Virgin Media - Retention Deals?

[Trif]

Zoon said:

I'm sick of them putting prices up, it must be the fourth increase in two years.

Me too, I gave them my 30 days notice and signed up with BT Infinity. I've resigned myself to doing the change broadband dance every year as I was getting nowhere with Virgin retentions.

[King Herald]

Everybody seems to be talking about 100 or 200 Mbps, but we are only one 50. When I look at the Virgin page it seems their basic contracts are 100 or higher.

I had an email not long ago informing me we have been incr asked to 50mbps.....as if they did us a favour. And if I log in to the web page I get this at the top.




Currently paying £40 a month, still in our first year special, so due to go up to £58 next January.

I don't really use any of the TV side, nothing more than I could watch on Freeview, and we use Netflix for movies and series.

Does anybody else find the Virgin wifi pathetically weak? It hardly reaches the bedrooms reliably, and we are in a small semi. Less TV rubbish and stronger wifi would be ideal.

They want an extra £16 a month to give us 100mb, but browsing their 'bundle deals they don't seem to offer 50mb as a starting point any more.

Edited by King Herald on Friday 25th August 09:02

[Saleen836]

King Herald said:

Everybody seems to be talking about 100 or 200 Mbps, but we are only one 50. When I look at the Virgin page it seems their basic contracts are 100 or higher.

I had an email not long ago informing me we have been incr asked to 50mbps.....as if they did us a favour. And if I log in to the web page I get this at the top.




Currently paying £40 a month, still in our first year special, so due to go up to £58 next January.

I don't really use any of the TV side, nothing more than I could watch on Freeview, and we use Netflix for movies and series.

Does anybody else find the Virgin wifi pathetically weak? It hardly reaches the bedrooms reliably, and we are in a small semi. Less TV rubbish and stronger wifi would be ideal.

They want an extra £16 a month to give us 100mb, but browsing their 'bundle deals they don't seem to offer 50mb as a starting point any more.

Edited by King Herald on Friday 25th August 09:02

Earlier in this thread I posted Virgin informed me they were keeping the 50mbs broadband and also introducing a capped 20mbs service, no idea when this will be rolled out but it was one of their customer service bods who told me when I phoned to get a better deal

[King Herald]

Saleen836 said:

Earlier in this thread I posted Virgin informed me they were keeping the 50mbs broadband and also introducing a capped 20mbs service, no idea when this will be rolled out but it was one of their customer service bods who told me when I phoned to get a better deal

I just found the 50, once I had dug deeper and selected something saying Broadband was not important. But when you just click the 'bundles' list it simply is not even there.

50 is pretty much fast enough for what we need, streaming Netflix etc, but a stronger wifi router thing would be very useful. It would be nice to be able to surf the web in my workshop, which is not even 50 feet from the router.....

[Jinx]

King Herald said:

Does anybody else find the Virgin wifi pathetically weak? It hardly reaches the bedrooms reliably, and we are in a small semi. Less TV rubbish and stronger wifi would be ideal.

The wifi is useless and it doesn't seem to improve if you have any of the superhub versions (1,2 or 3) - check the Virgin Community forums for examples. Instead get yourself your own router (I recently picked up one of these) put the virgin hub in modem mode and plug the router into the first port on the hub.
The advantage of your own router is you have better controls and additional functionality and much improved wireless.

[King Herald]

Jinx said:

The wifi is useless and it doesn't seem to improve if you have any of the superhub versions (1,2 or 3) - check the Virgin Community forums for examples. Instead get yourself your own router (I recently picked up one of these) put the virgin hub in modem mode and plug the router into the first port on the hub.
The advantage of your own router is you have better controls and additional functionality and much improved wireless.

Interesting, I may look into that. Even in the next room our PC will drop in and out of connection, and in my bedroom my iPad struggles, and that is not even 15 feet away, through one breezeblock wall.

[megaphone]

Zoon said:

I'm sick of them putting prices up, it must be the fourth increase in two years.

Greed.

[Zoon]

Jinx said:

King Herald said:

Does anybody else find the Virgin wifi pathetically weak? It hardly reaches the bedrooms reliably, and we are in a small semi. Less TV rubbish and stronger wifi would be ideal.

The wifi is useless and it doesn't seem to improve if you have any of the superhub versions (1,2 or 3) - check the Virgin Community forums for examples. Instead get yourself your own router (I recently picked up one of these) put the virgin hub in modem mode and plug the router into the first port on the hub.
The advantage of your own router is you have better controls and additional functionality and much improved wireless.

I have an airport extreme and the wifi is significantly better connecting to the SH3 in modem mode.

[Saleen836]

King Herald said:

Jinx said:

The wifi is useless and it doesn't seem to improve if you have any of the superhub versions (1,2 or 3) - check the Virgin Community forums for examples. Instead get yourself your own router (I recently picked up one of these) put the virgin hub in modem mode and plug the router into the first port on the hub.
The advantage of your own router is you have better controls and additional functionality and much improved wireless.

Interesting, I may look into that. Even in the next room our PC will drop in and out of connection, and in my bedroom my iPad struggles, and that is not even 15 feet away, through one breezeblock wall.

