Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

I do believe it is or was against the VM T&Cs to use their home broadband for running a business.

Also the business service has better fault response and repair times.

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

Its not illegal to run any business from your own home no matter which services you use to do so.

It is not up to VM on the way you run your business, whether its over the phone, email or through a website, or all 3.

They only want you to believe they have the right so you buy the extortionate package, which is nothing really special... an amended docsis file and a different hub.

Again they would be pretty much in hot water if they forced people who work from home, or has to work from home due to an accident, a business package for silly money.

There is no law that supports VMs claims.

If you want a service where there is personnel tech staff sure go for the expensive package, but if people want to pay for the smaller package at a reasonable price and don't care about throttling etc.. then they can do so.

Besides not all small business can afford the business packages anyway, so in some respects when they are giving the spiel about having to buy that package it just alienates the customer who will move elsewhere.

My old shop was Blueyonder at first (then VM), and I would help get customers for them etc, eventually they started calling and sending emails constantly about me having a business and MUST have the business package.. I told them several times.. no I don't, show me a legal law that forces me to do so... Nothing.

I heard the "We would then be closing your services" schtick. To which I said no you won't as you would be breaking the contract we have. Eventually it got so tiring, I just called up and cancelled, told them aint paying your stupid cancellation fee due to the harassment (and it was) of the CSRs and left them.

Went to BT on a normal connection from that day, and for another 2.5 years it was great.

There ya go :P

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

DABhand, your're right - small businesses can (and do) use the Home Broadband package.

What they can't do is get recompense for loss of business if the BB goes down.

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

Last time I looked into it, businesses don't have to have a business bank account or business telephone line either.

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

Whilst true, some good points about that are made here....

http://www.brighton-accountants.com/...-bank-account/

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

Yep. Indeed.

Most people who are small businesses or doing work from home, don't need anything extravagant, and that was annoys me when people instantly throw the "you must have" the business broadband package.

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

If I was working from home I would certainly invest in a business broadband package. Business packages usually come with better SLAs and fault response times. If you're dependant on a connection for work, this is vital. Also business customers are much more likely to get UK based sales and support staff (in my experience), and the support staff will be more clued-up on such things as having your own router in place.

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

Indeed. Pretty much anything can be used for things that are not their intended purpose. Most of the time if there's a specialised product designed for that purpose it'll do the job better than something which is not.

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

Or, to put it another way, you wouldn't use a poundland socket set to rebuild a truck engine.

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

On the other hand you don't buy a Rolls Royce when a Mini will do the job.

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

The price difference between business and domestic is not Mini/Rolls Royce though.

For example, for plusnet's domestic grade unlimited FTTC package its £32 a month with discounts. Unlimited business is £35 inc VAT. Unlimited business with a 24hr repair SLA is £45 all-in.

If I worked from home, for the sake of that tenner a month, I'd go business.

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

If "the job" involves looking big and flashy, and have huge amounts of interior space, the Mini will not do the job.

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

Absolutely, but I was talking about a one man band like myself. If I send >10megs of data a day it's unusual and rarely download more than 1G in a session.

I Don't host my own site or email services so a static IP isn't needed. I set up and maintain my own internal network, routers and switches so support or lack thereof, of that kind, isn't really an issue.

I have a 3G backup service to cover VM's (rare) outages.

So for me the extra cost of a dedicated business service, although relatively small, isn't really necessary.

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

I have noticed that they never list the upload speed for the business lines (except the performance one which is 100mb both ways), and also no traffic management except between after 6pm and before 8am, but 8am-6pm is fine.

Why pay more for more SLAs in your favour and supposedly instant tech support and fixes, which basically never happen.

Then they have this

"You’ll probably be able to get the fastest Internet service in your area from us. But because broadband services are shared amongst other businesses in the local area, your download speeds can’t be guaranteed. So whilst for some it won’t matter that upload speeds aren’t as fast as downloads, for digitally-dependent businesses – who use video conferencing, Cloud apps or off-site storage – this could be a deal breaker. So allow us to introduce Dedicated Internet Access too."

They even can't guarantee you will get what you pay for lol, it is so bad.

They pretend its bandwith sharing between other businesses in the area, but in reality... it will be shared with normal customers.

Re: Virgin let us down big time - advice?
 

All of VM's services are 'unlimited' so I'm not sure how data consumption is relevant - the business service doesn't allow higher usage.

But of course if you don't need the other 'features' you don't need to pay for them - you do however lose any right to complain about those extra features you didn't pay for. That's the jist if this thread...