Virgin Media support costs for supporting their hardware !!!

credithater_2

I have been a Virgin Media customer for many years now, purely because of the broadband.

BUT after today's shocking call to broadband support I will be looking else where.

For the past few weeks I have been having issues copying files between 2 computers in the house. I have tried wired and wireless, but I get a ridiculous speed of up to 6MB per second.
I have exhausted every possibility on the 2 computers using the 20 years of IT experience I have.

I rang the usual Virgin Media number tonight and was put to the broadband team. They could not resolve the issue as they only support the line to the Super Hub and rebooting it.
They then passed me to another technical team, who I had to explain it all again to.
It was then explained to me that if I wanted to proceed with their assistance it would cost me £60 for 1 days support, or a one off £30 for 3 months!!!

Am I going daft or is paying £60 to Virgin for them to support the hardware they own completely ludicrous !!!

When I researched the problem on the internet, I have found plenty of other people with the same issue in the past and Virgin have fixed it by replacing the hardware.

How can they justify the cost now ??!!

Has anyone else come across this support charge ??

:mad::mad::mad:

cookie365

6MBs is 60 Mbs, so if any of the devices the data was going to, from, or through don't have gigabit connections, that sounds about what you'd expect.

visidigi

Gotta agree with Virgin - this isn't an issue their free tech support should assist you with.

Do you have a spare router? Can you try the superhub in modem mode? Your 20 years experience I would expect would have seen you try this already, but figured I would ask.

(yes, it was tongue in cheek).

kwikbreaks

Why should an ISP provide you with support to copy files internally between your machines? They provide an internet connection.

If you don't like the Superhub then modem mode + your own router is the way forward. If your only issue is internal network transfers then buy a gigabit switch and use that to couple everything together.

credithater_2

When I have had issues in the past they have been more than willing to help.

They say they don't support anything past the super hub, but if they do not allow you access to all the settings on it, how are you expected to do it yourself with out spending extra money.

The worst thing is, since the first guy did a remote check, I now get 1.5-2MB. How could they make it worse !!

I can understand there point of view regarding the limit of support, but when the issue is the hardware they have supplied that they still own, then it is a bit of a slap in the face.

visidigi

As you are well aware, having spent 20 years in IT not all equipment is the same - so you sometimes have to use an alternative to prove the original is faulty. This is just the way IT works sometimes.

The equipment from VM is only a small part of your infrastructure - in the majority of cases the devices you are transferring from and too and the more likely culprits of slow transfer speed.

Its no surprise companies now charge with the number of uneducated users (unlike you) out there. IT departments wouldn't need to exist if everyone was Bill Gates...

macman

Exactly the same as with an ADSL connection-the line rental provider/ISP's responsibility ends at the master socket or router. How you move data around your home network is nothing to do with them, be it ethernet or wireless.

frank777

:)Back to school, more than one way to skin a cat? How big are the files, i got a 16GB USB Flash Drive for £7.03 from Amazon, does the job in no time.

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Harsh words and poor reasoning never settle anything

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WTFH

cookie365 wrote: »

6MBs is 60 Mbs, so if any of the devices the data was going to, from, or through don't have gigabit connections, that sounds about what you'd expect.

...and 54Mb/s is a fairly standard wifi speed, which is pretty close to 60Mb/s

I'd suggest the fault isn't with the hub, but with the understanding of network speeds.

kwikbreaks

credithater wrote: »

if they do not allow you access to all the settings on it

I'd have thought after 20 years in IT you'd know that there are no home router settings that are going to impact internal network transfers other than jumbo frames which the SH doesn't support. It actually has a gigabit switch which is better than most ISP supplied equipment. Its only real failings are buggy firmware, poor WiFi range because of the internal patch antennas it uses, lack of features (e.g. DDNS) and control (e.g. DNS settings) which would only confuse many users anyway. As with all ISPs if the supplied kit doesn't meet your need then buy your own.

Nilrem

kwikbreaks wrote: »

I'd have thought after 20 years in IT you'd know that there are no home router settings that are going to impact internal network transfers other than jumbo frames which the SH doesn't support. It actually has a gigabit switch which is better than most ISP supplied equipment. Its only real failings are buggy firmware, poor WiFi range because of the internal patch antennas it uses, lack of features (e.g. DDNS) and control (e.g. DNS settings) which would only confuse many users anyway. As with all ISPs if the supplied kit doesn't meet your need then buy your own.

That sort of thought occured to me as well.

There is very little on most consumer level gear that can be adjusted to affect the network/lan side transfer speeds.



Op, what sort of files are you transferring?
I've noticed that it can take me something like 60+ minutes to transfer a couple of gb of small files (emails for example), and that's internally between two hard drives on my computer.
It takes me longer to transfer my emails (during backup), than the hundreds of gigs of things like photos/slides/home movies/music.