I'm impressed !

I got my cable box installed yesterday for broadband 'M' 2Mbit and so far so good.
My speed tests yesterday and just now are consistent and exactly what I was hoping for. These results seem to be in line with adslguides typical speeds for 2Mb:

Date 13/07/07 20:12:32
Speed Down 1831.54 Kbps ( 1.8 Mbps )
Speed Up 182.19 Kbps ( 0.2 Mbps )
Port 8095
Server speedtest1.adslguide.org.uk

........................................

Speed Test Results
Date 13/07/07 20:15:16
Speed Down 1837.60 Kbps ( 1.8 Mbps )
Speed Up 176.89 Kbps ( 0.2 Mbps )
Port 8095
Server speedtest1.adslguide.org.uk
......................................

15/07/07 04:29:39
Speed Down 1825.24 Kbps ( 1.8 Mbps )
Speed Up 183.73 Kbps ( 0.2 Mbps )
Port 8095
Server speedtest1.adslguide.org.
.......................................


There seems to be various other speed test sites giving me very low speed results, I'm not sure why. Anyway, I trust adslguides test so I'm happy. Even better, my gaming pings are incredibly low. Certain game servers I used to go to where my pings were around 50ms are now 12ms! I use a program called All Seeing Eye which shows my ping, servers, and the players on the servers and their pings. I haven't joined the servers yet, but some players are going to be jealous as I can see that they all have 30 to 40 ms ( which tbh is still good). News server is also working perfectly. Someone on here said they had to use a blueyonder news server but I'm finding news.cable.ntlworld.com is working fine.
Cable is definitely way better than adsl, I know that now.

The setup from the CD was a little problematic. Almost every step of the way it came up with error messages such as not being able to contact the default gateway, or, couldn't connect right now because of some technical problem and to try later. So I had to keep clicking back and reinputting setup information. When I got to choosing my email username I typed fred.bloggs, and chose a password. When I clicked next, it said couldn't connect to the internet right now try later. So when I got to reinput my username and password it then told me that fred.bloggs was already in use! So I had to make it fred.bloggs78. Is there a way I can get virgin media to change my username to what I'd originally chosen? Or when @ntlworld.com changes to virginmedia.com ( when is that gonna happen ? ) maybe that's the time to do it? Other thing is webspace. My account details came up with " webspace:http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fred.bloggs78/" but I get an NTL page saying page cannot be found. Any idea on that? I'd like to use it to upload stuff to.
Apart from that, I'm really happy so far.

Have you tried uploading a home page to your web space using FTP?

I'm not sure what you mean, could you elaborate?

I've got it sorted now. I just rang their 25p a min plus 10p for setting up the call
0906 2121111 tech support number. In india of course! The correct address is

'ftp://[email protected]'. After that, the http page works, 'http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fred.bloggs78/'

There was nothing sent to me from virgin media ( nor is there any info on their website apart from 'upload.ntlworld.com.') to tell me that the above ftp address was what I actually needed to access my webspace, meanwhile it cost me a 15 minute �3.75 phone call to find that out. While I was speaking to tech support, I also explained how the setup CD error messed up my orginal email username I created and asked her if it could be changed. I ended up saying I want to be refunded for this phone call since as far as I'm concerned, neither of these problems are my fault. She said she would make a note of all these things.

Whether I get refunded remains to be seen, but I sure had a go at her. She did manage to stay very patient all the way through, so credit to her for that I suppose. Half the problem with speaking to india is that you waste money trying to understand what each other is saying. They're not really on the ball and we can't understand their accent. It's not racist, just a simple fact

All of that information is available for free online - you didn't need to ring the support number.. I suppose the support people could save you some money by saying JFGI

You mean this? http://www.virginmedia.com/customers/webspace/access_settings/

"To access your webspace you will require the following information

Webspace and FTP settings
Homepage: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/user.name
FTP upload address: upload.ntlworld.com
User name: your virgin media internet username, e.g. user.name
Password: your virgin media internet password, e.g. s123456789 "

Where does it tell me to type

'ftp://[email protected]'


What it should say is
FTP upload address: ftp://[email protected]

It was only when I typed that in that a log in box appeared for the password. Typing just 'upload.ntlworld.com' came up with nothing.

