Really poor Broadband - 1GB

[purplecam3l]

So having had 1Gb since Dec 2021, it's never been great, but for the occasions I've managed 50mbps I've tolerated it, it did what I needed. I've had x2 Hub 4's I've had 3 Wi-fi boosters.

I work from home full time, so rely on at the very least a connection, since Monday of this week I'd finally had enough, constant disconnects until finally come Wednesday about 10am it went offline completely (I went out, came home some hours later and it was still offline) I'd had to put holiday in at work on both Monday and again Wednesday.

I rang up Tuesday and was advised that they could see I'd had multiple disconnects since Monday; well thankyou for confirming I wasn't lying, after awhile chatting to the advisor he advised that he thinks the issue has been solved however if it goes off again to do a full reset using the pinhole reset button and it will fix everything. I was actually connected for awhile, I can't speak for overnight but low and behold I was offline when I woke up the following morning.

So Wednesday I did the full reset and it worked for a couple of hours until it went off fully at approx 10am, at that point I'd decided to give up trying and went out for the day and when I returned it was still off about 5 hours later. I rang up again and was advised by the advisor that he could not get the broadband back up and running but he could see an issue with so booked an engineer for Thursday between 8-12am

After receiving 3 Text messages and 1 phone call between 16:00 and 11:30 Wed-Thurs to reminding me not to miss me appointment between 8-12 or I'll be charged £25. So seeing as the engineer missed the appointment and turned up at 12:20 do I get to charge Virgin £25??

Anyway engineer turned up, changed my old Hub 4 to a Hub 5, rang to confirm my Wi-Fi boosters had synched (They hadn't) even though they should do it automatically. Yup, that's why he rings. He left probably 13:00 and when everything finally update I was maybe connected at about 13:30. Lo and behold I've disconnected again barely 2 hours later.

All this time I've been going offline, I've been having to use my personal mobile Hotspot when I've needed to be online, I'm not on unlimited data so I can't use it for long periods.

I need to know how this is going to be fixed. 

Can I exit my contract without penalty as you're not, and have not provided me the service I'm paying for for the last 18 months (I've tolerated up to now because, the connection has been fairly consistent and the speed despite being really poor, sub 100Mbps has been adequate.) However from this month you're going to start and charge me £136, now I'm not prepared to put up with adequate, really poor and fairly consistent at that price.

Regards

Paul

[VMUser1812]

This actually has all the hallmarks of a wiring issue between yourself and the street cabinet, and no amount of changing hubs will fix that, it does seem from your description that you had a visit from one of the more lazy/incompetent technician types, being there for, what 40 minutes, is nowhere near enough to investigate the issue, track down a bad joint and rectify it.

Now the good news is that you must be really close to being out of the minimum term contract period anyway, in which case yes, you can give VM their marching orders anytime, well now really, acknowledging the 30 days notice period.

But before you do anything, what alternatives are available in your area?

[Ashleigh_C]

Hi there @purplecam3l 

Thank you so much for your post and welcome back to the community forums, it's great to have you back.

I am so sorry that you have faced these issues with your services, I have had a look and I can see that you have an appointment booked for an engineer to take a look.

Can you let us know how things are looking after this visit? 

[purplecam3l]

@Ashleigh_C

The 2nd engineer came out and spent a lot more time outside than in (good thing) Eventually having spent some time at the cab? he cam back to announce that there was a fault in the cable running to my home. The cab is probably 200yrds from my home from where it enters. He could not confirm how long it might of been there but this cable needs a re-run, now if it's been damaged for the whole 18months + that I've been in my current contract and that has been the cause of my poor speeds/dis-connects all along and it's taken until now for someone to actually Identify it I will not be best pleased.

Regards

Paul 

[Natalie_L]

Hi purplecam31, 

Thank you for updating the thread and letting us know how the visit went. 

We are happy to hear our field team have been able to identify the issue and put a plan in to place to get in it resolved. 

Have you been provided with the date for the repull of the cable? 

Unfortunately, the team will not be able to confirm how long the cable has been damaged for but will work as quickly as possible to get it replaced to avoid any further issues. 

Thank you, 

[Cardiffman282]

BTW you are entitled to automatic compensation for that engineer visit that fell outside of the scheduled slot for it. The VM guidance on this (suggesting that the slot is mere "guidance" and that their engineers can arrive at any time they choose that day with no come back for VM) is a clear and explicit violation of the Ofcom Code of Practice on this.