Huge network investment

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Seems Mr Mockridge is a little rattled by the offers of BT Sport included with Broadband and free broadband with Sky Sports as he seems to be critical of both Sky and BT , he shouldn't have anything to fear with the best network and the fact he keeps telling us about everyone's hunger for super fast connections.


VM have never done this before have they ? Free HD channels anyone , later changed to included.


Hybrid fibre-coaxial , Hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) is a telecommunications industry term for a broadband network that combines optical fiber and coaxial cable. Copper or no copper ?

Do you actually think Mockridge doesn't understand the difference between a twisted pair and coax?

In point of fact, that paragraph doesn't even quote his direct words, it's a paraphrase, summarised by the hack who wrote the article.

[muppetman11]

I'm sure he does , I merely quoted it because the same line is used on the website and on much of the advertising I've seen.

Even people in the industry have questioned the way its advertised.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/10...bre-optic.html

Originally Posted by muppetman11

I'm sure he does , I merely quoted it because the same line is used on the website and on much of the advertising I've seen.

That's because while Mockridge understands the difference, the average punter doesn't. 'copper' and 'fibre' have been acceptable shorthand for the difference between UK cable networks and BT's last mile for decades. It may be hopelessly inaccurate but neither Ofcom nor the ASA have ever raised any objection.

[Qtx]

Originally Posted by Chris

It may be hopelessly inaccurate but neither Ofcom nor the ASA have ever raised any objection.

That may be changing, similar to when VM were told they couldn't advertise their broadband as unlimited. Where they could change the traffic management slightly to get around the issue before, they won't be able to do the same when it comes to the point that fibre means fibre to the property. It will be interesting when only BT and a few independent can advertise their fibre products.

[nn012]

If I remember rightly only a few years ago Sky and BT tried to stop VM advertising their cable BB product as fibre optic, but failed. Now Sky have no problem calling the same sort of hybrid product while piggybacking on BT's network as fibre optic! The other FTTC providers too.

Are these still accurate or relevant?

[Qtx]

Originally Posted by nn012

If I remember rightly only a few years ago Sky and BT tried to stop VM advertising their cable BB product as fibre optic, but failed. Now Sky have no problem calling the same sort of hybrid product while piggybacking on BT's network as fibre optic! The other FTTC providers too.

Are you suggesting that VM may call their hybrid network fibre but Sky and BT may not? The others followed VM's lead.

The images are wrong from the start as it says cable is a superior technology. DOCSIS has a lot of limitations and VM's network is more susceptible to things like congestion at local nodes compared to Openreach based fibre which has so many Gigabit links or something from the cabinet. Then there is upload speeds where VM is far inferior. The only thing they have is top download speed over FTTC really.

[Cobbydaler]

VM's organisation is still chaotic.

I cancelled my account 10 months ago due to emigrating to the States.

Today I get this e-mail:

Virgin Media Automated Billing Reminder

Date 17th June 2014
This e-mail has been sent you by Virgin Media to inform you that we were
unable to process your most recent payment of bill. This might be due to
one of the following reasons:
A recent change in your personal information such as Name or address.
Your Credit or Debit card has expired.
Insufficient funds in your account.
Cancellation of Direct Debit agreement.
Your Card issuer did not authorize this transaction.
To avoid Service interruption you will need to update your billing profile, failure to update your profile may lead in service cancellation and termination.
Please click on the link below to login to e-Billing. You will need to login using your primary E-mail address.
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Once logged in you will need to fill in the required fields, please ensure all address and contact details are up to date, once submitted your account details will automatically be updated within 24 Hours.
Kind Regards,

Virgin Media
Customer Services Team

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by Cobbydaler

VM's organisation is still chaotic.

I cancelled my account 10 months ago due to emigrating to the States.

Today I get this e-mail:

Err... it's a phishing attempt

http://netreport.virginmedia.com/netreport/

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

It's significantly better than when I joined ntl in Customer Services almost 9 years ago. Some of the stuff I came across then was shocking, and the call queues to some areas could be literally over an hour.

