Do I cross over?

VM has just cabled my street. I have gone from not touching them with a bargepole to being sorely tempted. I am not encouraged by their site saying that I STILL cannot get their cable service when the workmen packed up 2-3 weeks ago.

I have a lovely Asus RT-AC86U router that is bullet-proof to my amateur radio transmissions, unlike the N66U I had before.

What kit for VM make me have and can I still use my own router should I move? I have heard bad things about the tech support. My current provider's support, when I have needed it has been stellar - the advantage of being with a small outfit.

What do I do?

TIA

DrT

Edited by deleted (Mon 15-Apr-19 18:32:15)

They will give you one those SuperHub3 (Puma6).
First thing to do with it when get change it to "modem mode".
Then use you own router.

Lets say Puma6 chip has an documented history
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/14/intel_puma_...
https://badmodems.com/Forum/app.php/badmodems

Edited by amiga_dude (Tue 16-Apr-19 23:41:09)

Just over a year ago I was in your position, having previously vowed I'd never use VM mainly due to congestion issues. However having the potential of Vivid 350 compared to an ECI fed ally phone line makes you consider it. Our area was a brand new full fibre area, so I decided to go with it, I've not had any problems apart from I could only order Vivid 200 to start with, but Vivid 350 was available a few weeks later. The router was set to modem mode on receipt, and it's worked perfectly ever since.

PS Just because the workmen have left doesn't mean it should be live, there's other pieces to the puzzle that can take months to install. The puma chip problem's have been fixed, of at least worked around.

I am in a similar situation, street just cabled up, an eyesore of a huge grey cabinet across the road. And also slightly tempted to a sign up after it becomes available. I think that, while all street work may have been done by VM, there is some more work to be done connecting it all up to their network and carrying out tests. I think VM availability for me is still months, rather than weeks, away.

Long time user of VM, been on BT etc as well on FTTC, in my area I've had zero issues and i even use the SH3 on router mode.

Hi DrTeeth, am interested to know more about what issues you had with the N66U and your amateur radio transmissions, was it only when transmitting on specific bands (e.g. 70cm, 2m, 10m, 11m) or did it manifest itself differently.

In reply to a post by dect:

Hi DrTeeth, am interested to know more about what issues you had with the N66U and your amateur radio transmissions, was it only when transmitting on specific bands (e.g. 70cm, 2m, 10m, 11m) or did it manifest itself differently.

As much as I'd hate to jump in on this post. I have tremendous problems with my internet when I do my amateur radio stuff. Transmitting on any power level on (20,30,40m) my SNR drops significantly and then conks out, if I keep transmitting it will reconnect but after leaving it for 5 minutes or so and begin transmitting again, it will drop out on transmit. The only way to fix it is to force it to sync at 6db rather than 3db, but then I lose about 10Mb/s speed.
I also don't know if I'm interfering with other people and the last thing I want is for an ofcom complaint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiBABuLSK_k

Could the Asus RT-AC86U router be a solution to your problem like it was for DrTeeth.

In reply to a post by dect:

Hi DrTeeth, am interested to know more about what issues you had with the N66U and your amateur radio transmissions, was it only when transmitting on specific bands (e.g. 70cm, 2m, 10m, 11m) or did it manifest itself differently.

Transmission on any band from top to 10m resulted in losing all LAN/internet connectivity. I got so many ferrite things of all types and nothing worked until I treated myself to a new router. Pure luck that I hit the problem on its head. All ferrites removed.

73 de DrTeeth aka G4DWV 4X1LT

Support of any kind from VirginMedia is woeful. I jumped ship from having Vivid 350 over to a BT 80/20 because half a dozen engineers failed to rectify the connection drops I was having.

VM is really great, a great service for a great price, but only when it works. As soon as you hit any issue you'll be left tearing your hair out.

I'm now on BT Ultrafast 2 getting 330/50, almost back to the DL speed I had with VM and paying more for it!

I think the same can be said for many ISPs, especially the cheaper ones, also possibly made worse with anything supplied by Open Reach as two companies are involved and you can't speak to one of them.

I've gone round in circles before with Plusnet, Open Reach seemed incapable of fixing the problem, and Plus Net were incapable of managing the fault. Took 3 months until I made a CEO level complaint, then it was fixed within 5 days .

Very similar story here, had an appalling 3K+M line length with ADSL, sub 2M speeds despite loads of visits and swapped pairs etc.

VM upgraded our area (we were one of the first cabled areas in the 80's) and obviously everyone locally jumped onboard and the network was overloaded and collapsed! I remember not actually paying for my VM subs for about 8 months due to this. Wasnt really fixed and BT then installed FTTC which gave me a solid 80/20 connection on my approx 300M line which I was happy with for a few years.

More recently we have had issues with cross talk and the speeds intermittently dropped sub 60Mb, despite several visits (AAISP assisted) they couldn't improve. G.Fast has been installed, but unless you are within arms length of the cab you cant get it! Last time I asked when I saw an engineer with his head in the cab he told me "no one had been connected, and I'm not surprised"

VM came round with an offer that really couldn't be ignored (£82 P/M for VIP for 12 months).

To be honest its OK, had some problems with the phone line being disconnected, but that's the poor quality of the years old infrastructure and the fact that cabinets are constantly left open to the elements and local youth!

We do miss SKY-Q, the new V6 virgin box isnt as easy to use, and frequently misses recordings. However for the money cant complain.

I do agree about when it works its great, the first line support is a joke at times, just following scripts.

In short, I'm happy with the service (350/35) and the kids don't complain about the internet so thats all good! When the offer finishes we will be looking at getting Sky back just for the TV and keep VM broadband, but we will see what they offer!

In reply to a post by Daemon66:

Support of any kind from VirginMedia is woeful. I jumped ship from having Vivid 350 over to a BT 80/20 because half a dozen engineers failed to rectify the connection drops I was having.

VM is really great, a great service for a great price, but only when it works. As soon as you hit any issue you'll be left tearing your hair out.

I'm now on BT Ultrafast 2 getting 330/50, almost back to the DL speed I had with VM and paying more for it!