V21 - any good?

[Matth]

http://www.v21.co.uk/index2.asp

512k, unlimited, £16.99 - looks good


50:1 contention, now what does that actually mean?
I know in dialup, contention was "users to modems" ratio - high contention, meant trouble getting on a peak times.

50:1 contention in broadband, is that for througput, rather than connection?
So assuming that 10 out of 50 (20% of users) were all active at once, throughput would drop from "10x faster" to dialup speed, am I reading that the right way?

[Paul M]

It means that at some point - up to 49 other connections will be sharing your bandwidth. Off the top of my head I can't remember which point exactly - other than it's after you get to the exchange.

[Mick Fisher]

I tried V21's 2meg unlimited service and found it to be more like a poor 512 service most of the time, occasionly dipping to dial up speed at peak times. Tech support by phone is £1.00/minute and there only intention is to keep you on the line as long as possible. Otherwise there is a email system referred to as 'raising a ticket' which is almost completely ignored by V21.

Initially I was suckered by the standard 'We will get BT to check your line' They don't and thats the last you hear until you raise another ticket. Then you get Oh BT have not responded, we will ask them again. But they don't.
Eventually I got nasty and was told that my connections poor performence was a contention issue but was within acceptable(to them) parameters so they would not consider any furhter investigation.
At this point I cancelled.
Although they have a monthly contract they CHARGE £30.00 for a MAC in a vain attempt to chain people to there pathetic little company. All in all with connection charges and a crappy cheapo router that they supplied I find myself about £240.00 down for nothing. But leaving them is like a weight being lifted from my shoulders.
In short, as a IP V21 are useless, their Tech support is non existent. Signing up to V21 could be a huge mistake, I know it was for me.

Mick.

[maxsolo]

Yes be very aware of this company (V21)! If you pay peanuts you will always
get a monkey, and V21 is the biggest one of all.
I regret ever hearing about this company V21, if they where to give the internet
service provider (ISP), industry an enema, this is where they would stick the tube, right in to V21‘s butt.
Talk about a bad time with this company, slow connection,down times , DSL problems might, as well chuck your money out the window.
They never reply to emails, or there ticket service, customer support will keep you hanging on the phone forever, 40 mins average if you ever get through.
However if you want to sign up with them, on there sign up number, they will
answer the phone in under30 seconds.
After complaining to them on the phone, they cut me off saying that I had been rude to them, which was a complete lie.
They sent me a letter saying “we have terminated your account�
They then hit my credit card account for £80.00? Adding insult to injury.
I did not sign up to get ripped off by this bunch of conmen!
So please be very, very careful and check out as much as you can about
any ISP before you sign up. There are good one’s out there. But V21 is the worst,of the worst. SO BE WARNED!
MAXSOLO

[Mick Fisher]

Sorry to hear how you got ripped off as well Max. It's been a while now since the fiasco I had with them, but I see nothing has changed then. They banned me from their Forum for speaking the truth about them. Apart from disgruntled noobs I think all the other replies on that Forum are plants anyway.
Unbelievably I got a mail from them a couple of weeks ago, they offered me a free month to go back with them. I just couldn't believe a Rip-Off Company like that could be so thick skinned and cynical as to send out mails like that.

[moodyjohn]

V TWO ONE is the very best of all ISP . But if you play us about we will make you pay for doing it, HARD CASH. Were also able to change any Terms & Conditions when we like, simply because there is nothing to stop us in law, WE SEE IT AS OUR RIGHT.
So there you have it. YOU SAD LOT.
J Moody V21

[drgl]

oh the infamous J Moody-what a plank you really are!! V21 are nothing shy of useless,they are rip off artists and WILL take what ever £££ they feel from your bank a/c.(the infamous £80 mystery charge springs to mind!) They are also VERY immature,they will try to cause you as much hassle as possible if you dare question there methods/support. Steer very clear-the above post should tell you all what they are like as a company. Do a search on various other forums for their company.

http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/

you have been warned!!!!

[Jules]

Why pay that when for a pound more you can get 1meg from NTL

Oh and welcome to the forum drgl

[drgl]

thanks for the welcome

[Matt D]

Originally Posted by moodyjohn

V TWO ONE is the very best of all ISP . But if you play us about we will make you pay for doing it, HARD CASH. Were also able to change any Terms & Conditions when we like, simply because there is nothing to stop us in law, WE SEE IT AS OUR RIGHT.
So there you have it. YOU SAD LOT.
J Moody V21

If you are actually from V21, a post like that is hardly liable to make anyone here ever think about signing up with you...

Originally Posted by drgl

oh the infamous J Moody-what a plank you really are!! V21 are nothing shy of useless,they are rip off artists and WILL take what ever £££ they feel from your bank a/c.(the infamous £80 mystery charge springs to mind!) They are also VERY immature,they will try to cause you as much hassle as possible if you dare question there methods/support. Steer very clear-the above post should tell you all what they are like as a company. Do a search on various other forums for their company.

http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/

you have been warned!!!!

There's no need to call anyone a "plank"


Posts in this thread, & at the forums you linked to, do show that obviously there are some people who have had big problems with V21.

Although, of course, there are also posts at ISPReview from people who say they've never had any problems with V21.

[Paul M]

I can't imagine why you felt the need to drag up a six month old topic just to post like that (and the evidence suggests you are also maxsolo). Closed.