Virgin Media Community

[griffin]

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@kmoat wrote:

The “little old lady” chose turn of ALL devices in the house and connect a CAT5 cable between the Laptop and Router. Nothing else in the house was running apart from the speed test browser suggested by Virgin.

What a surprise 30Mb data rate when I’m paying for 350Mb

Its great to be advise by Virgin to ask the “little old lady” to get on her hands and knees and plug in cables, start collecting packets of data to justify there is actually a problem.

I don’t want to talk to technical people I’d like guidance on what we are purchasing here. When I buy a Car it’s quite clear but when I buy 350Mb of Wi-fi that can mean anything from no service to 30Mb. I also need to hold a degree in network engineering to work through the problems and do the work of Virgin engineers. Is that good service?

That said at least after my challenge earlier today they did agree to send out an engineer which is something. However I still don’t know what I have bought

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You have bought bandwidth of 350Mbps delivered to the Hub, how you use it is up to you.
All connected devices will share that bandwidth.
The speed of individual devices can vary due to the specification of the devices and equipment used, and in the case of wireless your wireless environment. There are other factors, but that is the nature of broadband and wireless, it ain't a Lego set.

If you bought a car that can do 350mph, would you expect it to do 350mph around a hairpin bend. or if it develops a fault?

By connecting the ethernet cable you are not justifying a problem, you are performing an essential diagnostic step to see where the problem lies so it can be fixed.

Now you have established it is a wired problem, the main issue looks like it is on VM's WAN side and this has been recognised and a tech booked to try and rectify it.

[kmoat]

Are you really being serious with this post.

Its a laptop, with a cable and a router and you consider this a plausible thing to post. This is very basic internet connectivity using a standard laptop and to even go down this area without considering the router or associated equipment could be at fault is beyond fair reasoning.

inalso asked for guidance on what I have bought as I have no clue. This guidance further amplified that I have no idea what has been purchased here.

Virgin say you need a laptop that has been built by them in a clinical environment and you need to get everything verified before they will consider it being fan error on there part.

im at anloss with this purchase to be honest people

[jbrennand]

I hate to prolong this discussion but griffin is correct. All we are asking for is basic diagnostic information. For example you havent said what make of laptop you have and whether it has an up to date gigabit ethernet network card or is it still 10/100 and with 5 GHz wifi capability. If its a Dell is it running Smartbyte? Any antivirus software. Its only meant to rule out other factors that are known to attenuate speeds. As an example, you also said that the little old lady connected the laptop to the Hub with a Cat5 cable - well if that's correct then a Cat5 cable will never deliver speeds much over 100mbps - you need Cat5e or 6a - or was it a typo - if so it just adds to the confusion.

When the techie arrives and hopefully finds your problem and corrects it - make sure you are there with them. They will undoubtedly test on a clean device with a Cat6a cable and also on his wifi phone - and if they have managed to fix it - will more than likely show you speed tests showing close to max values. So, before they leave test your laptop on the same cable and your phone on wifi as well and see if they match their speeds. If they do that's great - sorted - if they dont then its back to troubleshooting your kit.  For example my iPhone 7 gets 220mbps on the 5GHz network but if I force it onto the 2.4 one a few seconds later in the same place it only gets ~100.

[kmoat]

None of this was laid out when I purchased the product. The “little old lady” would really be struggling with this to be honest. She would need to come out of retirement and carry out a degree in network engineering.

i have many laptops and iPhones over wireless and the speeds average around 30Mb on every device.

My question isn’t to resolve the issue, it’s applying the “little old lady” model; it’s about what has she purchased. She needs to know this and that is my question

[Elaine01 · Accepted solution]

Hi Kmoat

You keep saying "little old lady”  Well I am what you call a little old lady, I too would not be able to bend down to undo and change cables.  However that being the case  I would have and I dare say most of us little old Ladies or Men comes to that would have the common sence to ask if an engineer could come out to find out what the problem is and if possible at that time Fix it.

Regards 

A little old lady

[Notatech · Accepted solution]

It's not unusual to get slower speeds that you are paying for. I am on 200meg but 90% of the time I only get 80meg. My hub has been upgraded and replaced twice FoC and all cable has been renewed. I would suggest you call tech support and report a fault and insist that an engineer call out. The engineer will almost certainly order a new hub for you FoC and replace old cable as they don't like repeat call outs.

After numerous conversations with tech desk on the phone, running around the house testing things switching boxes off and on and wasting hours, I have learnt my lesson, just insist on an engineer call out. I am on the full package from Virgin paying over  £1,500 per annum I deserve some service but I am now fed up, waiting for a competitor to install in the neighbourhood and I will change supplier.. You won't get the speed you are paying for as their equipment is cheap rubbish but you should get a better speed than now.

[jbrennand]

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@Notatech wrote:

It's not unusual to get slower speeds that you are paying for. I am on 200meg but 90% of the time I only get 80meg. You won't get the speed you are paying for as their equipment is cheap rubbish but you should get a better speed than now.

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As I said "  For example my iPhone 7 gets 220mbps on the 5GHz network but if I force it onto the 2.4 one a few seconds later in the same place it only gets ~100." 

So should I change supplier because I an not getting the speeds I pay for (sometimes)?   Please advise.

[kmoat]

Great response 

In my earlier post I informed that I had got Virgin to call out an engineer.

Interestingly after my challenges yesterday and in the group here the “little old lady” woke up and recorded 300Mb speeds this morning before the engineer turned up. Noting that the fastest speed I have previously recorded being 40Mb over the past few years is quite amazing.

Not sure where the pixies came from but I was impressed to see those figures. I will let people guess what must have happened.

The engineer who came was first class, a great guy and we talked at length. As a result of the chat I have a few things to consider regarding my Wi-fi extenders. This isn't a Virgin issue but something I need to look into myself.

Its still not clear exactly what I have purchased and I think Virgin should provide more support in this area regarding speeds.

[jbrennand]

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@kmoat wrote:

Interestingly after my challenges yesterday and in the group here the “little old lady” woke up and recorded 300Mb speeds this morning before the engineer turned up. Noting that the fastest speed I have previously recorded being 40Mb over the past few years is quite amazing.

Not sure where the pixies came from but I was impressed to see those figures. I will let people guess what must have happened.

The engineer who came was first class, a great guy and we talked at length. As a result of the chat I have a few things to consider regarding my Wi-fi extenders. This isn't a Virgin issue but something I need to look into myself.

Its still not clear exactly what I have purchased and I think Virgin should provide more support in this area regarding speeds.

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Good! Is that over wifi ?  If so perhaps the pixies have disconnected you neighbours atomic powered wifi router   Hope it stays good - if you want advice on wifi "extension" post back on the wifi forum, you will get good informed advice on there - I will start it by saying - dont get the VM ones they will charge you a monthly fee (£3?) - you can do better - get something else.

[kmoat]

Yes over Wi-fi 

The laptop connected directly via Ethernet cable is actually slower but it’s workable

Thanks for the heads up guidance towards an external Wi-fi solution. I will do a post on that