Virgin Media 50mb

[mkol]

Hi Guys,

I had virginmedia 50mb service since few months now and I had nothing but problems with it. Slow speed is one of them, High power levels on the modem and god knows what else.

So far around ten technicians has looked at it and they just can't resolve the slow speed issue. on average I get around 30mb and low as it can get to is 12mb.

I am going back to 20mb as I fed up with it.

Any similar experiences with them

[Hardcore Til I Die]

Eek! An engineer's coming to install this at mine on 12th December.

I had 10mb and always got nearly 10mb, and I have 20mb now and always get nearly 20mb.. so I'm hoping I'll have good luck with the 50mb too!

What sort of speeds did you get before on your old plan, were they slow as well?

[mkol]

20mb was fine I use to get around 19mb to 19.5mb on the 20meg before but 50meg is bad. The the speed drops in the area I live in is quite staggering.

[Inertia]

I have 50mb and I max it out most of the time no problem, I get the odd lul of 30mb but they are rare, normally I can download from a strong server such as nvidia's download server, or a good torrent, and get the full speed.

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

Similar situation here I had 20Mb and never dropped below max (around 2.5MB/sec) had 50mb installed and nothing but problems. The modem craps out all the time due to power levels, speeds are terrible, most of the time it is 1MB (10mb), half what I had on 20mb and even on usenet barely get over 3MB (30mb).

Its a joke and I cannot get out of it to go back to 20mb as they say I signed a new contract for 18mths, when I havent signed a damn thing, I just called them.

[TogaForComfort]

I had a similar issue a few months ago. It turned out there was a faulty bit of kit in the cab at the end of my street, have they looked at this?

[mkol]

^ Have looked at it but no luck I guess their network is running over dose with lot of people on 50mb. They introduced 50mb but their network cards, UBRs and other equipment is not up to scratch. What really ****es me of more is their technicians who come round are ****ing stupid at times and can't wait to finish and go on to their next job. Their secondline says something else and the technicians say something else. At times it really amazes me how inefficent they are and how can a company like virginmedia can operate.

[Hardcore Til I Die]

Similar situation here I had 20Mb and never dropped below max (around 2.5MB/sec) had 50mb installed and nothing but problems. The modem craps out all the time due to power levels, speeds are terrible, most of the time it is 1MB (10mb), half what I had on 20mb and even on usenet barely get over 3MB (30mb).

Its a joke and I cannot get out of it to go back to 20mb as they say I signed a new contract for 18mths, when I havent signed a damn thing, I just called them.

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure you can get out of the contract if the service you receive is that awful and VM don't do enough to assist you.

[Dark_ph0enix]

Similar situation here I had 20Mb and never dropped below max (around 2.5MB/sec) had 50mb installed and nothing but problems. The modem craps out all the time due to power levels, speeds are terrible, most of the time it is 1MB (10mb), half what I had on 20mb and even on usenet barely get over 3MB (30mb).

Its a joke and I cannot get out of it to go back to 20mb as they say I signed a new contract for 18mths, when I havent signed a damn thing, I just called them.

Two words (at least as far as VM are concerned) - Verbal Agreement.

I had 50Mb installed last February - the engineer came out, installed everything, did a speed test (from a '"dedicated 50Mb server") and it topped out at....... 24Mb. A couple of days worth of tests, checking the CABS, checking the line, etc, etc, and they still couldn't get it above 24Mb. So, I complained, complained, and then complained some more, and had it taken out, and the 10Mb connection put in - worked (almost) perfectly, then about 4 - 5 months ago, upped it to 20Mb, and although I don't hit the full 20Mb (see speedtest results in siggy), it's fast enough for my needs.

[mkol]

^ fair point about your needs, but the speed drop on 50mb is A LOT COMPARE TO 20MB. and is something they need to look in to asap.

[yxz]

50/1.5

:blink:

[Dark_ph0enix]

^ fair point about your needs, but the speed drop on 50mb is A LOT COMPARE TO 20MB. and is something they need to look in to asap.

Oh absolutely - just telling ya my experiences :) - During the installation, did they do the speed check? That's how I realised that mine wasn't running anywhere near the speed it should have been - They'll try and fob you off about server loads, and what not, but just head over to Microsoft, NVIDIA, etc, and download 3 - 4 big files, and add up the total running speed.

