Virginmedia denying overutilisation- looking for advice

Hi there,

I would really appreciate your advice here-

We subscribed to Virginmedia in September 2016. Got the 200Mbps package. Apart from the Hub3 latency spike issues (eventually got it replaced with a Superhub2), all was okay. I was getting 200mbps in the day time and it drops somewhere to 140-160mbps during the evening.

Since the beginning of February, after 8pm, we noticed the movies on netflix would get super pixelated and eventually stop to buffer on our home Xbox. I checked the speeds and it was 2-4mbps.

It has been exactly the same every day since then- 200-213mbps during the day and 2-4mbps at night. (wired, to superhub2ac in modem mode)

So two nights ago, I called technical support. The offshore representative said that he cannot see any issue with my area, then put me on hold, came back with a fault number saying there is an SNR issue that will clear up on the 9th of Feb.

Next morning, I called again. This time customer relations. Talked to the guy, he checked the fault number and he said it is not related to my area. Transferred me to 2nd line technical support. The 2nd line support guy said I need to call back while the issue is happening so that they can know what's going on, and that he cannot see any issues in my area.

I called back in the evening. Requested second line support. The guy who picked up this time said nothing he can see in the area (again) and that he'll raise a ticket for my line anyway, and they shall call me back the next day.

Waited the next day, nobody called back. Called customer relations, the guy mentioned my ticket has been closed.

I was then transferred to 2nd line support. Again. Luckily it was the same guy I spoke with last- he mentioned some 'network upgrades needed', and that it will finish by 31st of March and that is why my ticket was closed. I asked him nicely to write these things down on my account so that I could talk to a customer relations rep about this. Also asked for a fault number, he cited one that is not the usual ones I see on virginmedia forums (doesn't start with F00, Npr8581).

In the end, I was transferred to customer relations again. I explain to the guy that the technical support rep said the upgrades in my area will be carried out by 31st of March and that this is on my account notes, and I would like to leave my contract without a penalty since this is a long time. He claims that in the notes it says March with no specific date, so he can't really do anything and that I'd have to wait 1 month to give them time to fix it.


What do I do here? I can't seem to get any tech support rep to acknowledge congestion/overutilisation officially, with a fault number. I also don't trust 'their notes'. What if I wait a whole month with this unusable service that I pay £50/month for and then they say there isn't any fault?

Would love to hear any advice.

Sorry for the long post guys.


Thanks

EDIT:

BBQM from today for reference:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share/1939b392e10...


Speedtest, wired, Macbook Pro mid-2015 using official apple thunderbolt to ethernet adapter. (1gbps) connected to Superhub2ac in modem mode:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/button/14866...

Edited by nidstigator (Thu 09-Feb-17 22:30:16)

In a short reply.

Get used to it.. People fight for years with VM and get no where. Their own forums tell you that.

Contact their executive team they're very helpful.

PM me if you need details and I can dig them out.

I had congestion, never fixed but I got a discount to make it half the price. I then eventually moved away from Virginmedia and they waivered the termination fees.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Fri 10-Feb-17 00:50:54)

http://blog.thinkbroadband.com/2017/02/speed-test-qu...

Nothing to do with high or low speeds, but looking at the quality metrics, the more people who test the better it gets at showing good versus bad areas. We know other testers show higher numbers, but also understand why they do, but our philosophy is to run a speed tester that more reflects what people are seeing.

From your BQM it doesn't look like a classic overutilisation/congestion issue, those typically fill the graph with yellow.
You clearly do have a line issue though, my guess would be some kind of interference. My suggestion is to try VM's community forums rather than the phone help, a lot of people get more success resolving things like this on there.

Can you post a picture of the downstream channels page showing power levels and SNR?

In reply to a post by Daemon66:

From your BQM it doesn't look like a classic overutilisation/congestion issue, those typically fill the graph with yellow.
You clearly do have a line issue though, my guess would be some kind of interference. My suggestion is to try VM's community forums rather than the phone help, a lot of people get more success resolving things like this on there.

Downstream congestion on one of VM's vendors looks like the OP's graph. It's upstream that tends to fill the graph with yellow and spike the blue.

In reply to a post by Daemon66:

From your BQM it doesn't look like a classic overutilisation/congestion issue, those typically fill the graph with yellow.
You clearly do have a line issue though, my guess would be some kind of interference. My suggestion is to try VM's community forums rather than the phone help, a lot of people get more success resolving things like this on there.

Mine looked just like this one when I had congestion issues. VM take a few months to actively log the area as "high utilisation which is service affecting." Meanwhile, they try to deny any congestion exists... Once the area is identified they begin offering discounts etc.

Power and SNR levels:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ktjhdate984nrol/Screen%20S...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dfuzv9i771bb5mq/Screen%20S...

Thanks

My upstream speed are not affected throughout the day- consistently get 16-20mbps. It's the downstream that dies gradually during night time.