BT, Virgin, Demon, Pipex and Plusnet top 5 providers

by Craig Kovac
at 17:05 on 5 Jan 2007

I have been with Demon for the last 2 years now, and since they upgraded my speed to 8Mbps - The speed has gone really crap - I did a speed test on numerous websites and am getting Speed Down - 0.9Mbps and Upspeed 0.3Mbps, Your gonna find this really funny to download a picture at a size of 58kbs takes me 9 mins to download. How crap is that!!!!!!

So my advice is to those who are upgrading with Demon - Don't!!!!! Go else where

Demon is SHIT! Report abuse

by Papi
at 16:03 on 8 Jan 2007

I am in the same situation. 2 years with DEMON. Since my ADSL was upgraded my speed has been utter ****. My average DOWN SPEED is 416kbps but the throghput is even worse than my old ISDN. Great eh? Demon just ask my to run these silly tets from BT ADSL test website. Very dissapointed with the Service.
Papi Report abuse

by PeeDoff
at 23:38 on 13 Jan 2007

I'll take your word for it about Demon but whatever you do don't migrate to Virgin if you're an online gamer. From 5pm to midnight it's just a disaster! Pings go from 30 to 200 and as for the weekends, forget it. Stuck with this crap for another 11 months, sigh..... Report abuse

by Agent
at 22:46 on 15 Jan 2007

Interesting, I've just been experiencing some problems... a week long BT fault where I had no voice connection and broadband at 160kbps line speed on the router. I've only just moved house as well so wasn't really sure what the cause was. Now that things are back up and running I thought the problem was with BT but perhaps it lies with Virgin! Report abuse

by Alan Griffin
at 19:28 on 19 Jan 2007

I hear you on the Virgin issue.
I've been with Virgin since the dial up days in 98' and upgraded to broadband early on but there seems to be a link between the arrival of eight meg and the fact that they are using the god awful NTL birmingham server network that is giving me the stunning
speed of 133kbps speed!

I'm the easiest customer to please and i'm looking for another provider. Report abuse

by Twonk
at 13:36 on 23 Jan 2007

1 on the Virgin issues, it is a well known fact amongst the web community that Virgin/NTL have major issues with their ability to provide a reliable service to any of their broadband customers as they simply do not have the equipment to do so, but no doubt they will continue to take even more customers on knowing this, it's a con. Stay away it's not worth the money or the hassle there are better deals to be had. The good news though is from 14/2/07 ISP's are legally and unreservedly obliged to give you your MAC instantly, I think Virgin will feel the hard edge of customer satisfaction then. :-) Report abuse

by Andy Cormack
at 17:12 on 23 Jan 2007

Absolutely rubbish that Virgin is anywhere near the top 5, if they're near the top with such terrible performance that I've been getting then i hate to see the bottom of the list, I'll be one of the first to be getting my MAC on the 14th of feb that's for sure, get away from this provider, sooo not worth the hassle or paying for a service ur not going to use except at 2 in the morning when it actually works, any other times evenings and weekends you get service like you're sharing your internet with the whole country at the same time, there's some nice contention for you! Report abuse

by dave
at 21:15 on 23 Jan 2007

since pipex took over homecall my service has went from 640k down to a 100k and no end of problems with wrong bills i tried to upgrade to 8mb with line rental it has made no differance at all to my lousy 100k service avoid pipex at all costs i am not alone up here they have messed up big time in peterhead and surrounding area Report abuse

by Rick
at 20:22 on 24 Jan 2007

Been with demon for 1.5 years - 8 m byte upgrade.........speed good

I had issues, dropped connections etc but this was wireless router issue.....

Notes..

1. Adsl is a high latency connect - to possibly increase speed - use doctor tcp and increase TCP window size to 65000 - lease other settings alone....

2. filters - every end point must have one (more critical at higher speed) Report abuse

by T
at 20:12 on 28 Jan 2007

PIPEX ARE CRAP!
In 3 words i have just described my opinion of Pipex.

The reasoning for this is:
- Pings of 250 (and before you dare say its my phone line i have been
quite easily getting pings of 10-20 from another ADSL) which i can get
better using 56k :S ridiculous
- Terrible customer service that never get back to you and tbh don't
seem to give two short s**ts
- Never any forward notice to customers about maintenance, in fact no
service status at all (do they have things to hide me thinks)
- Charge you for a service you simply don't get and then hide behind
the fact they say 'o well you could get that speed but you can't'
which they can when they go for a BETTER provider (this doesn't apply
to me but others i know of!)

As well as other reasons.
I hate to say this but Pipex just seems to be a money grabbing
corporation that simply don't care about its customers and if you
don't care about your customers you will start to loose them.
Pipex are one of the oldest i realise but you in this game a old dog
needs to get taught new tricks.

