60M : Speed upgrade (one month?) area 20?

[sam-vm]

Hi.

I’m in Virgin Cable Media Broadband area 20 (Wirral) and when I joined up in August last year, I was told then about the speed doubling upgrades and that my area would be upgraded in early 2013.

I hadn't checked for a little while (last time was a few months back and my area had not been upgraded then) but after logging into ‘My Virgin Media’ account today, it said I was now on the speed double package and after checking with my post code at the Virgin Media Speed double checking site, it confirmed that our area was now up and running with the upgrade.

After doing a couple of speed checks, it was clear I was still on the 60 meg package that I signed up to so I decided to contact customer services.

After explaining a couple of times that I was just checking when I would be getting the speed double upgrade, the support person said they would contact someone from network support and they came back and told me that I was going to get the speed double up to 120 megs (sweet ).

I thought I’d be getting the speed increase right away and asked if I needed to turn off my SuperHub but after the support person came back from checking with network support, I was told the speed increase would take about a month!

I wonder if this is normal or are they just making me wait until my next bill date (which is indeed in about a months’ time)?

Thanks for any info

[craigj2k12]

60Mb isnt being doubled, you are on the doubled 30Mb package. You arent going to receive any more speed boosts

[sam-vm]

Originally Posted by craigj2k12

60Mb isnt being doubled, you are on the doubled 30Mb package. You arent going to receive any more speed boosts

Hi ... thanks for the reply but feel a bit confused?

I signed up for and have been paying for the 60 meg service since August 2012.

I assumed that the service I've been paying for would gain from the speed upgrade as advertised?

Customer support have told me today that I am getting the 120 meg service, but that It will take a month.

I did enquire that this was a free upgrade and was assured I would not be paying any more than the (nearly £30) amount I'm paying now.

I wonder why they are making an exception to the 60 meg service for the speed doubling upgrades?

Cheers

[philipp]

craigj2k12 is right. the legacy packages are only getting upgraded. 60mb is a new package and so you are already upgraded.

10Mb increased to 20Mb
20Mb and 30Mb increased to 60Mb
50Mb increased to 100Mb (then 120Mb when service rolls out)
100Mb increased to 120Mb (when 120Mb service rolls out)

[sam-vm]

Originally Posted by philipp

craigj2k12 is right. the legacy packages are only getting upgraded. 60mb is a new package and so you are already upgraded.

10Mb increased to 20Mb
20Mb and 30Mb increased to 60Mb
50Mb increased to 100Mb (then 120Mb when service rolls out)
100Mb increased to 120Mb (when 120Mb service rolls out)

Thanks for the message.... very confusing.

As a new customer in August 2012, 60 megs was the package I signed up for and have been paying for

If what you say is correct (not doubting what you say), then I'd have been better off signing up for and paying for the 30 megs package and waited for this recent update and got the 60 megs package for a lot less than I've been paying?

[philipp]

no as the price of the non-doubled vs doubled were the same and was phased out for new customers which is why you got 60mb in the first place. existing customers could phone up for the upgrade (probably putting them on a new contract) if the area was ok or wait patiently (like I am) for the upgrade.

[sam-vm]

If the 60 meg broadband package is not going to benefit from the double speed upgrade, then I guess I'd better get back in touch with customer services because....

1) ... I've been told porkies or given wrong information... or ...

2) ... they are going to put me on the faster service and charge me for it ... even though they told me they wouldn't.

Not sure which one of those scenarios above is worse

Thanks for the info

---------- Post added at 15:41 ---------- Previous post was at 15:36 ----------

Originally Posted by philipp

no as the price of the non-doubled vs doubled were the same and was phased out for new customers which is why you got 60mb in the first place. existing customers could phone up for the upgrade (probably putting them on a new contract) if the area was ok or wait patiently (like I am) for the upgrade.

Thanks for the info.... so, was the 30 meg broadband package £27.50? .... that's what I started paying in August for the 60 meg service(years contract.... they put the price up within 3 months to £29.25 .... they didn't tell me about the price going up either when I signed up in August! )

[General Maximus]

you have got yourself in a pickle dude. To cut a long story short the mains packages that used to exist are 10, 20, 50 and 100 (which was brand new at the end of 2011). VM then announced that they were making some new tiers and everyone was going to have their speed doubled for free with the exception of the 100mbit customers which would be moving to 120mbit. In the mean time (and I am emphasising this for a reason) the current 100mbit customers (like myself) wouild receive a price decrease of £10 knocking their 100mbit package down to £25 which is what the 50mbit peeps were paying.

VM have been going round doing infrastructure upgrades by area for well over a year now to make sure the capacity is in place ready for when they doubled everyones speeds which would be rolled out by a schedule spanning over a year and a half. Existing customers have had to wait for their area to be upgraded but new customers have been getting the newly aligned/advertised/doubled tiers which are 30, 60 and 100/120mbits.

Basically what has happened is that you have been on the newly doubled 60mbit tier whilst most peeps in your area have been sat on 30mbits waiting to be doubled up to 60mbits. I have also been lucky enough to be on 100/10 since November 2011 and I have been paying the 50mbit price since April last year while everyone else in my area on 50mbits has had to wait for the upgrades.

