Forum Discussion

Ferret1979_1's avatar
Ferret1979_1
Tuning in
2 months ago

Connection speed drops during rain

Hello

New customer, having previously been with Sky Broadband.

I’ve noticed on more than one occasion now that my connection speed drops by more than half if it’s raining.  Soon after the rain stops, it returns to the normal speed.

My Ping’s seem to be in their high 20’s all the time, which I assume is quite normal?

I tried to report using the website, however the AI Chat bot, made a simple task quite difficult.

Hope someone can offer advice or a member of staff can get in contact?

Best wishes

Mark

Help
rain
slow connection
  • David_Bn's avatar
    David_Bn
    2 months ago

    Thanks for reaching out to us Ferret1979_1, and a very warm welcome to our Community Forums!

    Sorry to hear of the intermittent issues you appear to be experiencing on our services currently.

    If an intermittent area issue is present, then the Wi-Fi pod wouldn't be of assistance.

    Have you however previously advised of download speeds that are below 30mbs in areas of the property at all?

    Thanks,

    David_Bn

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    2 months ago

    Use the link below to discover if the speed loss is occurring to the VM Hub or between the Hub and your devices.

    https://www.samknows.com/realspeed/

    Once the test begins click on: Run full test to include: Latency, Jitter, Packet loss & Upload speed

    The speed at the Hub should reflect your subscription.
    The speed any WiFi device draws data at is limited by its data needs and technical abilities.


    The same test is also available free as "Samknows Realspeed" app for Android & for iPhone.

    • Ferret1979_1's avatar
      Ferret1979_1
      Tuning in
      2 months ago

      Thank you, as it's stopped raining the results are as expected.

      How can I reach support without having to phone or use the chat?  Is there an email function or is there an employee on here, who would be able to reach out to me?

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    2 months ago

    Customer Services are on 150 or 0345 454 1111 from a non-VM phone.

    Might be worth a look at the state of any external connection boxes, if those are damaged / have covers missing you can report as "Plastic small termination box" with "Missing or Damaged cover" via :

    https://www.virginmedia.com/help/reportingdamage

  • Ferret1979_1's avatar
    Ferret1979_1
    Tuning in
    2 months ago

    Hello

    I’ve used the online chat, who have replied as below:

    Okay, I get that now.  It is because we have identified a short-term connectivity issue which may cause intermittent or performance related issues with the your connection.

    We hasn't identified any other issues that would impact their connection and your connection will return to normal very soon.

    Our network can sometimes be susceptible to the occasional blip. These can be caused be network fixes happening in the area or new customers being installed. However I will monitor your connection for 24 hours and see the next best resolution on this.

    If you can give me a mobile contact number, we can automatically monitor your connection over the next 24 hours and send you a text to let you know if you’ll need any further help on this?

    AND

    That's updated for you now, absolutely you can contact us after 24 hours and to help you on this I have also processed a WiFi Pod to ensure you get better signal coverage at your house, which will be delivered to you shortly, hope that's all for now?

    How is a WiFi pod going to help?

    • David_Bn's avatar
      David_Bn
      Forum Team
      2 months ago

      Thanks for reaching out to us Ferret1979_1, and a very warm welcome to our Community Forums!

      Sorry to hear of the intermittent issues you appear to be experiencing on our services currently.

      If an intermittent area issue is present, then the Wi-Fi pod wouldn't be of assistance.

      Have you however previously advised of download speeds that are below 30mbs in areas of the property at all?

      Thanks,

      David_Bn

      • Ferret1979_1's avatar
        Ferret1979_1
        Tuning in
        2 months ago

        Hello!

        No I’ve not advised that internal speeds have dropped that low.

        I’ve been clear to explain that it’s not the internal speeds which drop, but the main connection to the router.

        Your colleagues (via chat) said they would monitor the connection for 24 hours and text me.  I’ve not received a text yet.  It’s not rained either, so unlikely to show an issue.

        It is only during rain that the connection slows down, it remain usable just slower.  Would you be able to arrange some kind of “tech” to contact me once they return from the Christmas break please?

    • Barstaff's avatar
      Barstaff
      On our wavelength
      2 months ago

      "How is a WiFi pod going to help?"

      It isn't, but it’s often customer services’ knee-jerk reaction to any and all issues, but, to be fair, I would suspect that most customers’ issues will be WiFi related, so just blanket offering them is probably far cheaper than actually using trained staff who can analyse your particular situation and act accordingly!

      Anyhow, your connection degrades when it’s raining? Well, unless it rains in your house then the issue is going to be external. You have a slightly bad connection, and I’ll take a punt that it is the Omnibox on your outside wall, it’s connected enough to work but when it rains, water manages to get into the joints. I would suggest that you pop the cover off of the box, and just check that all of the connections are dry and tightly connected up - finger tight is enough.

      • Ferret1979_1's avatar
        Ferret1979_1
        Tuning in
        2 months ago

        Thank you - I did wonder if it was a gesture of that kind!

        The omnibox, is that the brown box on the wall?