Is anyone else in Sheffield getting intermittendly really bad broadband speeds with Virgin Media ? Sometimes mine is all but unuseable.

When I rang them they were very non-comittal, saying that yes, there is a longstanding problem it that area and we don't know when it will be sorted etc etc.

I'm really considering changing suppliers now as it is getting ridiculous; I've put up with it in the past mainly due to the faff of changing email addresses etc, but it's happening more and more now and I aren't going to carry on paying for something I'm not getting.

I don't have a problem with speeds when I am connected, but seem to have periods of a couple of days when the connection gets dropped rather too frequently.

When re-connected (after restarting the modem and/or router) the speed I get is fine.

I have a few problems now and again, nothing too major though.

Is anyone else in Sheffield getting intermittendly really bad broadband speeds with Virgin Media ? Sometimes mine is all but unuseable.

When I rang them they were very non-comittal, saying that yes, there is a longstanding problem it that area and we don't know when it will be sorted etc etc.

I'm really considering changing suppliers now as it is getting ridiculous; I've put up with it in the past mainly due to the faff of changing email addresses etc, but it's happening more and more now and I aren't going to carry on paying for something I'm not getting.

I have exactly the same problem. I've tried complaining but some chap 3000 miles away told me that he could see that I didn't have a problem :confused:

It really is disgraceful service. Especially compared to what it was like when it was Telewest.

I've rang them up to cancel in the past, but they just keep offering me discounts. They still work out the cheapest for me as I don't have a landline, plus the track records of the others are none to great either.

What did they tell you, is this problem likely to be fixed?

We've got an engineer fron virgin coming this afternoon.
The net keep's dropping for hours on end and the V+ box keep's freeze framing.
Took me ages to get through on the phone on Friday, their service has really gone downhill, customer service is non existent since it changed to Virgin.

They turned our internet connection off for over 6 hours on Friday!!! With no explaination!!!! According to some other people I have talked to Virgin do this alot to people to reduce the amount of usage!!!! We are signed up to the XL package and we only get 2meg internet!!! They just seem to do what they like!!!

Here's an address to write to for compensation:

Virgin Media
Customer Concern
PO Box 333
Matrix Court
Swansea
SA7-9BB

Explain your disatisfaction, and request compensation for inconvenience and loss of service.

;)

OOOOO thanks for that!!! :) Classic Rock will be pleased!!!! ;)

I've seen they've been getting rapped in the press lately for false advertising and believe they cap/restricit/throttle certain ports (Bit Torrent etc... if you're into that).

That being said, are you sure it is Virgin though? I moved into a new build flat the other year, transferring my ISP over from my previous residence. In the old place the service had been spot on, the new place it was intermittant at best... I called the ISP up, had them do line checks etc... but to no avail.

After doing a bit of digging (google) I came accross the 'bellwire fix' - turns out whoever laid the wiring did a shoddy job of it, I did the bellwire fix and had no problems since.

At least you can get Virgin, I can't! :loopy:

But then after extensive Googling and looking on the Virgin Media web site, I discovered that in order to be able to watch the WWE wrestling on Virgin Media, I'd have to pay an extra £28 a month for subscription to Sky Sports on top of what I'd already be paying to VM, sod that when I get a full Sky package with sky Plus for £40 a month.

there monitoring the net work, and throttling the connections of heavy users. some people will recieve letter warning then of abusing the connection, and remind them of terms of contact

I don't have a problem with speeds when I am connected, but seem to have periods of a couple of days when the connection gets dropped rather too frequently.

When re-connected (after restarting the modem and/or router) the speed I get is fine.

Exactly what we've been experiencing recently, particularly weekends. Yesterday was awful, 5 mins on and 10 mins off.

When it's on it's fast, but when it's off it's err off. Very frustrating to be honest.

I've even signed up for a mobile Vodafone USB stick mainly as cover for the Virgin service recently.

