Virgin Media Community

[Damianp]

I've had issues with my broadband ever since it was installed over 10 years ago.

For the first few years, we had fairly frequent issues which turned out to be that our cable was being moved to a lower signal strength output in the hub. The engineers who came out often said that the install team had used the lower grade 6? cable when they should really have used the 11? cable because of our distance from the hub. They explained that any less than the highest strength output at the hub would cause us issues.

We've had engineers out quite a few times over the years and they've all mentioned that the signal even at the front of the house is weak and is too steep and that this is because the lower quality cable has been used. Nothing has ever been done about this though and they've always fobbed by installing signal boosters etc.

They eventually put a note on our cable in the hub saying "do not move" after it got so bad that I threatened to leave.

The broadband has been ok since then for the most part but we still have occasional issues with intermittent signal issues, low broadband speeds, packet loss etc. My friend who also has Virgin Media never has any issues and is surprised at how bad my broadband is compared to his. Recently things have started to  get really bad again so I did the online checks which resulted in an engineer being booked.

When the engineer came out a few weeks ago he said that the signal drop-off between the front and back of the house where the cable enters my living room is more than he expected and this is due to the cable that goes over my house being damaged. He again mentioned the lower grade cable from the hub and at one point was saying that this was the issue but then decided it was the cable over the house. He booked another engineer to replace this cable with another which goes around my house instead.

So this engineer arrived today and checked the signals again before installing the new cable. He said that he thought that the issue was more to do with the cable from the hub but said he'd replace the roof cable anyway.

After he'd done this he checked the signal again and said it had made no difference and that the cable he'd just removed was armoured or something and would have been fine.

He's now booked a cable pull to replace the 6 cable with 11 cable and said that this should sort out the issues.

What really annoys me about this is that I've been paying for over 10 years for broadband that I've frequently had issues with and that the engineers who've come out have been aware of what the underlying issue was but have not addressed it.

I've been trying to find my old posts on here asking the forum for help but think they've been deleted because they're from so long ago.

I feel like leaving and going to BT Infinity even if this issue gets sorted. Do Virgin Media care about things like this?

[Tudor]

If it was me I would have complained about it long ago. I was in the same situation years ago and got my cable replaced,

[Damianp]

I did complain about it multiple times. Even though the engineers always mentioned that the 6 grade cable should have been used, they were always for some reason reluctant to replace this and fobbed me off with other "solutions".

[Ilyas_Y]

Hey @Damianp, thanks for reaching out to us and a warm welcome to the Virgin Media forums! 🙂

I'm sorry to hear about the long term issues you have had with the service. 
I've had a look on my end and I cans see that an appointment has been booked, feel free to heck here on MyVM.

It looks like the engineer has taken on-board and advised on what the issue is and has booked it in for the repair.
Let us know how it goes with the appointment and the quality of the service after.

Kind regards,
Ilyas.

[Damianp]

Hi Ilyas,

Thanks for the reply.

My issue with this is that my broadband has never been great from the start. I've had multiple engineers out over the years who have always mentioned that the signal is poor even to the front of the house but have always then blamed the issues on something other than the wrong cable being used at the initial installation although this was frequently mentioned.

I've been paying for a service which has been defective from the start due to an error on the initial installation. I have put in a subject access request so that I can document the issues I've had over the years before I put in a formal complaint and then take it to the ombudsman if I am not awarded compensation.

I spoke to one of your reps on the phone who told me that Ofcom don't allow you to compensate unless I've reported complete loss of service, which Ofcom advised me is nonsense. Any decent company would admit to their mistake and compensate for it.

Damian

[Damianp]

By the way, If I go to the virgin media app and to the orders & appointments, it says you have no orders and appointments yet.

[Kath_F]

Hi Damianp, 

Thanks for coming back to us on this. We're sorry to hear this has been an ongoing issue for you however we can only go off the notes on the account. 

We provide automatic compensation for total loss faults with broadband and phone but the account is assessed once the fault is resolved. You can read the criteria here. 

In terms of the appointment, I'm sorry to hear it's not showing on your My Virgin Media. It can take 24 hours to show in My Virgin Media so should be there now. You may have also received a text message with the details. 

If not then we can send a private message to pass data protection with you and give you the appointment details. Just pop back and let us know. 

Many thanks, 

[Damianp]

Hi,

I understand that my case does not meet the requirements for automatic compensation. This does not prevent Virgin Media from giving me compensation however for the defective product which I have been paying for.

A team came out last week to prepare for the cable pull and found that the there was a blockage and that the pavement would need digging up to clear the blockage. They said that they don't do this and they'd book another team to come out. A few days later, the second team came out and asked me what they were meant to be doing, so I explained what the first team had said and the second team said that they weren't aware that the pavement needed digging up and that they couldn't do that and another team would have to come out to dig down and clear the blockage.

Today, the third team came out and asked me what they were meant to be doing. I explained that the first and second team had found blockages and that these would need to be cleared by digging down. The third team told me that they weren't aware that they'd need to dig down and that they don't do that - they said that they'd book another team to come dig down and clear the blockages to prepare for the cable pull.

Kind regards,

Damian

[Roger_Gooner]

There are two issues.

1. The usual RG6 coaxial cable isn't good enough, so the heavier RG11 should have been used as it resists attenuation (signal loss) better.

2. The cable over the roof is a no-no, it was done by some of VM's predecessor companies but do not allow this to be done with the replacement cable as the risk of damage, with the ensuing ingress of dirt, water and noise, being significant.

[Damianp]

Thanks for this.

I estimate that the cable from the junction box to my house is at least 110m. The engineers who've been out have said that at this distance the higher grade cable should have been used.

When the engineer who removed the cable going over the house and re-measured the signal with the one he installed around the house, he said it hadn't made much difference to the signal. He put an equaliser or something on the cable at the front of the house because the signal was too sloped.

I've started threads on this forum many years ago when I initially had issues. I can still access the screenshots of the signal data I posted at the time, but the threads themselves have gone.

Many thanks, Damian