In my recent experience it's worse than ever. I've spoken to 4 people recently about kahuna upgrades. All 4 people either didn't know what they were doing or lied. My bill has changed daily for about a week. I eventually gave up calling and wrote a letter, the person who called me to resolve the issue was rude, didn't understand the problem and came up with some convoluted billing change that I didn't understand or trust but I'd lost the will to live at this point.

[Qtx]

Originally Posted by Wicked_and_Crazy

All 4 people either didn't know what they were doing or lied.

That was one of the things that I found shocking while with Virgin. Never ever had a company lie to me in the way Virgin Media media did and so many times. Pretty much every department too, from the the day I signed up. Sales told me I would get something as part of the deal which I never got and when chased I was told they wouldn't tell me that as they can't offer it. When I told them to check the call they said they wouldn't have recordings of it, which is either another lie or why sales feel they can get away with lieing to gain customers. Then support lied to me many times about many things. Even one of the so called CEO department reps blatantly lied to me. Even when leaving the retentions woman lied to me. Another lie she told me was just down to not having the knowledge but when I explained that VM is fibre to the cabinet and copper to the house she insisted I was wrong and she knew better. We know VM carry this lie through most departments tough.

I highly recommend you record any calls you make with Virgin. I wish I had!

[craigj2k12]

The boss of Virgin Media has slammed his former firm BSkyB - branding its broadband “lousy”.

Wonder how much of a bonus he got for that?

---------- Post added at 01:51 ---------- Previous post was at 01:49 ----------

Originally Posted by Chris

Do you actually think Mockridge doesn't understand the difference between a twisted pair and coax?

Probably not, the same way the BT CEO probably doesnt

[nn012]

Originally Posted by Qtx

Are you suggesting that VM may call their hybrid network fibre but Sky and BT may not? The others followed VM's lead.

Err no, I cant see how I suggested that. Simply pointing out the hypocrisy of said ISPs.

The images are wrong from the start as it says cable is a superior technology. DOCSIS has a lot of limitations and VM's network is more susceptible to things like congestion at local nodes compared to Openreach based fibre which has so many Gigabit links or something from the cabinet. Then there is upload speeds where VM is far inferior. The only thing they have is top download speed over FTTC really.

The images are no completely wrong. For example the distance point is a good point as VM more often than not deliver advertised speeds, while on FTTC there are always massive variations. As for congestion, it does point out that fibre deep access can be split as demand rise, which I assume as a simpleton is when they split the node. The reports of network congestion are nowhere as common as they were some years ago, even at greater speeds and no STM on downloading.

The bandwidth point is another good point of how cable can deliver HD, VOD, BB and more without affecting your internet speed. As for upload speeds, if VM return to their 10:1 ratio then their top upload speed would only be 4Mb lower than FTTC. There's also DOCSIS 3.1 around the corner with promises of greater upload speeds.

[Ignitionnet]

Cable networks are superior to FTTC-based VDSL 2 networks. Had Openreach prised open their vice-like buttocks and invested seriously rather than spending the bare minimum they would be competitive, as it is they will perhaps hit 100Mb if you live very close to the cabinet but no more for years.

VM laugh at the speeds Openreach offer everywhere besides 62,000 premises in Cornwall, where they received subsidies, and another 30-40,000 premises elsewhere in the rest of the country, some of that subsidised, right now.

There is no real drive for VM to do a massive network investment. The competition, broadband speeds wise, is a joke and relies on add-ons and pricing to compete, not network.

[Cobbydaler]

Originally Posted by spiderplant

Err... it's a phishing attempt

http://netreport.virginmedia.com/netreport/

Yes, I checked the headers:

Received: from 123-3-238-154.static.dsl.dodo.com.au (123-3-238-154.static.dsl.dodo.com.au [123.3.238.154])

Clever one though, looked very authentic.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

There is no real drive for VM to do a massive network investment. The competition, broadband speeds wise, is a joke and relies on add-ons and pricing to compete, not network.

VM only competes in half the country so I can see a need for it to invest in this respect.