Virgin Broadband review: Totally useless company! 46

I am a customer of virgin I have an 18 month contract on a mobile and a broadband connection that is as slow as dial up.

I tried to get a deal for the both i talked to virgin but as there is no published deal there was no need to warrant a deal and I could not be helped. So I asked, as I think it is a bloody cheek I have to pay a £5 administrator fee as they cocked up the direct debit.

Could I pay for the slow BB on a direct debit basis but only if they could take it at the beginning of the month. The answer I received was NO. I have 6 months to run on my mobile, I hope to also move in that period so I might move to an area they don't have virgin (fingers crossed).

CRAP! Dial-up is better! Useless ###! Worthless crap! I can`t believe they are doing this and still alive!

I entirely agree, absolute rubbish. I'm already out of my contract and I do not intend to renew it. NTL were bearable, but Virgin are taking the piss. Not only is my speed lower on average than it was before, it also slumps to obscene lows. And for all this, I'm getting charged an extra penny per month, AND I wasn't informed that it'd be going up!

Virgin are toss. My '10 meg' connection consistently comes up about 0.4 meg on speed tests. It's slower than dial-up to browse most of the time. Engineer coming in 2 weeks - no doubt some ###ing monkey who doesn't know his ### from his elbow.

Anyone even tried playing online games like on xbox live. People constantly tell you "woah man you must have a really ### connection" DAMN RIGHT! If i go to my friends house its like playing a completely different game they are with talk talk and you would think virgin would be faster than them BUT NO! My friends talk talk connection is near flawless and mines sucks balls I HATE YOU VIRGIN AND STOP FU***NG ADVERTISING A FAST BROADBAND WHEN YOUR SLOWER THAN A PREGNANT COW!

I bought a brand new computer at the beginning of August, which has run like a dream, However last saturday (25th August) I made the fatal mistake of having broadband installed by Virgin Media. Due to incompatibility problems. It hasn't installed correctly, and now we turn the computer on before we go to bed to have it loaded by morning it takes that long to load! After several phone calls, to Virgin and even more to the premium rate number I am still waiting for them to resolve the problem. I have never come across such incompetence within an organization! If Steve Stewart (Managing Director of Customer Care) reads this maybe he could offer some explanation for the poor service Virgin's paying customers receive.

I agree Virgin are S**T cant play a single online game without lag and then I read a magazine and see a ad for virgin and think holy cr*p! The worst Internet I ever used think there the best!

Ive just said I'd cancel my package of broadband phone and tv unless its sorted... guess what - everything is fine now!

I totally agree with all the previous comments, i was with NTL, that was with 500k connection it was faster than the current 6 to 8mgb!, since virgin took over NTL, suffice to say, useless, moved to virgin.net, they are taking £27.99 per month, mmm yes sir only £19.99 like hell. Now i find NTL (aka Virgin) are still taking £25 per month out of my account!, it takes on average 3 days to get through, usually to some incompetent idiot would fire if working for me.

I will be writing to sir dickie! at his home address from now on!

When you get one of the pimple faced kids (sorry experts ha!) they start spouting it is in our contract sir, yeah well get this you have broken the contract, also remember your verball promises of a connection speed & cost of, constitute a verball contract also. so it looks like with us all they have broken the terms of the contract, regarding services to be provided, no notification of cost increases, & also committing theft, taking money for a service they said they cut (NTL) the service because i hadn't paid, but they still managed to take it from my account for the three months with virgin, two with a connection.

I don't need this I rely on a internet connection for work, then to have continually spend time sorting it out, my blood pressure cant take it. I am reporting them to Watchdog, Trading standards etc. Please all do the same.

I could rant for hours on this lot!
Regards BJW

Virgin media are the biggest waste of space ever! Slow connection, rudest staff on the planet, incompetent useless mindless people running the whole sham of a company. They make every little thing so difficult and when you want to leave them, they give you as many wrong numbers to ring to make difficult for you.

I even had a hang up call from one Asian man from Virgin after I had asked for the correct number to ring so I could change providers; Virgin employs rude and aggressive staff. They should be ashamed of them selves.

The best thing about Virgin joke media is when you have left and you know that you never have to deal with them again.

I would recommend them to my worst enemy but that's about it!

RUBBISH is the only way to describe this joke of a company!

