Virgin Cable Broadband speeds

haveagoade

Can some body please expalin this.....as I think Virgin have just ripped me off.

I have been perfectly happy with my Virgin 2mb broadband service until the last few months when the speed has significantly dropped. So I decided to do a speed test. The reported speed was 400kb for a supposed 2mb Cable Broadband service......NOT GOOD.

So I rang up VIRGIN and asked why I was only getting 400kb broadband, and was told there was probably a fault and needed to speak to tech support. In the meantime I was offered the 10mb service at a Speacial offer price, but still significanly more than currently paying.....I accepted.

I asked when could I expect the 10mb service to begin and was told withing 24hrs

I went back online and WHAM!!!!!.........speeds had rocketed within 2mins of the call up to 9mb.

Are you with me on this????? I pay for 2mb but get only 0.5mb then upgrade to 10mb and get 9mb.....so much for the technical fault.


I think I just been duped into upgraded my speed by force.:mad:

macman

Virgin have been upgrading the entire cable network to 10Mbps minimum. There was no extra charge for this, however they did up their overall pricing at around the same time.

spike7451

haveagoade wrote: »

Can some body please expalin this.....as I think Virgin have just ripped me off.

I have been perfectly happy with my Virgin 2mb broadband service until the last few months when the speed has significantly dropped. So I decided to do a speed test. The reported speed was 400kb for a supposed 2mb Cable Broadband service......NOT GOOD.

So I rang up VIRGIN and asked why I was only getting 400kb broadband, and was told there was probably a fault and needed to speak to tech support. In the meantime I was offered the 10mb service at a Speacial offer price, but still significanly more than currently paying.....I accepted.

I asked when could I expect the 10mb service to begin and was told withing 24hrs

I went back online and WHAM!!!!!.........speeds had rocketed within 2mins of the call up to 9mb.

Are you with me on this????? I pay for 2mb but get only 0.5mb then upgrade to 10mb and get 9mb.....so much for the technical fault.


I think I just been duped into upgraded my speed by force.:mad:

The could well be a fault,slow speeds can be caused by a number of things.IE,If you or someone on the same tap bank in the street cab, has a chipped STB,done a DIY cable extension,is useing the lead from the Isolator as an aitial or even a bad F connector,This'll put noise onto the network that'll affect the forward & return path.
The type of street cab & distance combined are also a factor.The smaller E cabinets run off the boosted DP cabinets & if the installer did'nt adjust the levels on the tap bank to compensate for your services.
Heck,it could even be a faulty splitter or isolator,which is my bet if your speed has been dropping.You should've had the Service Tech out imho,would'nt have cost you.
Networks are able to remotely check & increase the strength of the forward/return path
Spike (Ex NTL/VM Service Tech)

haveagoade

Thats all very well but when I payed for 10mb I get 80-90% of the speed I pay for.

When I previously payed for 2mb I only got 25% of the speed paid for, which they said was a fault.

Yet at the flick of a switch at VIRGIN media my so called faulty broadband suddenly looses its fault! and becomes 90% efficient again.:cool:

I've been duped:mad:

macman

Yes, but you chose to accept the 10MB package as an upgrade. You coud simply have chosen to speak to tech support as they advised you initially, and had the fault fixed.
You will also have started a new 12m contract with them.

haveagoade

macman wrote: »

Yes, but you chose to accept the 10MB package as an upgrade. You coud simply have chosen to speak to tech support as they advised you initially, and had the fault fixed.
You will also have started a new 12m contract with them.

I didn't choose to accept it I was upsold it whilst complaining over a lack of Broadband speed.

They said it was a probably a fault.

I decided to up my package speed and have the fault checked.

There was no fault......as shown by the immeadiate speed jump to 9mb.

I have a 7 day cooling off period.

My broadband line is quite clearly capable of 9mb so then if I cancel and go back to 2mbpackage I should expect the full 2mb speed (not the 0.5mb I was getting)which was perfectly adequate previuosly before they decided to play dirty with me .