I was lucky, because I complained like a true Brit, and got the installation switched over to a 10Mb line (then upped a few months ago to 20) - In fact, I'm sure there's something about a "Minimum speed" that 50MB is supposed to run at - I might be completely wrong about that, but I'm sure I've read it somewhere.

With regards the power levels - have they tried putting a filter onto the line? In some case that can help. Also, and I'm guessing you've already tried this - if you're connecting over wi-fi, try plugging directly into the modem, to see if that makes any difference.

[mkol]

Yes tried many filters but no luck.

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

Been off again for the last few hours :( Its a daily occurrence now, around 7pm all goes screwy then the connection (tick) light just keeps cycling. After spending an hour on the phone eventually spoke to someone, they said there was no problems as the engineers over the last two days had said they had fixed the signal levels and checked the cab and moved me onto a higher connection. So the only other thing to do was replace the modem, which will take at least 5 working days, then I have to call them (They said I would get a replacement in the post, swap it over and call them to connect it)

[JustAnotherTechie]

We 've had the 50Mb since the start of September and it's god-awful.

Highest speed I've seen in a test is about 32Mb, but the problem is usually ping. Our ping time just goes crazy for no reason - upwards of 4000ms at times.

It's got better recently, a bit, but we still get an hour or two every few days were we just can't do anything.

Like everyone else here, we've had engineers out and they've done nothing.

[Bhav]

This is why I've been so apprehensive to join VM. I can only get 3.5Mb on LLU, but at least it's always 3.5Mb and truly uncapped. I don't want to switch and be stuck with bad service for 12 months (even though it may be faster than 3.5Mb most of the time).

Edited November 21, 2009 by Bhav

[Richard Hammond]

Even at its worst surely it will be much MUCH faster than 3.5mb.

50Mb virgin is truly uncapped as well, its only the 20mb and below which have traffic shaping.

[Bhav]

Yeah it may be much faster but I'd also be paying a lot more than I am right now...and I don't have time to call up if there are problems, be at home for engineers etc

[Richard Hammond]

Get 20Mb then, it doesnt have a monthly cap but it does have traffic shaping. If you download more than 3.5Gb between 9 and 3 and 3 and 9 your connection gets capped down to 5Mb which is still faster than what you get now even capped, it then resets at either 9pm or after 4-5 hours of going over the limit whichevers soonest. 50Mb is brand new, required all brand new equiptment as it runs on DOCSIS 3.0 not DOCSIS 1.1/2.0 like 20Mb and under.

[Bhav]

Yeah I did exactly the same calculations and almost went for it...but as I'm sure you're aware VM is notorious for crappy customer service, and I really don't have the time/patience to keep calling them etc if something goes wrong.

Anyway it's a non-issue for 9 months, as that's when my current contract runs out lol.

[Hardcore Til I Die]

Yeah I did exactly the same calculations and almost went for it...but as I'm sure you're aware VM is notorious for crappy customer service, and I really don't have the time/patience to keep calling them etc if something goes wrong.

Anyway it's a non-issue for 9 months, as that's when my current contract runs out lol.

If I ever have a query with VM, I tend to ring twice.. and if both members of staff say the same thing, it's more likely to be right.

I find half of them will say anything just to get you off the phone. One staff member told me I qualified for the ?18/month 50mb cost which is only for new customers taking out a phone line. Next person told me I could only get it for ?38 as I'm not a new customer and already have a phone line. Talk about different answers!

[Guest]

I left VM ages ago, had a bt line fitted. Then i could take my adsl modem to other providers as needed. I am tempted by 50mb though, i just know that its going to get capped soon enough.

[BoJo]

I'm about to switch from 20 to 50Mb. My 20Mb line has been excellent - although it does drop down to 12Mb at peak times - so hopefully 50Mb will be similar.

[mkol]

I've just gone back 20mb, but they still can't sort out the fact that I should get a another modem.

[eventcrasher]

I did have the same problem! I was really fed up wtih it and change my broadband provider.I always see that virgin says they give the full capacity band to its clients but it never happens.Ok maybe you could say there are conditions where the band could break up.But not all the time going to 20mb when you have a contract for 50mb! :(