Strange as my wifi is fantastic, I can stil get a decent signal on my old 4s sat in my car 50ft up the road

[mmm-five]

I've only got broadband at home, and as no other provider (big names nor specialist independents) offers anywhere near the speed of Virgin, I really haven't any option if I want to keep a similar speed.

I've been happy with my 220mbps (on Vivid 200 package) and it's as reliable as any other service I've had.

My only issue is the annual/bi-annual price increases to pay for something that was sold as a 'free upgrade' 6 months previously.

So I have the same call, almost every time with the 'retentions team'...and it usually results in another 12 month contract at the previous price...which negates the price rise.

This time I think they were expecting it, as I didn't even have to discuss downgrading my max speed to the Vivid 100 package, as the call operator simply offered me a new 12 month contract for £10/month less - or a 30-day rolling contract for £5/month less than I'm currently paying (or £13/£8 month less than when the price rise comes into effect).

Simplest 'negotiation' I've every had with them. Was even tempted to go for the Vivid 300 option for another £6/month

[King Herald]

I could happily lose the rubbish TV altogether, just have the Internet. We have the phone, but the only person who knows or uses the number is my dad. I use my mobile for all communications.

I need to start tightening up on my finances, retirement has not worked out quite as planned, so January will be the time to get medieval with them.

[Bobhon]

Do the latest VM adverts for a huge package for around 50% of what they are charging me p**s anyone else off as well.

They said on their forum that they are putting the prices up to fund their expansion investment plans. Having been a long term customer I figure that I have already paid for the infrastructure that I am using many times over. So it seems as if they want me to fund them being able to extend their coverage to new customers, who they are then going to charge half what they do me.

Am I the only one or is that just wrong...

Looking to move house within the next 6 months, when I will ditch VM like a stone, so I don't want to be tied into a 12 month contract and end up paying them to leave it early.

A rolling contract sounds good though, from the previous poster. May get on the phone to them later. Has anyone else switched to a rolling contract with a discount?

[durbster]

I've just been forced to sign up to Virgin as it's the only way to get TV to a new house (no TV aerial). After 15 odd years of trouble-free internet access using small ISPs, I'm not overly happy about it but thought we would try it before shelling out to get a new aerial installed.

The internet is good but the TV hardware is average so I'm not overly impressed. And I'm already annoyed by the endless upselling (even browsing the TV guide forces me to wade through all the channels I don't want).

I want to avoid the price shenanigans if possible. At the moment I'm on a rolling contract so presumably that won't happen, but if I can get over these annoyances we'll switch to a longer deal. I can't be arsed with the silly game of finding they've put the prices up and having to ring them to sort it out.

[Jinx]

Saleen836 said:

Strange as my wifi is fantastic, I can stil get a decent signal on my old 4s sat in my car 50ft up the road

You must have only superhub that is actually super - mine may as well been encased in 5 inches of Kryptonite for all the wireless range it had (and not just a range issue, random drop outs and regular reboots required) .

[King Herald]

Bobhon said:

Do the latest VM adverts for a huge package for around 50% of what they are charging me p**s anyone else off as well.

They are much the same as ALL corporate business, charge regulars a lot more than newbies, because if they are regular, they are already sucked in, hooked, trapped by habit.

House insurance, More Than were charging me more than double what they would if I applied online as a new customer.

Carole Nash bike insurance, exactly the same. £184 versus £89 for the same cover.

Homecare gas plumbing insurance, £41.50 down to £19.80 when I complained about being ripped off. They try to pretend we are valued customers and talk to us over the phone like they are our closest best friend, but in the background they are chortling at our naïveté.

[Zoon]

durbster said:

I've just been forced to sign up to Virgin as it's the only way to get TV to a new house (no TV aerial).

Wouldn't it be easier to have an aerial?
Or are you not allowed to have one?

[anonymous-user]

Wi fi. May well be the superhubs wi fi is poor may be maybe not I use a SH2 in modem mode

1. Check channels are you using are not the same as others locally neighbours etc
2. No need to spend anything like the thing above horses for courses depends what you want cracking router but you can get good kit for under a ton under 70 even
My own set up cost next to nothing and it supports AC wifi to 1300 can go out in the garden across the road supports laptop i pad 3 phones 2 tabs etc. Watch I player stream films etc no problems

[HTP99]

Jinx said:

Saleen836 said:

Strange as my wifi is fantastic, I can stil get a decent signal on my old 4s sat in my car 50ft up the road

You must have only superhub that is actually super - mine may as well been encased in 5 inches of Kryptonite for all the wireless range it had (and not just a range issue, random drop outs and regular reboots required) .

Our wifi is faultless and always has been; currently in the kitchen, the superhub is in the lounge, I've just done a test on my tablet and it's showing 136Mpbs.

I can get a decent signal halfway down the garden too.

[anonymous-user]

I called to cancel my BB (quite a new contract, letter said I could cancel early due to the £2.99 a month rise)
Less than a minute later they credited my account with £2.99 x the number of months left on my contract to stay, just under £24 credit.

[anonymous-user]

My wifi was a bit weak at the back of the house.
Fixed for £12.99:-
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories...