Archived on 6/5/2022

Virgin Media

Welshcake
1 Aug '21

Is anyone else in SE23 having problems with Virgin Media? My broadband was down most of Saturday evening and was only working for about 20 mins this morning - now it’s off again with 18.40 as estimated time for repair. Not great service given the price. (I’ve registered for credit on my account but never seem to ‘qualify’ for it.) Even more of a worry when I’m relying on it to WFH, too.

SisterMidnight
1 Aug '21

Yep also down. And been going around in circles attempting to register for the ‘automatic’ compensation… got to a page that said it’ll be fixed ‘soon’ - implying we won’t get compensation anyway. (Also my bband came back yesterday eve so prob doesn’t qualify under thei 24 hour straight policy. Meh)

Welshcake
1 Aug '21

I usually (this being a fairly common occurrence!) call them up and register loss of service that way - 789 from a virgin phone or mobile, I think. Obviously, you have to listen to a bit of BS, but if they’re actually admitting there’s a fault, they’ll usually tell you to press 1 to register / check if you’re already registered. I think you’re right that they only pay out after continuous not cumulative loss of service. (And let’s not forget the countless times day to day the connection drops for just long enough to chuck you off the work server, etc.) Grrr…

SisterMidnight
1 Aug '21

Ah interesting you mention that about the drop outs - thought it was just my wifi/ router/workplace…

Bolgerp
1 Aug '21

Probably not much help now, I’m afraid but we haven’t had any issues with our Virgin broadband in the last 24 hours in the Sunderland Road area. I’ve lost service in the past when they’ve been working on a nearby cabinet so it only affected the surrounding streets but nothing further out. I find calling them to check the service update is more accurate than their website if it’s a localised fault. I have given up trying to speak to anyone on the phone since the pandemic started. Contacting them via Twitter seems to get a response though.

Welshcake
1 Aug '21

I frequently need to reboot my hub or switch my WiFi off and back on to reset the connection. (The latter could be my network, of course, but it’s still annoying.)

Welshcake
1 Aug '21

Thanks, Bolgerp – it seems to be up and running again now, but it still annoys me that I’m paying out for a service that has been unavailable for a lot of the weekend. I’ve also previously had it fail during working hours, which meant I had to use mobile data for work – it ate up what I had available in very little time, and as I’m with Virgin Mobile, I asked could I be reimbursed or have the data reinstated. They refused point blank and took a very dismissive “not our problem” attitude. I’m looking to change ISP at some point, but as Virgin won’t let me retain the email address I’ve had since the early 2000s, it may take some time! I’ll definitely tweet them some feedback.

EDIT: And it’s down again! Estimated time for repair now 11.30pm. :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

SisterMidnight
9 Aug '21

Mine’s down again!
Grrrr….

robertjroy
9 Aug '21

Mine has been up and down today - there was a known issue showing on the status page this morning.

Welshcake
9 Aug '21

Same - it was off this aft with an estimated repair time of 6.50pm, and it’s down now at 7.15pm. I register the issue and tweet them every time it’s playing up. It’s so annoying!

robertjroy
10 Aug '21

It’s gone down again this morning just before 9AM, when most people log in to start work. :roll_eyes:

Welshcake
10 Aug '21

Argh! Mine’s OK at the moment at least, but it’s a worry when you’re relying on it to WFH. I’m freelance and, while I was able to do most of my tasks offline yesterday, then jump online when I could, I’ll need a stable connection for tomorrow’s work. :roll_eyes: indeed.

applespider
10 Aug '21

Mine’s been pretty rock solid; one outage the other weekend but came back on as scheduled. My mum (non-local) struggled with hers for a while along with the rest of her street and it was eventually tracked down so someone having fitted an extension cable to their box with crappy cable that was creating noise for everyone else.

SisterMidnight
13 Aug '21

Virgin media sent me a feedback survey…!
Doubt they read it but enjoyed my little vent

HannahM
14 Aug '21

We looked at Virgin when we moved here but went with the cheaper and slightly slower BT fibre to the cabinet. It has been very robust and we have never had an outage in 5 years of having it.