Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Had a 3 hour outage today. Begrudgingly rang tech support who said it was my fault and wouldn't have anything to do with me when they discovered I had *gasp* a router, even though I could give them a valid IP to the router from STB.
Charged call to Bombay who wouldn't even check their service status and said my only choice was to call 'PC Help' whatever the hell that is.
Tech support in virginmedia.support.broadband.cable say massive outage somewhere in Manchester. "M" postcode of which I'm not. Speed tests say I'm hitting less than 512k (on 4mb line) HTTP, NNTP, POP & SMTP all shot to hell.
Tracert's time out.

What can a reasonably savvy user do more than tell Bombay that IP's/green bloody lights/DNS etc are all ok but still everything's borked?
Up until me saying there was a router in the mix, the CS was doing OK.
I was virtually sharp-cut off after that.
25ppm to be told to start/run/ncpa.cpl etc despite my saying I know where we're at guys.
There's an outage - it's obvious. I only rang to ask for an update on a fix.
Still screwed anyway. Can't even NNTP to see what VM tech's are replying with. CS say not their fault (it's my router.. ffs...) VM tech says can't help with reimbursement for call, not their dept.
Not one to moan, but recently it's all gone a bit Pete Tong, no?
8pm gone so banjaxed until tomorrow.

What a load of my harris.
:td:

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

I just had the pleasure of paying 25ppm aswell to be told that they need to send a engineer out, something which I highly doubt I need and its a regional outage.

I'm in postcode OL9 so fairly close to manchester. Wonder how long it will take to fix :(

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

OL4 here.
I stayed on the line long enough to give the CS a chance to sort things, but to be told it's a problem with my router was just taking the proverbial in my opinion.
Zero chance of any reimbursement I was told.
God strike me down for having the audacity to use a router...

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

i have a router too but they got me to hook up direct to the modem and surprise surprise it still wasn't working properly.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

I was told over the phone that it would take around 4 - 5 hours, its been around 8 hours past that time now.

It will probably go back to normal by 4:00am, as thats what usually happens when this problem occurs.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

I wish I'd given her my 85. IP address that the router had.
The second I gave a 192. address I was talked over.
"No, there's no problem here. It's a simple connectivity issue" etc etc.
:mad::mad:

I tried to tell her there were several users complaining of an outage but I was wasting my time.

Yeah, only difference this time is I was STUPID enough to call BB support.
What a mug.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

I was credited the call charge + £0.25 for each minute I was on the phone to them, I have nothing against Virgin Media, it works perfectly when it does, but it always seems to go wrong at the wrong time, I've got alot of things to do and the browser keeps timing out, etc.

I've been bombarded like 80 with eBaY and Amazon.co.uk emails that I can't even get to, Windows Live Mail has only downloaded the headers for the emails, but I can't access them which is crazy.

I accept that this will happen and I have no hard feelings against Virgin Media, they always do a great job.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Manc internet is the work of the Devil.

Me just now on my :cough: 20 meg.
Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:06:23 UTC
Test 1: 1024K took 6844 ms = 149.6 KB/sec, approx 1233 Kbps, 1.2 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 10312 ms = 99.3 KB/sec, approx 818 Kbps, 0.8 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 9297 ms = 110.1 KB/sec, approx 907 Kbps, 0.89 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 15219 ms = 134.6 KB/sec, approx 1109 Kbps, 1.08 Mbps
Overall Average Speed = approx 1017 Kbps, 0.99 Mbps

Using this connection :- cpc1-stkp6-0-0-cust***.manc.cable.ntl.com

Bloody well feels like it as well.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

M43 here 4mb connection..

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:37:42 UTC

Test 1: 1024K took 9265 ms = 110.5 KB/sec, approx 911 Kbps, 0.89 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 14969 ms = 68.4 KB/sec, approx 564 Kbps, 0.55 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 6125 ms = 167.2 KB/sec, approx 1378 Kbps, 1.35 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 13578 ms = 150.8 KB/sec, approx 1243 Kbps, 1.21 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 1024 Kbps, 1 Mbps

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Fair do's. I'm not a troll or a serial whinger. Been with VM since they were Nynex or whatever, and always stuck up for them.
Just don't like being treated like a mug and being charged for it.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

OL8 struggling to download at less than 1Mb.
Browsing crap.
Like this every evening again. :mad:

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

M43 had to call them twice streange since I could use ICQ IRC and send also receive emails jsut all potsd for browsing and MSN reported ports problemand DNS second time hard set DNS in and was able to brows

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

cpc1-stre3-0-0-custxxx.bagu.cable.ntl.com

and not believing that result :-

M41 here. For a change I seem to be getting a fairly good run for my money.

