Re: Vmng300
 

I actually concur, I've had two working Cable modems on one account. It was only through 'checking' to see if the first had been suspended that I found it hadn't... and actually continued to work for about 3 months.

VM reps; time and time again you keep saying people can't do things and you're proven pretty much wrong every time. When will you realise that quirky things happen out in the field for whatever reason, whether you like it or not.

EDIT: Unsure why I saw a post from months ago, I thought it was posted today :) lol

Re: Vmng300
 

To upgrade will the cost you £30 as you need a Superhub, even I had to pay £30 and I am staff to get the upgrade which I think is well worth the cost.

---------- Post added at 11:47 ---------- Previous post was at 11:46 ----------

Eventually the modem will be removed from your account as yours was and everyone knows that Telford lives in his own fantasy world as no specialist tech can do what he says.:D

Re: Vmng300
 

Masque,

What is the £30 for? Had a look on the Virgin Media web site about this. There is probably something that explains it, but I'll be dammed if I can find it. Am I buying the Superhub? Or am I paying for it to be delivered, or installed?

Also, is this you saying that yes I can upgrade without having to take a new contract out?

Thank you for your patience.

Re: Vmng300
 

Here is the information http://shop.virginmedia.com/existing...broadband.html

As I said in an earlier post, if you need new equipment as part of a requested upgrade to get 30Mbit it's a new contract

For any Virgin automatic upgrades, and as part of that upgrade new equipment is required, then it's not a new contract

Re: Vmng300
 

BenMcR, & Masque,

Thank you.

---------- Post added at 13:44 ---------- Previous post was at 13:17 ----------

Mind you, it doesn't explain anywhere what the £30 is for.

Re: Vmng300
 

It's an activation fee for £30

Re: Vmng300
 

It's called an activation charge in some places. I think all the activation charges go in a jar and it pays for the directors Christmas bash.

Re: Vmng300
 

It covers delivery and activation of the Superhub onto the 30Mb tier, I paid it as well.

Re: Vmng300
 

I wonder why activation costs £30.

Kwikbreaks. It would need an awful lot of £30's to pay for all that champers.

Re: Vmng300
 

It used to cost a lot more. When 50Mbit first came out activation was £50

Re: Vmng300
 

Hmm.

Here's one for you all; does Virgin media intend to make use of Light Peak technology to increase potential network speeds? Or is there any intention of making use of fibre optic from cabinets to inside houses in the future?

I know that some of the fibre optic cables and cabinets are due replacement soon (certainly in Glasgow they are), where many of the cabinets were never installed correctly with poor sealing. Are they going to be replaced, or is ti intended to extend the network life as much as possible (i.e. minimise infrastructure investment)?

Re: Vmng300
 

The network VM has is capable of significantly faster speeds than they make available now without needing to extend the reach of the fibre.

Unfortunately the network was built on the cheap in a few areas (by NTL and Telewest), so they need to do massive upgrades to even make current products work properly on them, never mind the stuff they "could" do. Capacity is the main issue now.

As for your previous post about VM and customer care, you aren't wrong. Its disgusting that they can treat customers so poorly all the while claiming that they give them the same deal as new customers. When they reduce the price of a package, they rarely reduce it for anyone still on it, only people moving onto it. I actually went from 20meg to 50meg and saved £12 a month.

Re: Vmng300
 

Skie,

I am totally aware of what the NTL network in and around Glasgow is like. I can remember it all being installed, and how appallingly badly the work was carried out. I know how the cabinets were not correctly installed, or sealed as well. I was being diplomatic about VM network. I appear to have more knowledge than Virgin Media as to their woes. They seem to live in a state of denial.

As for customer service. I really, really can not understand Virgin Medias bad attitude to existing customers. They almost seem to deliberately go out of their to antagonise their long term customers. Am I correct in my belief that what is on offer to new customers must also be on offer to existing customers? By law? Everyone knows it is cheaper to maintain customers than to have to get new customers; except, it would appear, Virgin Media.

