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Ain't it grand - WiFi issues

fedupalot
Tuning in

When my VM cable services were installed, the WIFI kept dropping out. So after repeated callouts (this goes back 8-10 years?), one engineer said he could route a cable to my pc - so no WIFI, bullet-proof service (I live alone, one desktop pc - this was a no brainer).  What I didn't know then, was that my TV connection was still WIFI - so Prime, Netflix, YouTube, periodically stopped working. This is over a decade or so. I'd phone VM repeatedly and I'd finally get a techie who had half a brain and the problem would be resolved.  This happened every 3-4 months.

It still happens but what has changed is that (a) the free 150 number no longer connects to a techie (b) when I dial a UK pay-by-minute number (an eye watering amount) I get a well-meaning but basically useless person who is working thru a checklist and has basically no idea.

This isn't a request for help. The problem is baked in (I can access YT, NF & Prime via my pc, not thru my TV although I pay for that, I accept that, its just how it is, virgin media being what it is, getting f*c*ed is part of the package).

I'm just having a few beers after spending hours talking to a very stressed Phillapena - not her fault, and I did remain calm, just.  

OK this is a request for help: is there any Uk cable service out there I could switch to that is less massively **bleep**ty than this one? Price is no problem.

 

 

[MOD EDIT: Subject title changed for clarity]

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

nodrogd
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Short answer is no.

1) Cable services in the UK run on an area franchising system, so there can only be one operator in any area. Even if it wasn't that way, the DOCSIS Broadband system will only allow for one operator, so another operator would have to build a completely different network.

2) Virgin is now the only cable operator surviving apart from Wight Cable that only operates on the Isle of Wight.

150 & 0345 454 1111 go through the same queuing system & just goes to the next available CS agent, so you might as well use the free one.

ISP provided WiFi routers have always been basic entry level kit. You are also competing with all your neighbours for WiFi bandwidth, so there is no guarantee your WiFi speeds will remain stable for any length of time. Answers? Obviously, direct wiring as you now have with your PC. Or, invest in a third party router that is not built to minimum spec like the Virgin ones are.

VM 350BB 2xV6 & Landline. Freeview/Freesat HD, ASDA/Tesco PAYG Mobile. Cable customer since 1993

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11 REPLIES 11

nodrogd
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Short answer is no.

1) Cable services in the UK run on an area franchising system, so there can only be one operator in any area. Even if it wasn't that way, the DOCSIS Broadband system will only allow for one operator, so another operator would have to build a completely different network.

2) Virgin is now the only cable operator surviving apart from Wight Cable that only operates on the Isle of Wight.

150 & 0345 454 1111 go through the same queuing system & just goes to the next available CS agent, so you might as well use the free one.

ISP provided WiFi routers have always been basic entry level kit. You are also competing with all your neighbours for WiFi bandwidth, so there is no guarantee your WiFi speeds will remain stable for any length of time. Answers? Obviously, direct wiring as you now have with your PC. Or, invest in a third party router that is not built to minimum spec like the Virgin ones are.

VM 350BB 2xV6 & Landline. Freeview/Freesat HD, ASDA/Tesco PAYG Mobile. Cable customer since 1993

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more

Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks

wow, thanks for the excellent reply, which was super helpful. It confirmed my belief that I should stay with my current setup (my main overriding concern right now in my life is stability i.e. in a technical sense - access to online banking etc).  Again, thank you for the reply - very much appreciated.

Can you not run an Ethernet cable from the hub to the TV?

--
Hub 5, TP-Link TL-SG108S 8-port gigabit switch, 360
My Broadband Ping - Roger's VM hub 5 broadband connection

Hi, thanks for the reply. Yes, I think that would be the best option but I'm a bit leery about attempting it myself.  The whole setup seems jury rigged (or jerry built, whatever the saying is).  I opted for connection some years after the cable was installed locally.  Two guys turned up to connect me - the cable runs across my front lawn and is barely covered by the soil - I haven't dared put a spade in since.  The whole episode was like a farcical comedy, but it does work, sort of, with regular outages I've learned to live with.

My TV started working again after two days (i.e. youtube, netfix and prime access) so I'm leaving well alone.  If push comes to shove, I can watch those services on my PC. - I can still see terrestrial channels on my TV.  

But anyway, the monthly cost has reached a tipping point - I mostly watch Youtube, barely ever watch Tv programs or prime/netflix.  So sometime this year I think I'll bin it all off and go for a cheapo internet service only  like talk talk.  The only things stopping me are (a) inertia and (b) worry that the internet service might be actually worse.  I depend on it for banking, shopping, everything really, the entertainment aspect is a minor part.

