120M No Internet in Worthing

Off the Bit · 08-02-2016, 17:09

Hi all

I'm in Worthing and have not had any internet service since Wednesday last week. I called 150 and they said it's "a really complex problem" that they can't give any expected time for it to be resolved by. It's supposedly an "intermittent" issue, but I've not had service at any time I've tried to access it since last Tuesday night. The superhub "looks" connected, in that all the usual lights are lit, and I've tried my old Virgin D-link router to check it's not the superhub itself that is broken.

Does anyone in Worthing have a similar problem, or better still, does anyone know what the actual problem is?

It's frustrating really because in six months of living in Worthing I've had more outages than in the previous five years at my old address. I'm using my phone as a hotspot but am getting through my data allowance fast.

Anyway, enough of my moaning! If anyone can shed any light on what's going on, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

Kushan · 08-02-2016, 21:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Off the Bit

Hi all

I'm in Worthing and have not had any internet service since Wednesday last week. I called 150 and they said it's "a really complex problem" that they can't give any expected time for it to be resolved by. It's supposedly an "intermittent" issue, but I've not had service at any time I've tried to access it since last Tuesday night. The superhub "looks" connected, in that all the usual lights are lit, and I've tried my old Virgin D-link router to check it's not the superhub itself that is broken.

Does anyone in Worthing have a similar problem, or better still, does anyone know what the actual problem is?

It's frustrating really because in six months of living in Worthing I've had more outages than in the previous five years at my old address. I'm using my phone as a hotspot but am getting through my data allowance fast.

Anyway, enough of my moaning! If anyone can shed any light on what's going on, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

Call them up again and get a better answer. You got fobbed off by an incompetent agent.

heero_yuy · 09-02-2016, 09:01

I'm in Worthing ( Broadwater district ) and the only outage of recent times was the morning last month when they gutted the main cab and tidied up the cabling. They popped a card through the letterbox advising that an interuption was scheduled. My DS power went up 6dB. US down by 5dB. I guess they took out a splitter somewhere. I fitted an FPA to bring the DS level back to ideal.

Apart from that the ping monitor shows no outages.

The fact that they're doing work in the area may be the reason for your outages?

Off the Bit · 09-02-2016, 17:00

Thank you both for your replies. I have just got off the phone again and apparently they are relaying a cable because another company severed it. Apparently it will be fixed sometime today, which I will believe when I see it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kushan

Call them up again and get a better answer. You got fobbed off by an incompetent agent.

Yes I think I did. The one I spoke to today at least seemed to know what he was talking about.

Kushan · 09-02-2016, 19:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Off the Bit

Yes I think I did. The one I spoke to today at least seemed to know what he was talking about.

Good, make sure you do call straight back in if it's not fixed. Also make sure you get credit back for your loss of service, the best way to make Virgin listen is to make them (literally) pay.

Off the Bit · 11-02-2016, 17:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Off the Bit

The one I spoke to today at least seemed to know what he was talking about.

Maybe I spoke too soon. Still no internet, I rang them up yesterday and was told that "it'll definitely be fixed by Friday." Oh, and this time the reason for the downtime is different, it's nothing to do with a severed cable, it's that there's "too much noise" on the network in my area.

They insist that I should be only having "intermittent" outages, but I guess their definition of intermittent is different to mine. (To me, intermittent means that sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't, rather than no service at all for nine days. And counting.)

Anyway I am resigned to phoning them up again tomorrow, no doubt to be told that it will be "a couple more days."

I don't really want to leave for another supplier, but if it's not working soon then Virgin won't really be leaving me with much choice.

Kushan · 11-02-2016, 19:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Off the Bit

Maybe I spoke too soon. Still no internet, I rang them up yesterday and was told that "it'll definitely be fixed by Friday." Oh, and this time the reason for the downtime is different, it's nothing to do with a severed cable, it's that there's "too much noise" on the network in my area.

They insist that I should be only having "intermittent" outages, but I guess their definition of intermittent is different to mine. (To me, intermittent means that sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't, rather than no service at all for nine days. And counting.)

Anyway I am resigned to phoning them up again tomorrow, no doubt to be told that it will be "a couple more days."

I don't really want to leave for another supplier, but if it's not working soon then Virgin won't really be leaving me with much choice.

You're not getting anywhere with the agents. Time to bring out the big guns.

Email tom.mockridge@virginmedia.co.uk with what you've told us. He's the Chief Exec, his staff will expedite your issue and get someone to call you back with a proper answer and a proper response. 9 days is disgraceful and there's no excusing it.

What I think is going on is there is a noise issue in your area, which probably started off only causing intermittent connections so was raised as such but despite the fact that people clearly have no connection, nobody's had the sense to raise the priority. Tell Tom how long its been, how many times you've phoned in, how you keep getting a different reason and how you are disappointed with how you've been treated. Be nice, polite but firm and see what his team come back with.

sollp · 11-02-2016, 19:19

Unfortunately if there already an existing fault within your area which could be a damaged cable in your case then or if there is a fault ticket open because there is network noise being worked on then if you develop and fault on your installation as well then you won't get a Service Engineer until those tickets or any other tickets are closed.

Off the Bit · 12-02-2016, 14:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kushan

Email tom.mockridge@virginmedia.co.uk with what you've told us. He's the Chief Exec, his staff will expedite your issue and get someone to call you back with a proper answer and a proper response. 9 days is disgraceful and there's no excusing it.

Thanks, I have sent him an email and will see what happens.

Kushan · 15-02-2016, 15:08

Any update? I imagine they should have replied by now.

Off the Bit · 15-02-2016, 17:09

I received an email from a complaints manager saying that I would be updated by close of business today. Not heard yet so will be ringing them up. Still no service.

Edit:
I've just phoned them, the man was very polite but basically admitted they don't know when it will be fixed. It's got an ETA of tomorrow but, to quote him directly, "they're just rolling it over for another 24 hours each day." It was quite refreshingly honest compared to the other people I've spoken to.

I guess it's a case of me hanging on, or giving Sky/BT a call and taking it out of Virgin's hands. Annoying because up until two weeks ago I'd happily recommend Virgin to anyone, but there we go.

Off the Bit · 17-02-2016, 17:49

An update, I received a text this morning saying it was all fixed - I try to keep an open mind, but I was rather sceptical. Anyway, my cynicism wasn't misplaced, it's still not working.

Rather annoyed, I rang up asking to cancel, but was told that because I'm still under contract, I can only cancel when there has been no service for thirty days. So potentially I'm only half-way there. (Does that mean that one could have a contract for a year and only get 12 days of service, and Virgin would consider that acceptable?) A bit annoying because I've been with Virgin for years and only had to sign a new contract because I moved.

I was on the phone for 40 minutes and have at least got an engineer coming out on Friday. Apparently the outage was so big it means it's stopping the equipment connecting - I'm slightly dubious about this, but that's my cynical side creeping in.

Regardless, I'm either fifteen days away from ending my contract, or four months (when contract ends) - I can't see anything swaying me from going elsewhere when the time comes.

**Hugh** · 17-02-2016, 18:16

Probably won't make a difference, but try re-booting the Hub to see if this helps.

jb66 · 17-02-2016, 18:18

sounds like there is an outage but you have a fault at the same time,

horseman · 18-02-2016, 04:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by jb66

sounds like there is an outage but you have a fault at the same time,

Lancing mini headend is still playing (ArrisE6k) catchup even last September when the "noise busters" had revamped my tab boards in Hove and had to scoot off to Lancing/Worthing to help the crew out there...
Not surprising even after about 10 Hub upgrades about 2 year ago that some nodes/cable segments are still shagged...par for the course...