Off to uni sunday - virgin media?

mrapoc · Sep 16, 2011, 15:02:39

Hey

Busy last couple of weeks packing for uni

stressful time haha!

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/WMSPA

As you can see a lot more providers reside in this area. Virgin media have offered all students a 9month package deal. Does anyone have any experience with them?

I would try to persuade housemates to all chip in for the Idnet experience (what speed will idnet offer in the area?) but as a second choice (taking into account students + cost = less money for beer) what is virgin media like as a company/service

.Griff. · Sep 16, 2011, 15:28:23

When the service works it's great.

When it doesn't work they make BT look like Angels in comparison.

This is my good friend calling them -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8ehM3njpik

(Some swearing 2 minutes in.. I think frustration got the better of my normally calm friend)

mrapoc · Sep 16, 2011, 15:35:41

Oh dear!

Might need to look at the other providers in the area then. Or just chance it and keep on at them if anything does fook up

so many cowboys in this business!

.Griff. · Sep 16, 2011, 15:42:22

This is purely based on my own experience but I'd strongly recommend Be. (Who are available on that exchange)

I was with them for over 5 years and if there ever was a problem it was resolved without any fuss or stress very quickly. They have official forum support, IRC support, email support, twitter support, Facebook support, ticket based support, 24/7 phone support and finally an unofficial usergroup (with support). And being an LLU provider they can sort things there and then in most cases. No more crawling to BT on bended knees.

The only reason I left them after so long was my own greed. I.E I wanted FTTC.

john · Sep 16, 2011, 15:58:14

I've not had personal experience myself but a colleague at work thinks they're wonderful but a friend thinks his connection is slow although he's had his cable connection long before they were Virgin and his computer is ancient so he may have some scope for speeding things up.

pctech · Sep 16, 2011, 16:00:38

I had experience of their ADSL service when I first got broadband, dire doesn't do it justice, went down every few days and in the evenings their DNS resolvers died on their ass regularly.

I was also a customer of their analogue TV service, wheever it went down I would ring them up to be told they didn't have an analogue TV service.

ST Driver · Sep 16, 2011, 17:43:41

Have been with virgin for nearly a year now.
Only got 10meg download but it gives about 9.7 meg constantly with upload of 1meg.
Had no down time at all in this time.

Simon · Sep 16, 2011, 18:18:28

Quote from: .Griff. on Sep 16, 2011, 15:28:23
When the service works it's great.

When it doesn't work they make BT look like Angels in comparison.

This is my good friend calling them -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8ehM3njpik

(Some swearing 2 minutes in.. I think frustration got the better of my normally calm friend)

I understand the frustration, but it was quite a classic moment when they though the VM guy had hung up.

mrapoc · Sep 16, 2011, 18:39:22

haha that was an entertaining call even though i felt the frustration my end.

they do however seem to be offering the best deal in the area with a personalised deal for students in the area.

i won't have time for gaming in between "work" and beer

pctech · Sep 16, 2011, 19:19:33

Yep that sounds just like the calls I've had when the TV used to go down in MK.

zappaDPJ · Sep 17, 2011, 17:22:42

I interact with quite a number of people on Virgin Cable on a regular basis. They have far fewer issues then people running on copper networks but as has already been said, their customer services is not the best if you do have an issue. I don't know anyone on their ADSL service but almost everything I've read tells me it's wretched.

peasblossom · Nov 16, 2011, 14:20:34

Another issue that comes up when VM are mentioned is how much you pay. It can vary apparently (not just with what type of package you have) and it's not always clearly spelled out.

pctech · Nov 20, 2011, 20:59:12

Quote from: zappaDPJ on Sep 17, 2011, 17:22:42
I interact with quite a number of people on Virgin Cable on a regular basis. They have far fewer issues then people running on copper networks but as has already been said, their customer services is not the best if you do have an issue. I don't know anyone on their ADSL service but almost everything I've read tells me it's wretched.

From what I've heard just like with O2 Access VM have not invested in the hostlinks from BT so the service is slow.