I will be leaving Pipex as soon as possible and i will be recommending
others do the same.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sympathise with u Dave

BEWARE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS! Report abuse

by PeeDoff
at 23:34 on 28 Jan 2007

Rick, did what you suggested in various permutations but no joy. It's down to Virgin. They've just bought out NTL/Telewest, good luck to those customers. Report abuse

by John
at 21:45 on 7 Feb 2007

Virgin is great if you want to use it at 0630am when I get speeds of 2 -3 Mbs but when normal mortals want to use it, in the evening and at weekends, it is rubbish. I have just recorded a download speed of 60kps and an upload speed of 9!! using InternetFrog speed tester. According to my router I should be getting over 4Mbs. Won't be long before I join the exodus to another ISP Report abuse

by core-9366
at 19:56 on 9 Feb 2007

Anyone who is thinking of signing up with plusnet should go to their site and log into the forums using guest/guest for user/pass - just have a look in community support and you will see just how shockingly bad this company is.
If I told the whole story here it would take up this whole blog - honestly it's like fawlty towers over there, only not funny !
Go see for yourself, then go elsewhere for a reliable service. Report abuse

by Dave G
at 11:02 on 21 Feb 2007

Well i signed up with Virgin Media over a month ago, had to wait 2 weeks to be activated, and now a further 2 weeks on i still do not have broadband access. Their customer service and technial people (if thats what you call them) keep telling me that it is a fault with BT and that they are looking at it.

Well i've decided to cancel the service as i am fed up of seeing the bloody ADSL light flashing on the modem and getting sod all service from crappy Virgin Media. Report abuse

by vertex
at 13:42 on 22 Feb 2007

Pipex is Usless at solutions a Fault has exzisted since november, have traced it to last two London exchanges speed in at 2 to last exchange is 6,8oom, yet when it enters last exchange it crashes to 95.k or 125.k Either Uk is suffering a Cyber attack ie excessive bogus packets from a Cyber War excercise from a Asian power or all the eguipment in exchange is redundant, either way apart fom paying more in Uk than our other european partners we have a substandard service, yet pay for a fast service. This is very serious and no one is providing a Solution,problem seems to worsen by the day! Report abuse

by nossfwt
at 06:05 on 23 Feb 2007

i am now leaving virgin as the connection is always dropping and the speeds are crap in the evening.
anyone know of any decent isp? Report abuse

by Paul
at 19:53 on 8 Mar 2007

Virgin is crap- im getting download speeds of between 0.1Mbs and 0.3Mbs and I signed up for a 5mb service- they said my line was capable of 5mb! I'm really disappointed and feel a bit shafted Report abuse

by bebop
at 22:11 on 10 Mar 2007

hi all
demon: if your a big downloader, i.e. more than 50gb. demon now cap. they knock your speed down from up to 8mb to 125k mon to sunday between 9am - 10pm. i never got 8mb the best i get is 1.8mb. im looking else where, was not informed of the 7 day cap, they just did it. Report abuse

by GREG
at 07:56 on 15 Apr 2007

Can anyone tell me what virgin broadband is like via their own line as I already have digi tv.
On BT at the moment and looking for cheaper alternative Report abuse

by Ritchie Rennie
at 19:50 on 29 Apr 2007

hey folks I finally got Virgin to admit thier 8 mb service is c%^$

Dear Customer.

Thank you for your email.

The adsl max service is up to 8mb which means that you will receive anything up to 8mb but it doesn't guarantee you will receive 8mb. It all depends on how far away you are from the exchange and the quality of your telephone line. The adsl max service is also a fluctuating service which means that depending on how many people are connected at your exchange depends on what speed you will connect at.

Kind Regards
Rhiannon

and my favourite

Dear Customer.



Thank you for your email.



I have taken on board your comments, and can assure you that the problem we have identified relating to slow browsing problems will be dealt with in due course. This problem is only affecting our ADSL max (up to 8mbps) service
so, as a temporary solution, we can offer a fixed rate service that will supply a constant 2mbps connection.

Unfortunately, this cannot be actioned by email. If you wish to accept this temporary solution then please call our technical support team on 0906 217 0001.

