Can't seem to switch

flashg67

If you get a decent mobile signal, you can get an unlimited sim for a reasonable cost (ie Lebara £25 p/m). Pair this with a mi-fi unit or 4g router and you may find (as I do) that landline broadband isn't needed, or at least will see you through until fibre slots are available. Do check with actual sim cards rather than trusting the online coverage checkers would be my advice though. A phone hotspot will be ok short term but it is heavy on battery use

MrChips

Back again. When I tried to cancel my Virgin contact a month ago (30 April) I couldn’t get through on the phone (call was cut off after 1.5 hours on hold) so cancelled by text message which their website said I could do.  I included my account number, my name and address in the message. I’ve since heard nothing (other than an automated text reply) and Wi-Fi is still working 32 days later.

Given trouble switching to a new provider with fibre, I’m happy to sign up to another 18 months with Virgin using the Mse offer which expires today.  I need to be a ‘new’ customer but presumably as I am already through my 30 day notice period this should be ok as it’s not my fault they don’t seem to have acted on my request.

Can anyone confirm how this might be expected to play out?

iniltous

MrChips said:

Back again. When I tried to cancel my Virgin contact a month ago (30 April) I couldn’t get through on the phone (call was cut off after 1.5 hours on hold) so cancelled by text message which their website said I could do.  I included my account number, my name and address in the message. I’ve since heard nothing (other than an automated text reply) and Wi-Fi is still working 32 days later.

Given trouble switching to a new provider with fibre, I’m happy to sign up to another 18 months with Virgin using the Mse offer which expires today.  I need to be a ‘new’ customer but presumably as I am already through my 30 day notice period this should be ok as it’s not my fault they don’t seem to have acted on my request.

Can anyone confirm how this might be expected to play out?

Even if VM had responded to your text and cut your service off , quite often there has to be a gap of a few months , between ending service , and being considered a ‘new’ customer , and having new customer offers available,  so it’s possible that your application could get rejected for not having been away from VM for the required amount of time , that is assuming your account has been ceased, they may look at your new application and decide you are already a customer , given that your existing  VM service hasn’t been interrupted, so may not have been cancelled 

flaneurs_lobster

You've requested to cancel your VM service, you are still receiving VM service, are you still being billed for VM service?

What makes you think that your service has been cancelled? 

MrChips

Thanks both.

It hasn't been cancelled, but I've done all that was asked of me in order to cancel.

My understanding from reading Virgin's website is that once service ceases you qualify as a new customer with immediate effect.

But predictably when I tried to sign up last night their system couldn't register me.  My fear is this could take a while to resolve and will be too complicated to fix via text message so I may have to set aside a whole day to try and get through on the phone...

MrChips

Eg see here

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Managing-Your-Account-Cable/Leave-and-Rejoin-Virgin-Media/td-p/4548602

PoppaP

iniltous said:

shiraz99 said:

MrChips said:

That's based on my address (ashamed to say I don't know my landline number as VM changed it when I switched and never used it since!)

Thanks for posting the results. So VDSL/FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) is there and to the speeds you were originally quoted but there is a waiting list to get an available slot. You could try a few more other providers to see if they have any allocation left, eg, NowTV BB, TalkTalk, Plusnet.

Full fibre FTTP isn't available, at least not supplied by Openreach but there may be other fibre providers in your area that can supply it. Alternatively have you considered mobile BB, 5g if you can get it. 

It doesn’t work like that , ISP’s don’t have an allocation of ports , all ports are available to all ISP’s , so if the cabinet is ‘waiting list’ , then there are no available ports for anyone, things can change , someone may move to Virgin from FTTC and their port becomes available , someone could simply give up landline service ( that has FTTC on it ) or much less likely is that Openreach add more capacity to the cabinet…..the waiting list process isn’t something many ISP’s sign up to , so it’s not the case that you join a waiting list , it’s first come first served , so you need to keep checking and if you see the checker move to ‘available’ where it currently says ‘waiting list’ , get your order in quick , in case someone else is also waiting and they get in before you

I am currently contracted to Shell Energy until September for fibre broadband. The BT Broadband Availablity Checker shows there is a waiting list for fibre in my local cabinet and when I look on the Plusnet website it will only offer me 10Mb broadband.

My question is why can't the port in my local cabinet which Shell Energy currently uses be allocated to a new supplier such as Plusnet.

Many thanks for any responses.

GrumpyDil

The problem will be that your new provider won't accept your order until there is a port available which will only happen after you have terminated your existing contract.

Until that happens all they will see is that there is no availability for them to provide the service. 

iniltous

It seems to be OR policy , that a consumer that has FTTC , on a cabinet that shows ‘waiting list’ and wants to switch provider , because the cab is waiting list , is only offered   ADSL ,  obviously if  the customer moves anyway , the FTTC port becomes available, and is up for grabs , so the new provider could immediately upgrade from ADSL to FTTC , provided someone else doesn’t get in first, but it is a risk
….why is it done that way ?, I suppose if an area has more potential FTTC customers than ports available, ( that’s why it shows waiting list in the first place ) but it isn’t worth OR increase capacity, then those that can’t currently get FTTC would have no chance whatsoever of getting it,  if consumers with FTTC never , even briefly, give up their FTTC port , but that’s just my assumption of how it works .

PoppaP

GrumpyDil said:

The problem will be that your new provider won't accept your order until there is a port available which will only happen after you have terminated your existing contract.

Until that happens all they will see is that there is no availability for them to provide the service. 

iniltous said:

It seems to be OR policy , that a consumer that has FTTC , on a cabinet that shows ‘waiting list’ and wants to switch provider , because the cab is waiting list , is only offered   ADSL ,  obviously if  the customer moves anyway , the FTTC port becomes available, and is up for grabs , so the new provider could immediately upgrade from ADSL to FTTC , provided someone else doesn’t get in first, but it is a risk
….why is it done that way ?, I suppose if an area has more potential FTTC customers than ports available, ( that’s why it shows waiting list in the first place ) but it isn’t worth OR increase capacity, then those that can’t currently get FTTC would have no chance whatsoever of getting it,  if consumers with FTTC never , even briefly, give up their FTTC port , but that’s just my assumption of how it works .

Thank you both for your replies. I have been looking at the BT Broadband Availablity Checker every day since, and to my surprise, the status changed to available yesterday so I have nipped in and signed up with Plusnet!

Many thanks for your information.