Guys I really could use some help with my service :o(

[sniper007]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

my own diagnosis is the area is congested, I will use that word instead of another word.

the tell tale signs are the jitter on the tracert and pings, whether or not its downstream or upstream I dont know, someone like ignition will be able to tell you more on that.

a quick route to get the ceo office involved is emailing the ceo firstname.lastname@virginmedia.co.uk, I did that yesterday and got a call back after an hour.

Hi there, would you mind sending me a template email you sent him? Was it Neil Berkett? and yes, ping test shows up jitter during peak times.

[Chrysalis]

is it only during peak times?

I have jitter even at 3am which is a clear sign of excessive congestion.

If I only had jitter during peak times I would be more forgiving, ideally there should be no congestion at all but if its only during peak then I expect your local ubr will be within parameters.

[sniper007]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

is it only during peak times?

I have jitter even at 3am which is a clear sign of excessive congestion.

If I only had jitter during peak times I would be more forgiving, ideally there should be no congestion at all but if its only during peak then I expect your local ubr will be within parameters.

My 10mb line in my old house used to rock solid 24/7. Is this just what the network is like nowadays everywhere or are there still areas around where people get the full speed 24/7? My problem is, I don't want to pay for 20mb when at peak time I get less than 10mb speeds.

[Chrysalis]

As I understand it now days the variance between different areas is huge.

I have seen people post pings with no jitter at 8pm, likewise speeds that are maxed out at 8pm.

My speeds and pings at 3am are worse than those 8pm postings which would suggest my area at 3am has higher load than some areas do at 8pm.

I dont know what VM's targer utilisation is per area, I expect if an area runs full speed at peak without signs of congestion then as far as VM are concerned it is probably under utilised (ie. they want more customers), my reasoning is I have seen posts on the VM community forums from people about congestion and VM have stated that their UBR's are below the thresholds required for upgrade's. My area I expect when the upgrade work is done will still be congested, it is so severe that is quite obvious but the uncongested hours will probably increase and the congestion will be less. From all this my guess and it is a guess that if an area only slows down in the evenings but is full speed all day then VM may well consider it acceptable, as a comparison you get 10mbit at peak I get under 1mbit at peak, both of us on 20mbit. I am not defending VM but just trying to tell you your situation compared to others isnt that bad.

With all this said tho there is no harm in contacting the ceo office with your complaint and see what they say, it may well be that your area will be classed as congested and in need of an upgrade.

[sniper007]

Just wanted to add to this thread. It's now been months since I have been experiencing this issue and posted on this forum as well as having previously opened issues on newsgroups. I know this is a cliche thing to say, but I have honestly been on the phone to support countless times about this. Probably 10 different phone calls. Everytime the foreign call center worker asks me to ensure I have no wireless router plugged in and check I'm running on Windows XP. Then they perform some tests and get me to reboot etc etc. The usual poor service I have come to expect :o(
I phoned again tonight and spent half an hour on the phone. She even ignored everything I said about the fact this has been an ongoing issue with poor speeds in my area. I explained that I have had an engineer out before who basically said to me at my front door that yes I was right, it's poor in my area on 20mb and that I should move on to 50mb if I want good speeds at peak times. Tonight I am getting 2mbps. I pay for 20mbps. I now have an engineer booked taking up more of my time. I am sick of this issue and it's really getting me down. I want a solution but don't even know who to phone. I even emailed Virgin media complaints before, and they were just as bad. The below email shows the concludiing final email they sent me when I had the exchange with them before after which I gave up....




Hi XXXXXXXX

KANA EMAIL REF: xxxxx

Thanks for getting in touch with the Virgin Media Support team.

Again we are really sorry about the problems that you are having but I have rechecked the network and although there is one spike for a couple of minutes, over the whole 72 hours on average the part of the network you are on is under 50% utilised which is an acceptable level.

This is not to say that there has not been networks issues in the past just at the moment there is no reason on the network or with your modem that you should be getting slow speeds.

This is why we would need to do some tests, connect directly to the modem so we can pin point what is causing the problem.

If there's anything else we can help with, please let us know.

Kind regards,

Admin edit (Chris): Please don't post the full names of Virgin Media staff without their permission. Especially when you have obviously taken steps to remove your own name from the correspondence.
Econtact Support Team
Virgin Media
KANA EMAIL REF:xxxx












I'm really not happy with this service and want to either get moved on to 50mb for free (I don't even care if I'm capped at 20mb but still on the 50mb UBR if this is even possible) or put back down to 10mb, but for it to actually be 10mb. Currently I get 2mbps tonight. I'm tired of the excuses. My modems signal levels are fine. My TV service and phone work fine. My broadband is not a local issue to my house. It's clearly a service issue that needs resolving. Can somebody please help me or put me in touch with someone that can help me?

[pip08456]

You were given that info months ago (see posts 15, and 16 when you gave yourself the answer).

[sniper007]

Originally Posted by pip08456

You were given that info months ago (see posts 15, and 16 when you gave yourself the answer).

Sorry? I'm not sure I understand.

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

a quick route to get the ceo office involved is emailing the ceo firstname.lastname@virginmedia.co.uk, I did that yesterday and got a call back after an hour.

Is contained in post 15. Look at your post 16 and you will have the full email addy you need.