The Truth About 50meg Broadband

Originally Posted by cllp1975

Please feel free to correct me and I will gladly update the site. However, I don't think any of my facts are wrong per say - perhaps incomplete in places.

And Virgin would be better off engaging with me than sueing me. I could quite happily sue them on a number of factors, but I'd much rather create an open dialogue.

My own feelings on this matter are ,if you have had these issues for a long time which is the inference in your blog then VM have been trying to solve your issues and a lot will depend on your attitude towards them .
without any more facts (and lets face it you haven't put many in you're blog)then i find it hard to sympathise because i know from my own experience running my own buisness that the customer ISN'T always right

[die5el]

(Quote from the log also) , you will probably never get anything like that speed. Virgin's advertising is not clear on this matter.

Well i know a few people with the 50 meg and we can max out our connection may be your pc is not up to the job or your pc is full of spyware or Trojans didnt read any further in to your blog as your first written comment on the left hand side isn`t true if you wasn`t happy you should have done what most people do Changed isps the grass isnt always greener on the other side oh well back to MAXING out my 50 meg connection lol

Originally Posted by die5el

(Quote from the log also) , you will probably never get anything like that speed. Virgin's advertising is not clear on this matter.

Well i know a few people with the 50 meg and we can max out our connection may be your pc is not up to the job or your pc is full of spyware or Trojans didnt read any further in to your blog as your first written comment on the left hand side isn`t true if you wasn`t happy you should have done what most people do Changed isps the grass isnt always greener on the other side oh well back to MAXING out my 50 meg connection lol

Agree with you there ,the blog does not state anything the OP has done to help himself
classic case is ME ,i got quite irrate with vm about 8 months back due to constant speed drops turned out it was my lappy and the security software i was using (norton360)no probs since ,has the OP tried cleaning his pc or changing his security software? he doesn't say any thing about this

[BarFly]

Got as far as the following & stopped reading..

I've lost around 7 thousand pounds in lost earnings, lost contracts and the cost of going to Starbucks to check my e-mail. Oh, and waiting in for engineers 11 days in a row. Including 4 hours on my birthday

If you want business SLA's take a business service..

[webcrawler2050]

Originally Posted by BarFly

Got as far as the following & stopped reading..



If you want business SLA's take a business service..

Gotta agree there aswell. This is just getting funny. However, we must be "nice" to him

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by cllp1975

Please feel free to correct me and I will gladly update the site. However, I don't think any of my facts are wrong per say - perhaps incomplete in places.

And Virgin would be better off engaging with me than sueing me. I could quite happily sue them on a number of factors, but I'd much rather create an open dialogue.

From Blog site: We don't want you as a customer....

They are continuing to offer a service that most customers can never hope to get

Can you prove that "most" customers can never hope to get it??????

Blog Site: Wifi Woes.

2.4ghz is a standard frequency and there is nothing wrong with it. 5ghz is relatively new and 5ghz equipment can cost approx 20% TO 30% more. 2.4ghz is adequate for the vast majority of users. Most machines out there will have 2.4ghz network cards too.

Why should VM increase the costs of the routers they provide to cater for what is, at the moment, a small percentage of users.

If you want higher end spec equipment then buy it yourself.

By the way how old is your machine and what frquency is your network card? could you even use the 5ghz?

Blog Site:They don't tell you. Because they don't know.

Make sure ALL your equipment is set to "100MB/Full Duplex". Dunno what that means? Why should you? Dunno how to do it? Well neither do most Virgin engineers

VM have several hundred engineers, + technical support staff. I assume you have spoken to them all, or surveyed them to come to that conclusion?

Now I should be helping you here. Except I can't - because depending on the components in your computer and which version of Windows/MAC OS/Linux you have, the process is different. Better ask the bods at Virgin then, eh? Oh... no... wait.... You can't.

They can they phone support, or they can look on the internet - you did. And if you did and managed to quickly become an authority on it then so can anyone else.

Blog Site:It Ain't What You Do, It's The Way You Encrypt It

As posted above, you're rant about WEP & WPA is just plain incorrect.


Blog Site:Connective Defective

I had a technician around once a month checking the signals coming into our house, because of dropped broadband signals, crap speeds and the V+ service going bananas. And they'd come, and off they'd go and the problem would reoccur.

Finally, we discovered last month that the little box in the wall with "ntl" on it was faulty. They could have checked that in the first place. But... nah.

