Virgin Media

[Alex]

Is anyone with Virgin for broadband ?   I'm thinking of changing from TalkTalk, who I've been with for about 20 years.  Talk Talk offer 65 Mbps for £25 per month (after I phoned them) whereas Virgin offering 516 Mbps for £29.99 including basic Netflix package.  It's difficult to decide when you don't really know what you're doing. I've been on the phone to my lad who is also with Virgin on a higher Mbps for the same money     It's a bit like the electricity companies who seem to make things complicated so you'll stay put !

[Raven]

I was with Virgin for years, in the beginning it was excellent, I had Wifi, phone, and TV, all for £20 a month, their service was great too, if there was a problem then they sent someone out to sort it.
Then the repairs service was stopped unless it was unavoidable, they put the price up n up, I got rid of the phone first as I used my mobile so much, then after a few more price rises the TV went and I went onto Freeview instead, that hurt as I loved the channel called Alibi and watched it every day, I still miss it. I was left with only WiFi and when it hit £40 a month I said NO. I left and there's no WiFi at the Perth house, just have what Duncan uses here. Not trying to put you off Alex, just saying what I went through with them.

[JBR]

We're with Virgin, and have been for a number of years.  We only use it for internet, but it is reliable and connection is never a problem.

[Dextrous63]

Thought you'd changed to BRSK.

[Vlad]

When we moved, trying to cancel my VM contract was a bloody nightmare 

[Dextrous63]

When we moved, trying to cancel my VM contract was a bloody nightmare

I thought that the rules had been changed and that swapping/changing contracts was supposed to be universally straight forward now.

Part of the problem for VM has been that it's full fibre connection, which they kinda had exclusive rights to (the cables run by Nynex about 15 years ago). 🤷🏻�♂️

[Vlad]

I thought that the rules had been changed and that swapping/changing contracts was supposed to be universally straight forward now.

Part of the problem for VM has been that it's full fibre connection, which they kinda had exclusive rights to (the cables run by Nynex about 15 years ago). 🤷🏻�♂️

I moved in December last year, VM wanted to know why I was leaving, where was I moving too, did tge new address have VM, if not who was the provider..it just went on and on. 

[JBR]

Thought you'd changed to BRSK.

What a good memory!  Yes, we were intending to go with them, but they didn't cover our area.  Having said that, they included up our road as far as a close neighbour, but have never extended further south, so we stayed with Virgin, who have been very good.

[klondike]

When we moved, trying to cancel my VM contract was a bloody nightmare

Their whole business model is based on keeping customers in contract so they can't leave penalty free.

Nobody can say that the service they provide by coax is either good or bad as that varies at street level. It can go from good to terrible in very short order and they'll often take an age to fix it. That is down to the DOCSIS technology they use.

To get decent speeds two things need to be right the voltage at your modem and how loaded the upstream is as upstream is the brown person in the fuel store with cable because it is that which has very low local bandwidth available. Download needs the upload to send each packet  request and acknowledge receipt of the last. Getting just one person who doesn't have the knowhow running torrents (copyright breaking downloads) on your local section of the network can have a huge impact.

The other thing that messes it up is slipshod installers. The voltage you get at your modem is determined by correctly balancing your local cabinet. There are a series of taps which will normally all be in use and get shared out by fitting splitters and attenuators either at the cabinet or in your house when installed. As new customers are taken on adding one without taking care can mess up other connections from that cabinet. When I was with them I experienced both - saturated upstream which they took an age to fix and ropey connection after seeing one of their blokes at the cabinet. It is possible to check both from home but few will know how.

Talking to India to get anything fixed is a nightmare.

I think they have now started reselling connections over third party fibre which gets rid of those problems but not the Indian call centres and their dodgy business practices which result in everybody paying different amounts for the same package and often more for less depending on what they can get away with. Plus you'll always be in contract so leaving will cost if they can't provide the service where you move to.

I left VM some years ago and would never return to them. Other people's experiences will certainly vary but my advice would be to shop around for proper fibre deals. I doubt anybody here actually needs more than about 100Mbps and probably less. Judge on price and what cashback and deals you can get for swapping as most fibre will work just fine these days. I'm currently on 900Mbps from Vodafone because that was offered in their deals to existing customers for less that I was paying for 150Mbps which at the time I took that was the best deal I could find.

[Dextrous63]

What a good memory!  Yes, we were intending to go with them, but they didn't cover our area.  Having said that, they included up our road as far as a close neighbour, but have never extended further south, so we stayed with Virgin, who have been very good.

We're in a similar position.  BRSK make an occasional foray into our area to extend their network, presumably to those that sign up, then they bugger off again.  So, we're with VM, who are fine apart from having to go through the rigmarole every couple of years to renegotiate a tariff which (left to its own devices) would increase by an absurd degree!

[Mups]

We're in a similar position.  BRSK make an occasional foray into our area to extend their network, presumably to those that sign up, then they bugger off again.  So, we're with VM, who are fine apart from having to go through the rigmarole every couple of years to renegotiate a tariff which (left to its own devices) would increase by an absurd degree!

I am with VM too, Dex, and have been for over 20 years.
I get on alright with them,  except as you say,  that renegotiation thing is a pain.

[JBR]

I left VM some years ago and would never return to them. Other people's experiences will certainly vary but my advice would be to shop around for proper fibre deals. I doubt anybody here actually needs more than about 100Mbps and probably less. Judge on price and what cashback and deals you can get for swapping as most fibre will work just fine these days. I'm currently on 900Mbps from Vodafone because that was offered in their deals to existing customers for less that I was paying for 150Mbps which at the time I took that was the best deal I could find.

As I said, we are quite happy with VM at the moment.  It is a fibre connection which, to be fair, has been reliable for a long time now.
Yes, the prices go up, like everything else these days, but not to a great amount.  Yes, Virgin is good for now at least.  However, should it deteriorate, I shall be back asking for better alternatives!

[klondike]

It's more likely that your connection is coax not fibre. What VM advertising as fibre is closer to fibre to the cabinet as the fibre ends at a large powered box that could be half a mile from you. From there it is sent over coax to lots of street cabinets.

It can be excellent despite that and it sounds like yours works for you.

I have an aversion to their business model and here at least when I was with them their unwillingness to fix problems that don't lead to a complete outage in a reasonable time.