Virgin Media Community

[KSenos]

I have been a happy Virgin Mobile customer for 10 months, having chosen them because they used the reliable EE network but this week I received an update to Vodafone without any notification.
This was disastrous as my signal strength dropped by half and impacted streaming films with buffering & drop outs.
I live on a narrowboat and experience has shown that Vodafone has the worst service availability while travelling about the UK.
Virgin Media 'Customer Service' could not understand why I wouldn't want this 'improvement' - to 5G) as they called it & refused to terminate the contact without a large fee.
I have phoned 'Customer Service' three times without them seeming to understand my problems, a new SIM was then sent out (again without notification) to my mailing address despite me advising I was self isolating on my boat and am not permitted to visit that area to collect post.
I have followed Virgin's complaints procedure but they have not even acknowledged my message and the last customer service operative hung up on me when I couldn't understand what they were trying to tell me.
Reliable communication is essential to mental health at this time, so…...
Come on Virgin, do the right thing and terminate my contracts without charge and compensate me from all this stress.

[apcyberax]

its been well known that VM was moving to Vodafone for years.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/nov/06/virgin-media-agrees-five-year-mobile-deal-with-vodafon...
https://www.choose.co.uk/news/2019/virgin-media-mvno-vodafone/
https://www.which.co.uk/news/2019/11/virgin-media-announces-switch-to-vodafone-mobile-network-what-d...

[KSenos]

I was told that they were merging with O2 which wouldn't have been an issue.

The fact is that my data service reduced to unusable levels, which is a breach of contract.

[apcyberax]

they are but nothing was agreed with o2. so the Vodafone agreement has always been the current one

[enlli]

There is still a slim off-chance that the Virgin O2 deal does not go through or that the regulators require changes. We should know in about 4 months. Even then there has to be a lot of background work to take place. 

When EE was formed out of Orange and T-Mobile the whole process took well over 2 years. So it's Vodafone for a while yet.

[unisoft]

Yep me too.

An SMS saying I now had 5G (I don't as not in my area but have a 5G phone). Almost overnight, gone from 3-4 bars 4G on EE with excellent at all times data speeds of 40-70mbs to one bar 4G if I am lucky and 4G and 3G data speeds of 2mbps-8mbps at most on 4G and 3mbs on 3G. People ring me and can't hear me, yet when I ring them it is fine, and I have a ghost answer phone message from EE stuck thats keeps notifying my phone on Vodafone now.

I have the SIM from my other half's Virgin Media package as they have a work supplied SIM and only use that. I cancelled Three on mine because they were maximum data speeds of 8mbps due to over utlisation thoughout most of Kent and some other places I had been pre-lockdown times.

Rest assured Virgin, when the contract is up it will be a big NO THANK YOU to having your mobile service anymore. Its the nail in the coffin. I've never known Vodafone to be good anywhere I have been in Kent, London, Cambridgeshire or East Midlands when I brielfy used them a few years ago. Admittedly, coverage can in theory improve, but looks like still rubbish down here!

[enlli]

There will be winners and loosers always is in network changes.

If a particular network suits you then I would suggest being with that network direct and not an MNVO. 

Big shake up now on the networks as 3G is phased out in favour of 4G and 5G. That will see changes for some especially those that don't have a 4G phone or one that is unable to do VoLTE.

[unisoft]

Agree.

Three was pants due to over utilisation, Vodafone pants due to slow speeds and signal, O2 is good signal as it used to be dire here but slow to average 4G .speeds.

VM and EE were the best in a number of areas I have been too. Consistent sort of signal and speeds.

Have to wait this out for an EE deal to come up now, whether that's Black Friday or some other promotion, perhaps BT Mobile as that uses EE because they own it now, and has wifi calling. As soon as one comes up, the contract is cancelled with Virgin. Had used Virgin for some time on my own SIM before going to Three for 5G (mistake as 5G never happened and speed rubbish on 4G so couldn't wait any longer) and then getting the oomph SIM from partner's account enabling me to stuff Three.

[enlli]

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@KSenos wrote:

The fact is that my data service reduced to unusable levels, which is a breach of contract.

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4. Provision of Services
4.1 Availability: We will try to make our Services available to you at all times but quality and availability could be affected by factors outside of our control,
such as faults in the Network or any other networks used to provide the Services to you, and other environmental factors such as the weather, the type of
building you are in, or surrounding trees. The Network we use for the provision of our Services may from time to time need upgrading, maintenance or other
work which may result in interruptions or unavailability. Where this is the case and our Network provider has informed us, we will detail any interruptions or
unavailability on our website and details will also be available from our Team. We will do all we can to keep such unavailability to a minimum, however we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to provide Network coverage at all times. The Services are available if you are in range of a base station which forms part
of the Network that we use. The Network comprises different types of technology and the available technology varies depending where you are in the country.
For example, you will only have access to our 3G Services when you are in range of a 3G base station. In other parts of the country you may only have access to
2G Services. You will only have access to 4G if you have signed up to a 4G tariff and are within range of a 4G base station. See the 4G terms and conditions
below. In areas without Network coverage you will not receive any Service. You should check our coverage checker Virginmedia.com/coverage on our website
for more details 

[KSenos]

Quoting Terms & Conditions does not help my problem @enlli are you sure you don't work for Virgin Media, because I would really like to speak to someone who can give some help.

Just in case anyone is interested I now have no service what-so-ever and Customer Service on 789 have no idea why!