My biggest suggestion to Virgin Media is to bring their held desk/ call centres back to the UK. My second suggestion would be to treat existing customers as "family" and not take them for granted.

Re: Vmng300
 

Nope, there is no law like that

Re: Vmng300
 

BenMcR,

Wow! That was quick. Are you sure? I shall have to check that one.

Re: Vmng300
 

This question has been asked many many times before so not a quick answer rather a correct answer.

Re: Vmng300
 

@Masque,

[QUOTE] This question has been asked many many times before so not a quick answer rather a correct answer [QUOTE]

A quick answer; and quite possibly correct. Forgive me if I still take the time to confirm this for myself. It's just there is something niggling in the back of my mind and I seem to remember that there were some cases, in court, that have some relevance.

Re: Vmng300
 

I suspect that VM's corporate lawyers have already investigated that thoroughly.

Anyway common sense dictates that if you have a contract with a company other contracts they may enter into has no impact on the one you signed. If you don't like your contract then terminate it - that's your prerogative.

Re: Vmng300
 

Kwikbreaks,

Common sense, should have something to do with it, but in Contract law, common sense doesn't necessarily apply. Also the rights of consumers come in to play. I would agree that if I was still within the specified period (twelve months, or eighteen months) that my contract should apply. There have been, however, a number of court cass where a provision of services has cost two different persons a greatly different sum of money. The new contractee paying significantly less than the old contractee. The utilities organisation provider lost the cases. In this situation Virgin Media may be considered a utilities organisation.

So, in my case for instance, my twelve month contract finished a number of years ago. What rights do I have, once those twelve months were over? That's the interesting part.

Re: Vmng300
 

You can call in and to try and barter a better deal being out of contract, which does not include the new customer deals as they are basically loss leaders whose sole intention is to hook new customers.

Re: Vmng300
 

I've no idea what the true legal position may be but fortunately VM run their company just like a car boot stall. To avoid being ripped off too badly you just need to check the new customer price (after special offers) each year then call retentions and ask them to match it. No need to even threaten leaving as they will do that pretty much on request. Failure to do this may see you paying far more than necessary.

Viable threats to leave will often secure even better deals although as a broadband only customer VM regard me as pretty much the dregs as the CEO made clear in his recent press interview after they lost 36,000 customers in the first half of the year. I found his view of my custom illuminating if not gratifying so most of my comments about them now on various boards take a lot more sceptical and critical line than they used to. Mr. Burkett should bring out a book on how to alienate and lose customers as he seems to be an expert in that.

Re: Vmng300
 

By the time I got it it was something like minus £130 ;)

Re: Vmng300
 

Mr. Burkett really does not give the appearance of being a natural born CEO. But then again he must be doing something right as he is still in a job. Mind you, would you want his job? He has been trying to keep a severely underinvested organisation going. The longer they leave infrastructure investment the more costly it is getting, as may be seen from the past. I am not talking about cost increases alone, but also the legal requirements for roadworks coordination and for HSEQ. I would also tell Virgin Media to resource contractors in house, rather than sub contract. They may think it cheaper, but it isn't. The fixed penalties can be some what heavy for poor reinstatements and the many other things.

I have been researching what people have been able to negotiate from retentions.

For what I currently pay for 10mbs internet, phone, and the most basic TV package others are getting a Tivo, a Virgin Media + HD box, 30 mbs internet and Talk Unlimited.

Alll I want is what I have got at a much reduced price, or even better for me, a faster internet connection, probably 50 mbs, for what I am paying.

Re: Vmng300
 

It was infrastructure investment in the past that has left the company with a mountain of debt. I'm not keen on how they operate the business but I do want their broadband product as there is currently no viable alternative for me - faulty BT line that 5 visits from the boys with muddy boots failed to fix so I gave up on it and there is no Infinity option yet if ever.

Re: Vmng300
 

What do you expect Virgin to do if they offer an upgrade, give people a web address they can go to to arrange a swap and people don't bother? Break in and swap the modem?

