Virgin Media Community

[Dml_91]

Switched to virgin media recently, had the broadband installed on Friday 29th January and had nothing but problems with it so far. I've spoken to virgin media and they've sent me a new hub which I switched today and still having the same problems. I've been doing a bqm since Sunday and the results are the same everyday 

 

[Andruser]

BQM looks like a combination of a noisy line AND over-utilisation.  A noisy line can usually be fixed, the over-utilisation (if that's a correct reading) probably won't resolve until lockdown ends, schools and offices return to normality.  In a very small number of instances where the over-utilisation is downstream rather than upstream, it may not improve when lockdown ends, because it will need engineering work to increase capacity, and that may take many months.

Bear in mind that you're now halfway through your cooling off period.  After that you'll be locked in for seventeen and a half months, make sure you're happy with that. 

[Dml_91]

Thanks for replying. 

Everytime I ring they just tell me they can't see a problem, I was told an engineer would be sent if the new router doesn't work should I wait until the engineer has taken a look before I cancel? I was paying half the price to sky and had a better connection than this. 

[Adduxi]

Agree with Andruser, over utilisation looking at that BQM. As for how long this will take to fix, who knows? It may be an option to go back to Sky?

[Dml_91]

Technician coming out on the 12th so if I'm told it can't be fixed I'll have to cancel. Thanks for the help and taking the time to reply 👍 

[Andruser]

The field technicians generally don't look for over-utilisation issues, and they certainly can't fix them because to do so involves detailed capacity planning and potentially expensive changes.  Some techs understand the over-utilisation issue, know what a BQM is, and will tell you what they think, others may not know, and may be less interested.  And if the power and noise levels are in range, and the speed's deemed adequate, they may well insist there's nothing wrong.

Additionally, 12th Feb is the last day of your cooling off period.  You may not have sufficient evidence to conclude whether the problem is fixed on that day, and even if you do, if you can't get through on the phone (VM's telephone performance is not at all good), then you may end up with the company refusing to release you because they say you haven't cancelled in the 14 days, and are now locked in for 18 months.  Consider this carefully.

As I say, over-utilisation could all sort itself out when lockdown ends, that could be 2-4 months away, and in a few areas even that won't completely fix things, unfortunately there's no way of telling, and VM seem incapable of accurate (or indeed any) communication on these issues.  Even if there's a fault reference for over-utilisation and a fix date, VM utilisation fix dates seem to exist in a separate universe to any plans to actually make the expensive and complex changes to increase capacity, so you should assume that any fix date will not result in any change.  A pity - when VM works, its fast and mostly reliable.  When it doesn't, it sometimes seems that every element of customer service has been designed by management consultants recruited from the North Korean government to ensure the most exquisitely infuriating customer experience on earth. 

[Dml_91]

The appointment is between 8am - 12pm once the technician has been I'll ring straight away to cancel if the problem cant be fixed. I have friends who live within a mile radius with VM broadband and they don't seem to have any problems. I understand about the connection being over utilised on weekdays with people working from home but I wouldn't think the weekends should be that different when not in lockdown? 

[Andruser]

Even at the weekend, there's not much else people can do for entertainment under lockdown, so there's similar pressure from social video calls, live streaming and Twitch streams as during the working week when it's mainly work conferencing and on-line lessons.

Regarding other people without the problem, depending on the technical specifics, I'd reckon that over-utilisation can affect anything from as little as a single road, up to an entire town district, so just because somebody a couple of streets away has no problems means little.  I'm lucky, the local built environment means that there's a modest number of houses being served by the network segment I'm on, and no obvious potential for change.  The converse applies in areas subject to over-utilisation, that these areas often have a problem apparently fixed, only to recur a year or so later, although hopefully Covid related upstream pressures will disappear for good soon.

[Dml_91]

Do you think its worth sticking it out with VM then and hope for the broadband to improve when lockdown ends? I changed provider for a better broadband so if this is only gonna last until lockdown restrictions end then im willing to persevere with it as long as I'm getting a better connection when back to normal. 

[Andruser]

Unfortunately I can't offer any answer to that.  I'd guess the odds are generally 80/20 in your favour that when lockdown finishes things will improve, but that's no guarantee.

The nearest I can offer to a sensible test is to try and establish if this is an upstream or downstream problem.  An upstream problem should resolve post Covid, a downstream problem less so.  Do a series of speedtests at peak times (on a device connected to the hub by cable), see if up or down speeds are constrained.  If the upstream tends to be slow, then hopefully it's Covid related.  If the downstream is slow, then I'd cancel, because although daytime use will reduce, evening peaks will remain.  If neither or both are affected, then your guess is as good as anyones, I'm afraid.