Packet Loss and High Ping - Working from home impossible!

[Krish_Vir]

Hi - I hoping someone can help me. 

I have been having ping issues and drop outs. Speed is usually okay but sometimes does go down where streaming is difficult. Worst of all is that working from home is becoming impossible with high latency and ping jitters. (All equipment is mostly hardwired with cat 6. Ubiquiti wifi plugged in)

I have tried all the hub diagnostics with the latest drop out and 'help' noting: 

On looking at this helpful forum, I've monitored my network: 

My BQM 

Can someone on the virgin side help here..... 

[Krish_Vir]

Hi - Still not fixed and bad service today. 

Still online portal does not show the issue

Cherry on top - Virgin complaints have 'resolved' my complaint however the issue is not fixed, no real resolution provided - its a joke of a department. 

Please can you escalate this further? Need this resolved asap. 

[Martin_N]

Hi Krish_Vir,

I have taken a look on our side and the estimated fix date has been extended to 27th May. 

Our apologies for any frustration. 

^Martin

[imc]

Well I've just read this whole thread and now I feel lucky that this has only been happening for me since the beginning of May, rather than January as in the OP's case.

I've been basically unable to work since midday today (I got booted out of a Microsoft Teams meeting) and the OP's BQM shows a massive spike in dropped packets at just that time. I've created my own BQM but there's no data in it yet.  I also had 90 minutes on Tuesday afternoon when I couldn't connect either.

Last week I could keep a connection but roughly 13% packet loss was making it somewhat jittery from time to time.  I filed a complaint (C-050521663) on May 5th and got the response that there is a known issue and it is expected to be fixed on May 6th.  Of course as we now know, it was not fixed on May 6th, and to read here that we are not promised a fix until May 27 (and that apparently the engineering team is just spouting these dates to keep us quiet with no real prospect of actually having it fixed on that date)... well let's just say this is not good news for my employer.  And as we also know, the "service status" page is still saying there are no known issues, which is funny when customer service admits that there is a known issue.

As you can't update or even view the status of complaints at Virgin Media (aside from "we're looking into it") I filed another one today, but it was closed immediately.

I've used Virgin Broadband for years (since it was "ntl", in fact) and it's been rock solid for most of that time.  The experience this last couple of weeks is very disappointing.

[Paul_DN]

Hi imc,

Thank you for coming back to us, sorry to hear your area issue will not be fixed until 27/05/21, this is a estimated date and our technicians will be working to get this resolved ASAP, apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Regards

Paul.

[Krish_Vir]

Any update? Is it fixed now? 

Half way through the year with this now...

[Robert_P]

Hello Krish_Vir

The ticket F008469535 is still open I'm afraid, it has an estimated fix date of the 31st July 2021. 

We appreciate it isn't the update you wanted, the team are working hard to fully resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

Rob

[Jonny-M]

Just popping in here to hopefully provide some input that can be passed up the chain at the newly created Virgin Media O2, launched with a press release talking about how the company will "put customer service at the heart of its offering". To be clear from the outset, nobody expects an entirely fault-free broadband experience, but it's how a company deals with issues that makes the difference.

When an issue occurs like this utilisation fault, somebody at VM *must* know that it cannot be fixed in two weeks, so giving that as an initial estimate is intentionally misleading right from the start. The build that needs doing should form part of the communication back to the customer, and updates need to say what work has been completed so people can make an informed decision whether to wait it out or to walk away. As an external observer it looks like a fix date being dangled in front of the customer with no physical network work taking place, to keep them hopeful enough that they won't cancel their service - I would imagine that a home worker being told that a fix will take three months would change provider, and VM exploit this. It's this attitude that VM have to customer service that means I will never use them as a supplier as long as a reasonable alternative exists.

I must have missed it but it looks like no offer has been made to the customer to supply a 4G hotspot for the duration of the outage, why not? Maybe it's not company policy to do so, but hiding behind policy is the difference between good customer service and doing the legal minimum.

VM can build entire areas out in less time than this fault has been alive for, which suggests VM don't want to fix this for some reason (perhaps they don't want to spend the money) rather than a technical issue that cannot be overcome.

On the first page of this thread it was mentioned the fault has been active since October - assuming the 31st July estimate is accurate that means VM have been more than happy for this to be an issue for 9 months. Management should feel embarrassed that this is such a common occurrence that forum staff post updates like it's any other fault, and aren't empowered in any way to actually do anything that might help the customer out.

[Serena_C]

Hi @Jonny-M

Thank you very much for your feedback regarding the way we communicate utilisation faults.

I understand it must be very frustrating for customers when the estimated fix time is continually pushed back and they do not feel well-informed on what a realistic fix time would be.

Unfortunately, some faults are more complex than anticipated and can take longer for our engineers to resolve than initially predicted. The estimated fix times can only ever be estimates, and sometimes they do not go to plan.

I realise that a utilisation fault ocurring for 9 months is not good at all. I will pass on your feedback regarding this now.

Best wishes,

Serena

[Krish_Vir]

Thank you Jonny-M... completely agree with your message. This has been going on for a very long time. 

Today I can't even work! This is not over-utilisation as usually the broadband quality monitor would show spikes in peak times on latency. Instead now my lost packets are through the roof! This is making even logging in to a virtual desktop impossible. 

Please can someone at virgin URGENTLY look into the lost packets today (BQM on first page of the forum). This is not the usual issue as mentioned so please investigate this issue seperately... urgent attention required... 

[Andrew-G]

@Jonny-M"but hiding behind policy is the difference between good customer service and doing the legal minimum."

The legal minimum is that VM should provide a service that is as described (ie fit for reasonable domestic purposes as advertised) and delivered with "reasonable skill and care" (which covers both the quality of the connection and customer support).  A quick scan of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 will explain that.

@Krish_VirHave you previously initiated a formal complaint to Virgin Media?  That's a pre-requisite before you can escalate to the industry arbitration scheme CISAS.  They should sort out a few hundred quid by way of compensation if VM haven't already done that, and any complaint to VM is unlikely to result in the matter being fixed of generous compromise.