:(

...When it's on it's fast, but when it's off it's err off. Very frustrating to be honest....
I had been starting to think it might be my modem and/or router playing up so good to see someone else suffers same ;)

I've noticed when uploading patches for my PS3 that the speeds drop massively. i called them to say that it was unnaceptable to which the lady replied they do not support PS3 networking and I should refrain from using my connection to get onto the Playstation Network !! :loopy:

count yourself lucky! my connection for the last month / month and half, maybe long lasts on average 6 mins then restarts!! yesterday it restarted every min until late at night which it stayed on then!

im gettin a BT engineer out tomorrow to look at it as Virgin are the slowest people to solve your problems

I came accross the 'bellwire fix' - turns out whoever laid the wiring did a shoddy job of it, I did the bellwire fix and had no problems since.

Yup - the bellwire fix is a good suggestion, unless you've got one of the older type boxes.....apparently you're "not allowed" to meddle with that version.

An outfit called Vispa has started selling something called an iplate (£17-ish), which claims to speed things up considerably, but those "in the know" claim that the (free) bellwire fix does exactly the same.....

If you're running a torrent client in the background, try closing it and see if your connection speeds up.

I've often had problems with Virgin Media products. Its mainly their television stuff that has caused me the most hassel though. Almost a month before they would come out to tell me my box was broken. I'd told them that, so why did ihave to wait a month for them to repeat it to me?!?!

Yup - the bellwire fix is a good suggestion, unless you've got one of the older type boxes.....apparently you're "not allowed" to meddle with that version.

An outfit called Vispa has started selling something called an iplate (£17-ish), which claims to speed things up considerably, but those "in the know" claim that the (free) bellwire fix does exactly the same.....

Just realised that I forgot to show the link, for anybody who's interested.....

http://www.jarviser.co.uk/jarviser/bellwirenutshell.html

Aol are the worst and there Customer service is an Absolute Disgrace they have people from 5000 miles away in India on the phone who can barely speak a word of english which makes it even worse as it is hard to tell what they are saying.:mad:

I've noticed when uploading patches for my PS3 that the speeds drop massively. i called them to say that it was unnaceptable to which the lady replied they do not support PS3 networking and I should refrain from using my connection to get onto the Playstation Network !! :loopy:

It's any excuse, I'm suprised they didn't tell you it was smething wrong with your PS3 ;) Seems to be the general jist of VM's customer service.

Most people will be falling foul of VM's traffic management system. Use your connection at full speed for 30 mins (on all the tarrifs), you will be capped to 1/4 of your advertised rate for 5 hours. This is active for 10 hours a day (mainly 10am->9pm). If you're capped at 8:59pm, you will stay capped for 5 hours from that time.

It's part of the Fair Use Policy, which no one in their right mind would call anything like fair. It's just an excuse to give less and charge more.

ive been on orange for far too long
it says 52kbps but it rarely gets above 3kbps when downloading,
they say they can't upgrade me to broadband,but won't say what the problem is,
i was on the verge of heading the way of virgin .. but i doub't that after reading the above posts :rolleyes:

the nets lost its glam to me,all the providers are just into ripping their customers off,
i pay £17 per month for the rubbish service i get,even when you are having problems with yours i bet your still getting faster speeds than i put up with :rolleyes:

JJ..

is the problem with vm broadband in the whole of Sheffield as we are moving soon and not wanting to rub it in get great speeds up north it will be a real shock to the system

Virgin Media
Customer Service Manager 01924 215918 (direct Line)

Virgin Media
Customer Service Manager 01924 215918 (direct Line)

Cheers for that, somebody is going to get a gob full tomorrow

all these providers are the same

State one speed but give another

Dont talk to me about bloody Virgin, they're nothing but hassle! I badly need internet access to be reliable as I work from home, not just during weekdays, however far too often for my liking, I've no access at all... We're all the time getting people out to fix problems, and each time they come, they spend ages (in fairness to them), but still never quite work out what's wrong - though they admit something's up. Had no internet all last weekend, which really did my head in!

But now, also since the weekend, I've had no landline - the phone's working fine but I can neither ring out nor receive calls - which is incredibly annoying at the moment, coz I need to maintain regular contract with home, and cannot afford to be ringing internationally from my mobile. When I rang up to report the fault on Monday, the earliest timeslot they could give me was this Friday - at which point I'll not have had landline access for a whole week! Really isn't on!

is the problem with vm broadband in the whole of Sheffield as we are moving soon and not wanting to rub it in get great speeds up north it will be a real shock to the system

In the case of capping, it's country wide:-

http://www.virginmedia.com/help/traffic-management.php

Just realised that I forgot to show the link, for anybody who's interested.....

http://www.jarviser.co.uk/jarviser/bellwirenutshell.html


Tried the "bellwire fix" tonight. Speed went up from 2400kbs to nearly 3500!

