General : WTF Is Going On?!!!

[AdamAdament]

I've been a Virgin Media customer for the last 15 years and have never really had any cause to complain, but WTF has happened to their broadband recently?! For the last couple of weeks I've been losing my broadband intermittently and when I do a fault finding check, I keep being told it's something to do with the DNS server having no connection. This only seems to happen in the evenings, which is really puzzling. I did speak to a particularly unhelpful 'customer services' operator who wouldn't offer much help because I couldn't remember what my security password was. I was then asked about recent bill payments and because I was unable to give her an exact figure, but pretty close it turned out, she wouldn't help and informed me that I would have to wait for some 'letter' to be sent out which would take between 7 and 10 days. I'm still waiting for it. Not a happy customer. And yet they have the audacity to come down on you like a ton of bricks if you're monthly bill isn't paid exactly on time, despite the fact you already pay a month in advance anyway.

[RobboEdin]

Perfectly acceptable security.

[pip08456]

Why don't you just change DNS on the devise you are using?

[oliver1948uk]

I have been a customer of NTL and VM for around 20 years and have always found their services reliable . . . until the last couple of months with short losses of broadband 3 or 4 times a week and occasionally several times in the same day. I was getting converted to streaming but it is no good without broadband you can totally rely upon.

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by oliver1948uk

I have been a customer of NTL and VM for around 20 years and have always found their services reliable . . . until the last couple of months with short losses of broadband 3 or 4 times a week and occasionally several times in the same day. I was getting converted to streaming but it is no good without broadband you can totally rely upon.

In fairness there have been mitigating factors over the last couple of months.

[General Maximus]

Originally Posted by AdamAdament

I keep being told it's something to do with the DNS server having no connection.

next time it happens manually override the dns settings on the device you are using to 8.8.8.8 (google's) and see if it rectifies the problem. VM have these occasional dns issues every year but they will be transparent and you will remain unaffected if you use another provider such as google.

[AdamAdament]

I get there have been 'mitigating factors' over the last few months.
I get 'Perfectly acceptable security'.
But, I've never had this DNS issue before. This is a recent thing. My frustration was simply because I wasn't being given any answers to rectify the problem, all because I couldn't remember my security password. I've never needed to use it. Is telling me what I need to do to solve the problem a security issue? I just wanted it sorted out because it's pretty annoying.

You have to remember they are trained to be like robots and follow "procedures" no matter how dumb those procedures are.

I have no clue what my password is, so in the rare occasions Im forced to ring them, they first tell me to have a guess, and if Im wrong, I have to answer other questions.

Then, once Im verified, they still wont tell me what the damn password is. Madness.

[roughbeast]

Regarding passwords.

I know my password very well. When the system asks me to hit the phone keys containing the three selected characters I always seem to get it wrong. When I speak to CS they always confirm the password that I know it is. Not sure what's wrong.

Regarding DNS I use 8.8.8.8 in my router so that I don't have to change the DNS on all my devices. I have not suffered the intermittent DNS failures.

[Travelstar]

I tend to find Cloudflare quicker than Google. 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 are the DNS entries to try if you want to go down that path. Virgin's DNS servers have always been awful.

[Tricky Trevor]

But if you are phoning in,there is a prompt to key in three letters from your password on the keypad in order to get to speak to someone anyway.

[Taf]

Originally Posted by Tricky Trevor

But if you are phoning in,there is a prompt to key in three letters from your password on the keypad in order to get to speak to someone anyway.

And I always fail at that, so it's a pointless step.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Paul

You have to remember they are trained to be like robots and follow "procedures" no matter how dumb those procedures are.

I have no clue what my password is, so in the rare occasions Im forced to ring them, they first tell me to have a guess, and if Im wrong, I have to answer other questions.

Then, once Im verified, they still wont tell me what the damn password is. Madness.

I once rang up to ask for my password. The person at the offshore call centre replied "yes, certainly Sir. Can you give me your password please."

[Kushan]

I'm glad virgin won't let people access my account by simply giving a vague guess as to what my monthly bill is. Sounds like the operator is doing their job, there.

If you don't know your password, then change it. You can ask them to do that, you just need to answer some other security questions (usually about your bill). It's not their fault you forgot your password.

And finally, the DNS thing....yes, while I agree it's better to use a 3rd party DNS server than rely on Virgin's, I don't actually think that's the issue that OP is seeing. Being unable to contact the DNS server usually means the connection itself is down, not the DNS server (Even if it's Virgin's).

[spankysmagicpian]

There is something weird going on. Got up this morning - no internet connection on my phone, work laptop or my PC. Work lappy then connected quite happily to the VPN, only way I could get mine to connect was to change the DNS to Googles and my phone connected to the other router (Apple) rather than the Shub3....which incidentally, I have rebooted twice.

Apple router is fine as it's getting an IP from the Shub and internet is good to go. Connect directly to the Shub and it gets an IP but no internet.