TechMojo Dealing With Greedy Internet Provider & 18 Months Of Problems - PC Tech - Part 43.
Wi-Fi randomly dropping, Ethernet dropping, Network dropping... Virgin Media ISP and the Lies they tell.
Unfortunately for the majority of internet users around the world, we have to pay for the privileged of using something that is routed in our civilisation. While many ISP's (Internet Service Providers) are generally good at keeping us connected 24/7, there are the odd few that don't care if there network is broken or care about there customers.
What happened?...
- Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company that is primarily based in the UK, (Previously NTL / Cable & wireless). They do offer some impressive fibreoptic broadband speeds of up to 350Mb download at reasonable rates for ''new customers''. They also offer many TV and phone packages, but again, only reasonable rates for ''new customers''.
I have been a Virgin media customer for about 6-7 years, and most of that time I had no problems with the services they provide. That was the case up until about 18 months ago when they gave us there 'new and improved' router.
- My home network is a fairly simple setup. All 4 of the sockets available on the router are occupied with cat 6 Ethernet cable with a switch on one of the connections for TV's, consoles and anything else I want to connect to from Holly, (my PC).
I will be the first to admit that on the odd occasion, I am short of money and I am late paying for the internet bill. Before we received the new router, the old one would still act as the network hub so I can stream movies from my PC to the TV downstairs when the internet connection is cut off. However, the new router will not allow any network connection if there is no broadband connection. (I've seen the code in the routers software). So to avoid this happening again, after the bill was paid, I had to fork out more money to buy a larger switch. This basically says that Virgin Media are more interested in money than keeping customers happy. But I brushed it off and that was that.
- 6 weeks ago we started to notice that around 1am every day the connection would drop entirely for about 2 hours. As we are a household of gamers, we tend to stay up past this point to play online with our friends.
Then the connection would start to drop at midday for an hour or so, as well as late evening. We did phone to complain but we were assured that it would be fixed by an engineer. But it never was.
We then received a letter informing us that Virgin were carrying out ''Essential Maintenance'' on the network in our area, and our connection will drop regularly on the 9th of May. Which it did, but the 9th has been and gone and the connection is about as stable as a morphine drug addict after a night in the pub. The connection will drop for hours on end and when it is up, we are only getting no more than 10mb download, on a connection that is supposed to be 200mb.
Image Source - @TechMojo
- Of course both myself and @Deeviras have been on the phone to them daily about this persistent problem. Dee had an interesting phone call to them a few days ago, where the representative assured us there was no error in the network and that we just simply need to reset the router..... WTF!!!!!... Only after she was put through to a supervisor did they admit that there was a problem on the network and has been for a while. So 6 weeks of phoning them, for several members of there staff to tell us there was no error... lying to us and then a supervisor, only after being threatened with legal action through Ombudsman did they then finally tell the truth.
But it doesn't stop there... oh no. That same supervisor then arranges for an engineer to come out the following day to inspect the equipment and local network box down the street. Only, they never showed up. Another phone call and I found out that they had cancelled because they 'found a fault'. Despite being promised that an engineer would come out, they cancelled him less than 12 hours after they were booked.
The connection is still dropping and still unstable, and I have yet another promise that an engineer will come out to do what the last one was supposed to do. They are supposed to be here today between 4pm and 8pm, and I am sat here waiting for them.
- Aside from this bullshit, remember when I said they have great deals for new customers? As soon as that ''Deal'' finishes, they stiff you for as much money as possible. My monthly bill (not including phone calls) is supposed to be £55. which is about £15 more than what new customers paid, but I didn't mind as I was getting very fast download speeds, which was great for a house hold of gamers. But instead our monthly bill is about £100 - £120, double what they said it would be, and each month we phone up and argue the fuck with them until it is reduced to what they said it would be.
Alternative.
- With the lies told to us and false promises by the staff who are supposed to be 'customer focused', the shit router that will only work if virgin get money out of you, 6 weeks of wasted phone calls and a connection that has more stability than a bum... both me and @Deeviras have had enough of the bullshit. So instead we have both agreed that we would move to another ISP who has a great track record with customer service. The downfall is that our connection speed is halved, but we agree that a cut in download speed is worth it if we get a stable connection with non of the BS we have had to endure over the last year and a half.
