Help!

[Checky]

Hi There,

After a about 2 weeks of constant internet problems due to Virgin updating the software last night an engineer came out, didnt really look at anything, checked the signal strength and just changed the box for a new Samsung one. Ok i thought now should get a decent connection and all problems solved. The engineer turned around and said the internet should come through in about half an hour and that i would have to put in the pid again. Ok i thought, seems a normal thing, as i suspected that the config file would needed to be downloaded. Half an hour came and no connection, so on the phone to Virgin i go. Basically the problem was that there was no QOS file just said (no-bia.cm) in the area next to QOS. The first woman said she knew what was up and that she would try and fix it. After it seems she couldnt do she turned around and said that the account wasnt in balance. (whatever that means) and tried to fob me off with a cable modem being sent out to me, after some arguing as to the point that i need the connection i agreed, to be told that an active direct debit would have to be set up or she can put me through to Television faults as she said it was there problem. So off to television faults i was sent, to be sent to another department, who checked the account, said it was all fine and that it was just a case of the cable configuration file being sent to the set top box. So was transferred to im guessing a broadband faults place again, where they proceeded to have me take apart my network, even after telling them on no less than 8 times that it was the QOS file that was missing and i needed that sending to my set top box. After more than an hour on the phone to this woman and her not listening to me telling her the problem, she eventually turned around and said there was a fault with the server sending out the cable config file. At this point i had asked to speak to a manager or 2nd level support as it was obvious she was just reading from a script and i had had enough of her telling me it was a fault with the pc/network. This manager first told me it was a fault with the server and then told me that the box takes 24 hours to receive the cable modem config file. Which then caused an arguement to the case of well what is it? She then said she would gaurentee that my connection would be back in 24 hours to which i took her name and was left with no connection full stop.

Before the box switch the connection was running the best it had in the last 2 weeks.

Basically im wondering on what the actual truth is in this situation? how long it is gonna take to get fixed? If there was actually a fault with the server sending the .cm file or if i have just been fobbed off after a 2 hour phone call.

Post code is M32
Samsung Set top box.

At the moment i aint at home and wont be back til 6pm this evening, but after checking this morning still had no joy or QOS file.

Regards and thanks anyone that can help
Checky

Ps .. if anymore details are needed, please dont hesitate to ask

---------- Post added at 11:52 ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 ----------

After reading the above again it sounds like i was on a bit of a rant, wasnt meant to sound like that just got to me abit annoyed not being able to connect specially when i was able to before the engineer came out

To add to the above if anyone can get this fixed for me then i would be extremely grateful.

Regards
Checky

[Mick Fisher]

Hi Checky
Wish I could help but I know zilch about Inet through STB.
It sounds very much like you have been given the usual run around by clueless support staff.
The only advice I can give is to go with the suggestion of taking a SACM self install kit. Generally you will get a better performance through a SACM and be capable of recieving the higher speeds we are promised as at present you are limited to, I think, 6mbps through a Sammie.
Waiting a day or so for the self install kit to arrive and then setting it up will probably be quicker and less painless than trying to sort things out by phoning the, as you have found out, pathetically inadequate so called support.

[Checky]

Hi Mick,

I would have got the Sacm and had requested to have my connection that way a good while ago to no avail. I was going to do this and wait for it to arrive but was asked to set up an Active Direct Debit on the account which i was unwilling to do due to billing errors in the past. I am not willing to allow Virgin media to take however much money they want from my bank account espacially when they have messed up previous bills.

It shouldnt matter how the bill is paid as long as it is paid but it seems now that you have to have a Direct debit set up to get anywhere.

Im hoping tonight when i get in that the connection is working again, if not and it aint sorted out tonight i think i will be moving away from Virgin Media.

Checky

[Beerzo]

I know i had problems with my speed (see 20mb customer not getting speed thread).

They said i was on the wrong server changed it over blah blah blah they done this twice supposedly. CE attended couldn't do anything. Then that night the ce attend the speed suddenly went back to normal. I was getting 33kb one minute then 1.8Mb the next.

So there maybe some truth in something take 24 hours to take or download.

Not sure if it is the same thing that is happening to you though.

