Virgin Media Discussion Thread

Associate
Joined
5 Jul 2014
Posts
70
I have read most of the past 20 pages and seen lots of the "you must be in a high congestion area" Is there an easy way to find out which areas are heavily congested without having to sign upto them before-hand and checking for yourself? I still have a VM forum account and a moderator checked my postal address recently and said it's fine, then went on to say if you're not happy you can leave within the first 14 days, then mentioned some Ofcom ruling about minimum guaranteed speeds. That minimum won't do me a bit of good if latency and low upload speeds are also an issue during peak times. I was with VM years ago and it was appalling back in 2015 during peak times. I can't say I trust that moderator when they say utilisation is fine. VM was always heavily oversubscribed here back then, can't see that having changed by much since.
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Jun 2006
Posts
38,372
I have read most of the past 20 pages and seen lots of the "you must be in a high congestion area" Is there an easy way to find out which areas are heavily congested without having to sign upto them before-hand and checking for yourself? I still have a VM forum account and a moderator checked my postal address recently and said it's fine, then went on to say if you're not happy you can leave within the first 14 days, then mentioned some Ofcom ruling about minimum guaranteed speeds. That minimum won't do me a bit of good if latency and low upload speeds are also an issue during peak times. I was with VM years ago and it was appalling back in 2015 during peak times. I can't say I trust that moderator when they say utilisation is fine. VM was always heavily oversubscribed here back then, can't see that having changed by much since.

I've had VM at 2 different addresses and never ever had an issue with speed, latency or otherwise.

In fact I usually get a lot better than what they say I will and that's before they implemented that.

I've had issues with the superhub 3 but thank God the firmware fixes that if you use it in modem only mode like I do.

The best thing you can do is get it run a broadband quality monitor on it for 10 days check the graphs and hammer it as much as you can and make a decision.

I'm extremely happy with their service albeit it's now got a lot more competition incoming that's going to drive prices down within the next few years.
 
Associate
Joined
5 Jul 2014
Posts
70
I've had VM at 2 different addresses and never ever had an issue with speed, latency or otherwise.

In fact I usually get a lot better than what they say I will and that's before they implemented that.

I've had issues with the superhub 3 but thank God the firmware fixes that if you use it in modem only mode like I do.

The best thing you can do is get it run a broadband quality monitor on it for 10 days check the graphs and hammer it as much as you can and make a decision.

I'm extremely happy with their service albeit it's now got a lot more competition incoming that's going to drive prices down within the next few years.

You got lucky with the addresses then because I had nothing but hassle with them 6-7 years ago. Things may have improved in some areas since but many still report issues about congestion and the replies they get is to blame covid and everybody being stuck at home. The reason I'm unhappy with BT is not because of peak time issues but because the speeds have gradually dropped over the years when resyncing. No Gigabit options available here so it's FTTC or VM. Troubling thing is many don't seem to report areas or locations anymore so it's tough to find a update on congestion issues in specific areas without as you said trying them out then bailing if unsatisifed. It's just a lot of hassle switching providers just to test run their service.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
29 Jun 2003
Posts
34,513
Location
Wiltshire
I have read most of the past 20 pages and seen lots of the "you must be in a high congestion area" Is there an easy way to find out which areas are heavily congested without having to sign upto them before-hand and checking for yourself? I still have a VM forum account and a moderator checked my postal address recently and said it's fine, then went on to say if you're not happy you can leave within the first 14 days, then mentioned some Ofcom ruling about minimum guaranteed speeds. That minimum won't do me a bit of good if latency and low upload speeds are also an issue during peak times. I was with VM years ago and it was appalling back in 2015 during peak times. I can't say I trust that moderator when they say utilisation is fine. VM was always heavily oversubscribed here back then, can't see that having changed by much since.
Don't forget people having issues will always be the most vocal and over represented when it comes to things like this.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
20 Sep 2006
Posts
33,892
Just get it installed alongside your current FTTC, if it's poor then cancel within the 14 days, if not cancel your FTTC and carry on with VM.
 
Associate
Joined
13 Jun 2007
Posts
1,316
Location
London
Have also had VM in 3 different area codes and no speed or throughput issues (apart from the odd specific infrastructure outages that were addressed fairly quickly)
 
Soldato
Joined
4 Mar 2008
Posts
2,561
Location
Guildford
The hardware inside has definitely changed/improved as the on light is now slightly different - goes blue when in standby and my box boots up in 2mins instead of the 4min it took for the V6. Glad you are enjoying yours as well. ;)

Hardware hasn't changed for us - just a software update and new remote. We now have the blue light and fast boot up. Exactly the same box, just over the air firmware update!
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Aug 2018
Posts
3,379
Hardware hasn't changed for us - just a software update and new remote. We now have the blue light and fast boot up. Exactly the same box, just over the air firmware update!
Yes, you are right! I thought it was new hardware inside because when I looked at the bottom of my V6 box and the 360 they were made by different manufacturers.

It is only if you have the TIVO box that you need to upgrade the box. Did you have to pay £24.95 for the remote?
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Sep 2006
Posts
3,324
They finally fixed the fault, my Virgin BB and phone went down Wednesday morning all in my area, pretty serious since it effected quite a few people, woke up this morning and it is fixed,

You can thank London Electricity company for digging up the road and Virgin fibre cables as well in my London area(South East), Virgin engineers were not happy with the electricity workers, anyway nice to be back online after two days of chaos.

I clicked on that compensation button they have online, so I get something out of it :) .
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Jun 2006
Posts
12,639
Location
Hertfordshire
Hi All, so I'm about to order M350 package (With a phoneline) and we had VM in the property 3 years back (Well the in-laws did) and we had the cables removed when we renovated the property, so no cables I need a engineer and there is a way to do this within their website and not get the £30 visit charge, I can't seem to find where I say (there are no cables etc) I'm at the direct debit page.... Am I missing something :(
 
Soldato
Joined
4 Mar 2008
Posts
2,561
Location
Guildford
Yes, you are right! I thought it was new hardware inside because when I looked at the bottom of my V6 box and the 360 they were made by different manufacturers.

It is only if you have the TIVO box that you need to upgrade the box. Did you have to pay £24.95 for the remote?

Nope, lovely guy on live chat was "delighted to be able to offer this upgrade free of charge"
 
Caporegime
Joined
25 Nov 2004
Posts
25,812
Location
On the road....
Just phoned to cancel my M350 which is out of contract, £62 p/month, after a bit of back & forth I'm now on M500 for £49 p/month.

I probably could have got better but I kind of shot myself in the foot when I said I live alone and don't use my service much, he then quoted my last 3 months data usage, equivalent to a house of 34 people.... :D
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
30 Jul 2005
Posts
19,361
Location
Midlands
Just phoned to cancel my M350 which is out of contract, £62 p/month, after a bit of back & forth I'm now on M500 for £49 p/month.

I probably could have got better but I kind of shot myself in the foot when I said I live alone and don't use my service much, he then quoted my last 3 months data usage, equivalent to a house of 34 people.... :D

Should have given them the 30days notice and let them ring you back.
 
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