When did your outage start, and is it still ongoing? I have had a live connection all day and I don't seem to have been hit by the usual contention problem.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

i think its fixed now. now do i ring them to cancel the engineer? decisions, decisions

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2008/03/39.png

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Ok here too. But isn't traffic shaping supposed to end at 9pm? I'm maxing out at the usual shaping 4.6Mbps. Or have I got the times wrong?

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Depends when it kicked in...

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Oh aye. I think I remember. It's 5 hours from when it kicks in, right?

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Yep

Link

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Strange. It had started at exactly 2pm and lasted until 5pm (no access at all) and then a 300k connection until I went offline last night about half ten (I think).
Back to normal today of course..
:o::o:

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Speeds borked again.
Down to 1.5 meg here.
:(

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

15.44pm I'm getting 3.7 - 3.9meg at the moment. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon. Stre3 seems to be behaving. :)

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

One again for me for the 5th day in a row the downstream on my UBR is maxed out and I'm getting awful packet loss and crap speeds. Virgin are completely ignoring our UBR and have even postponed the upgrade to the UBR

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

The same thing happend here, i was on the net as usual and my friend who lives in the house at the back of mine told me his connection had gone down, i went over to have a look and he was told to phone pc helpline at £1 a min and they told him he needed a new modem, i came back home only to find out my connection was down as well so we phoned back up and was told it was a manchester wide outage

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Update to this (support ticket 668468) speed issue in the Manchester area.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Are you a big fan of The Stone Roses kryogenik ?

:)

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

You could say that..

;)

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Heh, I'm partial to a few of their tunes too :)

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Ah, great stuff.
:)

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Started a few hours ago, fine up until then, download speed atrocious.

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:00:41 GMT

Test 1: 1024K took 19302 ms = 53.1 KB/sec, approx 438 Kbps, 0.43 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 25029 ms = 40.9 KB/sec, approx 337 Kbps, 0.33 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 25424 ms = 40.3 KB/sec, approx 332 Kbps, 0.32 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 46777 ms = 43.8 KB/sec, approx 361 Kbps, 0.35 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 367 Kbps, 0.36 Mbps :td:

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Just heard relief work on Baguley that had been put back to next week (19th) has now been put back further to 24th April.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Yes they keep putting it back but I will have left by then, at present have both VM and ADSL and ADSL is out performing cable :rolleyes: which shocked me. :shocked:

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

After spotting what could possibly be the new STM timescales, I'll not be far behind you mate.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

I have some big problems with routing in the M44 area at the moment. I can't access my server in London. When I do a tracert it stop at hop 12 for synergynetworks.co.uk. I begrudge picking the phone up and paying money for someone to tell me to restart my modem

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

I'm the same. I just keep having to flirt between proxies that shouldn't make a difference but very clearly do.
:(

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Try setting the DNS to openDNS that mnight help if VM DNS is messed again.

www.opendns.org

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Thanks, but I used to use OpenDNS but oddly, it just refuses to work for me lately.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Where are you finding this out from?

I'm suffering like mad here... 500kbps on 20mb.... been like this for a few weeks...

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

VirginMedia Newsgroups.

Today, this info specifically from virginmedia.discussion.broadband

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

15th May now.
:(

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

I'm also OL4, was having major outages and slow net, before I was put on soft disconnect (should be back soon :P)

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

What's 'soft disconnect'?

(That rain's coming down hard isn't it? ;) )

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

They removed my net access but not emails (that's what CS said soft disconnect was)

& yeah, 'twas, seems to have calmed down a bit now though.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Ah I see.

I'm seeing now many UBR upgrades have been put back to May.

"however this can be subject to change"

Yep..

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Now 19th May.
lol.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Is this work still scheduled? The net in the evening has been virtually un-useable. Pages failing to load, long delays - even took 3 mins to load up VM Status Page tonight. I used to be able to have a few tabs open in Fiirefox browsing away but I haven't had the luxury of that for a good while now.

