Virgin Media has announced that it is to give customers on its 4Mbps downstream ‘L tier’ broadband service a free upgrade to a 10Mbps service next February.
Announced on the eve of a high level Government symposium on “Superfast Broadband” it was revealed that the upgrade will be served region by region and will be completed by late summer.
Acting CEO of Virgin Media, Neil Berkett said: “Virgin Media’s cable network gives us a natural superiority over other broadband services and we’re delighted to reward our customers with this free upgrade. We’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible with out cable network, and we will continue to look for new ways to satisfy the growing demand for even faster broadband in the UK. We’re proud to be leading the country’s superfast broadband revolution.”
Following successful trials in Ashford, Folkstone and Dover, Virgin Media will also be introducing an upgrade programmed to a superfast 50Mb.
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virgin rock they are the best!
Yeah, i’ve been on Virgin’s service for a while now, was NTL before. I can safely say that they have never let me down, my sppeds are consistant and haven’t had a sigle occassion when net was down. They do cap my speeds in the evening if i download too much, which is every day. That said i get speeds back round 1am. Rock on Virgin, best provider in the UK. Mates all have BT and they rarely get the speeds they pay for and always have connection problems through the year. BT are gonna have to spend some serious money and dig up alot of streets if they don’t want Virgin to take the market from them.
Virgin cable is good, and why not? But it’s cutomer service is second to none in being the worst ever. You pay 25p a minute to listen to awful music while you wait, if they ever answer, and then tell you they can’t deal with your inquiry because it’s an old Telewest, or NTL or whatever. According to Which Virgin Media has a 22 per cent satisfaction rating. How low can it get?
@ Manish - “virgin rock they are the best!”
I very much strongly disagree with you there.
Ever since VM Merged with NTL & Telewest, it’s been nothing but Slow, and I’ve never personally experienced so many “Loss of Service” issues in 8 yrs of being a Customer with then “Telewest”.
However, I would say I am quite a “Heavy User”, and probably one of few who suffer Speed Capping between peak usage hours in order for other customers to experience the same quality of Internet Reliability & Speed as everyone else. So why impose Prices on Packages if people are classed as Downloading more then their fare share? As I pay £25 a month for 4MB Broadband, only to be capped at downloading upto 1MB between 4pm & 12am if I were to download more then 750MB within those hours!!
After all those on 2MB Broadband are (or were) clearly told on VM’s Packages page, that 2MB is Ideal for Customer who just occasionally check Email & Surf the Web, where as 4MB Package is ideal for customers wishing to download Videos, and a Few Thousand MP3’s, but yet 4MB Customers are made to suffer, so that 2mb customers can enjoy surfing the net without waiting for pages to load!!!. Sounds like VM are too tight in Upgrading the Networks to handle the old & new customers it’s getting to me.
Since Virgin have taken over from NTL I have found the customer service to be a lot worse, NTL never had a good record anyway! My modem is playing up, it keeps dropping the connection when it feels like it.So, I call up Virgin to be told its my Ethernet cable, now being a qualified IT Technician and Microsoft/Cisco certified I realise that cables do fail, but VERY rarely.I got the impression they were fobbing me off and couldnt care less.I have since called back on three seperate occasions only to be told to contact my local vendor.WHY? Why my local vendor when I KNOW its this Ambit modem? I am about to unsubscribe and go elsewhere, a shame as I have had cable for over 6 years.
Absoloute disgrace!!! I had an engineer out last night, and no mention of this bandwidth capping. I pay for a 4mb service I expect a 4mb service. Yes Im a heavy user, hence why I paud for 4mb not 1mb not 2 mb. Both my partner and I work from home. I look after hospitals around the country and need a decent service as I use VOIP in addition to some large uploads and downloads.
I dont remember them ever givingme any written notice of capped services.
Total shoite!!!!
In reply to Jai. Im also Cisco certified and you mention CCNP or CCIE to their support guys they suddenly become qualified too. Although when I asked one of them what a CCIE was he had trouble remembering.
After 4 weeks of progressively slower download speeds, I finally contacted their broadband support last night on their premium rate phone line. Turns out they’re upgrading their entire copper-wire based cable network to fibre-optics, and that I would continue to experience problems in my area until the end of April, which would total 12 weeks of not being able to utilse my full broadband package. Naturally I wasn’t amused, but after making my point to them they have agreed to refund my broadband costs for the last 4 weeks, as well as the continued downtime whilst they finish their network upgrades. They refunded the cost of my call as well - it’s definately worth finding out if you’re affected as well - I’m based in the East Midlands.