I'm on the 8MB, £17.99, no contract plan and it is utterly useless. It started off okay then began slowing up in the evenings (throttling I guess) and now it's useless all the time. I rarely get a ping below 300ms which precludes gaming, which is the main reason I got it in the first place. They have stopped replying to my polite and occasional emails asking them whether they are restricting my speed. It has got nothing to do with hardware or software or the exchange.

I am moving in a couple of months and thereafter will avoid Virgin (the whole brand) at all costs.

virgin virgin virgin. terrible service slower then dial up most of the time, expensive support number where no responsibility is accepted.Expect 1 twentyith of your advertized speed or do yourself a favour and avoid this company at all costs.

We are suffering. No broadband conections on a daily basis usely at peack times when most people are at home.

We have been let down with missed dates for repirs , they have changed the modem, but we still have problems the Virgin service is apalling I am desprete to move can any one recomend a good service.

Virgin Broadband Advertising is illegal.
They are the worst ISP in the UK bar none.

My 8 meg speed was max (i am close to the exchange etc) and then they capped me.
They have openly admitted to me they cap using the (Post Code Area Method) Not individual usage.
My speed that THEY told me i was capped to for 2 months was.wait for it...100k I jest you not.

They are a bunch of cowboys who do not know their ### from their elbos. Avoid this crap and go with ANYONE else.

i totally agree utter , useless , dreadfull company , and exspensive for what you get in return :(

Virgin Broadband is unbelivable!

We are on the 2mb base package (but it has never been 2mb) then a couple of days ago for no apparent reason it slowed to less than dial-up speeds. We rang up and spoke to someone in India who sent round a monkey the next morning. The monkey told us we needed a new modem so fitted one and left in a rush. Failing to mention that due to a "software change" we wouldnt have internet for another 36hrs.. Now that we do have internet again its still unbaerably slow. What kind of a service is that. I would like to go round to beardy's house and shove my modem right up his ar**...

Virgin broadband is the worst load of crap i have ever seen in my life. It took me literally 15 minutes to load this page and i am sick of my connection being laggy constantly even though i always have a a good connection to my router. I have had several speed tests done and my everage download speed is les than 10 kb/ps when its supposed to be around 1000

CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!
I think i made my point

Avoid this ISP at ALL costs! Avoid this ISP at ALL costs! Avoid this ISP at ALL costs! Avoid this ISP at ALL costs! Avoid this ISP at ALL costs! Avoid this ISP at ALL costs! Avoid this ISP at ALL costs! Avoid this ISP at ALL costs! Avoid this ISP at ALL costs! Avoid this ISP at ALL costs! Avoid this ISP at ALL costs! Avoid this ISP at ALL costs! Avoid this ISP at ALL costs!

They are driving me CRAZY!
Speeds fluctuate unbelievably! Happy one day with connection speed, the next - 400kb/s...on a 4Mb contract.
Virgin said?
"400kb/s is perfectly acceptable for a 4Mb contract"

...um...No...No, it's not...

Customer service is a call centre in India, premium priced phone call. 50/50 whether you get to speak with someone pleasant who actually KNOWS what they're doing, not reading a script.

Ex Telewest/Blueyonder. My WORD, I'd give anything to have those guys back again instead of this joke of an company.

Avoid Virgin Broadband like the PLAGUE! Otherwise you'll be WISHING you had the plague instead of dealing with this lot.
Be warned, they'll shorten you're life by at least 8 years...

Total [censored]e i agree. but how can i be released from my 12 month contract.

Im suppose to have upto 8mb broadband with virgin just done a connection test and my download speed is 70kiloBITS per second !

it is usually just during the evenings when it is busy that i get crap speeds but this is all the time now ! what the ### is going on ?

Worst connection i have ever had. average ping is approximately 100 until about 4 o'clock in the morning. pity i have a job and am human, if i was an unemployed vampire i might have a change of playing css or watching iplayer

Wow to find the equivalent of problems with this useless company in the UK is amazing. I'm from Aus and not only is it obscenely slow, we get kicked off about every 10 minutes or so and have to reset our modem to get on. This company is absolutely useless and as a consequnce have already switched my mobile phone provider and will be ditching thier broadband as soon as I'm out of contract.

Bunch of ###ing ###. agree with everyone...would have to type my fingers down to my knuckles to express in words what a group of inept rude useless mother###ers they all are. hope they go bust in the credit crunch. ###in wankers.

