Virgin Media Discussion Thread

Soldato
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Really depends on how much you want to spend. I would suggest with thick walls if you can run ethernet for some access points would be best. If not then a simple mesh system would do the job. You can go TP link with powerline backbone if on the same ring main. Or spend more and go for a higher end solution from netgear such as orbi. I would probably try amazon for the tp link powerline mesh system or the new eeros as with them being super easy to return if they dont work its a good starting point.

Running cables is going to be a hard no from the missus and besides with my mobility issues I'd have to pay to get someone in which I guess would really ramp up the costs. While I believe all the sockets are on the same the ring, its an awkward house for its socket placements. Certainly would like to take advantage of Wifi 6, though would like to try and keep things under £500. The Orbi system looks great to my untrained eye though.
 

Sho

Sho

Soldato
Joined
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Oldham
Virgin media installed today :D



Got the Hub4 so not complaining. Did go into admin settings, and tweaked a few settings.
Feels great to have faster speed then my previous 70mb line.
 
Soldato
Joined
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7,253
So you are sticking with "the network has problems because it's old and fragmented, and we haven't fixed it in 20 years because we don't want to spend the money"? I guess you do work for VM's network planning department! That's pretty much the excuse I've been hearing from VM/Telewest/NTL for the last 20 years every time a fundamental issue shows up.

At the same time we see other countries build better, faster, cheaper high-speed networks.

Remember when NTL was 12bn in debt and it’s CEO publicly stated NTL was facing imminent bankruptcy if it couldn’t refinance? They had no money, they had done the absolute bare minimum to keep things going for years and owed almost twice the value of the combined TW and NTL merged business to creditors, that was only a few short years before TW did a reverse buy-out creating what would become VM which was circa 16 years ago. To put it in context OR are currently predicting over 15bn to do 80-85% UK coverage in fibre, that’s exactly what the LG buyout valued the whole of VM at in 2013, so BT - even with ducting or poles in place to provide copper to each property and the option of using poles for access - is expecting to spend the equivalent of VM’s entire value to re-build with fibre, and that’s after significant planning/wayleave changes to make it simpler and cheaper and massive tax breaks. Does that sound like network re-build was historically viable to you?

Without government subsidy/planning reforms it was bordering on financial suicide to do large scale network build, let alone rebuild. BT refused decades ago as they couldn’t get tax payers to pickup the bill. OR made token gestures in recent years, but was happy to keep milking the user base on copper and would have just continued to push g.fast out. Small private or local city partnerships existed, but they were usually small scale and often heavily subsidised by or dependant on contracts with local councils who strangely managed to part the planning/wayleave waters when it suited them. Other than that you have a small number of off-shore islands and KCOM, that’s about it in terms of HFC migrations at scale.

Oh and no, I don’t work for VM or it’s network/planning departments (those are two quite separate functions you’ve combined), I have worked for TW/VM previously, but left to do my own thing long enough ago that I don’t have to worry about an NDA. For context I was more CMS/process orientated, though wayleave and planning were part of that on a daily basis and we regularly ended up at various multi department meetings/calls, so I have some knowledge of the process/budget for Liverpool etc to be converted from analogue to digital for example or the SEoS re-grade when that was a thing, as it tied in with what I was doing at the time as well as knowing some of the people who actually supervised build in various parts of the country - by then they tended to move in-house teams around nationally rather than having regional contractors like Kelly’s or Avonline do the job.

Are we any closer to you availing us of your presumably considerable expertise in HFC migrations and explaining why it’s so easy and when exactly it should have been done? Or are you sticking with ‘It’s been ages and they should have done it by now because I think it’s easy’. Just like many things in life, when you have almost no grasp of the costs and complexity of a project, it often seems simple from the outside, in reality it’s often very different when you actually know what’s involved. Especially with large scale network build in the UK.
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Jun 2006
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Hertfordshire
Virgin media installed today :D



Got the Hub4 so not complaining. Did go into admin settings, and tweaked a few settings.
Feels great to have faster speed then my previous 70mb line.

I went from SkyQ 70/20 to the M350 package, its good to have more bandwidth with some many people in the house streaming all sorts!

What settings did you tweak may I ask, I just put my SH4 in modem modem and off I went with my Unifi APs
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Jun 2009
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5,967
Location
London
From 78mb BT Fibre to Virgin 1GB has been such a great feeling

OPJeXs5.png

Put SH4 into modem mode and Asus Nighthawk router connected to multiple Switches over the house, can't complain!
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Dec 2008
Posts
6,332
Location
Liverpool
More fun and games from Virgin today on my end, engineer came round today to check the equipment. Replaced the hub, replaced the coax and everything worked..... for half an hour then more repeated disconnects.
 
Associate
Joined
25 Aug 2008
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1,196
Location
York, UK
My VM connection has suddenly gone very flaky, dropping from an average around 360mb d/l to 80-90mb
Rebooted hub & router several times, still the same.
Same speeds on ethernet and wifi.

Hub3 in modem / Archer router / gigabit home network (all connections ok)
Been flawless for a few years until now

Any ideas, before I get stuck in the loop of very poor Virgin customer service :(
 
Associate
Joined
4 Feb 2010
Posts
397
Running cables is going to be a hard no from the missus and besides with my mobility issues I'd have to pay to get someone in which I guess would really ramp up the costs. While I believe all the sockets are on the same the ring, its an awkward house for its socket placements. Certainly would like to take advantage of Wifi 6, though would like to try and keep things under £500. The Orbi system looks great to my untrained eye though.

Just replaced the orbi rbk50 I bought in 2017 with ax90 and a re605x.

Much better coverage and speed, didn't go for orbi this time due to price, and cheaper to add more extender if needed.
 
Associate
Joined
25 Aug 2008
Posts
1,196
Location
York, UK
No, not sure why I didn't even think of that.
I have disconnected it all and am using it with the WiFi off on the hub3, with X3 Ubiquiti AP's doing the rest.

Working great so far, if I have issues I will reset the Archer and will try again
 
Man of Honour
Joined
20 Sep 2006
Posts
34,035
Ugh. I'm on a rolling contract now, waiting for Toob to roll out FTTP round here, can't wait to be clear of them.

They're so aggressive, might have to give the ol' GDPR thing a go. Nice.
What's worse the door to door staff specifically targeted my mrs and tried to get her to sign up as a new customer even though she repeatedly told them we were moving house. They then harassed her about the new address. I was working and heard it so came down and just shut the door in the guys face after he said he won't leave without knowing our new address. I was thinking about putting in a complaint as it's all on my Ring doorbell.
 
Joined
1 Oct 2006
Posts
13,900
What's worse the door to door staff specifically targeted my mrs and tried to get her to sign up as a new customer even though she repeatedly told them we were moving house. They then harassed her about the new address. I was working and heard it so came down and just shut the door in the guys face after he said he won't leave without knowing our new address. I was thinking about putting in a complaint as it's all on my Ring doorbell.

Wow. Do it. I bet he wouldn't have done that if it were you at the front door first off. Tool.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2002
Posts
7,253
What's worse the door to door staff specifically targeted my mrs and tried to get her to sign up as a new customer even though she repeatedly told them we were moving house. They then harassed her about the new address. I was working and heard it so came down and just shut the door in the guys face after he said he won't leave without knowing our new address. I was thinking about putting in a complaint as it's all on my Ring doorbell.

Do it, that sort of behaviour has no place in any company and needs to be dealt with ASAP.
 
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