Please note that it is not possible for us to process cancellation requests via email or Postal mail. This is due to security restrictions here at Virgin Media, in line with the Data Protection Act and our policy of ensuring the security of our customer's accounts.
If you wish to cancel your account, please contact our Account Management team on the following number:
0845 0450709 (Option 4) You will be required to provide your account security information, before we can process your request. PLEASE NOTE: If you are a Virgin Broadband customer, you will be required to give 30 days cancellation notice and, if within a 12 month contract period,pay a contract cancellation fee as stated in the Virgin Media Terms and Conditions. Report abuse

by Ritchie Rennie
at 19:52 on 29 Apr 2007

p.s

Sorry

forgot to mention to you nice folks and to virgin :- if i open my bedroom window and throw any size stone i will hit the wall of the telephone exchange Report abuse

by Koni
at 17:27 on 9 May 2007

I've just been reading these threads to get feedback regarding Virgin Broadband.
I've been with Bulldog for 18 months....8mb unlimited
phone line rental £32 pm....no free calls.
I called them today informing them that Virgin had offered me a better deal and what could they do to keep my custom.
Result....the same package ie 8mb, line rental and now free UK calls 24/7.....£20 pm.
I rarely have to call them but its always a free call.
Whenever I've had to call them their customer service has always been top quality.
I would also add that I've not noticed any difference since Pipex took over Bulldog from Cable & Wireless.
Speed tests always come up in excess of 5mb.
Personally I can only be happy with my ISP and am always happy to recommend Bulldog. Report abuse

by Ramjet
at 15:45 on 14 May 2007

Demon internet are simply awful.

Their customer service is beyond a joke. Ask a question and do you get an answer ? No Rather than answer your question they simply copy & paste their FAQs into their reply despite you telling them that you've already read their FAQ and your question isn't covered.

I for one switched to ukfsn.

Demon are simply awful. Report abuse

by ikarus19
at 18:09 on 22 May 2007

I think the bottom line is that the UK just isn't (wasn't) ready for BROADBAND. Seriously folks!! Broadband has been aroung for almost 10 years, and you mean to tell me that not ONE provider has gotten it right yet?! Everyone in the UK has a cellphone plastered to the side of their face for a good part of the day, and I think that's where the technological advancement ends...with cellphones. The UK should just give up on Broadband service for now, and face facts: When it comes to anything beyond cellphones, this place is a stone-aged, third-world country.
...by the way. How come my BT line is always suffering a fault, but for some reason, I have no problem getting a crystal clear connection to INDIA whenever I have a question about my Broadband service? Report abuse

by ritchie rennie
at 18:19 on 8 Jul 2007

Dum de dum dum ,

Virgin are still crap , after them telling me that I needed to reduce my broadband speed to 2mb to get a decent speed ?? I called them only to find out that they dont do 2mb anymore lol this almost had me burst a rib with laughing . I just dumped them like a hot brick moved to a company at www.zen.co.uk . bit dearer at £24.99 per month but whiz bang wallop what a picture , in 5 days (yes 5 !!!!) I was changed over and guess what Virgin ? I get 8mb all the time whoo hoo poor virgin I even took time to email them to tell them that i was now getting 8mb no restrictions on speed free help calls, free monitor for my account free 2gig webspace (wow) loads of email accounts and all on the same phone line and distance from exchange that i was at when Virgin said it was a problem .... now thats magic lol

have a nice day virgin I know i will with zen lol its been 2 months now and not a stutter or drop in speed......whoo hooo

have fun folks im off to download some emails ....whoops thats that done then can go surf net now lol Report abuse

by groovy
at 21:46 on 11 Nov 2007

crap is the hight "family friendly" adjective i would use to describe how bad Virgin is.
maybe not Virgin themselves, but the level of dialup speed i get. i mean ADSL, sorry.
there "fair use" policy is not fair at all!

"So to make sure our service is fair for everybody, we sometimes moderate the speeds during peak times (4pm till 1am) for customers who are downloading an unusually large amount at these times."
http://www.virgin.net/allyours/faqs/traffic_faqs.html

i can't play games, and i can barely browse. if they don't have bandwidth, then they should just say so!
i've been with Bulldog, and they weren't that bad, except when it came to setting up and stopping payments.

bethere.co.uk has been the best by far!

i miss you BE! Report abuse

by sydney
at 16:18 on 1 Dec 2007

>

Just about to issue a small claims court claim after they failed to process a written cancellation of my account (though acknowledging receiving it) and took a further £80 in monthly charges before doing so. Customer services says their "full and final answer in this matter" is they "cannot agree to any request for refunds". I wasn't asking for their agreement and it is a pity it needs a court order to force them. Demon belongs to Thus, who make operating losses year on year and have a share price near to its all-time low. I wonder why. Thus want to focus on the big corporate market. The contempt with which they treat their smaller customers is probably an indication they don't actually want them. Avoid. Report abuse

by kurtis
at 12:10 on 29 Dec 2007

hey all,
bulldog, now pipex is great for me although you can get disconneted alot but if you phone them the problem seems to go :) Report abuse