To top it off, I received a call from Virgin this morning. Apparently, because I have been a long term customer I am entitled to have my broadband speed increased from 200 to 350Mb for free.... the absurdity of it is outstanding and very convenient. Only after being informed that we intend on leaving Virgin Media do they try and bribe you with BS that they will end up charging more for in the long run, as they have done in the past with our TV services. To which I replied...
''Unless you are willing to give me all your services for free for a full year and then only pay half what your asking after that, then you can simply take your offer back to the supervisor who told you to ring us, and tell him... No Thank you, Goodbye, Fuck off, Fuck You, Eat Shit you fucking cock wombles. I appreciate your call but we are leaving your shit company and I would kindly ask you to never call me again, if you do I will be suing for harassment.''
I think when I was on the phone I went a little overboard, but with the experience I have had with this company, I feel as though I am well within my right to be annoyed with them.
Because of everything that has been going on, especially over the last week, I have not been able to stream as I usually do in the evenings. So I will like to apologise to all my followers for not streaming this week and possibly next week too, up until our new ISP is connected.
@Deeviras has not been able to attend her Arma 3 games that have all been pre arranged with here entire team. And the same can be said of the 3 boys too who all play a lot of online games like COD, World of Tanks, G-Mod among others.
It is a situation that should have been solved weeks ago when we first brought it to there attention. But because of the incompetence of there call centre staff who have no training other than reading from a pre written script, the lies they tell, and the greediness of there accounting department have basically forced a long term customer away.
If this has happened to me, I do wonder how many other people have suffered because of similar BS. Even more so in my area as the faults with the connection is not limited to my house, it is the entire network area.
Virgin Media may have started with good intentions, but they have fallen so far it is almost hard to watch them hit that floor. Richard Branson needs to shake some heads and sort his company out. If not, they will loose more than customers, there reputation is already hanging by a thin thread.
Any way. Rant over. Just lucky that this is getting posted up at all. It's almost as though Virgin know and they are trying to prevent me from posting.
What poor experience have you had with your Internet Service Provider?
Let us know in the comments below.
Thanks for reading.
Stu @TechMojo
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I understand your rant pal. I have had three different internet providers in three years. First with Talk Talk which was great until they built new houses behind where I live and then the connection was never the same. We then went with BT which to be honest was just terrible from the start, countless phone calls and a connection that barely worked. They also offered a half price deal after we decided to leave but there was no point since the price wasn't the issue, the connection was. We are currently with Vodaphone which fingers crossed is going great for us at the minute.
Man there is honestly nothing worse that bad Internet, especially when we pay so much.
i feel your pain. its just a shame, i would have left a long time ago, but when there is 5 gamers in the house and a constant connection to an off site server, a fast connection is preferable. but enough is enough.
and that engineer that was supposed to come this evening. never showed up and there call centre is closed till the morning. i fucking hate virgin at the moment.
Im lucky since im the only gamer in the house so to speak so its only really being used once i finish work when i have time to game. But still you pay for a service and you should receive it. The fact that you have to battle it out with an internet provider to prove that the connection isn't working is a joke. Their first priority should be to make sure everyone receives the service that they pay for, instead they argue blind on the other end of the phone that there's no issue. They wont admit fault without a battle.
Man I hope the engineer actually does show up and sort your issue out for you.
FYI.. he never did. he got cancelled ...... again.... but my new router from sky arrived this morning. get connected on Tuesday so i only have to persist with the bs for a few more days.
Well no surprise there then... hopefully in a few days all your issues will be resolved. Fingers crossed for you mate :D
@therealwolf 's created platform smartsteem scammed my post this morning (mothersday) that was supposed to be for an Abused Childrens Charity. Dude literally stole from abused children that don't have mothers ... on mothersday.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@prometheusrisen/beware-of-smartsteem-scam
hay arsewipe. dont cry on my posts. you have a problem, take it up with the man himself, @therealwolf. as far as i am concerned, @Smartsteem is the reason why i make as much as i do on this platform. stop being a little bitch and man the fuck up cock womble.