Virgin Media - Crap/Not Crap

[skyscraper101]

I looked at the coverage map of hyperoptic. Looks like they are providing and taking orders for large/new apartment development blocks, and new schools etc but over quite a large area of London. I'm gathering older flats and houses will have quite a wait for the most part.

 

[Hollis]

Hmm.. I phoned up as my Fibre Broadband speed had reduced to 2mbps..

They've not managed to fix that remotely - it's still crap. But as a result of the call they're given me the latest Tivo box and router (I had an old TeleWest box) and are reducing my annual charge by £120.

I'm sure I'm still paying over the odds... but that's without any bargaining on my part.

 

[sim667]

Hmm.. I phoned up as my Fibre Broadband speed had reduced to 2mbps..

They've not managed to fix that remotely - it's still crap. But as a result of the call they're given me the latest Tivo box and router (I had an old TeleWest box) and are reducing my annual charge by £120.

I'm sure I'm still paying over the odds... but that's without any bargaining on my part.

What router did they give you? SH3?

 

[cybershot]

Had the annual price hike letter. Mine is going up £3 a month for 200mbps broadband only package to what I think will be about £41.xx

Which is still a few quid cheaper than what they flog that package too for new customers. Which is annoying. Need to look into if having a phone line I’ll never use will work out cheaper, probably not at first glance, only for 12 months anyway and then I have the hassle of phoning them up every 12 months to cancel again until they offer me the same price as a new customer again.

But I think just tipping £40 a month for broadband only now has just crossed that line of time to look at my options even thou I am satisfied with the service.

 

[sim667]

Had the annual price hike letter. Mine is going up £3 a month for 200mbps broadband only package to what I think will be about £41.xx

Which is still a few quid cheaper than what they flog that package too for new customers. Which is annoying. Need to look into if having a phone line I’ll never use will work out cheaper, probably not at first glance, only for 12 months anyway and then I have the hassle of phoning them up every 12 months to cancel again until they offer me the same price as a new customer again.

But I think just tipping £40 a month for broadband only now has just crossed that line of time to look at my options even thou I am satisfied with the service.

Me too, but there's no other fibre providers where I am.

 

[skyscraper101]

Mine is going up by £3 to £23.

Which isn't bad I guess given that's 100Mb broadband, and Tivo for recording TV shows.

 

[cybershot]

I think I'm going to stick, looking at all their other deals, bundles, that i won't use, the price doesn't really move unless I take a big hit with my broadband speed.

Mine is going up by £3 to £23.

Which isn't bad I guess given that's 100Mb broadband, and Tivo for recording TV shows.

I guess that package is not listed on their main site anymore, in the same way 200Mb Broadband on it's own isn't.

ETA: I could switch to the 100Mbps deal with a phone for £32, I think I could live with the 100Mbps drop in speed to be honest, most of my downloading goes on overnight, or I kick off remotely.

 

[skyscraper101]

They wanted to raise my package cost to £40 odd quid up from £20 month.

I told them I wanted to cancel and they didn't even bother to try and retain me, even when I told them I don't want telly or a landline they couldn't offer me anything below £36. A £16 increase for the same service.

They can do one.

 

[skyscraper101]

LOL, they rang me back today and offered me £22 p/m for 100Mb broadband only deal with a £20 credit over 12 months, which basically works out to £20.33 p/m

Agreed and took it. I won't even miss the phone or TiVo - I barely use either.

 

[cybershot]

LOL, they rang me back today and offered me £22 p/m for 100Mb broadband only deal with a £20 credit over 12 months, which basically works out to £20.33 p/m

Agreed and took it. I won't even miss the phone or TiVo - I barely use either.

I was going to quote you last night and say they will probably phone you back tomorrow as in today. But I didn’t want to jinx it or get your hopes up.

Good work.

 

[sim667]

LOL, they rang me back today and offered me £22 p/m for 100Mb broadband only deal with a £20 credit over 12 months, which basically works out to £20.33 p/m

Agreed and took it. I won't even miss the phone or TiVo - I barely use either.

Thanks..... that gives me some ammo as my contract is up next month and I want to ditch phone and telly too.

 

[skyscraper101]

Thanks..... that gives me some ammo as my contract is up next month and I want to ditch phone and telly too.

Interestingly, they didn't want the TiVo box back. They said they've moved on to their V6 boxes now so just told me to put it in recycling.

The box still works for playing back stored recordings (so thankfully my ITV4 Minder collection is intact) but doesn't record any more. And although it still receives channel 1-5, it puts a message on the screen advising to contact customer services, so effectively useless for watching anything other than already recorded shows now.

 

[sim667]

Interestingly, they didn't want the TiVo box back. They said they've moved on to their V6 boxes now so just told me to put it in recycling.

The box still works for playing back stored recordings (so thankfully my ITV4 Minder collection is intact) but doesn't record any more. And although it still receives channel 1-5, it puts a message on the screen advising to contact customer services, so effectively useless for watching anything other than already recorded shows now.

I've wondered if you can flash them tbh....... I know there's a open network ports as I can control mine with a bit of scripting

 

[skyscraper101]

I've wondered if you can flash them tbh....... I know there's a open network ports as I can control mine with a bit of scripting

I'd be interested if so

 

[dervish]

I'd be interested if so

Yeah, me too. I have the new V6 thing and it is significantly better than the old one, but it is basically a tivo and they can have plex.

