Berkshire, 50MB service paid for, less than 0.5Mbps recieved - HELP [ Edited ]

[Berkshire_Mum]

Hi, ever since we had the service installed (march 2010) the service level has been poor, often less than 2Mbps, we have tried calling tech support - sat on phone for hours - seriously - hours, and got only the scripted responses, even when passed on to higher level technical support you could tell they were reading from a script - my husband and I both work in IT so there is no reason to do half the things they asked us to, but we did - just to keep them happy, and the service still is way below what we are paying for.

Worse than that - it is often unusable - often, you just cannot get a page to load at all.

Todays rant comes to you courtesy of yet another poor connection day - all day - not just peak times, speedtest.net confirms that we are getting .....ping 80ms,download 0.63Mbps, upload 0.24Mbps -

Wwho can we call / write to who can fix this?

The service has obviously been cut back, but our contract says no, the operators say no, they virgin website says no technical issues, the operator says no technical issues, but there must be someone who can fix this service or at least let me know where I can turn off this shocking service that fails to meet any kind of service level and get a service from someone who can.

We are cabled up, live in a town, no excuses for all this hassle. We really are not getting what we are paying for, not even close - and no engineer has come or been offered.

[Berkshire_Mum]

[Berkshire_Mum]

[Berkshire_Mum]

Ok - I have done the posting of the test results, however in the meantime I have had a mooch about the forums here and sadly noticed that it is not just us, it is not just berkshire, it appears the 50MB broadband service from Virgin just sucks, the 20MB seems ok, but anyone who has upgraded to 50Bm seems to be on here complaining about the appaling service,the unusably low download and upload speeds, and the com,plete lakc of support from the support people on the phone.

This does not bode well.

The attenuator is only going to assist you if you have power issues, not, as in our case, if it is a seervice issue.

I was hoping as a tekkie, married to a tekkie there may be a way around the issue, however the issue appears to be that the 50MB service is a con, a swindle, a big fat LIE and that no one actually recieves evena tenth of the speed they are sold, and Virgin appear to be doing naff all about all the complaints on here, the only replies from Virgin I have seen have been to state that there is a fault somewhere and quote a reference number, but I know that is not the case in my case as I have been down that road.

In short, I will need to change service providers, and if anyone reads this, I urge you to read all the other posts here BEFORE you decide to switch to 50MB from virgin.

If there are any support people on here who think they can fix this - I challenge you to give it a go - I will be utterly amazed to hear from you.

[apcyberax]

my 50 mbps is perfect

[Berkshire_Mum]

mine:

 ping 94

download 0.41

upload 0.07

[apcyberax]

have you posted your modem power levels?

(Taken From Mark_Wilkin Post)
Inside the modem are various web pages that contain useful information about your connection. When reporting a connection fault it may be useful to include some of the information found within these pages. To view them open up your web browser and type http://192.168.100.1 into the address bar and press Enter.

The main information the Support team are interested in are the Downstream Power Level/Levels, Upstream Power Level and Downstream SNR (called RxMER on some modems). Depending on the model of modem you have this information will either be located in the ‘Signal’ page or the ‘Downstream’ and ‘Upstream’ pages.
Also please include the full event log from inside your modem.

Please note some modems will require you to log in before you can view these pages. The login details for both the username and password is root.


If using Netgear VMDG280
Visit http://192.168.0.1 enter password when prompted (This can be found on a sticker on your VMDG280)
Click on the Connection and paste the information there.

[Sephiroth]

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apcyberax wrote:

my 50 mbps is perfect

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AP - that doesn't help poor Berkshire_Mum.  At least she doesn't live in that one eyed Melton Mowbray (just up the road from that one-eyed Oakham where I spent Chrimbo).

Berkshire_Mum:

From your data I can see that you'e on the same Reading VM server as I am (in Winnersh).  You are on RDNG-21.  I can't say if you're on the same line catd, but if you are also in Winnersh, you might be.

Anyway, for the last few weeks my 50 meg service has been poor because they've resegmented the area.  i.e. thy've redistributed users and we've come off badly.  Again,, I don't know if this applies to you.  There was a fault last week on RDNG-21 which they cleared on 22-Dec but that hasn't made my speeds any better.

My advice to you (apart from posting your modem stats as per AP's suggestion), is to ignore the rest of the country and focus on your local problem.

Finally, BT Infinity is a good alternatoive to Virgin.  I have both (for professional reasons) and Infinity is much more stable and performs better at peak times under present conditions.

[apcyberax]

Seph maybe so but quotes liek this **bleep** me off.

" however the issue appears to be that the 50MB service is a con, a swindle, a big fat LIE and that no one actually recieves evena tenth of the speed they are sold"

so i guess i am lieing to.

[Sephiroth]

AP - emotions run high with the internet. It keeps peace in the household and parents only get grief if the internet doesn't work.

I'm very angry that tghe resegmentation in my area has made things worse for me (and possibly Berkshire_Mum). At least I have BT Infintity to fall back onto.

But telling people that your service in that poxy Melton Mowbray is wonderful is as annoying as what you objected to (IMO, that is).