Fecking Virgin broadband/WiFi! AIBU to not want to pay more money for consistent service.

[TheClitterati]

I've had problems with my home laptop connection a while ago. But for the last couple of weeks it has been fine, until the connection stops/becomes erratic & intermittent again earlier today.

I've rebooted the WiFi/broadband box.
I've searched for blackspots on the Virgin ap - apparently I have no blackspots & all is fine.
I call Virgin Media and all they can say is the broadband is fine and I need to pay more money to get a WiFi booster.

I've had Virgin broadband for 18 months - mostly good. Occasionally intermittent connection issues.

So connection great on Monday. Great on Tuesday, Great on Wednesday, Thursday & shoddy on Friday. there are no other variables - just my laptop and phone connected. I'm working in the same place in the home.

So how is paying Virgin more money going to solve my problems? If I didn't need a booster yesterday why would I need one today? And yes I've asked VM these questions - the only answer they have is paying for a booster.

AIBU to feel like I'm being taken for a mug by Virgin Media?

Are you a residential or business customer ?

Exactly the same here. Every couple of months the connection is so bad. They can’t find a fault and, same as you, they want to sell me a booster. I already bought an expensive one from Curry’s and I know it works as I can get WiFi in the kitchen now. Nothing has changed in the last ten years apart from having Netflix. In fact, my son is at uni with his PS, so no gaming going on. I read somewhere that the hi speed WiFi they promise is actually not guaranteed and as long as you have it for a certain amount of time then they can claim they provide the fastest WiFi.
Customer services are useless; they follow a script and no offer of compensating us with loss of a months useless Netflix subscription ( took ages to load then connection lost) 😡

I feel this way about TalkTalk.

I lived somewhere my neighbor had Talk Talk he always had issues
I had BT never had issues

Plenty of providers to choose from

Forgot to say that that particular month the WiFi was bad I lost it at the customer service bloke - really vented at how awful Virgin is and that I was going to cancel my account etc (it was when both my kids were home from uni and had essays to research for and couldn’t so we were all stressed). Anyway, I apologised to him and ended the call. Half an hour later WiFi back on and super fast 😏

My son runs a cable directly from the router to his pc, bypassing wifi.
He is a gamer so doesnt want lag time, or the problems we have with thick Victorian walls interfering with signal.
It seems to work well for him as often when wifi drops he is still connected.

It has been going on everywhere. Have a look at the comments on their facebook. Signal drops constantly, slow speeds etc etc. We are cancelling because of it

If it’s wifi and not fibre, and only occurs on Friday, is it possible someone is using your wifi connection using their Virgin ID? BT allows routers to turn into public use wifi spots unless you disable it. Maybe Virgin does the same? Also remember that if you’re a Smart TV user then when you use the TV it will also automatically default to your internet connection. So will any smart device including Amazon Echos / smart doorbells etc.

My parents have VM and wifi is always dropping out. I’m on BT and never have an issue. Will be swapping them over too.

Plenty of providers to choose from

the thing is there aren't actually that many to choose from at all and I won't do Sky.

My contract is up so I'll have to swap - bloody hassle though, especially as the WiFi is great 80% of the time. They say it isn;t an issue with the supply to my house, but a WiFi issue - I don't understand how the wifi in my home can vary so much. I'm here alone this week so I know its not the kids gaming.

I'm a residential customer.

I'll look into BT tonight - I was with them in my previous residence.

where I mostly use my laptop is on another floor of the house so I could understand if the Wifi signal was poor. But Virgins own ap tells me its fine (they have a scan facility) and it works most of the time.

Its not just on Fridays & I don't have anything 'smart' connected.

If wifi is an "in house" issue (as opposed to a supply issue) I don't understand how it varies like this?

I can't run a cable directly to my laptop.

Business customers in theory should get better service
I was asking, because you said you were working from home
I believe Business contract costs more with any provider

Buy a long extension lead for your lap top ?

My BT home broadband has a BT anywhere WiFi that I can connect to when I'm not at home, so I can use while traveling or most places away from home ( not in remote areas with no connection)

Does Virgin offer this too ?

Virgin here and also crap. I have 50GB of mobile data which is usually tons but I've used it all up again because the WiFi is shit.

I'm going to add that there are what are considered peak times for broadband traffic

So suggest trying it after midnight or 3am, when in theory the traffic is lower !

Fellow VM customer, I think they're awful. WiFi freezes or drops, Netflix regularly stops to reload, I wouldn't mind but we're meant to be on the 100MB service and on the speed test which I've done at all different times / days the fastest speed was 31MB.

Only staying with them until we move and then we're getting BT.

Same here, keep calling and complaining. They sent us a free booster

Same problem here. I'm on the vivid 200. Sometimes I get close to that but other times it drops to like 19mbps, mostly after 9:30 10:00 at night but surely that's not acceptable either I don't care if it's a busy time.

They are awful.

An analogy

Buy a train ticket you expect to travel from A to B on a long journey

You may be informed about planned work that may cause a delay

You may see that the network & trains are old & some are new. The upgrades are constantly ongoing, depending on budget, but may take years

There may be unexpected delays due to faults or unforseen circumstances

You may not get on a train, because it's full in peak times

Your expectation is that you will reach your destination on time

BT, Virgin, Sky are similar
They promise service, but like the train network issues occur. However, you can't see all the issues, because the network is hidden

Virgin is shite. I've just left them. I was only contracted for twelve months and then due a price hike. So I cancelled.

I was sick of exactly the problem you described. Connection falling out, stopping or going slow.

Was with plusnet for four years before that and never had a problem. They happened to be the cheapest option when comparing broadband providers this time round and rated very highly for customer service. So I went with them again. Plus, I never had any notable periods of downtime with them before. Whereas, virgin have had LOADS in a year. They told us we'd be compensated as there were problems in our area.... but then we were told we wouldn't be compensated 🤷🏻‍♀️. So that was the final straw.
Bye bye virgin!

Dump them. They are absolutely awful.
If your WiFi doesn't work, but you have good Internet connection using an ethernet cable, then they will tell you to use that and not fix the rooter, because they do guarantee access to Internet, but not WiFi.

I don't know why you "won't do Sky". I've had them for years and they're great. Their hotline is actually helpful, and you don't stay on hold for hours, they send engineers when there's a problem, and the connection is reliable.
Oh, and they don't increase their rate every other week.

I have been with Virgin/NTL since I moved into my current house in 2004. It has never been so bad as it has been in the last few months. I really get the feeling at times that someone is playing with the wires in the box.

Anyway, I had an old router, and I read online that they wanted to upgrade everyone to new ones, so I signed up. We had a similar problem about 2 nights in from getting it (where it just went on and off, as if someone was mucking around) and since then it has been fine.

So you shouldn't need to pay for a booster, they should send you a router that works. And it's not for you to have to pay for a booster anyway, you pay for a service and it should work.

I should say - my mum moved to Plusnet about 6 months ago and is very pleased with them. She was with TalkTalk before.