No techs available

The_Bullet · 28-01-2009, 00:49

Hi all. I am in the peterborough area and I have a problem. My internet is now down. It worked fine until an "apparent" QAM" change happened. Now my ready light blinks on and off constantly. I am also only intermittently able to connect to my modem page - most of the time I get an unable to connect message. The ethernet port on my motherboard is fine, as I have just unplugged the very same cable from the virgin modem (ambit 256), and plugged it into my adsl modem (different isp used for others pc's).After contacting tech support I was astonished to be told that whilst I did indeed need a tech visit, there were no engineer slots available for the forseeable future, and that I would have to call back another day. Unreal

After complaining about this, I was informed they would send me another modem out. I still feel that I will need a tech visit, but how to arrange one, I am not sure. I am unable to connect to the virgin newsgroups with this non virgin isp (as far as I know).

moaningmags · 28-01-2009, 00:54

What do you use for the newsgroups? If it's Outlook Express you can tick the option to authenticate your logon, using your primary username and password, this will allow you access from a non VM IP address.
If your account says there's no techs available for the foreseeable future, that's an account issue and needs to be raised with the correct dept.
Call back in the morning and keep calling until you get Liverpool or Scotland or try posting in the newsgroups using your username so they can identify your account.
Don't post account numbers in there tho.

The_Bullet · 28-01-2009, 01:07

Thanks for the reply. It's the tech support line that told me that there were no tech support slots available. As for the newsgroups, when I try non virgin newsgroups within news.virginmedia.com (or ntlworld) the messages will download, but soon as I click on a Virgin newgroup I get a "411 no such group" message. Authenticating the login doesn't seem to help. Thanks...

moaningmags · 28-01-2009, 01:26

Has to be an account issue causing the no tech quota, I'd recommend calling in the morning.

As for the 411 no such group error, sorry I have no clue.

Peter_ · 28-01-2009, 06:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Bullet

Hi all. I am in the peterborough area and I have a problem. My internet is now down. It worked fine until an "apparent" QAM" change happened. Now my ready light blinks on and off constantly. I am also only intermittently able to connect to my modem page - most of the time I get an unable to connect message. The ethernet port on my motherboard is fine, as I have just unplugged the very same cable from the virgin modem (ambit 256), and plugged it into my adsl modem (different isp used for others pc's).After contacting tech support I was astonished to be told that whilst I did indeed need a tech visit, there were no engineer slots available for the forseeable future, and that I would have to call back another day. Unreal

After complaining about this, I was informed they would send me another modem out. I still feel that I will need a tech visit, but how to arrange one, I am not sure. I am unable to connect to the virgin newsgroups with this non virgin isp (as far as I know).

Probably an area fault or what they refer to as an outage and therefore no engineers can be booked, been there done the call and had that response from them.

I bet it was India who wanted to replace the modem as a quick fix to get you off the phone.

The_Bullet · 28-01-2009, 10:10

Just got through to TS (uk) this morning. Still unable to get a tech visit. They are booked up solid for the next 2 weeks, there is obviously a large number of people in my area with the same problem, but no mention of it on the service status line or website. It appears that a change from QAM64 to QAM256 has caused problems

.

SimpleSimon · 28-01-2009, 19:26

Hi The_Bullet

I'm in PE3, where are you? I have just checked my modem and I have QAM256 and last night when I got in from work I had no internet. All I had to do was a reboot of my modem and router and all has been well since.

Simon

The_Bullet · 29-01-2009, 13:13

In PE7 here. I tried all the usual steps but all with the same result. Sometime between late last night and early this morning (thursday) it came back online again. Things seem fine now, although the change to QAM 256 has raised my downstream power level up to +13.2. I don't know if this is too high or not.

cabsandy · 03-02-2009, 19:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Bullet

In PE7 here. I tried all the usual steps but all with the same result. Sometime between late last night and early this morning (thursday) it came back online again. Things seem fine now, although the change to QAM 256 has raised my downstream power level up to +13.2. I don't know if this is too high or not.

One of the bandwidth upgrade paths is to upgrade the downstream from QAM64 to QAM256.Some of the older modems dont like it.I'm surprised no one told you to reboot the modem before booking a truck?
Also, QAM256 requires a higher level of downstream MER/SNR to operate at the same BER so the power levels in the headend/hub are raised to achieve this. +13 is a wee bit high but unless you get other problems, I wouldn't worry.

HTH