Re: Vmng300
 

Show him this post then as we will swap out such an old modem such as an NTL100 for free as it has no impact on his bill or contract as Virginmedia own the equipment and its upkeep is Virginmedia's responsibility.

Even if you were disconnecting your services in a fortnight and rang up with a fault we would either send out a replacement modem or a technician as that is included free of charge in your contract.

He could also post on the community forum and a team member will send him one out again for free.

Re: Vmng300
 

This thread is so saturated I only got up to page 10 and had to stop in horror and sign up to this forum to make this post..

I know you're probably just in technical support because otherwise you would have apologised on the sales reps behalf but I hope you know that in contractual terms, anything a rep offers is legally binding. A customer can terminate a contract if what's told is not offered and even claim back what's already been paid. It doesn't have to be in writing. I sincerely recommend you contact your own legal department and take a crash course, it's not too late to be schooled.

Edit: Apologies for not adding anything of much value on the topic. I have the "Superhub" on 50Mb and I have never had much problems. I recently signed up to BT Infinity before Virgin Media introduced traffic management on their 50Mb and found that although network routes were generally shorter than the Virgin Media connection, the Virgin Media connection was more stable and had better throughput. After the traffic management was introduced, I have never had a problem. I cancelled my BT Infinity within 5-6 days but had to pay for what I used. Just remember, Virgin Media has cables underground, BT uses telegraph poles. Which would you trust?

Re: Vmng300
 

Why would he apologise? and I don't think we have anyone from Tech support that posts here now, Ben certainly is just anything.

Re: Vmng300
 

Just remember BT has a single user path back to fibre and VM's coax carries 200+ local users on. Sorry that your Infinity didn't work out. Most seem very satisfied with it.

Re: Vmng300
 

Do re read what I posted last year and what you posted above as it is a fact that all equipment is owned by Virgin Media and therefore they will replace outdated equipment for free with no change whatsoever to your package or bill, why would a legal department need to be spoken to for such a simple fact.

You went of at a tangent that has nothing whatsoever to do with the question.:rolleyes:

By the way I no longer work for the company as they made all of the Albert Dock Liverpool office redundant.

Re: Vmng300
 

Kwikkie

What do you think fibre can do that coax can't in your context?

Re: Vmng300
 

I think he meant that infinity is currently uncontended as far as the local loop is concerned

Re: Vmng300
 

But does it matter? If a motorway goes down from three lanes to two, the traffic rate reduces no matter where in the route that occurs.

Re: Vmng300
 

My VM local loop is or at least was suffering from massive congestion - I was seeing < 10Mbps at times on 50Mbps. I was given a fix date about 3 months away so I downgraded to 10Mbps and vowed to leave VM as soon as Infinity became available. It could be OK now - I do always see 10Mbps but if a DOCSIS3 local pipe can't deliver 10Mbps then it really is stuffed.

The way VM let my area get massively overcontended and couldn't fix it in a reasonable timescale (I'd class a reasonable fix time as a couple of weeks maximum) made me lose all faith in them. I don't care what they say they are doing in the future about capacity and network management - so far as I'm comcerned they blew it in late 2011 for me and they will never see my business again as soon as I have a viable out. I would have gone to ADSL were it not for the iffy line I have - I'm hoping the fault isn't between the nearest cabinet and me or if it is they fix it during the Infinity install. If they don't I'm not sure what I'll do - probably go to a decent ADSL ISP who is capable of communicating with Openreach to get the line sorted out.

Re: Vmng300
 

I know, but if it all of a sudden opened up to 4 lanes all the way down the route and the traffic volume stayed the same then everyone would fly through.

I think the point he was trying to make is that from our previous conversations in the past we have agreed that the issue with speed is the contention in the cabinets and once you get onto the core of the network everything is alright.

BT have overcome that problem afaik but providing a practically uncontended service and we are not fighting against hundreds or thousands of other customers for 200mbit of juice

Re: Vmng300
 

Seph whatever theories are in place it is evident a lot more people on VM have speed related problems than on infinity so clearly BT are handling their capacity better, especially as they use less traffic management.