I'm from australia as well, virgin broadband (wireless) is just as useless and ### here as it seems to be in the UK, since I signed up I had an internet connection for about 2 weeks, since then I could only use it from about 2 am to 7 am, at any other time it was congested and impossible to connect, the customer service dept. kept telling me to wait for tower upgrades, then they cancelled my contract (I didn't pay it one month because I had no service) I and now I have a $500+ penalty fee bill to pay. I'M PAYING OVER $500 FOR 2 WEEKS OF A ### INTERNET CONNECTION. AVOID VIRGIN AT ALL COSTS THEY SHOULD BE CALLED SLUT OR [censored]. IF YOU'RE IN AUSTRALIA AND READING THIS SIGN UP WITH INTERNODE OR EXETEL OR GET PRE-PAID WIRELESS WITH 3.

As a result I'll never use virgin airlines, phones, drinks or bookstores etc. ever again.

Virgin Media Broadband is useless. Apart from the SMTP server being down on regular occasions, I asked for technical help regarding my FREE webspace a few weeks ago.
The replies that I have had have been referals to Virgin web areas, but no actual technical help - perhaps they are looking to hire someone who understands the problem.
I am a competent web builder and after numerous FTP to the virgin webspace including a web creator basic upload (without me doing anything), the virgin webspace shows continual errors. This will make you laugh: Yesterday, I got another email from a different person from Virgin pasted, as follows:
Thanks for getting in touch with the Virgin Media Support team.
We're sorry to hear you are having problems.
With you being an ex-Virgin.net customer, we have a separate form
specifically for you. Click the link below for the form.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The links below didn't do anything other than refer me to unhelpful areas.
I replied telling him that I am not an EX-MEMBER of Virgin, but it is not a bad idea.

My father switched 2 Virgin without taking on board my warnings... now i have EXTREMLY slow internet conections- eg- less than 1MB wen we pay for... wait for it... 20Mb! Should hav stuck with BT. I cannot play Online games through concoles. Youtube is STUPIDLY slow... 5mins 2 load a 1.30 vid!

Surely the ads r misleading?! They talk tha talk... but they r still sitting down.

VIRGIN ONLY WANT NEW CUSTOMERS, AND IF YOU LEAVE THEY DON'T CARE... THEY JUST WANT THE VIRGIN LINE IN EVERY HOUSE (almost like BT... except BT hav a reliable connection).

(I just hope this uploads b4 my battery dies... its got 25mins left... shud b close!)

Totally agree to all said before.
My 2mb broadband connection is usually 400kb/s or less if it's exists at all. There are constant cut offs for 10, 30, 60, minutes. almost every day for several times. Sometimes my modem is dead for a whole day. I remember once it was off for 36 hours! I have spotted Virgin van up the street and the guy sorting out something int the communication box on the corner. He said that they are trying to get it working (for 36 hours?!?!?!?!?!?!)
Even now i had to connect me NOKIA phone via the USB to get a dial up T-mobile internet because virgin modem is dead since yesterday night.
It is a shame they are holding a monopoly on the 'no landline required' broadband and there is simply no other choice for me...
If the there was more than one player on this market I bet the situation would change dramatically.
CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP

since virgin took over from telewest/blueyonder, the whole service has degraded into a farse. amazing how you can take something so good and turn it bad.

No point in repeating what everyone else is saying, if you can avoid VirginBroadband please do so, slow connection, no customer service you get the whole heart attach for $60 a month, its not worth the trouble life is too short. STAY AWAY!

I am leaving virgin right now and getting ADSL.

Sick of their little price increases (like phone calls being rounded up to nearest minute, duh) and now they've just had an outage for 5 days. Their status/fault ticketing system on the web was getting updated regularly for the issue, and said every time "4 hours estimated repair time", long after it became obvious 4 hours was an underestimate every time. I think their policy is that every fault has 4 hrs estimated repair time. Which is [censored] when you're a customer paying 58 quid a month and you expect to know when your service will be restored...

Don't use Virgin, they're rubbish.

i agree virgin are useless call centre staff refer to idiots in dictionary, do not understand compaints and always make things worse, Richard Branson lol SORRY but i would not deal with that thing in any business dealings if virgin is anything to go by

Yes I wouldn't recomend Virgin broadband to my worst enemy, we have a 20mg connection and at peak times which seems to be from about 10am untill 12pm its like running on dial up. During this time I also get massive pings so online gaming is impossible which is one of the reasons I went for the 20meg connection in the first place. So basically at the moment i'm paying close to £40 a month for my game and connection and I can only play it in the middle of the frikin night.