Thanks to all who suggested this fix

If youre getting nowhere with them, contact OFCOM they will put you onto CESAS. They hammered Pipex for me from an issue last year and got ALL my money back and the bonus ball is, every time CESAS write to the ISP they charge them £450 for it.

Edit: In my opinion, you seeing a difference if disconnecting line 3 was just Chance, and was probably due to rubbish cabling methods in the 1st place, by the way line 3 was terminated or not I don't know. Many times I've rewired houses to BT spec (no actually miles better) and speeds have leaped from previous broadband speed tests.

is the problem with vm broadband in the whole of Sheffield as we are moving soon and not wanting to rub it in get great speeds up north it will be a real shock to the system

I have been with Virgin for nearly a year and have not had any problems with them.
I put my post code into a website and it suggested that due to my distance from the exchange I should expect 3Mb connection. My router is telling me that I am actually getting just over 4Mb, so I mustn't grumble. I am paying for the up to 8Mb service.
Over the last couple of years my phone has lost connection about 3 times but that is a BT line problem. On the last occasion the phone line was dead but broadband was still OK??
I tend to use the Internet mainly after 9pm, I have a son who uses MSN and You tube quite a bit and occasional streaming tv/films and my neighbour piggybacks wirelessly to our router but I think they are light users. I have not noticed any speed problems.
So far not needed to contact customer services so can't comment.
Generally satisfied with the service.
I am in Handsworth area and think my exchange is towards Woodhouse.

thanks for that mustchat that has reassured me some what we will give it a wizz and see what happens.

Virgin Media
Customer Service Manager 01924 215918 (direct Line)

This is Residential Sales Managers number for new custoerms so Don't call it.

Tried the "bellwire fix" tonight. Speed went up from 2400kbs to nearly 3500!

Thanks to all who suggested this fix

Cheque in the post?!
Glad it worked for you.....

I have had major problems with my connection running like a dial up service i am on the xl package i rang the tec guys and found out my modem was that old it couldnt get anymore than a meg connection i have had a new modem fitted and logged a complaint for compensation as they havent kept their side of my contract as i would never get a connection over meg even though i was paying for upto meg
I am still having probelms after 6pm at night untill around 2am in morning but all they say to me it must be your computer not their connection
Their customer service leaves a lot to be desired

I discovered that in order to be able to watch the WWE wrestling on Virgin Media, I'd have to pay an extra £28 a month for subscription to Sky Sports on top of what I'd already be paying to VM.Probably best you can't get Vermin Media then...

Cheque in the post?!
Glad it worked for you.....


It WOULD have been, but it's in my other jacket pocket. Which the dog ate. After my mum washed it and left it on the bus :wink:

Thanks for advice!

Not a problem with speed. Try clearing some of ur computer from cookies ect. that always speeds mine up.

Go to the broadband speed checker website.

http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/

Enter your service provider, package and post code then click on the "Tell me how fast can I get" button. It will tell you which exchange you are connected to and give you an idea of the speed you can expect.
It will also make suggestions if there is a fast connection in your area.
For example I live at Handsworth, I've got the Virgin ADSL plan2. It says I should be getting 3Mb (but I'm actually getting about 4Mb). It also suggests Be* wireless network and O2 wireless network using ADSL 2+ technology, various packages including 20Mb for £20 per month with no set up charges.

If you're not getting the speed you think you should be getting, have you tried checking your equipment out on a friends ADSL line who normally gets good speed, then check his equipment out on your ADSL line and then compare the speeds of the different setups. You should then be able to deduce whether the fault is with the line, the ADSL modem/router or the PC.

Hi
I am with Tiscali, and they are crap, it aint just virgin, i would move but it would be more of a disruption to my business, not worth the stress involved

It WOULD have been, but it's in my other jacket pocket. Which the dog ate. After my mum washed it and left it on the bus :wink:

Thanks for advice!

Uncanny!
EXACTLY the same as happened to my payment to British Gas....

