View Full Version : 30M I'm finished
Currently have 30mb broadband, M+ TV and XL phone...package price was £65 but the total price was usually £80 -£90 with phone calls despite having most of the so called savers.
My main issue was the broadband. The superhub will not reach anything further than about a 15 foot radius and cuts out completely a couple of times a day. With 3 teenagers in a big house its mental. I have tried everything but to be honest its not just the internet that goes down the TV does as well.
The cabinet down the bottom of the road is often open, revealing a spaghetti junction of wires...quite interesting looking at your connection with the label around it. I phone India to get it closed but it rarely happens. It all looks sad and neglected. When we see the Virgin van at the cabinet we know that our connection will go down...and it usually does. This has been going on for 11 years.
I am binning the TV completely and going with freeview and have signed up to BT infinity who have a sparkly new cabinet around the corner . I also hope their phone will be cheaper (I know it will )
When I rang up Virgin to cancel, they couldnt reduce my £65 package but offered not to put the price up - how kind. They also argued that BT infinity wasnt in my area - doh!
All in all its been pretty crap..11 years of frustration really, in that time I have probably rang India 100 times.
I dont post often so no one will miss me :)
kwikbreaks
31-03-2012, 19:02
Good luck. I'll be following you to Infinity as soon as I can.
I never had VM TV - just Freesat and never used their phone to make calls - always used VOIP - I only had the line to get a free install and a cashback deal then cancelled it.
General Maximus
31-03-2012, 19:29
Good luck. I'll be following you to Infinity as soon as I can.
me too, althought I need to do some investigating first. My local exchange has been enabled but apparently my house still cant get Infinity. I need to find out what is going on.
me too, althought I need to do some investigating first. My local exchange has been enabled but apparently my house still cant get Infinity. I need to find out what is going on.
I've been watching the fibre teams around Lincoln with some interest. They're running into some major problems with the old ducting. In places it's blocked or even collapsed. Perhaps the delay is related to digging work required?
General Maximus
31-03-2012, 21:05
i hope so. I havent rang BT yet to see what is going on but I hope I'll be able to get it eventually
borrissey
31-03-2012, 21:14
VM need to get there act together over there BB. BT are catching up fast.
The superhub hasn't really helped, maybe they should of stuck with just doing a modem and sourcing a router.
kwikbreaks
31-03-2012, 22:35
To my mind they went into a flat panic and started selling products which their network can't deliver in many areas. Cable can provide high headline speeds but really can't deliver on high bandwidth too. Selling 100Mbps unlimited was where they went wrong IMO.
Chrysalis
01-04-2012, 00:27
yeah they dire on phone value, I just sent a complaint to ofcom after discovering they treat 0845 the same as 0870 and actually worse than 0870.
kwikbreaks any VOIP guide handy anywhere? will look into it for myself.
to me VM have always had this problem of overselling, I had ntl at my old address between about 2003-2007 era and it was even worse than it is now, and back then the premium speed was only 10mbit when I moved out. To my understanding between when ntl was renamed to VM and when they released the superhub (and started using protocol shaping also) around oct 2010 things were improving but then they seemed to have made a decision since that date to go back to how they used to be just a massive push for sales without capacity investment (unless initially on speed uplifts). Loads of policies which make no sense like applying STM to lower speed saying its needed to manage the network but then having no STM on the higher tiers. Having a tight download STM and a loose upload STM when the bulk of congestion is on the upstream. Using the superhub for business when its clear its a failure as a unit. Its as if once process gets decided they stick rigidly to it no matter what.
Infinity due here sept 2012 and I will be ordering it the first day its available barring a disaster to stop me and unless that has its own issues (granted its very possible) then VM will be cancelled soon after.
kwikbreaks
01-04-2012, 08:29
kwikbreaks any VOIP guide handy anywhere? will look into it for myself.
Your question prompted me to produce a brief blog page about VM call charging. I'll PM the gist of what I did and currently do for landline calls to avoid accusations of off-topic or spamming.
General Maximus
01-04-2012, 08:54
To my understanding between when ntl was renamed to VM and when they released the superhub (and started using protocol shaping also) around oct 2010 things were improving but then they seemed to have made a decision since that date to go back to how they used to be just a massive push for sales without capacity investment (unless initially on speed uplifts). Loads of policies which make no sense like applying STM to lower speed saying its needed to manage the network but then having no STM on the higher tiers. Having a tight download STM and a loose upload STM when the bulk of congestion is on the upstream. Using the superhub for business when its clear its a failure as a unit. Its as if once process gets decided they stick rigidly to it no matter what
All excellent points and common sense on what/what not to do. It just goes to prove that VM obviously dont care which is very sad.