So after much fault finding they found out what the issue is and resolved it. Do you know what in the termination box was faulty? how obvious the fault was? if the fault was similar to other types of fault?

No you don't, so you can't summise that the actions taken up until finding the issue with the termination box were erroneous.

Blog Site:Pilot The Drop

Perhaps someone should have checked it sooner??

Perhaps, but it doesn't work that way in business and managing resource. But what happend was that you reported a fault and the fault was resolved?

blog site: Drop The Pilot

All these problems. Go over to sites like Cable Forum and you'll see a catalogue of problems and disgruntled customers. And yet, whilst they're stll not able to deliver the service they offer, they're already piloting even faster broadband (up to 200meg) in parts of the country.

It's called development, there's also many happy VM customers on this site too.


Blog Site: Beware of the Neighbours....

Virgin Media's super-duper 50meg broadband service doesn't have any kind of traffic management. What that means is that anyone can upload and download as much as they like without any reprisals.

which is a major attraction

There's only a limited capacity on any network. And it's very difficult to gauge what other people are using their broadband for.

And there's very little they can do about it. And if that happens.... your broadband speed is screwed. Permanently.

No it's not, wrong, wrong, wrong.

Blog Site: Whats the Beef?

And of course, given that Virgin seem incapable of teaching people how to use their own service, I feel morally obliged to make sure that you have access to all the info.

So it's VMs fault that you find it hard to grasp the basics of wireless networking. VM shouldn't have to "teach" you anything. All VM provide is a cable capable of providing 50mb. They can try and help and advise you on how to set up your wireless router but if you are totally inept at doing to then I would have brought in someone who knew what they were doing to help you.

Blog Site:The Clue Flux Plan

Just stop winging.

[webcrawler2050]

Thats one hella response there - I'm not honestly sure what the OP was expecting by publishing all this? Maybe a group of people would join in.. I'd dread to think how not so many hits he has had

[Stuart]

From the blog

There are other issues too - if something on your network (say, a netbook) is only capable of receiving slower 802.11g signals, then you'll lose speed. And if you've got something really old (I have a wifi radio that uses 802.11b - a 10 year old standard) then your speed will decrease massively. So take them out of the loop. Use them as footstools or something. Because, after all - you're paying Virgin nearly a hundred quid a month for their services - why not go the whole hog and replace all your equipment too?

So, you are stating that Virgin are responsible for the fact that YOUR old hardware might cause the new, 50 meg router to slow the network? You do know that this is standard behaviour for routers, and (I think) is done because of the way WiFi works?

[Sirius]

I just wasted some of my life reading the crap on that site

[cllp1975]

I have a 2.4ghz dual core laptop with a 802.11n wireless card. I clean junk files and spyware check manually once a week, as well as my resident protection. I find it insulting that people assume I don't know my stuff. I know my stuff very, very well.

The fact is - the blog isn't aimed at you lot. You're as biased towards Virgin as I am against them - and for the record, I used to be one of you, before I got shafted royally.

You lot are cable enthusiasts who know their stuff. Most of you have the expertise and this fantastic community to ensure you have the information you need.

Consumer issues are about protecting the "have nots" and the blog is all about trying to get the facts in one place. This is a new thing for me, and I don't pretend to have all the answers or get it right immediately.

Thank you all for your valuable feedback. I am about to tweek the entries accordingly. But I am going to continue to moan and stand my ground, and you guys are going to continue to diss me for it. That's just the way it is. Free speech is all about difference of opinion.

Perhaps some constructive feedback, and some counter-opinion would be more useful that "well that's just crap then", eh?

You're representing Virgin's side, I'm representing the consumer. Imagine, just for a second this forum was Watchdog. What a lot of these comments equate to is Neil Berkett going on to defend his service by saying "But you're lying. It's all great... Your programme is crap.... We've got Living HD".

If you want to help me get it right - help. If you don't have anything constructive to say. Butt out. I'm not here to fight with you.

---------- Post added at 17:36 ---------- Previous post was at 17:22 ----------

Oh - and I might add, that I know my hardware is ok - but why would I write this blog for ME? It's for people who DON'T know they need the right hardware, or settings or whatever...

[Raistlin]

Uh, the whole point of the existence of this forum is for people with problems to come here. By its very nature this forum sees more posts of complaint and negative feelings directed towards Virgin than it does praise.