So glad to read this thread. I have the XL package from Virgin Media, and have been getting really slow speeds. Last night it was as slow as dial-up! Up to 20MB broadband...mmmm.:suspect:
I have been logging my speeds on a broadband speed site, so have plenty of ammo for VM customer services...just trying to motivate myself to phone up, be on hold for half an hour, then speak to someone who has absolutely no idea what they are talking about.
Might just go the old fashioned pen and paper route, it may be quicker! :loopy:

Try Plusnet. When you phone up, at least you get to speak to someone in Sheffield who knows what you're talking about. And they call back when they say they will. And they respond to complaints. If you pay peanuts (with Virgin etc) you really do get monkeys. Pay a little more and you'll benefit.

Hi I was just wondering if anyone still has problems with virgin broadband? I have the 20mb connection but only ever get 10mb in the day and anywhere from 200kb to 2mb at night. I have spoken to their tech support lots of times and all they ever say is they can see I'm getting 20mb so my PC must be old and slow witch it definitely is not.
I recently asked if I could down grade to the 10mb seen as that's all I ever get to be told no I am in contract to the 20mb service so would be in breach of contract if I did, On the other hand if I was on the 10mb and asked to upgrade there would be no problem at all. That is what they told me to witch I said so are you not the 1s in breech of contract for only providing me with half the service I pay for and the cheeky beggar told me to prove it. So is that what they do because they think you can't prove they are ripping you off?

Hi I was just wondering if anyone still has problems with virgin broadband? I have the 20mb connection but only ever get 10mb in the day and anywhere from 200kb to 2mb at night. I have spoken to their tech support lots of times and all they ever say is they can see I'm getting 20mb so my PC must be old and slow witch it definitely is not.
I recently asked if I could down grade to the 10mb seen as that's all I ever get to be told no I am in contract to the 20mb service so would be in breach of contract if I did, On the other hand if I was on the 10mb and asked to upgrade there would be no problem at all. That is what they told me to witch I said so are you not the 1s in breech of contract for only providing me with half the service I pay for and the cheeky beggar told me to prove it. So is that what they do because they think you can't prove they are ripping you off?

Any further hassle this i'd contact OFCOM. What the ISP said to you is well out of line and they should have all their conversations recorded.

Hi I was just wondering if anyone still has problems with virgin broadband? I have the 20mb connection but only ever get 10mb in the day and anywhere from 200kb to 2mb at night. I have spoken to their tech support lots of times and all they ever say is they can see I'm getting 20mb so my PC must be old and slow witch it definitely is not.
I recently asked if I could down grade to the 10mb seen as that's all I ever get to be told no I am in contract to the 20mb service so would be in breach of contract if I did, On the other hand if I was on the 10mb and asked to upgrade there would be no problem at all. That is what they told me to witch I said so are you not the 1s in breech of contract for only providing me with half the service I pay for and the cheeky beggar told me to prove it. So is that what they do because they think you can't prove they are ripping you off?

Check your net connection using

http://www.speedtest.net/

Their is NO relationship between your PC speed and your broadband speed.

Take recorded snapshots of the speeds your are getting and use it to beat virgin over the head with.

Threaten to cancell with them as the are breaching the T&C of your contract unless the speed improves.

Any further hassle this i'd contact OFCOM. What the ISP said to you is well out of line and they should have all their conversations recorded.

I already made a complaint in writing about what they said to me and got a very standard letter back saying they don't record all calls and there was no mention of this in the notes he wrote on my account , Like he was gonna put what he said in his notes anyway:loopy:

I already use speedtest.net and regularly get around 5000kbps down and 700kbps up, They recon the site can't be trusted and if my PC is running slow it will affect how it loads the site giving a slower reading.
They always say I can see on my side your modem is receiving 20mb so it's not a fault on our end.

I already made a complaint in writing about what they said to me and got a very standard letter back saying they don't record all calls and there was no mention of this in the notes he wrote on my account , Like he was gonna put what he said in his notes anyway:loopy:

I already use speedtest.net and regularly get around 5000kbps down and 700kbps up, They recon the site can't be trusted and if my PC is running slow it will affect how it loads the site giving a slower reading.
They always say I can see on my side your modem is receiving 20mb so it's not a fault on our end.

That quite frankly is rubbish, the site works well enough for me at different locations.

