Virgin Internet

Magenta

Hi all, a few questions about Virgin Interenet. I have had AOL for 9 years now and it costs me £15.99 a month for dial up. I don't have a BT line. I was with Telewest until Virgin took over. Is Virgin better than AOL? Also how many screen names can you have with a Virgin Account? I am thinking of changing to Virgin because AOL is costing me a lot more and having lots of probs with it.
Also how do I put all the info I have on AOL onto Virgin if I do change?

Thanks all for any help and information. xxx

k2150

Telewest/ Blueyonder was a great service until it was taken over by Virgin Media who have introduced "Traffic Management" during peak hours, basically this means each user has a specific download allowance between the hours of 4pm - 12 midnight, exceed the allowance and your download speeds are cut quite drastically. Virgin are loosing customers left right & center and yet they continue to be one of the most expensive ISP's in the UK. Frankly, if you can get connected to an unbundled ADSL exchange you'd be crazy to sign up with Virgin. I recommend O2 broadband or their sister company *Be broadband, both of which offer truely unlimited downloads, with no traffic managment or caps for half the price Virgin are charging!

bestpud

I have been with Virgin for years and they were always fine.

But since they became vigin media we have had progressively worse problems with them. We have an extremely slow connection at times - many websites simply time out. It also disconnects every half hour or so throughout the day. Several times recently we've had no connection at all. I have spent many hours on their very expensive helpline and got nowhere.

I frequently cannot download emails and have now had to ask people to split larger emails to me as they just block up the connection - it is driving me nuts!!! It can take 5 minutes to download one email because the connection is so damn slow and often cuts out half way through. I have also lost count of the number of posts I have written on here and then lost due to the poor connection.

I would switch but we stupidly signed up for the phone and internet bundle in May and now they want £127 to cancel as we are tied in for 12 months apparently. I was told 3 months at the time but there is, of course, no record of this!!!

My advice is don't touch them with a bargepole. They have serious issues since they became virgin media and until that is sorted they are quite frankly a $h1te provider.

neoragex

I have been with NTL and no problems for years. After taken over by VM, we suffers losing connection quite often. Last week, I lost connection without any reason for a WHOLE day! I even didnt try their expensive Customer Serive cos they are the worst I've seen. I am just looking for another ISP, considering Be will be the one

Magenta

Thanks for all the replies. I think I will give Virgin a miss.

I have AOL at the moment and Virgin phone, was telewest as you know.

It's difficult to know which ISP to go for, it would be easier if I had A BT phone line I guess!!!

haddock22

Im thinking of moving to virgin as im with bt at the moment but have just discovered they have decreased my available speed from 4/5mb to just 1mb and are now telling me that due to the distance from my house to the exchange this is all that is possible.I was told a year ago when i moved into my house that i could get 4/5mb so i hope to finish my contract earl with them.Does anyone actually get 4mg speed with virgin?

continualdiamond

Well im with Virgin Media and have no problems what so ever. Of course it was NTL before and all up had the internet with them for 3 years.

In 3 years i've lost the connection once, which was due to dropping my speed down, but some idiot didn't think to 'switch' the package, but cancel it and then create a new once, hence me loosing it for a day.

I have no problems with the speed of websites loading, or accessing my email or downloading anything at all. Im on broadband M, so thats up to 2mb.

julesgr

I have the cable package too and have had it since we moved in here with NTL and only occassionally have slow traffic. My parents are on VM as well since andthat's since Telewest was cable london! they have fewer problems than we do.

JesaRose

Virgin is good until you get problems, then you spend hours on the phone to 0870 numbers and get passed around (5 different numbers to call last time I had a problem). So I would avoid if I were you. I intend to change mine very soon

roses

I don't understand how you have AOL if you don't have a BT line?!

Anyway, I would reiterate what the others are saying here. I have had Virgin phone/tv/cable since January. After being taken over from NTL to Virgin, I suffer about one broadband outage per week. Their phone charges are expensive. TV is good though. When my contract is due for renewal, I am seriously thinking of moving to the Sky triple play.

But if you don't have a BT line then your options are hugely limited.

Bufflowbill

roses wrote: »

I don't understand how you have AOL if you don't have a BT line?!

Anyway, I would reiterate what the others are saying here. I have had Virgin phone/tv/cable since January. After being taken over from NTL to Virgin, I suffer about one broadband outage per week. Their phone charges are expensive. TV is good though. When my contract is due for renewal, I am seriously thinking of moving to the Sky triple play.

But if you don't have a BT line then your options are hugely limited.

Not all Broadband Suppliers insist you have to have a BT LandLine to get their broadband.