Comments on: No “up to” speeds with cable

By: Matthew Augier

Matthew Augier — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:08:19 +0000

I’ve been with NTL for around 8 years, and the service I’ve had here in Farnborough/Hants has always been top notch. Yes the odd downtime, but no home is going to get 100% uptime. I’m now on the 20Mb/s and manage to d/l quite frequently files at 2MB/s. It’s interesting that this months PC Pro has articles “Double your broadband for free” as only 3 of the points are even valid for cable users!

By: David Bayon

David Bayon — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:52:23 +0000

This is my personal experience, nothing more. As long as that experience is positive that’s what I’ll recount here. If it sours you’ll be the first to read about it.

I do think these comments are a sad indictment on the state of the broadband industry, though. The fact is that you could substitute the name Virgin for any other ISP in my original post and I’d get just as many tales of bad experiences.

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:19:08 +0000

I’m very disappointed to see someone from PCPro lauding the new service they are getting from Virgin Media. This is a company that is actively planning to undermine the very basis of the internet with their stance on net neutrality.

If David Bayon has been living in a cave these last three months, then hopefully the short synopsis at wikipedia will enlighten him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_media#Net_Neutrality

– Pete.

By: Iain Purdie

Iain Purdie — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:32:23 +0000

Dave, you’re utterly right. These problems aren’t exclusive to Virgin and I have friends and acquaintances with similar problems with virtually any provider you care to mention. Like my father, I also know plenty who’s online life is a dream.

As with any company, what’s important is how they deal with things when they *do* go wrong. And Virgin do a p*ss-poor job of it, frankly.

Given the nature of cable and how it works, I’d say your best source of information on whether it’s worth going for resides with your immediate neighbours. Chances are, if they’ve had no problems with the line then neither will you. Of course, if all of them have it then you’re likely to face problems with contention ratios…!

By: Paul Ockenden

Paul Ockenden — Wed, 14 May 2008 07:33:28 +0000

Virgin took my order, arrived at the house and then did that sucking air through teeth noise. Apparently it was a two man job. Then another bloke turned up, but between them they decided that a block paved drive was enough to defeat them. SO they cancelled the order.

So no service, but Virgin still sent me a bill. A called and had it refunded. Then the next month the same thing happened again. So I called, and shouted. They appologied and said it wouldn’t happen again. Guess what happened the following month?

I think I wrote about this in an RWC column, about 18 months ago.

I’d like to have cable as well as ADSL here, for resilience, but I think Jon Honeyball is more likely to give up his posesions and live a life of hermitude than I am to deal with Virgin bloody Media again…

By: David Bayon

David Bayon — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:30:55 +0000

Points all taken. But nothing you’ve said above is exclusive to Virgin – that’s exactly the reason BT and TalkTalk missed out on my money. The latter in particular.

I’ll keep you updated should any problems arise, but for now I’m just thankful I’m online.

By: Gavin

Gavin — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:27:08 +0000

What you have toi look forward to: Premium rate support line 25 p per minute in the event that the line goes down. An online status page that just isn’t updating. Downright rude support staff, and when the internet is finally backup a fight for the 10 quid in phone bills you have incrurred as a result.

Best of luck mate- there are lots of places on the net that will help you get out of a virgin contract for a reason……

By: Iain Purdie

Iain Purdie — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:23:59 +0000

Sadly, not all experiences are as good as yours. My father and my girlfriend are both on Virgin Cable; the former in Perth and the latter in Dundee. My dad’s never had a problem, regularly hammers the connection with iPlayer and loves it. I can’t comment on figures as he’s not measured anything, but by all accounts he’s happy.

My girlfriend on the other hand has had nothing but trouble. Sub-dialup speeds. Connection dropping. Preimum rate phone calls to India to try and resolve issues that they blame on her… but which after an hour are diagnosed as “a fault on our system”. At one point, her fees for these calls were higher than her monthly bill. Thankfully they refund these charges if the fault is found to be their own.

They’ve also started recently “capping” her connection, saying she’s making too much use of it. Given that my father downloads more on his connection, I find this hard to believe. I also went over their terms and agreements with a fine-toothed comb. There is no mention whatsoever of a speed cap, so they’re in breach of contract. Or they’re saying it’s capping when it’s another problem with their system and they’re losing money refunding her premium rate “support” call costs.

Two sides to every coin. The author should think himself lucky he’s one of the problem-free users.