I thought Virgin claim their network isn’t copper based and is already Fibre Optic only a copper run is from the street box to your home.
I joined cable, when Cable & Wirless owned it then to
NTL and now Virgin Media, I have allways been happy with the Broadband though at £25.00 for 4Mb it was the most expensive in the UK. But I have a Broadband Speed Tester and it has allways kept up to 4MB without fail.I also have a Brodband Route Tester and it keeps perfect track all the way from the south up to Manchester.
My only problem is with customer service I spend up to
35 minutes waiting to speak to someone and then find it is an Indian who cannot speak English and also speaks
extremly fast as they do in India, I am not Racist but they should not be answering the phone untill they have passed a test of suitability.
virgin rock
has any one got the link so i can see when liverpool geting up dated ty
its ok i found the link here it is if any one wonts 2 take a look
http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/existingcustomers/faster/schedule.html
I AM NEW TO THIS TECHNOLOGY(PC’S),BUT I HAVE BEEN ON CABLE TV EVER SINCE IT WAS INSTALLED IN OUR AREA.
SINCE MY WIFE BOUGHT ME MY FIRST COMPUTER,I HAVE BEEN A KEEN LEARNER,SO ABOUT 3 MONTHS AGO I BIT THE BULLET AND TOOK ON THE V.I.P. PACKAGE FROM VIRGIN WHICH INCLUDES 20mbs BROADBAND,”WHAT A JOKE”.VERY RARELY I GET 10-11,MORE OFTEN ITS 3-4,SOMETIMES 0.?,OR NOTHING.THE SIGNAL DROPS OUT TOTALLY,SO OFF I GO TO THE BOX ON THE OUTSIDE WALL,UNSCREW THE CABLE,SPRAY IT WITH WD40,AND OFF WE GO AGAIN FOR A WHILE.
WHEN I E-MAIL VIRGIN ABOUT THE PROBLEM,THEY ASK ME TO PHONE A PREMIUM LINE TO ARRANGE FOR ONE OF THEIR ENGINEERS TO CALL & SAY THAT IF THE PROB.IS THEIRS THEY WILL REFUND THE CHARGES,HA HA DO THEY EVER
I HAVE NOW TOLD THEM TO SORT THE PROBLEM OR COLLECT THE KIT,I’VE HAD ENOUGH.
FIX THE PROBLEMS YOU HAVE BEFORE YOU PROMISE THINGS YOU CANNOT DELIVER!!!
We’ve had internet from them from the start (Diamond Cable - NTL - Virgin Media) and the connection quality has always been amazing, we’ve only had downtime once when someone went through a cable, and that was only a matter of an hour or so.
As for some people saying they’ve got copper cable, NTL were totally fibre optic down to street level (correct me if i’m wrong) however there were area’s of Telewest that were still copper and are being upgraded? VM might be bringing everything up to a single standard?
saying that, everyone has some copper in the equation due to the coaxial from the street to the modem. can home users actually get FTTH (Fibre To The Home)? i know the university i go to has a NTL Business contract, the speeds are crazy (BBC iPlayer loads a complete 600mb program in around a minute), so i guess thats fibre based?
As for spraying cables with WD40? huh, whats that all about?
anyway kind of went off topic there
I first joined broadband when it was still telewest blueyonder, which was great! I only had a failing internet service a couple of times in the period of a one year. and the helpline/tech support was free 24/7. but then things just went down hill completly when it was bought out by Virgin media! Not only do i barely get a good speed that lasts for more than 1 hour during downloads/uploads but i constantly seem to get disconnected atleast once a day every week! I can’t call the help/support line because I can’t make any outgoing calls from the landline unless its a free number (which the help/technical support line) is no longer free! which means i have to use my mobile to call/wait/listen & be fobbed off at a high rate cost. It also appears that even tho our upgrade to 4mb was free when virgin had taken over, they refuse to update my system/box, where it wont allow me to have a speed of 4mb, but only a speed of my previous grade 1mb! whats the point in giving free upgrades or even having to pay for upgrades when it seems that you will never get the speed that you are either upgraded to or paying for? In my area I constantly see virgin media engineering work goin on, but it only ever seems to solve the problem for 48hrs. whats the point? And the helpline/technical support aren’t helpful at all. they just say that its not there problem and that they will send someone out. even tho the last technician didnt show up at all! I am leaving virgin media when the contract expires. I’ve been paying so much towards a service that i am not recieving. BT may not have been the best propostion in the past for broadband ,but atleast they have amended many of their past mistakes and give out really good free upgrades just for being with them for a minimum of a year.