As always customer services didnt have a clue what they were talking about and have lied out of their collective asses again. You are on the right package but if you want more juice you can always pay a few £££ extra and move up to 100mbits (or 120 if they have made it available in your area).

[sam-vm]

Originally Posted by General Maximus

you have got yourself in a pickle dude. To cut a long story short the mains packages that used to exist are 10, 20, 50 and 100 (which was brand new at the end of 2011). VM then announced that they were making some new tiers and everyone was going to have their speed doubled for free with the exception of the 100mbit customers which would be moving to 120mbit. In the mean time (and I am emphasising this for a reason) the current 100mbit customers (like myself) wouild receive a price decrease of £10 knocking their 100mbit package down to £25 which is what the 50mbit peeps were paying.

VM have been going round doing infrastructure upgrades by area for well over a year now to make sure the capacity is in place ready for when they doubled everyones speeds which would be rolled out by a schedule spanning over a year and a half. Existing customers have had to wait for their area to be upgraded but new customers have been getting the newly aligned/advertised/doubled tiers which are 30, 60 and 100/120mbits.

Basically what has happened is that you have been on the newly doubled 60mbit tier whilst most peeps in your area have been sat on 30mbits waiting to be doubled up to 60mbits. I have also been lucky enough to be on 100/10 since November 2011 and I have been paying the 50mbit price since April last year while everyone else in my area on 50mbits has had to wait for the upgrades.

As always customer services didnt have a clue what they were talking about and have lied out of their collective asses again. You are on the right package but if you want more juice you can always pay a few £££ extra and move up to 100mbits (or 120 if they have made it available in your area).

Hi ... thanks for all that info and you may well be right about people being in a pickle... myself included

All I know is that in August 2012, I signed up for the 60 megs package at £27.50 which was then raised in a price increase a few months later to £29.50 (funny that they didn't give any hint when I was signing up of a price hike on the horizon ).

From memory, at the time when I signed up, I could have picked the 30 meg package for less than I have been paying for my 60 meg service and it would *seem* that by doing that, I would have qualified for the doubling upgrade to 60 megs now that our area has rolled out the upgrades?

At this moment in time I wouldn't wish to pay more to get the extra speed and if it comes down to it, I'll just stick with my package until my contract is up in August 2013. I'm hoping by then that our local exchange will be fibre enabled and I'll be able to get a deal from the likes of Sky for their FTTC package.

I'm really not sure what to think about the information I've been given by customer services other than when I came off the phone, they had told me that I was going to get the speed doubling up to 120 megs, for the same price as I'm paying now, but that I'd have to wait a month and hence my original question about the month's delay

Thanks to all for the replies and info. I guess I'd have been better off coming here to the forums first, than phoning Virgin Media Customer Services

[General Maximus]

if you had opted for 30mbits in August you wouldn't be doubled to 60mbits now and be paying less, you would be still be on 30mbits because the package they would have put you on would have been the doubled 10mbits package which is/was due to be upgraded to 30mbits. You would be paying the cheaper price and staying on 30.

[sam-vm]

Originally Posted by General Maximus

if you had opted for 30mbits in August you wouldn't be doubled to 60mbits now and be paying less, you would be still be on 30mbits because the package they would have put you on would have been the doubled 10mbits package which is/was due to be upgraded to 30mbits. You would be paying the cheaper price and staying on 30.

Crazy stuff eh?

So, if I'd been previously on the old 30 meg legacy package, it would have been £27.50 and disregarding the price hike, I'd have stayed paying that and got the speed double to 60 megs?

I've just checked current prices on Virgin Media's site and the 60 meg package is on deal at £22 then rises to £27.50 ... just going to take a tablet and have a lay down

[General Maximus]

Originally Posted by sam-vm

So, if I'd been previously on the old 30 meg legacy package, it would have been £27.50 and disregarding the price hike, I'd have stayed paying that and got the speed double to 60 megs?

yup, and that is basically what you are on now apart from you got the upgrade before it was due

Originally Posted by sam-vm

I've just checked current prices on Virgin Media's site and the 60 meg package is on deal at £22 then rises to £27.50 ... just going to take a tablet and have a lay down

it is always the same, new customers get better cheaper deals while us oldies get to pay full whack. The only way you can get it down is when your contract is up and you can ring retentions and threaten to leave

[sam-vm]

Thanks again.... I really appreciate all the info, help and advice

[qasdfdsaq]

How difficult can it be to understand?

If you were NOT an existing VM customer at the time the speed doubling was announced you will not have a speed to be doubled. You cannot double a non-existent connection.

Speed doubling for existing customers applies only to existing customers. If you were not an existing customer, speed doubling does not apply to you.

[sam-vm]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

How difficult can it be to understand?

If you were NOT an existing VM customer at the time the speed doubling was announced you will not have a speed to be doubled. You cannot double a non-existent connection.

Speed doubling for existing customers applies only to existing customers. If you were not an existing customer, speed doubling does not apply to you.

Yeh... your right... how difficult can it be to understand?.... after all, Virgin Media Customers services seem to think that I was eligible for the speed double as they told me I would be getting the upgrade to 120 megs