Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Virgin Broadband service
Is anyone having to reboot their router/modem regularly with Virgin Broadband? We're having to do it at least once a day. I think it may be a problem with their servers locally so if I notice a disconnect I will post the time on here, I would appreciate if others could do the same.
Tags for Forum Posts: broadband, consumer complaints, virgin media
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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I'm currently moving house. I called virgin to get a transfer. They told me they needed to send a 'way leave', permission-to-install agreement form to the housing trust who are my landlords and this they did. The housing trust filled in the form and sent it back. When i called virgin media to enquire a week later the operator told me that they had not recieved the form and was extremely rude and even hung up the phone. When i called back to complain i was told by a supervisor that the form had arrived but that the address was incorrect on the form. I called the housing trust who emailed a copy of the form which was not incorrect so virgin had lied to me. I called back to complain and was told by another supervisor that they had lied and were sorry and offered me £15 as a sweetener. I declined the offer. then they told me that they could book and engineer to install my line for 10th November and no sooner. This will be over 3 weeks from my initial application to transfer the line. I've been lied to all along the way, The housing trust tells me they do not even need permission to install, it's just been another excuse by virgin to discourage me from staying as a customer. I'm not in the best of moods because i'll be without a service at my new residence for at least 10 days.
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It's not just a local problem. I have experienced the same problems in Holloway. Just haven't got round to closing my account with them yet!
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Wow - I am so glad I have seen this thread. I was just about to switch to Virgin Broadband but it seems that their service is worse than BT. I am with BT and I have had no line problems with them. My problem was that they kept telling me that I had a usage which was much higher than I knew I had and I spent hours if not days trying to resolve this. I finally got to speak to a real person who helped sort it out (sort off) but only after I wrote to the Chairman's office out of desperation. By then I had been passed around in circles and been disconnected more times than I care to remember when the person I was speaking to was unable to help. Is there any reliable broadband service with a good customer service which anyone can recommend?
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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I recommend Virgin Broadband, which I've used for many years and for the following single reason. It is technically different from the competition and fundamentally superior.
I think one has to consider basic technical differences. This is not the kind of service you want to chop and change for reasons of customer service at the moment. One kind of broad-band is going to be better in the long run and for technical reasons. Any customer relations issues are likely wax and wane but the way one's computer is connected to the internet is not going to. In the comments below I have disregarded price.
ADSL – asynchronous digital subscriber line. Apart from cable (below), all other domestic forms of broadband are ADSL, which works along existing telephone lines. There is competition for this between several suppliers. It is an amazing technical accomplishment that this works at all, let alone pretty well most of the time. It is something of a kludge though. Your computer is a step removed from a real computer network – that only happens when the piggy-backing signal over the copper wire is converted at the local telephone exchange to a real network beyond. The piggy-backing of the signal and the filters needed create an extra step and limits both the speed and reliability of ADSL.
The further your house is from a telephone exchange, the more the signal attenuates (becomes weaker) and the slower your speed. Many internet users, especially those in the less built-up areas, have no choice except to use ADSL over the phone line. I have a friend in semi-rural Surrey who may never get fast Internet access. If a computer user is too far from a telephone exchange (5km?) they do not even have Hobson's choice and the ADSL supplier will decline to put in the equipment in the phone exchange. If you have a choice, the better technical choice is Cable (i.e. in these parts, Virgin Media.).
Cable broadband. Virgin Media is the monopoly supplier of Cable Broadband. This thick co-axial cable is laid under the street and is extremely expensive to put in. In order that any company had an incentive to do it, the government gave exclusive franchises for a given area to a single cable company. In my case, it started off as Cable London, became Telewest and is now Virgin Media.
The cable comes pretty much directly to your computer. Your computer is right on a computer network, in your own home. This is real broadband and has high ability to increase speed in the future. Cable users generally get a higher percentage of the advertised or 'head line' speed than ADSL customers. If you are fortunate enough to live in a densely populated area with cable down your street, this is probably what you should choose.
Hope this helps.
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Permalink Reply by David T on
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Clive
I agree entirely with everything you said. But, and a big but, anyone reading this (long) thread will know that VM have severe problems with reliability & customer service.
BT are putting in a competing service ("Infiniti") which is due in this area by the end of the year. How this will compare with VM is of course anyone's guess, but if VM are at long last facing competition on equal terms it might wake them up a bit.
So my advice would be to wait until then & see what happens. In the meanwhile an option might be to fill in with a short term mobile service - slower, restricted downloads & a little more expensive, but you are not locked into a contract.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Oh Storky, that is great to know.
I've not had ANY issues with Virgin since I played the game with them and they sorted out the power issues in my street. As Clive has said they are the best and I didn't actualy *want* to switch any of the other services.
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Hi Clive
Clive and David
Thanks very much for your detailed replies. I had come to the conclusion that cable would be better but as I am on the Ladder (Lausanne Road) and so many residents had complaints about the service I am getting worried that Virgin hasn't got it right here. So as yet I am unconvinced as a I need a reliable service for remote access to my work. I have received this from BT but when they were suddenly telling me I had used more than 80gb in a month I knew something was very wrong and as my security is pretty tight too I was surprised how long it took to get any kind of customer service from BT. It is very interesting to hear about the new BT service mentioned by David and as my BT contract has expired I might just stick with the higher monthly charges for a few months.
Charlotte
Charlotte
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Permalink Reply by BBU on
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"BT are putting in a competing service ("Infiniti") which is due in this area by the end of the year."
Its available now and Plusnet are doing trials (which I'm on) I posted some details in this thread.
I moved from Sky to Plusnet because of their customer service but I had to give up the unlimited usage (yes Sky was that bad I was willing to give it up). I'm currently paying £11.49 a month on the Plusnet Extra package (monthly contract) and I have opted in for fibre trials which are currently going great. At the time I was in the same boat as you and was reluctant to move to BT as it would mean I would be stuck with them for 12 months.
The fibre trail is free and there are no changes to your contract, you just need to make sure BT has enabled your local exchange to take on fibre (mine is: Stamford Hill).
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Charlotte I am on Lausanne and the service is now great. This thread is quite old.
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Is anyone having problems with Virgin Broadband? It was intermittent to non-existent fri night and sun night and still seems a bit sluggish this morning. I am in Beresford Road.
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Permalink Reply by Malc B on
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Mine is ok at the moment, but I had something similar last week (in Cavendish). A friend in Seymour's was down for most of last week, but it has come up again now. Apparently VM are sending a tech there today to check his power levels (as suggested earlier on this thread). I think VM know precisely what the problem is, and what they need to do to fix it, but have shown no sign of wanting to do so, but instead do cheap and nasty patchwork fixes when enough people get agitated.
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