Just a quick update. Retentions rang me and offered me a Tivo box instead of my clunky V+ box and said they would replace the superhub. I declined, I had made my mind up.
The internet has been up and down like a fiddlers elbow since my OP, last Friday nil internet for a large portion of the day they did some tests and the power reading from the box was ten times what it should be (this problem has been historical).
I have just had BT Infinity installed today, I am getting 37 mb download speed 1.85mb upload. Perfect wireless reception in all corners of the house (big old house) - something the superhub never achieved.
I am 1800 metres from the main exchange but about 200 metres from the new BT cabinet.
It all seems very stable so after 12 years its goodbye Virgin (for the next 18 months at least). If I have any problems however I will pop back and post, it will be interesting to see how things pan out with BT.
set up a ping monitor and glorify your new connection. are you on the unlimited* option and new speed upgrade? they say theres a line settle period.. hope your speeds increase.
Nothing really to glorify about im afraid. Im on the 40mb package with a 40gb usage allowance, £9 for 3 months then £18. Rather strangely, looking back on the official site, that 40gb package has been changed to 38mb download speed.
My lad is home from Uni and has said that the 40gb usage wont be enough for him, so I guess I will be monitoring it closely.
you probably have. low pings, latency close to minimum etc. etc.
no it probably wont be enough. they normally email you or some form of alert pops up within your online account when you near the max allowance. youve got the usage meter you can monitor too. is it 5£ extra for each GB you go over?
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2012/04/42.png
latency avg was 25ms. (struggling with what this means but I did it via cmd prompt so no idea if its good or bad)
Both daughters on their laptops, me on the PC and my lad on his PC and his PS3 and for the first time in years no moaning....yet.(touch wood)
i meant the thinkbroadband ping monitor. no worries man good to see your at ease now :tu:
i meant the thinkbroadband ping monitor. no worries man good to see your at ease now :tu:
I still dont have a clue what you are on about :) (my fault not yours) but yes I am at ease, its all as smooth as a smooth thing here so I guess I need to shove off to a BT infinity forum of sorts...
you probably have. low pings, latency close to minimum etc. etc.
no it probably wont be enough. they normally email you or some form of alert pops up within your online account when you near the max allowance. youve got the usage meter you can monitor too. is it 5£ extra for each GB you go over?
Yeah, that's much better than STM. £5 per G ? I hope that's not right ..
Quick update, absolutely brilliant so far. No slow down or stuttering on i player or you tube, completely solid and smooth...no crashes, no superhub going nuts. Connection is instant.
For anyone with issues and who have Infinity in the road its worth thinking about.
I am still at a loss as to how 200 metres of 20 year old copper cable from the house to the box can handle all this? and a telephone line.
awesome. have you enquired about possibly getting your upload speed bumped?
I still dont have a clue what you are on about :) (my fault not yours) but yes I am at ease, its all as smooth as a smooth thing here so I guess I need to shove off to a BT infinity forum of sorts...
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping
It monitors your modem/router to see how much latency, packet loss etc there is from their server to you. It's a nice way to see how flat it is compared to VM rollercoaster of pinging nightmares.
I am in Lincoln and due to poor service from Virgin cable seriously considering moving to BT Infinity. Nice new cab down the road the road, and it is locked, unlike many Virgin cabs in the area.
Been with cable since Diamond cable introduced it to Lincoln, but performance is poor, trying to watch anything BBC iPlayer is a joke.
Im not a heavy users, but I like the network to work when I want to use it.
How do BT present the service?
Anyone in LN1 using the service?
Does anyone know how
qasdfdsaq
12-05-2012, 17:51
My experience with BT is that they've been far better in my area.
According to Ofcom's results last year BT's 40mb service is faster than VM's 50mb service for general web browsing, more consistent in download speeds, has several times times lower packet loss and orders of magnitude lower lower jitter as well. That's from national averages, not just my personal experience.
General Maximus
12-05-2012, 18:01
I am down the other end of town in Doddington Park (LN6 3) and the service has always been mint here. Must be all the students up your end :)
I am down the other end of town in Doddington Park (LN6 3) and the service has always been mint here. Must be all the students up your end :)
You are correct. LN1 covers the North West of Lincoln so West Parade, Newport, Burton Rd all areas with high student populations.
Looks like I need to give Infinity a try, at least whilst it is new and has capacity.
qasdfdsaq
13-05-2012, 17:04
It's 4 years old, and already has more local capacity than VM cable ever will.
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