VIRGIN are duping customers:mad:......as proved!

How many other customers are having their speeds strangled to get them to upgrade their packages and Virgin make more money????

macman

You did accept it, they offered it but you could have declined it and just had the fault checked out.
There does appear to have been a fault, as they cleared it when they upgraded you.
I would certainly exercise your option and go back to2Mbps if tha is what you want-but as I pointed out, you should have been offered 10Mbps on the existing tariff. The only restriction to this speeed woud be if your cable router or modem do not support it.

haveagoade

macman wrote: »

You did accept it, they offered it but you could have declined it and just had the fault checked out.
There does appear to have been a fault, as they cleared it when they upgraded you.
I would certainly exercise your option and go back to2Mbps if tha is what you want-but as I pointed out, you should have been offered 10Mbps on the existing tariff. The only restriction to this speeed woud be if your cable router or modem do not support it.

Well this is going from bad to Worse.

What you are saying is my 2mb service should be 10mb not 2mb as the min speed is 10mb.

There is plainly nothing wrong either with my router or cable network as proved by the instant jump to 9mb service.

I think I will execise my right to 7 days cooling off and revert to the cheaper 2mb and not be tied to a 12 month contract again and ask for the min service level of 2mb, or as you say the free upgrade to 10mb.

jem16

haveagoade wrote: »

What you are saying is my 2mb service should be 10mb not 2mb as the min speed is 10mb.

I phoned to cancel my Virgin BB and phone on Monday night. I would have liked a BB only deal as I also have a BT phone and use it rather than my Virgin phone. Their cost for 10Mb only BB would be £17 which I said was far too expensive considering I can get 7Mb with O2/Be for £7.50. She couldn't offer me anything at all for 10Mb. She then started going on about a 2Mb service which I said I wasn't interested in - I should have asked the price!

There is plainly nothing wrong either with my router or cable network as proved by the instant jump to 9mb service.

No there isn't - it will have been capped at 2Mb. I was getting 1.5Mb on my 20Mb service until I complained. They said there had been utilisation spikes on my line ( read too many people using it every evening!) and moved me to another. That saw the speed decrease being after 10pm instead of 7pm - still often only got less than 5Mb.

That's when I decided to leave.

dubizoobi

HI
Can anyone point me in the direction of a reliable and fairly accurate speed test for virgin media cable broadband.

thanks in advance

spike7451

macman wrote: »

Yes, but you chose to accept the 10MB package as an upgrade. You coud simply have chosen to speak to tech support as they advised you initially, and had the fault fixed.
You will also have started a new 12m contract with them.

Quite correct Mac.

haveagoade wrote: »

I didn't choose to accept it I was upsold it whilst complaining over a lack of Broadband speed.

They said it was a probably a fault.

I decided to up my package speed and have the fault checked.

There was no fault......as shown by the immeadiate speed jump to 9mb.

I have a 7 day cooling off period.

My broadband line is quite clearly capable of 9mb so then if I cancel and go back to 2mbpackage I should expect the full 2mb speed (not the 0.5mb I was getting)which was perfectly adequate previuosly before they decided to play dirty with me .

VIRGIN are duping customers:mad:......as proved!

How many other customers are having their speeds strangled to get them to upgrade their packages and Virgin make more money????

Ahh,you must be an expert then!
What's your return path strength at 128?Should be no higher than +12Dbmv.What size Drop cable do you have?RG6,7,or 11.Are you on the correct Tap & Port in the cab for your drop length,number of services & type of drop cable?
For each F connection you loose 1Dbmv & 3Dbmv for a splitter,if your signal is too low by the time it get's to the modem then your internet'll be slow,that's why the levels should be set on install,you'll also never get full speed for that reason.
But,hey,I was only a NTL/VM Service tech since 89 so whadda I know!