The speed of you pc might have a slight impact on your broadband speed but not enough to give varience from 5 - 20mb speeds

Ask the technical support team what tool they would recommend so you can check the speeds that you are getting, as you would like to prove the claims you are getting 20mb as unless they can demonstrate this to you you will cancell your contract as vergin are breaking their T&C of sale by providing a product of lower quality than what you are paying for.

It is down to Virgin, but you will get any joy at all speaking to them about your internet speed. They will lie to you and fob you off every time you call. They will put nothing in writing etc. There has been an on going problem with the broadband speed for certain areas in Sheffield. They have known about this since September, still not fixing it and still upgrading customers to speeds that they cannot supply. My advice to you is to do the same as I eventually did and change ISP.

ps. They refuse to take any speed test (apart from one their tech advisors will talk you thru on their site.) as being accurate as they say it depends on the number of people using the site at the same time.

I live in S8, pay for a 'large' broadband package from Virgin. After nearly a year of complaining I eventually got Virgim to admit that the local switch (or whatever they call it) is running at 95% capacity and therefore not always (or very much of the time) able to deliver even the basic package speeds which they advertise.

They told me they would be upgrading and proper service should be resumed after 12th December which never happened. Since then they have told me they will be fixing it on numerous occassions but am stuck with the same crap speeds.

I am currently putting together a letter to their complaints department while considering getting my BT line put back in and looking for a new supplier. If anyone else wants to complain the address is:

NCLC - VIRGIN MEDIA
PO BOX 333
MATRIX COURT
SWANSEA
SA7 9BB

PC speed does have impact on data handling with your internet connection. I have numerous PC's dotted around my house, all CAT6 to the router via a Allied Telesyn 100m switch. On a 1.4ghz laptop I have a speedtest of around 6mb down 400k up, with any of the PC's I see between 14 and 20m down and usually a solid 1.3m up. ISP is BETHERE.CO.UK

Oh, on the ombudsman issue, OFCOM gave me the details of CICAS who're directly the people that gave PIPEX a royal old spanking for me. Every time CICAS (providing impartial FREE advice hehe) contacted PIPEX, if I'm not mistaken, they invoiced PIPEX around £400 for the administration :o and I was only trying to recover £150ish pound :roll:. Albeit it 12 months following the initial complaint I was paid in full with an extra £60 as a (yes sorry we are crap) from Pipex, I was left a happy bunny :hihi:

What they are not telling you is that they are capping it

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/internet/traffic.html

One time I phoned they told me to use a site called numion witch was quite funny when it said my speed was 700kbps the guy was stuck for words and just said the site must be down.

I heard a lot of ppl moaning about getting their connection limited after downloading 3gb or something at peak time, I don't down load I play on xbox live but not every day I do have a life lol, no offence to anyone who plays a lot. Even that don't make sense tho because they apparently limit it to 5mb down and 500kbps up but my up is only ever below 700kbps on the odd occasion.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/397411033.png

This is a test I have just done.

I pay for 10 meg and am getting 0.1 at the moment. I've now been on the phone yet again for 30 mins (they've again passed me on to someone else!!!).
It's getting worse, Virgin have turned what was once a good service into a steaming pile of.....

New routers, new modems, but if it's router/modem problem how come it's fine at 3 in the morning?

I pay for 10 meg and am getting 0.1 at the moment. I've now been on the phone yet again for 30 mins (they've again passed me on to someone else!!!).
It's getting worse, Virgin have turned what was once a good service into a steaming pile of.....

New routers, new modems, but if it's router/modem problem how come it's fine at 3 in the morning?

cos they are not capping you at that time

cos they are not capping you at that time


It's just ridiculous. After 40 mins I've had £20 knocked off my bill and been told to give them 24 hours to get it sorted (yet again!!). Only upgraded to 10 meg because they said it would solve the problem from the slow speeds I was experiencing.
Think I'm gonna just disconnect, sick to the back teeth with them lately.

I am sick of them as well, last week I had no connection when it was the obama inauguration, the message just said ' some customers will have no service due to the internet being busy due to the inauguration...' what a load of rubbish.

My connection didn't work until the next day, whe I phoned unfortunately I got someone in another part of the world who just kept saying 'we don't know how long you'll have no service for just bear with us' which gave me no answers whatsoever and infuriated me.

