4 all work amazingly good for couch tv gaming. Local streaming is no issue at all when wired on same network.
My cousin who has gigafast and shield tv iv been to his house and used it on geforce now and experience is far different to virgin.
On gigafast its like being on local lan and doesnt lag and stutter like virgin does.
I got hub3 so dont know if it would be improved on hub 4.

Cyber-Mav · 2 Feb 2021 at 13:27

got the call back from virgin just now, offered me £30 a month for the 350meg for 18 months contract. guy said i got till 8pm today to decide if i want to take that offer with them.
he also mentioned cityfiber has only been established for 6 months and just cuz it works well for my cousins doesnt mean it will work good for me etc.

he offered to ring me back later today if i need time to make my mind up. i advised them not to ring me and if i change my mind i would ring them back.