[Mick Fisher]

Oh it 's the DD or not thing. Sorry I didn't realise.
Well we are rapidly moving toward a cashless society so I think you are fighting a lost cause. Nevertheless forcing people into it by wielding such a big financial stick as VM has done is guaranteed to make folks look for better deals elsewhere. I heard today on the local radio that BT have followed VM and introduced a charge too. The difference is that BT only charge £1.00 monthly as opposed to VM's £5.00 monthly. So if you are having BB problems with VM, and their seem to be increasingly many that are, and are opposed to a £5.00 monthly non-DD charge then maybe BT is worth a look. Maybe there are still some who make no charge at all, but I'm afraid I don't know.
It's strange but I'm beginning to think that VM have a think tank dedicated solely to the task of "How To Quickly Drive Our Users Into Signing Up With Our Competitors". One things for sure, if they did then all the members would be in line to receive huge bonus's as they are doing an absolutely splendid job.

[r00t]

I'll need your MAC, house number and post code, phone number ( if its a VM one ). Don't post them here, PM me, though check with one of the forum staff first, you don't want to be giving out your details willy-nilly

I work for ex-Blueyoner so I can't promise you that I'll be able to find you on our system, with luck you'll be a ICOMS account and I will.
I'll be able to tell if your account is balanced or not, though from what you have wrote already it sounds as though there is a linerunner error.

As I said I can't promise, but I'll give it a go.

And for the record I hate the term(s) " script reader ", " reading from a script "
/r00t

r00t:edit,
I'm not in work untill monday now, so I hope you don't mind the wait and it maybe in the late afternoon ( on my lunch ) when I get a chance to check.

[NTLVictim]

"linerunner error" ??

I am intrigued..

[Checky]

Hehe... Thanks for the replies.. sorry for not thanking early, busy as hell at work...

Im hoping it is sorted by the time i get home i do actually like the setup i have at the moment and have done for a long time.. im mostly annoyed being told different things by different people and being sent around the world in the space of 2 hours and not being listened to when im telling them exactly what is wrong.

Will update when i get in if i can access here from my phone

Checky

---------- Post added at 16:36 ---------- Previous post was at 16:34 ----------

Originally Posted by r00t

I'll need your MAC, house number and post code, phone number ( if its a VM one ). Don't post them here, PM me, though check with one of the forum staff first, you don't want to be giving out your details willy-nilly

I work for ex-Blueyoner so I can't promise you that I'll be able to find you on our system, with luck you'll be a ICOMS account and I will.
I'll be able to tell if your account is balanced or not, though from what you have wrote already it sounds as though there is a linerunner error.

As I said I can't promise, but I'll give it a go.

And for the record I hate the term(s) " script reader ", " reading from a script "
/r00t

r00t:edit,
I'm not in work untill monday now, so I hope you don't mind the wait and it maybe in the late afternoon ( on my lunch ) when I get a chance to check.

Cheers R00t... i will see what happens tonight when i get home, if no joy and no joy on the phone i will get my details over for you

Thanks
Checky

[Checky]

Update... basically after another hour and a half on the phone last night i gave up.

Rung up bb support, explained to the bloke on the end who seemed to have something about him knowledge wise, said the BB wasnt active on the account, and passed me to customer service, who from what im aware tried to activate it. She then came back saying all was ok and then sent me back to someone im guessing in serious front line support who proceeded to attempt to do all the normal tests via the script. Admittedly i told him not to bother with the tests as it isnt a problem here. To read the notes on the account and send the cable modem config file. Still no joy so he was planning on sending an engineer out.. at which point i had received a call on my other phone which i had to answer. Seen as i had been on hold for varying amounts of time i asked the person in BB support to hold 2 secs while i answered this. Quick hello, can i ring you back when i found out who it was, was all i did. Go back to the phone with Virgin Media on and they had hung Up.

Call back and get through to someone different who decides to use a tool there, and that comes back saying that we have no set top box here. Im like, well, i can see the box, i can tell you the box's ip, its saying dhcp return path is on, the channel work fine looks pretty alright to me. He then proceeded to tell me that i will need a cable modem and cannot have broadband through the set top box. I was also told that i would have to have an active direct debit on the account so that they could set up the cable modem on a different system which to me means i would have 2 Virgin media accounts. This was refused by myself and i asked for cancellations.

The thing what is getting me is the fact that the connection was working pretty alright on Thursday before the engineer came, i'd had personal gaurentee's that it would be working, and it just seems that i have to have a direct debit for a connection no matter what.

Does anyone have any experience of the above about the set top box not being there? Or just any ideas at all, the earliest sky can get me in is like a month away, to be honest i would prefer to stay with Virgin Media..

And if anyone was wondering, i am currently on the worse connection from hell! My phone bluetoothed to my machine using its GPRS connection as my net connection

[r00t]

Any update on this Checky?
I'm in work tomorrow so I can have a bash at it on my lunch hour