Edited by deleted (Sun 15-Jul-07 23:37:23)

Those settings are exactly right..

if you are going to access it FTP via an internet browser (for example internet explorer, mozilla firefox, et al), then anyone should know you have to add ftp:// in order to let the browser know its not expecting http traffic.. and secondly username:[email protected] is standard for browsers once again.

To be honest though, using a internet browser for connecting to an FTP site is not a great idea.. if you were using a dedicated FTP browser, such as CuteFTP, SmartFTP, FlashFXP, etc then the details supplied would work perfectly - and to be honest I would expect people to use an FTP browser

Your knowledge on the subject is obviously not as good as mine, and so you've had to pay someone to explain it to you - thats what support lines are for.. although from what you've said they were not very quick in explaining it to you - possibly due to communication problems, combined with you not knowing exactly what you were trying to do

Alternatively you could have googled for the way to access via a web browser - which would have been free - Lesson is - only call an expensive support line if you have exhausted the less costly options available to you

Having said that.. adding a line to say: "If accessing via a web browser then use ftp://user.name:[email protected] " wouldn't be too difficult :S

Edited by azif (Mon 16-Jul-07 01:18:25)

The fact is, virgin media did not explain on their website how to put the details in properly, it's as though they were vague on purpose to make you use the tech support line.

"then anyone should know you have to add ftp:// in order to let the browser know its not expecting http traffic.. and secondly username:[email protected] is standard for browsers once again."

Sorry my friend, what is standard knowledge for you isn't common knowledge for everyone, and virgin media should never expect that their customers know these things. Their information is misleading or unclear. Like I said, the http page didn't work until I'd input the ftp info, and they didn't word it clearly enough to make sense to me.

Can I just ask what the setup cd is for ?
Is that used if connecting via USB, and not ethernet cable ?

When I had my VM installed recently, I just connected the ethernet cable and I was up and running there and then, without the need for a cd

your supposed to run the setup cd, however if you know how to register manually its not required. USB is no longer supported as a connection option.

But that was my point: you didn't know how to do what you wanted to do - you paid them via a premium rate line to learn how..

My point is that they have given you a service which you had to pay for.. in this case learn how to use an internet browser to access an FTP site.

Just cos this information is probably about 3 screens away using google for free is just unfortunate. Alternatively you could have quite easily asked the question here.

Well guys, I actually did ask here in the first post where I said " Other thing is webspace. My account details came up with " webspace:http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fred.bloggs78/" but I get an NTL page saying page cannot be found. Any idea on that? I'd like to use it to upload stuff to. "

Tbh, I've used ftp for ages with virgin net, but it's been a long time since I set it up so I couldn't quite remember exactly what to type in.

Ok, here's the other thing, how can I now change my main username for email and webspace without going through to tech support, is there a way to do it?

selfcare is asking me to sign in with a blueyonder email address, so that's no good since I have an ntlworld address.
And creating emails says:

" [email protected]
You may not modify this address"

Also, I want to create a second email address called 'fred.bloggs' and it says name is in use. But it's the first email address I created ( and was accepted) before I had to do the setup again. I can't see how to fix these things without TS?

Thanks for the reply....I wasn't aware of that

Use this to set yourself to the "ntl side" of the VM website

http://redirect.virginmedia.com/redirect/redir?category=portal&app=customerselfcare&Legacy_company=ntl

Now try again.

Edit: That'll be �2.50 please! just kidding :P

Edited by azif (Wed 18-Jul-07 00:02:03)

Thanks azif ! Sorry to give you more headache, but there is a problem. I changed my username on the 'Change Username' page, ( didn't bother with the password page, I kept the old password ) then updated my email settings in outlook express, and that works fine with the new username/email address. But my ftp is still using my original username and won't accept the new one when I type ftp:// [email protected]. Also, signing in to the 'Manage Accounts ' page on the virgin site only accepts my original username/email as well. I must have done something wrong along the way but I don't know what. *cries*

Possible it takes a bit longer for the site to update to the new username.. or it's possible that you've actually created a second mailbox - so you still have the old one too.. A quick test for this would be to log into the webmail section and send a mail from one to the other.. and see if you can log in and pick up the mail on the other mailbox.. then send one back to check if that works.