And with Virgin at least i used to be able (eventually) talk to someone live who understood what they were doing and would fix any problem I had.  Now, its all automated messages and circular phone loops (which are maddening).  If you do get thru to someone, they are working from checklists and aren't really "techies".  I know this isn't solely a virgin problem, everyone seems to have decimated their live online help (too expensive I guess) but it removes a barrier to just going for the cheapest option - what's to lose?

 

 

Hi @fedupalot,

Thank you for your posts and welcome back to our community forums. We're here to help.

I'm so sorry to hear of your ongoing issues with your connections and set up in your home. When did you last discuss this with the team and what have they advised? Also, are you saying that the cabling in the garden is exposed?

Thanks,
 


Zach - Forum Team
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Unlikely you’ll get someone that knows what they are doing as they are cable installers, not IT techs.  Anything beyond their router is not their problem.  Your own IT department are responsible for that, i.e. you.  The fact that you live on your own is irrelevant.  So do I.  (But then I am a retired IT tech).

Any tech will tell you, wireless only has one thing going for it, convenience.  A wired connection is more stable, more reliable and more secure.  You say someone already connected the PC to the router via a cable?  I’m assuming here: 1) the TV is capable of a wired connection, i.e. it has an RJ45 socket, 2) it is in the same room as the PC.  If so, then the solution is simple.

Unplug the cable into the PC.  Get a 5 port (gigabit, unmanaged) switch.  One should cost you less than £20 today.  Plug the cable from the router into the switch.  Then a cat 5e or cat 6 cable from the switch to the PC and a second similar cable from the switch to the TV.  Problem solved.  This is not a jury rig, it’s the industry standard way of doing it.  Oh, and theoretically each of those cables can be up to 100m.  (Although that assumes a perfect install, so most working techs don’t go beyond 80m).

Hi,

My tv wifi stopped working for days (it does this every few months, I phone up and eventually speak to a techie who can actually fix it from their end; historically, I have often had to phone repeatedly to get the "right" person - I'd get people who frankly were clueless and they'd have me e.g. crawling on my hands and knees checking connections).  The difference this time was that, via the free line, there was no option to speak to a live techie, just endless automated loops and texts sent to my mobile with links to your website.

So I googled virgin phone numbers and got a (I think) 0345 number, or some such.  I phoned that several times, got the usual loop but on the last attempt, the voice said "I see you have phoned before yada yada" and I finally got the option to talk to a techie - who had no idea, wanted me on my hands and knees etc (and also tried to talk me thru resetting my network  - I didn't know which of 3 VB numbers i should select, she got me to select the first (just a guess, I suppose, then I was faced with a password - she admitted she was working off checklists, went off to consult for minutes at a time.

I eventually said thanks, enough, and terminated the call.  I could always access youtube, prime & netflix via my pc.  A few days later I switched on my tv, on the off chance, and service had been restored.  So in future i won't report this.  I'll  switch to my pc.  Service may or may not restore itself. As I said in my original post I repeatedly had the same problem with my PC when first installed, until an engineer hard-wired a cable to y single desktop PC.  This is ok for me, I live alone, have only one PC in one location.  It does mean I cannot move it or have any other devices connected by WiFi, which, I guess is not what i pay for but, hey ho.

No the cable is not exposed but they did dig a very shallow "trench" - I watched them do it.  I  didn't raise any objection and I certainly don't want any "engineers" calling with a spade to rebury it.  The wiring connections indoors are actually a lot tidier than when first installed (the wiring connection to my pc was originally loose and trailing on the floor - done by a subsequent "engineer" not the original installation guys; when i got an uprated tivo box installed, the installer was so disgusted with the work he redid it all, off his own bat and fixed it properly with tacks, which was good of him).

So the original post was just me venting.  Not happy at all with (a) the near impossibility (this is new) of getting to talk to a live person about a fault, instead getting recorded messages suggesting various ways you can fix the problems yourself and (b) when I finally found a way (after days) to get thru to someone, it was the same old, same old, so I gave up.  I can live with the service i have, for the time being. Internet access (online banking, shopping) is the only service I must have (e.g. I live in a uk city and my bank has closed nearly all it branches here, I don't know where I'd find one).

Oh and this is turning into a saga, which is getting tedious, so I'll stop replying.

Sorry if I offended you.  Only a fellow customer, trying to help.