50M : How bad does it need to be?

[jamiefrost]

Just how bad does my connection have to get before I can cancel?

Had an engineer vist he adjusted the upstream power level now 50. Not made any difference at all. Online gaming is practically impossible.

j

[kwikbreaks]

Complain on http://community.virginmedia.com/ and provide the info they ask for. They should come back with a fault reference and projected fix date. When they've missed that date ask again. Repeat until you are either out of minimum term or can afford the cancellation fee.

I doubt that any local problems will get fixed now except as part of the nationwide upgrade to come close to supporting the speeds they are currently selling in advance of doubling them so that the pattern can repeat.

In the meantime downgrade to 10Mbps - it won't fix anything but it will be cheaper and from the look of your graph you won't lose much either.

This is almost the same as me except I've now given up complaining on the community board (but not here or other boards) and am waiting for Infinity rather than the end of my contract.

[jamiefrost]

Thanks already a thread on the VM forum, they arranged the engineer visit as phoning up was a waste of time. Guess I'll wait for a support ticket then give retentions a call.

Guess I'll be going to BT infinity

J

[kwikbreaks]

Sorry about my downbeat assessment but I firmly believe that it isn't far short of the mark. With probably 90% or more of their customers getting close to what they are contracted for I guess VM don't see the 10% who aren't as mattering in the least. All they get are a few snotty posts in forums which 99.9% of potential customers won't even see so why should they bother when fixing those issues will impact their bottom line?

[jamiefrost]

I agree with you reading other forums it's seems high utilisation is a very low priority for Virgin. People are given a fault number with a fix months in the future with the date being pushed back a regular occurrence.

I will give retentions a call as I'm not prepared to accept the current situation and I'm not sure if we are still under contract be even if we are I will go for cancelling the broadband without penalty as I don't consider it fit for purpose.

Looks like I'll end up have 2 phone lines as I need to keep virgin for tv as we cannot get sky it just won't get used.

J

[kwikbreaks]

Do they insist on you having the phone if you have TV then? I only took the phone to get a free install and a cashback bundle deal which both required it at the time. As soon as my minimum term was up I binned the phone and have BB only - only a few quid saving though as the BB price is higher without the phone.

[jamiefrost]

Not sure but looking at the web site all of the tv costs say excluding line rental of £13 or so.
I assume this means if you don't take the phone the cost of the tv package goes up

J

Edit:
Just looked at the website looks as if the cost goes up by £6 from the advertised cost if you don't take the phone. I take a closer look look but it looks like bt infinty 40mb unlimited will cost me the same as my current package XL TV, XL phone and 50mb BB but i will loose the free day time calls(evening and weekend only with BT for the price)

To be honest I would be prefer a steady lower line than 100mb thats unusable from 8pm

J

[Chrysalis]

that will probably allow you to be cancelled.

just quote basic trading standards regs to VM which is in short it has to be "fit for purpose".

If the connection cannot do mainstream activities like iplayer and basic web browsing without issues then they have to waive your contract. Basic CS may not allow this tho so you may have to escalate to the CEO office.

---------- Post added at 20:29 ---------- Previous post was at 20:27 ----------

Originally Posted by jamiefrost

Not sure but looking at the web site all of the tv costs say excluding line rental of £13 or so.
I assume this means if you don't take the phone the cost of the tv package goes up

J

Edit:
Just looked at the website looks as if the cost goes up by £6 from the advertised cost if you don't take the phone. I take a closer look look but it looks like bt infinty 40mb unlimited will cost me the same as my current package XL TV, XL phone and 50mb BB but i will loose the free day time calls(evening and weekend only with BT for the price)

To be honest I would be prefer a steady lower line than 100mb thats unusable from 8pm

J

BT also cheaper for calls, inclusive caller display etc.

and I agree on stable speeds, I would be happy with stable 20-30mbit, excellent jitter etc.

[jamiefrost]

Thanks, think I'll have to give them a call.

Really fed up now no connection to Xbox live at all now

j