It's ...It's..... :td:

:rant:

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Somebody asked yesterday, on the newsgroups, whether the work on Baguley server was still scheduled for May, the answer was Sorry I can't post link but you can see the post on Virginmedia.support.broadband.cable. Post heading...Baguley maxed again?? 27/04/2008

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

I un-subbed from the VM NG's. It was just bad news after bad news and loads of back biting, so thanks for the update. :)
It doesn't surprise me.
I've just resigned myself to upping/downing within the timescale and bobbing off for a brew when it's fubar'd inbetween.
I'm sure it'll all even itself out one day. Either that or we'll all be still discussing the Baguley upgrade this time next year.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

I must admit the NG's are a tad depressing at the moment. I tend to only have a quick browse to see if our server is being discussed.

I only hope that the powers that be don't decide to do the 4/10 upgrade before our server is sorted as I assume any mass upgrade will only make the contention worse?

My connection was so bad I was unable to do a speed test at the weekend, my downstream speed was so low the speed tester I normally use just hung. I don't know if it's the same for everyone (I'm not really tech savvy) but my upstream never changes much regardless of how my downstream varies. Is this normal?

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

I dunno Jo.
I'm still using my STB and clinging on to it for dear life - I'd rather there was no upgrade for me going off reports.
I have to say, if I play ball, my connection at the mo is (pretty much) spot on, so I can't really compare with you.
I would say they'd do the upgrade before changing the speeds over though?
Ill-educated guess, admittedly.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Oooooooh I'm so glad there's someone else on the forums who isn't an IT genius. :)

If it's any consolation, and I'll say it quietly so as not to temp fate..I have never had a problem with the modem I got as a result of getting the V+.:D

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Nice one.
:D
The move to the modem is inevitable, I know.
I'm just keeping schtum for as long as I can while everything is happily doing it's 4MB thing..
But shhh...
;)

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

I have just noticed that my connection details have changed from
Hostcpc1-stre3-0-0-custXXX.bagu.cable.ntl.com

to

Hostcpc4-stre3-0-0-custZZZ.bagu.cable.ntl.com

Does this tie in with an upgrade on Baguley server.?

Has anybody noticed whether their speeds have picked up?

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Yeah, I'm actually getting fantastic speeds now and can finally do the happy dance. I've been suffering speeds as low as 500Kbs during peak and maximums of around 10Mbs off peak since November last year.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2008/05/6.png

That's an example of the speeds I've been getting since Thursday.

/me continues to do the happy dance.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Ring CS, go throug to them & ask for a credit for the downtime, they are generlly very helpfull.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

That's great news. I thought it was just my imagination that my speeds seem to have been more stable. If virginmedia have managed to sort out the contention maybe the Baguley server will be able to cope with the 4-> 10 upgrade.

Guess we will just have to wait and see.

Sorry webcrawler didn't mean to appear to ignore your post. As I am only on 4MB and could easily work around the contention problems I never bothered to register my 'problems' with them. So I doubt if a request for any compensation will wash at this late stage. :)

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

No difference here with speeds, and I can't tell if my customer number (or whatever it is) has changed as I don't know what it was before.
:)
My STB still has the mid.com file though. I'm not sure if it'll even be hit with
another config file before I get a modem. As I've said before though, as long as I have a reasonable connection, I'm staying as I am until everything settles down and good reports start coming in - so this is at least a little way in the right direction.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

I don't blame you kryogenik, I always work on the rule of it if ain't broke, leave well alone.:D

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Unless that is a Samsung STB which are capable of 6Mb you must be on 1Mb which if you phoned up and asked for a Stand Alone Cable Modem would double your speed for virtually the same amount of money you are paying now!

It would be a better and more stable connection than your present STB.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Sammy 211C on L speed. Don't need quicker.
Connection is rock solid 99% of the time mate, that's why I don't want to touch it.
When all's settled, I'll ring for a SACM. I need email at the very least round the clock so not willing to risk anything.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

All they would do is send an Engineer out with your new modem and you would be back online in minutes.

When you swap get them to send an Engineer do not go for the self install option even if you think its a doddle as he will ensure all power levels are correct.

That Samsung does not do 10 Mb as I said above.

Re: Manc - can't just be a handful of us?
 

Yeah, I realise that.
I had an appointment to have it swapped out but I cancelled it because India couldn't agree with accounts. One was saying I had to have a separate billing account, the other was saying I wouldn't. One said there'd be a modem in the post that night, one said there was an engineer booked (levels, as you say).
Like I said, right now I need to be online and I am. I'm happy with it just like that until everything's hunky dory. I don't need an SACM just yet. The stories coming through from the VM groups at the time put me right off attempting any change until (or IF) absolutely necessary. People were reporting speeds like dial up. At the moment, I'm getting full speed and full services. Why tempt fate.