 

[ruffneck23]

Virgin internet has stopped working properly

anyone having issues ?

Not at home myself to try

 

[cybershot]

Headline (once clicked) says virgin mobile. Broadband fine for me.

 

[ruffneck23]

seems to be fine for me too, ah well

 

[ruffneck23]

Headline (once clicked) says virgin mobile. Broadband fine for me.

you're right , must learn to read properly

 

[cybershot]

The annual price rise letter has come a bit earlier this year looking at the date history on this thread. Mines going up by £3.50 a month! (There goes the fiver a month I just saved by switching mobile tariffs)

This still works out £2 less than new customers pay for the 200Mbps broadband only package so I guess again, don't really have much to stand on in terms of haggling with them, especially as I don't want a phone line or their TV services and no competitors come close! Not even downgrading the package seems worthwhile!

Maybe I'll take a skyscraper101 gamble and phone them up to cancel and see what they come back with.

ETA: Actually plan to move out in next 12 months, so I'll probably leave it so I'm not tied into them and find a super new customer deal via uswitch etc when the time comes!

 

[BristolEcho]

They were putting up our 100mb connection by £4.01 month. I was already fuming that they were offering new customers a 12 month contract at £18 per month! As BT now offer fiber in this area I gave them a ring and managed to get a discount of around £10 a month and a £20 credit so it's worth trying.

I didn't want to get annoyed with the call handler as it's not his fault, but he was doing his best to tell me how lucky I was to only be paying my old rate. Completely missing the point and it's people like my parents who get stung by this shit.

I'll definitely be considering switching again once the contracts up.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Mine jumped up a fair bit, but they dropped it the moment I phoned up. Wouldn't give me the new customer rate though. Its fustrating as they know you have less leverage as nobody else (at least in my area) will offer their speeds and tbh I'm pretty happy with them so changing would be a gamble.

 

[BristolEcho]

Mine jumped up a fair bit, but they dropped it the moment I phoned up. Wouldn't give me the new customer rate though. Its fustrating as they know you have less leverage as nobody else (at least in my area) will offer their speeds and tbh I'm pretty happy with them so changing would be a gamble.

I think that's the only reason why I got the offer is did. Previously when BT weren't in this area I couldn't do much. I was willing to drop down to 50mbps broadband and not making much saving as I was that pissed off.

I don't really need 100mbs in my opinion. They also bug you with calls offering you a good "upgrade" for very little increase.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I think that's the only reason why I got the offer is did. Previously when BT weren't in this area I couldn't do much. I was willing to drop down to 50mbps broadband and not making much saving as I was that pissed off.

I don't really need 100mbs in my opinion. They also bug you with calls offering you a good "upgrade" for very little increase.

Yeah. It's not terrible tbf. I dropped from 200 to 100 as its fine for streaming and the odd bit of torrenting I do.

 

[skyscraper101]

Mine's up in October. I'm still on £22pm for 100mbs speed which suits me fine.

I wonder by how much they'll attempt to shaft me for this year.

 

[BristolEcho]

Yeah. It's not terrible tbf. I dropped from 200 to 100 as its fine for streaming and the odd bit of torrenting I do.

The only thing I download that is largeish is the odd album/playlist or occasionally a game. I was utterly blown away when I went from 5mbps to 50mbps that I could download a game in an hour. That's quick enough and I've not actually noticed an improvement since they increased the speed.

 

[teuchter]

They are such sneaks. I'd agreed a "contract" with them for a certain price, for 12 months, assuming that the price increase letter arrives when the contract runs out.

Turns out though, they are basically free to increase the price whenever they like, regardless of the length of the contract, so it's already gone up by £2 and now another £2.50.

Then they offer you a discount which runs on a different time period to the contract, to make everything as opaque as possible.

The options offered by their retentions team are, of course, as confusing as possible. So I can defer the price increase for 6 months (during which my current discount will run out) or I can accept the price increase but alongside a slight increase in my discount which lasts for 18 months but doesn't cancel out the price increase.

 

[chandlerp]

You can cancel the contract without penalties if they increase it during your contract period. You don’t have to pay it.

 

[teuchter]

You can cancel the contract without penalties if they increase it during your contract period. You don’t have to pay it.

I know. But usually the point of a contract is that two parties agree something and then stick to it. As in, I commit to paying a certain amount for a certain time, and they commit to providing the thing. In effect, this 'contract' commits them to virtually nothing.

 

[BristolEcho]

They are such sneaks. I'd agreed a "contract" with them for a certain price, for 12 months, assuming that the price increase letter arrives when the contract runs out.

Turns out though, they are basically free to increase the price whenever they like, regardless of the length of the contract, so it's already gone up by £2 and now another £2.50.

Then they offer you a discount which runs on a different time period to the contract, to make everything as opaque as possible.

The options offered by their retentions team are, of course, as confusing as possible. So I can defer the price increase for 6 months (during which my current discount will run out) or I can accept the price increase but alongside a slight increase in my discount which lasts for 18 months but doesn't cancel out the price increase.

I've had no confirmation of the new price rate by email meaning I'm going to have to spend more time chasing them up. Losing my patience to be honest.