virgin media ruined our internet?

[yourma2000]

i was originally with telewest and i had no problems with my broadband and was quite fast, i used the internet for online gaming mostly, but since virgin media took over it has become an absolute pile of GARBAGE!!! the internet speed is slow, it keeps disconecting and cutting off and its impossible to play properly online, the problem is i don't have a BT line so i can't switch to anything else without having to fork out more money, has anyone else noticed this with their internet? several people i know want to switch from vm too

[Hugh]

Sorry to hear you are having problems, but a few points -

1) it was renamed, not taken over - it's the same network.

2) I am on 4Mb, and can play on COD4 no problems - not everyone has problems (and not everyone doesn't, either - but it's not everyone)

3) Market Forces - if you aren't happy, vote with your money, and go elsewhere; they will soon have to sort it out if they keep losing customers, and the customers tell them why they are leaving.

Have you tried all the usual fault-finding routines, with your PC and your modem/router?

[karlywarly]

Hi yourma2000,
Your not the only one mate im thinking about leaving Virgin now after absolute dire speeds since they took over from ntl and its getting worse and worse. Im fed up to the back teeth of them now with them advertising unlimited Broadband and now implementing more traffic shaping to make the broadband worse for the consumer, they really do need to spend more money on updating the whole network so everyone gets atleast a decent speed. I used to like the virgin brand but now im starting to hate it :(

[refraction]

I dont mean to burst your bubble of hate, but no matter where you go these days, you will more than likely get traffic shaped or managed in some way or another. It has become the norm in the UK, even the most spectacular of broadband services, as soon as you hit offpeak (aka you arent limited) the network will come to a standstill as people take advantage of the caps comming off.

Considering there are no set caps with virgin, you just get your speed limited, its a pretty good service still. As was said before, they are still using the same equipment, only the name changed.

If you are having connection problems, its more than likely due to upgrades your modem cant handle, instead of getting irate about it, get hold of virgin and get it sorted.

In your defense, the lower speed services do get raped, excuse my language but i know, i was on 2mbit and it was a joke, im now on 20mbit and i love it. I get capped, i only have 5mbit to play with, its really not a tragedy unlike the lower speed services. Use it against them, ring the "thinking of leaving" people and tell them you are sick of the service and you want a better deal.