I dont know how big the shared capacity is at the exchange level but my guess is it is bigger than 200mbit as the adsl backhauls were getting above that anyway apart from on the small exchanges.

Re: Vmng300
 

Compare the number of complaint against BT to that of VM .. 400k of Infinity customers is also not a fair comparison.

Re: Vmng300
 

Most of the BT complaints will be about their ADSL services. As you say not a lot of Infinity customers yet so the service could deteriorate - if it ever gets as bad as my VM one I'll move on from that too (although to what I don't know) or maybe take up knitting.

Re: Vmng300
 

its not the numbers its more the %.

I regular various forums on the net and its quite rare to see a speed complaint by a infinity customer. Even on BT's own forums the numbers are not particurly high.

Meanwhile hop onto the VM forums and 95% of the posts are congestion related.

VM are in a league of their own on congestion.

---------- Post added at 12:44 ---------- Previous post was at 12:42 ----------

This is true but I am not talking about if's but rather about whats happening now.

Re: Vmng300
 

Just had my speed doubled from 50M down to 100M down, still on 5M as part of the speed doubling upgrade.

Here's what it said on "MyVirginMedia" page:-

Great news! Your new broadband speed is up and running. It's possible your current modem might be struggling to keep up though.

Some of our older modems can't give you the full speed that we've upgraded you to. If that's the case for you, we'll send you a new combined modem and router - the Virgin Media Super Hub.

If you've already had a letter from us, click below to get your new Super Hub.

Get my Super Hub

If you don't know whether you need a new modem, click below to check.

Check my modem


When I click "Check my modem" here's what I get

Planning to go wireless?


We've done all the checks and it looks like your current modem is fine. Your new super fast broadband is up and running at the speed shown below..

Your new speed is up to 100Mb

If you're going to be using a wireless connection then you might want to swap your modem for a Virgin Media Super Hub, our latest combined modem and router with the best range so you can enjoy fast broadband around your home.
The Super Hub comes free with just a £20 QuickStart fee for installation and you'll automatically begin a new 12 month contract.
Find out more about the Super Hub
Click 'Upgrade me' to order your Super Hub.

Upgrade me




Guess which modem I have? A VMNG300 and am not being forced to switch to a Super Hub and certainly not going to do it voluntarily and pay too!. I was expecting to have to change (though not looking forward to it), but it seems that this is not the case. What's going on?

I also find the text about why you might want a Super Hub for "wireless" is a bit misleading if not worse - I'm sure it should read "If you're not going to be using a wireless connection..." :rolleyes:

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2012/04/21.png

Re: Vmng300
 

they arent forcing you to change

Re: Vmng300
 

Thanks craigj2k12 ;)

From reading this thread (though not all of it in every detail!) I thought 100M was only to be supported with the Super Hub by policy - so I'd assumed these automatic upgrades would also, by policy, require a switch to Super Hub?

Re: Vmng300
 

100Mbit as product was SuperHub only. However as part of these upgrades Virgin have allowed those with VMNG300 modems to choose whether or when they upgrade to a SuperHub

When the further upgrade to 120Mbit happens you will need a SuperHub to get the upgrade

Re: Vmng300
 

Thanks Ben - clear as always.

Re: Vmng300
 

I sense fun and games in my future :D

Re: Vmng300
 

FTTC exchanges are generally fed with at least 10Gbps.

How much of that is available to you is dictated by the retail ISP, BT sell paths in multiples of 155mbps and it is up to the ISP to manage contention by buying enough capacity. Course capacity does sometimes run out both at the ISP and core backhaul level but a congested 10Gbps pipe is far better than a congested 0.2Gbps pipe.

---------- Post added at 04:18 ---------- Previous post was at 04:14 ----------

Infinity customer numbers are catching up fast with VM's "superfast" customers.

Past evidence has shown that average speeds have been consistently increasing for the 18 months to last November despite rapid growth.