by steve
at 14:46 on 26 Jan 2008

Only another 10 months before i can ditch Virgin,I'm counting the days!!!! Report abuse

by steve
at 09:48 on 30 Jan 2008

Virgin speed in the morning 4.8mps ,in the evening 384kps,spot the difference.
Warning if you sign up for their option1 plan which includes telephone,if you cancel before the 12 months ,they want the rest of the 12 months monies not just a cancellation fee.THEY ARE MODERN DAY HIGHWAY MEN,AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE. Report abuse

by ritchie rennie
at 11:05 on 3 Feb 2008

Hi Steve ,

I need to make you aware that virgin can claim they need you to pay back the remaining 12 months? where in all reality they will be wrong . Simple reason is they are charging you for a service they are not delivering hence if they don't deliver what you pay for its them who have broken the contract. Its a bit like you apying a TV licence but having no tv!! . Take speed reading over say a week keep the print outs and screen dumps , send a copy to Virgin and tell them to fix it or you will sue for breach of contract , as we all already know they cant deliver . you can then cancel you account with no penalties as you have given them the chance to fix it and they will fail. The old excuse of " depends on where you live and how far from exchange " will not wash as I have told them already when I got 8mb during day and less than modem speed at night. I informed them that 1. my house does not move away from exchange at night nor foes any goblins change my phones lines from 6-12 before changing them back. Report abuse

by steve
at 20:23 on 5 Feb 2008

virgin is now virging on the ridiculous not only has the speed over the weekend been poor the email has been playing up as well,it would have been quicker to send a message via pigeon than use virgin.Oh well surely it can't get any worse Report abuse

by john
at 01:57 on 8 Feb 2008

I have the a problem with BT broadband. Every month they disconnect my service for upto 2 weeks (it has gone off and come on again whilst writing this message) and i pay £23 a month for a **** service.

I don't understand how every month i have to ring up a call center in India, tell them that my broadband is off again, and for them to tell me that:
'yes sir we have done a line test and can see there is a fault with the service'.
I know that otherwise i wouldn't be calling you. And also how come every month there happens to be a fault with my service.

I wouldn't bother with them and if i can get a connection for more that 5 mins i would be happy.

In fact the connection has been lost 6 times whilst writing this and i have had to finish it offline then copy/paste into this site. Report abuse

by Carl Gray
at 14:36 on 23 Feb 2008

My experience of Demon matches some of the comments above in that since November my upload and download speeds have dropped dramatically. Demon don't seem to acknowledge that they have a problem. Asked any number of tests to be carried out which I did but stopped short of buying a new router.

One help line person informed me that the speed recorded by my router was okay so everything was fine and the problem had to do with my setup. The router speed indicates what the potential data speed is not the actual piped data.

So far not very good. Report abuse

by Mad mark
at 19:08 on 1 Jul 2009

Pipex are utter crap. Hideous even. They rinsed me, and as a result, I set up http://www.pipexproblems.co.uk as a retort. After just a couple of years, I have thousands of users that have registered their discontent.
Avoid Pipe at all costs, you have been warned. Report abuse

by Claire Jones
at 18:20 on 13 Sep 2009

Just spent another 15 minutes hanging on to Demon tech support . . . AGAIN . . . my connection goes down EVERY Friday at 6pm then on and off all weekend. If i call tech support I'm always kept hanging on for exactly 15 minutes and then amazingly my internet light turns from red to green as I'm connected to a human voice and so I just hang up. I think they're making more money out of us calling them than our internet connection fees. I'm sure their service status report are completely under supplied. Was going to migrate to Virgin, but reading all the negative posts I'm really stuck now. Was with BT years ago, but they were rubbish for Mac support. Help! x Report abuse

by Demon hater
at 23:52 on 22 Sep 2009

As Demon is so crap I have renamed it .......... Lemon - leaves a sour taste in your mouth!

I got as far as complaining to John Pluthero who is head of C&W - however I got no where.

Everyone at Demon is either in India who only read one word in the English dictionary 'sorry' or in England prabably partying using the money we all paid to get a DECENT connection.

I'm definitely NOT sorry to see the back of all the incompetent, lazy, dimwits! Don't forget - your monthly rental covers the C&W bonuses quite nicely! Report abuse

by puzzled
at 00:17 on 24 Sep 2009

Demon...we waited and waited for the ADSL2 upgrade as promised. 2 weeks after the indicated "switch on" date, it still didn't happen. so rang customer support to find out. must have gone round the world, person on the phone said it might take a while, and he was told by their tech support there's no way of knowing when it'll happen. said could be in a week's time(oh suddenly it's that quick? really?) or could be couple more months(oh dear). for the same amount we were paying, other providers are providing faster speed, so why stay on with them. we said gdbye. Report abuse