To top it off when I contacted them about it they said that it was because a lot of people are using the internet at these times (this was technical support btw) and they are going to be upgrading some equipment which will solve the issue but they can not give me a date as to when.

So what they really mean is that they have oversold and they are now making everyone suffer extremely slow speeds untill they get around to upgrading their equipment, then more than likely they will oversell again. They are breaking their contract and probably the trading standards law by not giving people the speeds they are paying for and still charging them for it.

But hey you dont get your own island without ripping a few people off!

Totally sick to the back teeth of this bunch of incopetent idiots at Virgin media now!
Paying them for 10mb broadband and getting 2 to 3 mb. Up until recently have been getting 8 or 9mb no problem at all.
Phone them tonight and wait 13 minutes! to speak to somebody, who starte reading a damn script at me which is a waste of time.
Tells me to plug my DESKTOP computer into the modem directly with a cable which is downstairs and the computer is upstairs! He barely understands english and cant even listen to my name correctly!
Refuses to tell me when the contract with Virgin is due to end as I Am sick iof them and wantto cancel it.

I have had enough! its time something was done about this unbelievably bad service!

I hate this bloody company and their service! F...them! The speed is hopeless and the service is rude and useless! I was bound by two year's contract and I have complaint for many many times but they just ignore you and never improve themselves! Never ever try to use this company! I hate them! I hate them!

My Virgin Broadband has been working fine for almost a year, but in the last 6 weeks or so it keeps dropping the connection, losing the DNS server, getting TERRIBLY slow or failing altogether. Trying to get anyone in Virgin media to do anything about it, or even to acknowledge there is a problem, is turning out to be pretty much impossible. I'm getting stonewalled by call centre monkeys telling me to cycle the power on my modem. I've now even connected my modem to a timer that regularly cycles the power automatically several times daily. Result: 50% of the time it then works ok for 30 minutes or so before it crashes out again. It's worse than useless, it's an enormous black hle of time, effort and emotional energy. These guys deserve to go bankrupt. I agree totally: avoid like the plague. I'm looking into switching.

Virgin broadband is the greatest load of sh** every invented. DO NOT USE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

They are starting to f*** with people using anonymous IP software as well. Some users I have spoken to are finding that every time they try to open a web page when they are anonymously surfing, that their connection is interrupted, disconnects then reconnects, exposing their real IP!

We have done many tests using various anonymous software packages with the same and other broadband suppliers to verify this.

BEWARE! OPPRESSIVE TELCO = OPPRESSIVE GOVERNMENT SPY AGENCY!

They want to take away you right to privacy and protecting yourself from data miners and Virgin is helping them do it!

I am no longer a customer of Virgin, I speak from experience that this company is misleading & adds confusion to new customers entering the broadband world. Ignoring all advertisements & monthly leaflets posted to our homes, Reading the small print & researching on Internet will quickly reveal how unhappy there customers really are.

They sicken me they claim fastest broadband "In the land" There a complete play on words in everything they publish. Especially after incorporating there Traffic management & Fair use policy's puts this bad [censor] company back in the dial up era. Fortunately I'm not old enough to experience an actual dial up connection but being under virgins traffic management policy is defiantly enough to qualify my input.

Saying that, The majority of ISP are all the same using dirty tactics to mislead. Here's a website with some useful info: http://www.kitz.co.uk/isp/caps.htm

BeThere seems a good choice for standalone Internet connections, Currently I'm on Sky which I'm also unhappy with as for the 1st three months my connection was capped @5-6Meg whilst under 20Meg package continuous complaints fell on death ears at Sky user forum as a bunch of fan boys waiting to defend there honor. In the end I manipulated & beat the DLM to work in my favor and now sit comfortably @ 14.5Meg a big F/U Sky with Internal wiring premium faceplate's nonsense I have WON!

i been with virgin for 2 years and no internet problems and since august its got worse and worse i use it for online games mainly and im on 20 meg used to get 20-30 ping and my ping now 50-1000 lmfao u useless [censor] keep complaining to them on the phone and every time it will be fixed next week then the week after that never ending august its now [censor]ing december hows this a [censor]ing week ggrrrr! and i also got some info off a m8 who works for virgin and he rekons they over sold there broadband in certain area's