Fed up with them but is just seems a hassle to change elsewhere now as we have the whole bundle....

Which areas of Sheffield are most affected?

We have had problems in S12 with the service being dropped.Also the v-box packed up.Seriously thinking of changing I.S.P.

PC speed does have impact on data handling with your internet connection. I have numerous PC's dotted around my house, all CAT6 to the router via a Allied Telesyn 100m switch. On a 1.4ghz laptop I have a speedtest of around 6mb down 400k up, with any of the PC's I see between 14 and 20m down and usually a solid 1.3m up. ISP is BETHERE.CO.UK


I'm with you there, bethere is great I get a solid 12-15 meg(2 miles from exchange) and 1.0-1.3 up, best thing is I d/l around 300-500gb a month and they haven't capped me.
________
YZF-R1 (http://www.yamaha-tech.com/wiki/Yamaha_YZF-R1)

They've been very flakey recently. Earlier in the week I assumed I'd been upgraded to 10Mbps but now it's lower than it was on 4Mbps...thank God I'm quiting them next month.

Thankfully i have cancelled the virgin service, tv, phone and internet, im now with BT and use o2, 8 meg connection and as im a customer it costs me £7.50 a month and i have sky installed, best move i ever did, Virgin are beyond useless, they down right lie to you about their service levels, i would never use them or recommend them to anone else ever again

My speeds have improved immensely in the last few weeks, so it looks like my area finally got that upgrade they promised. I'm on 10 meg, but normally get around 8.

Can echo what Kayde and Nicoracle have said. We were also told it would be fixed on December 12th, which didn't happen. When I phoned up a couple of weeks ago the woman said that the problem was all because of the rubbish infrastructure which they inherited from Telewest (they didn't inherit anything from Telewest - they merged with Virgin Mobile and changed their name). She told me a UBR was replaced on 12th December but one in a neighbouring area was causing problems and it would be fixed "for good" when that UBR is replaced on January 21st and that there wouldn't be any problems at all after that. Phoned them on the evening of 21st after there was no change - they had no explanation for why it hadn't happened and said they'd send an engineer to us. He came, and told us there was nothing he could do. He actually told us that the UBRs need replacing, it should have been done a long time ago, that none of them actually have been replaced but Virgin Media have absolutely no plans to do it.

If they ever tell you that they are going to do some maintenance, this list of their "upcoming" maintenance (notice the dates) will give you a clue. http://status-cable.virginmedia.com:80/vmstatus/maintenance.do

Engineer came tonight. Admitted I'm essentially getting a 0.2meg service for the 10 meg service I'm paying for. As others have said, the UBR's need replacing. He told me it may not be this month or next, when I said that I'd heard his manager on the phone say it might not even be done by December, he was all sheepish.
Was also told that because S8 is a student(y) area, we were also being capped.
When I called them yesterday to disconnect, the woman said it was not due to capping, was not due to local area issues and the overusage, and also told me I had no knowledge of computers and my download speeds were fine.
Also that my AVG security software TREMENDOUSLY slowed down my computer. When I told her that I was going to email AVG and quote what she'd just told me, she backed down pretty sharpish.

So lies lies and more lies.

I've just got off the phone, and have been told that I'm not going to be charged for the internet for the next 2 months. If the upgrade takes longer, I'm to ring back and get the charges cancelled until the upgrade has taken effect. So at least joy in the money front, but I'm quite willing to pay the money, as long as I get the service.
So crap speeds for now but at least it's costing me nowt :( :rolleyes:

I've been on Virgin Media XL broadband for about a year and a half now and think they're brilliant. Sometimes I get 34Mb downloads and never under 18Mb.

Can't fault them at all.

Was also told that because S8 is a student(y) area, we were also being capped.

Hardly - I think there'd be a lot more fuss from people in S6 and S10 if that was their reasoning. It's not even that it's a valid excuse - "there are students in your area so we won't provide you and them with the service that you pay for"

These sites might interest people. Am not normally one for moaning so much, and have no expectation that any response will result from them, but am quite keen for VM's reputation to reflect the reality of many people's experience:

http://getsatisfaction.com/virginmedia
http://www.problemswithvirgin.co.uk/index.php