VOD unavailable due to high demand in my area!

jaigee · 02-11-2008, 12:03

I have had this problem with VOD for few weeks now rendering VOD viewing impossible. Everytime I attempt to download VOD content at peak times, i.e. all evenings and weekends from lunchtime onwards, I invariably receive a box informing me that "due to heavy demand in my area, VOD is temporarily unavailable, please try again later", this is accompanied by the error code 9132. Occasionally the message reads that "VOD is unavailable etc. etc.." with the error code 1087. At all other times, the VOD service generally works fine.

An engineer came out yesterday morning and said that the box was at fault and changed it. Everything worked fine, in fact the VOD menu navigation was much faster. However, come the afternoon and evening all was back to normal with no VOD and the same messages/error codes. This morning all works fine again as usual.

I questioned him as to whether it was an area capacity problem and the reply was that my local box/exchange is only using 25% of it's capacity and if my broadband was fine, which it is, then that was not the problem as that uses the same line.

I have posted this on another forum and it appears that very few people have the same problem. Does anyone here have/know about the problem and it's possible causes etc. etc.?

I have contacted Virgin and await another call from an engineer.

spiderplant · 02-11-2008, 12:21

How full the local cabinet is, and how good the broadband is, is irrelevant to VOD. The VOD service comes from your regional headend, and that's where any capacity limit will be. What area are you in?

If it is a capacity limit, I'd expect it to eventually work if you keep trying.

ps. Welcome to the forum!

m419 · 02-11-2008, 12:35

Fine were I am,never had any problems since it launched in 2005. A new box made it faster though!

Does Tiscali and BT Vision share the same system as Virgin Media, i.e is all the content from the same place???

jaigee · 02-11-2008, 12:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by spiderplant

How full the local cabinet is, and how good the broadband is, is irrelevant to VOD. The VOD service comes from your regional headend, and that's where any capacity limit will be. What area are you in?

If it is a capacity limit, I'd expect it to eventually work if you keep trying.

ps. Welcome to the forum!

Many thanks for the reply and info spiderplant.

I live in the Nuneaton area and yes, I can occasionally get it to work, but sitting there pressing the remote for 30 minutes or more tends to spoil the viewing experience.

I don't purchase any VOD content now as I usually ended up watching it the next morning!

royaltiger · 02-11-2008, 13:17

I had that same problem when trying to watch a penny movie, could not watch due to heavy demand, it also had not happened before, took about an hour to finally start playing

jaigee · 02-11-2008, 13:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by royaltiger

I had that same problem when trying to watch a penny movie, could not watch due to heavy demand, it also had not happened before, took about an hour to finally start playing

Was this one of the HD penny movies?

I have just had a quick "play" and and, as normal on a weekend afternnon, I have the error messages. However, at the moment the problem seems confined to HD content only, SD VOD content works OK. As I have ever only tried to download HD VOD content this all points to a general capacity problem, as spiderplant said.

I will try again later on this evening and see if this is still the case.

OLD BOY · 02-11-2008, 13:49

Video on demand has been very good in my area and we've hardly had any problems at all.

However, in the last couple of days I have noticed that it has slowed right down and it can take an age to change pages.

I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

royaltiger · 02-11-2008, 16:02

Yes it was an HD movie

pabscars · 05-11-2008, 08:09

i too have the same problem, no VOD in the evening, not tried during the day yet monday to friday, ive only tried it a few times (10) since having it installed a couple of months back, but every time i press it, it says loading please wait.

but how long are you expected to wait. i left it ten minutes last night but still nothing.
when i finally gave up, it says temporarily offline, if this problem persists contact etc etc.
I take it this is acceptable to most people, or do you just have to expect this during peak times.
because if this is going to become the norm, then i can see me and VM falling out. My UBR is over utilised as i found out this week, but i read this may not be the issue with VOD tv, as it comes from the head end or something.
would i be within my rights to ask for a reduction in my bill, untill this is sorted ?.
not becaused i am a tight arse but i think this is the most productive way to get the wheels moving on upgrades, or getting the problem sorted IMO.

ive recently got a 2 month reduction on my BB because of the oversubscription issue, and just thought i may be able to force the issue again.
however i would like to point out that for me, its about consistent good performance and would rather pay full whack for the privelege, than use it as a bargaining tool to reduce my outgoings.

i understand that for VM its a balancing act, trying to get people the services they pay for and trying to make a good profit, but so far based on the services i have had for only a couple of months now things aren't exactly peachy.

