VM General News Thread

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Gavin-D

Virgin Media have won the Which? Shoddy Awards for being the worst broadband provider.

Is that the actual broadband or the customer service?

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Your link to this “made up, never going to happen” story, is to your own blog.

There is no link to a verifiable independent source.

Unless I’ve missed it, in which case please point me towards it.

And you are surprised why?

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

Is that the actual broadband or the customer service?

I would think their customer service, which has never been great.
Their actual broadband has always been good (around here anyway).

I'll be leaving it not becasue its poor, but the price, and lack of fixed IP.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Gavin-D

Virgin Media have won the Which? Shoddy Awards for being the worst broadband provider.

Virgin Media O2 also lost 13,600 customers in Q2

Sounds about right

[vincerooney]

Originally Posted by Paul

I would think their customer service, which has never been great.
Their actual broadband has always been good (around here anyway).

I'll be leaving it not becasue its poor, but the price, and lack of fixed IP.

i get the price issues but i thought we had a fixed IP address?

Originally Posted by vincerooney

i get the price issues but i thought we had a fixed IP address?

Nope, VM IPs are dynamic, they dont often change, but they can.
My VM IP has changed 3 times this year, its a real pain as all my server access is IP based.

[vincerooney]

Originally Posted by Paul

Nope, VM IPs are dynamic, they dont often change, but they can.
My VM IP has changed 3 times this year, its a real pain as all my server access is IP based.

i had no idea. i thought with broadband it remained the same forever. ah every day is a school day!

[Horizon]

https://variety.com/2024/biz/news/jo...ks-1236154920/

The old codger John Malone is still knocking around and still doing deals, merging Charter with Liberty Broadband. Unlike what I said in the first post of this thread, the deals have come at a slower pace than expected, but he's still at it.

The first post in the thread has a helpful, yet out of date infographic of all Malone's interests and I had expected him to merge all of them by now, but there's still time.

As the article says, Malone also has a large shareholding in Warner Discovery. He used to control Discovery and Discovery's ex boss who is the current Warner boss, is Malone's man, so more consolidation may still happen after this latest deal. Malone sits on the Warner Board and has now been joined by his nephew, so there's little doubt that Malone wields considerable influence, if not control, on Warner Discovery.

Malone is also close to Comcast boss Brian Roberts, so we may still end up with a mega cableco/media company at some point, which may or may not include VM, but ultimately I still believe that Big Tech will gobble up the lot in the not too distant future.

BTW: Talking of Comcast and Warner, they're at war over Harry Potter. Sky is suing Warner over it:

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/sky...it-1236158357/

Sky's deal with Warner for Sky Atantic content expires at the end of 2025 and that will not include the new Harry Potter series. Also, Comcast is very keen to retain HP for its theme parks, including the new one for the UK. Planning permission for that is going to the government soon, so either these companies settle their differences in court, or in bed.

[bamav]

Originally Posted by Paul

I would think their customer service, which has never been great.
Their actual broadband has always been good (around here anyway).

I'll be leaving it not becasue its poor, but the price, and lack of fixed IP.

I randomly stumbled on this, but do you know you can get a fixed IP through some VPNs? No idea of the cost, but an option if your service is otherwise fine.

KR,
B

Originally Posted by bamav

I randomly stumbled on this, but do you know you can get a fixed IP through some VPNs?

Yes, I'm well aware of that. I already have one for work.
However, I dont want one at home, I want my main home IP to be fixed.

Aside from that, VM are also expensive, and worse, they are ripping me off compared to a new user with the same service.

[bamav]

Originally Posted by Paul

Yes, I'm well aware of that. I already have one for work.
However, I dont want one at home, I want my main home IP to be fixed.

Aside from that, VM are also expensive, and worse, they are ripping me off compared to a new user with the same service.

Cool.

Agree - frustrating to see family members on VM being charged price increase every year while new deals are super cheap.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by bamav

Cool.

Agree - frustrating to see family members on VM being charged price increase every year while new deals are super cheap.

When your deal is up, simply get a better deal to avoid a price increase. I had Sky Cinema thrown in for free last time, and this year ahead a tenner reduction on my monthly bill.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

When your deal is up, simply get a better deal to avoid a price increase. I had Sky Cinema thrown in for free last time, and this year ahead a tenner reduction on my monthly bill.

What they seem to be doing is signing people up for extra services rather than offering a decent price cut.

For example, if their system says you could get the same services for £25 less, they offer free Sky Cinema and a tenner off.

A bit like a restaurant offering a free starter as opposed to a price cut on the same meal.

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

When your deal is up

That could be 12+ months away.

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

simply get a better deal to avoid a price increase.

Simply ?
There is nothing simple about it, esp with VMs customer "service".

Aside from which I should not have waste lots of my time trying to get better deals that new customers just get. I should just get them as well.

Many companis reward loyalty, VM does the exact opposite.

[1andrew1]

Altnets are the way to go. Beating the incumbents on speed, service and price.