I have an 18 month contract - broadband + telephone £20 per. month. I used these services for the first six months and then was away for six months so did not use the broadband or telephone at all. I am now in the last six months of the contract. Do I get a refund for the six months when the services were not used. If so, how? Who do I contact?
I don’t think you’d be able to get anything off your provider I’m afraid. As you signed up for the full 18-months rather than on a pay-as-you-go basis I don’t think they’d be very willing.
no provider would consider giving any refund in your circumstances. the sevices you required were there to be used, had they broken down and failed to be fixed after reporting them as broken, then i would say yes.
Mixtrixx
I very much strongly disagree with you there.
Ever since VM Merged with NTL & Telewest, it’s been nothing but Slow, and I’ve never personally experienced so many “Loss of Service” issues in 8 yrs of being a Customer with then “Telewest”.
However, I would say I am quite a “Heavy User”, and probably one of few who suffer Speed Capping between peak usage hours in order for other customers to experience the same quality of Internet Reliability & Speed as everyone else. So why impose Prices on Packages if people are classed as Downloading more then their fare share? As I pay £25 a month for 4MB Broadband, only to be capped at downloading upto 1MB between 4pm & 12am if I were to download more then 750MB within those hours!!
After all those on 2MB Broadband are (or were) clearly told on VM’s Packages page, that 2MB is Ideal for Customer who just occasionally check Email & Surf the Web, where as 4MB Package is ideal for customers wishing to download Videos, and a Few Thousand MP3’s, but yet 4MB Customers are made to suffer, so that 2mb customers can enjoy surfing the net without waiting for pages to load!!!. Sounds like VM are too tight in Upgrading the Networks to handle the old & new customers it’s getting to me.
couldent have said it better myself i have the exact same package and same problem.. never had this issue with telewest where as downloading unlimited meant just that.. not getting capped after downloading 750mb which can be done within an hour os less .
when you phone virgin media customer service you get put through to a different country who dont understand what you mean and just give you the run around saying all sorts as quickly as possible so they can move on to next customer , and when you do finally get someone that understands you they tell you that they dont cap it is indeed a fair use policy but im the one thats paying for a 4mb line when infact im getting 2mb after 750mb downloaded . totally unfair and unjust
very angry virgin media customer if i could find a diff cable company in my area i wouldent hesitate in moving custom.. end of rant
HAHAHAHA XD
Spraying cables with WD-40!!!
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
Neil Berkett want’s to get of his backside and mend his servers, I spent a month trying to fathom very slow outgoing emails I ended up dropping 2 complaints at IPSA http://www.ispa.org.uk/cgi-bin/complaints.cgi after several phone calls and several on line complaint forms got me nowhere.
Don’t lose your temper folks, complain once, write once keep a copy and send recorded mail… then fill a on-line form in above, you are bound to get results.
One engineer said congestion (happened all times of day and in the wee small hours)I’m not that dumb to ask why is downloading Emails not being affected, another said theres no fault it goes on and on.
An engineer came today and said it was Virgins fault and learned from Virgins CEO it’s going to be like this until Mid July.
Blueyonder was bad but Virgin is a damn site worse..! Sending a letter ‘a’ can take a few minutes to go…. and my modems upstream power is ok..!
More new customers only pay £4.50/M a lot more than I’m paying.. but why did Virgin let it come like this? I am now thinging on going over to BT.
Oh, and no mention on Virgins Staus page…!
David
Leigh, Lancs
i have the exact same problem as all of you and i am absolutely outraged by the service from virgin media. Take today for example i havent even downloaded a thing allday nor has anyone else, yet i get in from work and my 4mb connection according to “www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk” has been lowered to 1mb. i remember the last time i rung up i get some git telling me to go up an down the stairs turning the set top box on and off, run this, run that didnt have a clue, when i told em the speed i was receiving she simply replied with “thats a fast enough speed for downloading” so i replied ” i pay for ******* 4mb not 1mb for me and 3mb for the local neighbourhood, this is not the good service i was promised by the beady eyed sales assistant this is bull****!
fact virgin media offers unlimited yes unlimited downloads, but yes it is speed capped if you download stupid amounts but for 5hrs then it goes back to normal speed. jeez get real no isp offers the full advertised speed, you have websites with busy servers, you have copper phone cables if in a non cabled area, odd concept guys phone lines meant for voice calls not high speed internet, it’s like asking a reliant robin car to go faster than a bugatti veron (imagine delboy if it did) (perfick)