As well as the VOD problem, there were also a few occasions where the screen froze, just like with Sky when you have bad weather, dont know if this is connected, but its never happened before.

maybe i am becoming a bit sceptical, but when i first had all VM's services installed, everything seemed to work great, on demand worked the first time i tried it, download speeds were good, online gaming good, but now after what seems like a settling in period, the quality of service appears reduced.

i am going to stick with Virgin Media, for a while at least because when they eventually get it right, i think the package they offer for all 3 services is very good.

apologies for going a bit off topic, but i just felt like a bit of a rant, so i shall step off my soap box and await any responces.

number.cruncher · 05-11-2008, 10:37

I've also suffered this twice in the last month. What really bugs me is that it bills you for the movie, than fails to show it. I've had to ring up twice to get them to remove the charge from my bill.... must remember to check they actually have.

mentalis · 05-11-2008, 11:55

I quote often have to wait for ages for my V+ to go into on demand or the BBC iPlayer from the BBC red button.

Although not ideal, rebooting the box works... until the next day.

pabscars · 05-11-2008, 12:59

if thats the case, what does rebooting your V+ actually do. i would have thought it was a supply problem, as in; not enough data coming down your line, although i have no concept of how the V+ box actually works.
i notice you also live in warrington, i would be interested if any one else in the warrington area was suffering the same fault.

twinstarzeon · 14-05-2009, 21:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaigee

I have had this problem with VOD for few weeks now rendering VOD viewing impossible. Everytime I attempt to download VOD content at peak times, i.e. all evenings and weekends from lunchtime onwards, I invariably receive a box informing me that "due to heavy demand in my area, VOD is temporarily unavailable, please try again later", this is accompanied by the error code 9132. Occasionally the message reads that "VOD is unavailable etc. etc.." with the error code 1087. At all other times, the VOD service generally works fine.

An engineer came out yesterday morning and said that the box was at fault and changed it. Everything worked fine, in fact the VOD menu navigation was much faster. However, come the afternoon and evening all was back to normal with no VOD and the same messages/error codes. This morning all works fine again as usual.

I questioned him as to whether it was an area capacity problem and the reply was that my local box/exchange is only using 25% of it's capacity and if my broadband was fine, which it is, then that was not the problem as that uses the same line.

I have posted this on another forum and it appears that very few people have the same problem. Does anyone here have/know about the problem and it's possible causes etc. etc.?

I have contacted Virgin and await another call from an engineer.

I have had VM for 4 months now and every evening i get that same message...'temp unavail because of high demand in your area'

It might interest you to know that i have phoned them at least 6 times about this issue providing the error code and all they can tell me is that it is a fault in my area and the illusive 'engineers' are working on it. They did admit to me that this problem has been going on since 05/03/2009 and its now the 14th May 09!!!! Why has this not been fixed yet?!! When i confronted the operator about the fact they are simply running 'over capacity' he said he couldnt comment and continued to read his script from his screen. The poor bloke was only trying to do his job (yes he was in India and being paid a pittance-managed to get that out of him!! RESULT, SHAME ON YOU VM!! I did confront him that he was just reading the answers to my quastion from a script and he denied it!! Yeah right, the only linear kind of answers like that you can only get from a ROBOT!!!! I am very unhappy as i switched from sky and never had problems like this. And just for the record....LOADS OF PEOPLE have the same problem with VOD. Rubbish, yet they still take our money and in true Brit style............we moan about it but never take any action! (as a group...it works in France!!)
Rant over!

---------- Post added at 21:14 ---------- Previous post was at 21:14 ----------

By the way, i'm in Leamington Spa.

---------- Post added at 21:16 ---------- Previous post was at 21:14 ----------

I like totally had a BF then!!

---------- Post added at 21:17 ---------- Previous post was at 21:16 ----------

(Bitch Fit!)

royaltiger · 14-05-2009, 21:39

Keep trying with the on demand, sometimes I found it to work after a couple of times of trying, probably heavy demand at the time of trying but it should eventually work

twinstarzeon · 14-05-2009, 22:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by royaltiger

Keep trying with the on demand, sometimes I found it to work after a couple of times of trying, probably heavy demand at the time of trying but it should eventually work

It has just started to work after about 20 attempts. The thing that annoys me is the fact they lie to you all the time. I work in an industry where things getting to people on time is paramount, you know what....the thing the customer appreciates the most is honesty. If theres a problem.....be honest about it!