You can bet your bottom dollar that if people felt that they could empathise with what you were saying they'd be right on board with you, if they believed that what you were expressing was something that they could get behind and support they'd be only too happy to do so. There are few people here who are 100% Virgin Media 'fan boys'.

The posts above that are giving you negative feedback on various aspects of your blog suggest to me that if you actually want to reach out and form a bond with your target audience you've got a little work to do.

For the record, one of the biggest hindrances to any campaign of this nature is a lack of belief, faith, or trust, in the person driving it. If you can make sure that your message is spot on, accurate, and easy to follow, you'll find that there are enough people out there with similar complaints that you'll suddenly gain a lot of momentum. The first stage to this though is making sure that there's actually a genuine driver behind what you're doing, from some of the comments above it would appear that this may not be the case.

[cllp1975]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

From the blog

So, you are stating that Virgin are responsible for the fact that YOUR old hardware might cause the new, 50 meg router to slow the network? You do know that this is standard behaviour for routers, and (I think) is done because of the way WiFi works?

Ermmm.... yessssss. I know. Do I say it's VMs fault? I'm just saying what a new customer needs to know.

My constructive critisism cllp1975 is that you have used a scattergun approach in your blog with many of the pellets missing the target. If you have been royally shafted by Virgin then that is the story to tell but that story gets lost in all the other stuff you have posted, leaving people wondering whether you really do have a valid complaint. You should have gone in to detail about why you feel you have been hard done by, you could allways have added other stuff to the blog later.

if i don't like a particular brand of beans i don't buy them,i buy another ,if i am unhappy with a service ,i don't use it ,i go some were else,i used to be with sky but was unhappy about their service so i switched to vm ,if i beome so unhappy with vm service (and time will tell cos my 50meg gets installed on wednesday)then i will leave vm and cherrypick the best of sky and vm's services or even bt (shudder)
what you are doing although good in principle is just getting vm's back up because they can't please you, and we can't see past the "rant"because there are no facts for us to judge
The only conclusion i can come to given the info from the blog is that vm had a fault/faults reported and started a investigation and worked through the most likely causes first and eventually sorted it .
so if i were you i would take a chillpill and relax ...oh and seriously think about taking that blog down cos it's seriously deflamitory towards VM and unless you have all the facts to back it up then be carefull

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Rob M

Uh, the whole point of the existence ............

Exactly, VM get it wrong all the time and deserve to be brought to book when they do.

However, that blog, is just a rant full of factual inaccuracies.

I have a 2.4ghz dual core laptop with a 802.11n wireless card.

I see, so what you wrote regarding dual band routers

Originally Posted by from blog

Let's be fair. Not all of my problems were CAUSED by Virgin. But there were things that they could have done to prevent this dreadful and stressful situation.

There is a solution. Hooray! The most modern routers are capable of broadcasting at 2 frequencies - 2.4ghz and 5ghz. However, Virgin Media do not supply these.

But that wouldn't have prevented your gripe as your laptop is only kitted out for 2.4ghz. What could VM have done to prevent this dreadful situation in regards to WiFi that you claim.

I find it insulting that people assume I don't know my stuff. I know my stuff very, very well.

in that case why do you think

Originally Posted by from blog

And of course, given that Virgin seem incapable of teaching people how to use their own service

If you kbnow your stuff then why are VM incapable of teaching, why do they need to teach.

The fact is - the blog isn't aimed at you lot.

No but it's aimed potential VM customers, to which you are feeding disinformation.

the blog is all about trying to get the facts in one place. This is a new thing for me, and I don't pretend to have all the answers or get it right immediately

there are very few "facts" in anything you have posted - here or on your blog.

Perhaps some constructive feedback,

Get some facts. Write about issues that actually affected you.

I'm representing the consumer.

exactly in what way are you representing the consumer? All you are doing is printing misinformation, halftruths and inaccuracies.

Imagine, just for a second this forum was Watchdog. What a lot of these comments equate to is Neil Berkett going on to defend his service by saying "But you're lying. It's all great... Your programme is crap.... We've got Living HD".

If you want to help me get it right - help. If you don't have anything constructive to say. Butt out. I'm not here to fight with you.

As Rob says earlier, you're not credible. If you credible with credible issues and credible arguments there'd be no problem.

But when you come here, and you opening gambit is "I hoping to get a magazine or newspaper deal" then you'd better be sure that what you're writing will stand up to scrutiny. I'm afraid - it doesn't.

The fact that you're going to now go and "tweak" your blog entries jusr weakens your position .