New Cable Modem Activation - Error 101

[dineleeeee]

Installation woes below. Long story warning:

I moved into my new flat on 1st July, but didn't get round to ordering virgin media XL broadband until Wed 16th July as the previous tenants left their old cable modem behind (which had 4mbit internet when I tested it with my laptop). I borrowed this internet as I thought asking virgin media to change anything would just cause me grief (which has happened in the past as they seem incapable of changing anything account related and getting it right). The friendly man on the end of the phone registered my account, gave me some discounts and said the Quick Start kit would arrive on Friday.

Friday 18th July - The Quick Start kit arrives, and I plug in the wireless router and new cable modem. I then attempt to phone up and activate the new cable modem. It doesn't activate. The person on the end of the phone says when they try to activate the modem they get an Error 101 back. They refer the fault on to their technical support department who will ring me back as they're experiencing high call volumes.

Saturday 19th July - I get a phone call while I'm out the house from the technical support department saying they've fixed the fault and can I confirm that the modem is connected. I can't because I'm not in the flat. When I do get back home I find it's still not activated.

Tuesday 22nd July - Virgin Media blacklists and disables the old 4mbit cable modem that was in the flat when I moved in. I ring again and get told, yes it's an error 101 and it's been logged with the IT support department as that's who the fault should have been logged with as it's nothing related to the technical support department. I'm also told that IT support don't work over the weekend and have a high number of support tickets so will get my fault resolved by 8am Wednesday at the latest.

Wednesday 23rd July - Modem still not active. I ring up again and am told that it's being dealt with and I will be activated soon. I ask about compensation and am told I'll get a months free internet credited to my account and won't be charged for anything until it's actually connected.

Friday 25th July - My housemate rings up instead of me (as she's named on the account) and eventually after restarting the modem (which doesn't fix the problem), being put on hold and transferred to 4 different people, has been told a technician will come round between 8-12 or 12-4 tomorrow to solve the problem.

Has anyone else here had issues getting their new cable modem activated? A friend of mine who ordered their broadband after I ordered has had it activated already (but only after threatening to cancel his order with virgin media. He also got 6 months of free M cable tv added to his package).

I can't understand why they're having issues doing something as simple as activating a new modem that they've sent out to a customer. All I can think is the cable modem is faulty (unlikely as I've logged into it's web interface status page and seen it do everything except get a DHCP lease from virgin media's servers) or they've made a mistake at their end which is preventing a DHCP lease being given to my modem.

Technical details that might help:
I live in BS8 (Clifton area of Bristol) on ex-telewest coax. The old 4mbit modem that was left behind by previous tenants was a Scientific Atlanta 2100. The new modem they've posted to me is an Ambit 256.

This is usually a problem only on the EX-NTL side so I was surprised to see you were EX-Telewest.

I will not go into details but it can be quite a problem for Tech Support.

Let us know how you get on.

[dineleeeee]

The engineer came out to look at it this morning, plugged some kit into the coax to test it and rang up a phone number. The person on the end of the phone told him the same, error 101 which apparently is a customer account fault.

The engineer left as there was nothing he could do to fix it, and said he'd left a note on the account for IT support to get back to us.

I guess I've just got to sit on hold until someone finally sets the account up properly at virgin media's end.

Originally Posted by dineleeeee

The engineer came out to look at it this morning, plugged some kit into the coax to test it and rang up a phone number. The person on the end of the phone told him the same, error 101 which apparently is a customer account fault.

The engineer left as there was nothing he could do to fix it, and said he'd left a note on the account for IT support to get back to us.

I guess I've just got to sit on hold until someone finally sets the account up properly at virgin media's end.

I rather expected that the engineer would be unable to sort it out as it is an IT problem which I hoped we would never see on the Telewest platform.

They will get it up and running, but it does not alter the fact that it is very inconvenient for you.

Let us know how you get on.

[dineleeeee]

Originally Posted by whydoIneedatech

I rather expected that the engineer would be unable to sort it out as it is an IT problem which I hoped we would never see on the Telewest platform.

They will get it up and running, but it does not alter the fact that it is very inconvenient for you.

It is very inconvenient. It's been over a week now and I've heard nothing back from IT. Is it worth phoning up and attempting to get through to them directly or am I just going to have to be incredibly patient and sit here with an inactive cable modem and no virgin media connection.

Also, would you know what sort of compensation I could get for over a week of no service?

Just keep ringing 151 option 3 for updates.

They will not bill you until your account is live so at the moment it is just inconvenient. So the is no compensation due for loss of connection.

The best bet is to wait till your connected and see if they will extend their offer of a free month to maybe 6 months as otherwise you are thinking of going elsewhere.

[dineleeeee]

This morning I noticed the ready light on my cable modem had stopped flashing and was glowing solidly. I plugged my router in to the modem and it was fully connected and active with an 82.x.x.x ip address.

So it's only taken Virgin Media 11 days to activate my cable modem since I first tried.

I've yet to hear back from anyone from the customer support team to tell me they've resolved the problem, or hear any apologies or offers of compensation. I guess that I have to phone up and complain and do that.

Originally Posted by dineleeeee

This morning I noticed the ready light on my cable modem had stopped flashing and was glowing solidly. I plugged my router in to the modem and it was fully connected and active with an 82.x.x.x ip address.

So it's only taken Virgin Media 11 days to activate my cable modem since I first tried.

I've yet to hear back from anyone from the customer support team to tell me they've resolved the problem, or hear any apologies or offers of compensation. I guess that I have to phone up and complain and do that.

Let us what happens when you call them about it.

[ruddock08]

if your still within 28 days, ring up retentions, be nice and theyll give you good deal!

[eth01]

Originally Posted by ruddock08

if your still within 28 days, ring up retentions, be nice and theyll give you good deal!

without pushing your luck

[ruddock08]

Originally Posted by eth01

without pushing your luck

haha

[jungleguy]

hey but look on the positive, it was a quick start that saved you £30 on the instal charge.

[dineleeeee]

Thanks for the advice. Now it's working, I can't be arsed spending more money to ring up retentions and try and get more discounts.

Today I got the first bill, and they're only charging us from 22nd July - 21st August for the first months service. I'm supposed to be getting the £50 connect a friend discount, but was told on the phone that would be applied to the second bill I get.

When ringing about compensation my housemate was told we'd get £27 off our bill in 2 separate credits of £10 and £17. These are also missing from the first bill, so I assume I'll be in loads of credit by the second bill

Oh, and the ebilling site is down, so I can't get the extra £1 off for using ebills.