I am not 100% sure if the change username option just changes the mailbox, or also does the webspace too.. I would give it a chance to update just in case though

I'll have a poke around on the website to see if I can find any FTP specific settings

Thanks azif. I logged into webmail and tried to send a test email to my original email address but it was rejected. A test email was also rejected to my original email when trying to send from outlook express. So, signing into my account on the virgin site uses my original username, then once in, I have to log into webmail using my new email address. I was only successful sending test emails to and from webmail to outlook express and vice versa. This is what it says on the change username page:

"You will need your new username to access your email, manage your account or login to our website. If you use your webspace, this will also change the name of your homepage, and you will need the new username to change your website. If you access your email via Outlook Express, you will need to update your email settings with this new username."

So, what I changed on the username page hasn't given me a second mailbox, it only actually changed my primary email address, and not login or webspace details as it was meant to do.

Something else that happened when I was on the username page, not sure how important this is. I filled in my old username and password details and then typed in my chosen new username. I pressed 'continue', it accepted it and said I was successful, so I'd done my bit. But then for some reason, the page immediately came up again with all the details I'd just filled in with the continue button. At that point I just quit the page, nevertheless, the new username has become my new email address. But not my main account username. * Stumped*

Sounds like their database records are only halfway updating to be honest.. I think a quick email to support may be a good idea - Still saves you calling them yet!

I would word it along the lines of:

"Hi, I changed my username recently, but unfortunately it has not changed my webspace username along with it. Could you please make sure that all of my mailboxes, ftp webspace and main account username all match up to the one I have changed to which is xxxxxxx."

It's probably just a case of resubmitting the information to their servers - I'm sure its something customer services could do quite easily, which at least is a cheaper number ( 150 if you have a virgin phone line or 0845 454 0000 I think )

Edited by azif (Thu 19-Jul-07 10:31:44)

Hey azif, good idea! I think you're right about only halfway updating. I composed a detailed message to them on their 'contact us' page, then edited it before sending after I found out that my virgin media login has now been updated to the new username/email address, so that's email and login sorted! But the webspace still hasn't been changed so this is what I just sent them ( usernames and password not actual ones of course) :

" Hi,
I recently changed my Username on the virgin media 'Change Username' page, but
unfortunately it has not changed my WEBSPACE USERNAME. It has only changed my primary email address to '[email protected]', which I have updated in outlook express. It has also now changed my virgin media login details to
'[email protected]'.

My new username/primary email is '[email protected]'. I have kept my original
password which is 'xxxxxxx'. My original username was '[email protected]'.

My ftp still only accepts
'ftp://[email protected]', but I want it to change to
'ftp://[email protected]'.
On the Virgin Media Webspace Settings page, I even got it to auto-email me my username and password, and it sent me " Your username is New.Name and your password is xxxxxxx" Yet the ftp still doesn't accept
'ftp://[email protected]', nor does it bring up the login box to type in
the new username and password.

Could you please make sure that my ftp webspace matches up to the one I have changed to which is [email protected]
password: xxxxxxx.

Thank you for your help. Fred Bloggs "

Auto reply I got:

" Hi Mr Bloggs,

Thanks for the email you sent to us on 19 July 2007. We're on the case
and a member of our team will get back to you as quickly as possible
usually within a few days. Right now, we're busier than normal, so it
may take us a little longer to respond.

If your request was about disconnecting any of your Virgin Media
services, we'll make sure that your disconnection date is 30 days from
the date you sent your email. We?ll confirm this when we get back to
you.

Don't forget - if there's anything else you'd like to know, just log on
to our website. It's at www.virginmedia.com

Kind regards,

The team at Virgin Media "

I'll wait and see what happens.

Edited by deleted (Thu 19-Jul-07 19:41:19)