A friend of mine recommended the new V6 TIVO box. So, I ordered one which arrived today with a new hub, all free.
Installing it was easy, but there is a fault: every few seconds the signal on the TV seems to cut out. I never had this problem on the old box. Yes, I reset the hub and the V6 TIVO, but the issue remains.
Internet broadband seems faster and seems faultless. VM is sending out an engineer on Friday morning. Let's hope they fix it as VM is unusable on TV currently.
Showing posts with label virgin media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label virgin media. Show all posts
4 Apr 2018
29 Sept 2016
Lack of internet - NOT amateur radio
We lost our Virgin Media broadband and TV yesterday and it has just come back. I rang up to complain, saying I was leaving to go to another provider, and was upgraded to a faster internet speed for free and my monthly bill was slashed. They will also compensate me for the loss of service. If you are not satisfied with your bill or service tell your service provider!
8 Mar 2016
Broadband - NOT amateur radio
7 Sept 2015
Virgin Media broadband - NOT amateur radio
Today I got an email from Virgin Media saying that this autumn they will be doubling their broadband speed. It is already pretty good but twice as fast will be amazing. I think this is a general email to prevent us moving to BT Infinity or Sky.
Generally Virgin Media TV, broadband and phones are very reliable, although there have been a few times when the service has been down.
Generally Virgin Media TV, broadband and phones are very reliable, although there have been a few times when the service has been down.
23 Jul 2015
No internet all day
It is unusual for our internet and phones not to work, but we had been without both for most of the day. Our services come via fibre and our broadband speed is pretty good. So, this is my first chance to update blogs and check social media and emails. Our service is via Virgin Media.
I think they may have increased the speed now. Certainly download speeds which were good are now very good.
I think they may have increased the speed now. Certainly download speeds which were good are now very good.
12 Aug 2013
Virgin Media cock-up
This evening I am VERY annoyed!
A day before we are due to move we have been informed by our phone/TV and broadband provider (Virgin Media) that they cannot now do the installation at the new property until (at least) Sept 2nd and not on Aug 15th as promised a few weeks ago. This means we have no home phone, no internet and no TV (other than Freeview) for at least 2-3 weeks. What annoys me is that had I known this 2 weeks ago I might have decided to go elsewhere. They apparently need to dig a hole in the road to get the cable through and need local authority approval to do the digging. Let's hope we don't get a "job's worth" who takes a month to process the approval to dig.
I asked several people at Virgin Media if I could have my phone redirected to my mobile ("no, we can't do that") and if I could be loaned a 3G dongle so I could get internet connectivity ("no, we can't do that"). Why ever NOT?? What a total shower they are!
So, if you need to contact me please do so via my mobile number which I have emailed to some of you.
Also, do not expect to see blog updates for some weeks until I manage to get internet services at the new home and replies to emails are likely to take some time.
To add to my woes today, this morning I managed to knock a tin of paint all over our bedroom carpet when painting a piece of furniture.
All in all, today has been quite stressful what with packing for the move on Wednesday and trying to sort out everything.
A day before we are due to move we have been informed by our phone/TV and broadband provider (Virgin Media) that they cannot now do the installation at the new property until (at least) Sept 2nd and not on Aug 15th as promised a few weeks ago. This means we have no home phone, no internet and no TV (other than Freeview) for at least 2-3 weeks. What annoys me is that had I known this 2 weeks ago I might have decided to go elsewhere. They apparently need to dig a hole in the road to get the cable through and need local authority approval to do the digging. Let's hope we don't get a "job's worth" who takes a month to process the approval to dig.
I asked several people at Virgin Media if I could have my phone redirected to my mobile ("no, we can't do that") and if I could be loaned a 3G dongle so I could get internet connectivity ("no, we can't do that"). Why ever NOT?? What a total shower they are!
So, if you need to contact me please do so via my mobile number which I have emailed to some of you.
Also, do not expect to see blog updates for some weeks until I manage to get internet services at the new home and replies to emails are likely to take some time.
To add to my woes today, this morning I managed to knock a tin of paint all over our bedroom carpet when painting a piece of furniture.
All in all, today has been quite stressful what with packing for the move on Wednesday and trying to sort out everything.
22 Jul 2013
My internet saga continues - positive outcome on cable at new QTH
Yesterday I reported that at the new QTH our new home was the only one on the close that was unable to get fibre optic broadband, phone and TV services from the provider I currently have used for over 12 years: Virgin Media.
Well, today their field engineer surveyed the road and has confirmed that we WILL be able to get cable services at our new place after all. They were very quick checking this - I only asked yesterday - and it looks like everything will be ready for when we move mid-August.
Well, today their field engineer surveyed the road and has confirmed that we WILL be able to get cable services at our new place after all. They were very quick checking this - I only asked yesterday - and it looks like everything will be ready for when we move mid-August.
21 Jul 2013
Ending operations at this QTH
Nearly the end of an era (37 years) at this QTH. I will resist taking down the antennas until the last moment in a few weeks from now, but already my mind is turning to the new QTH.
Would you believe it, but every house in Mill Close, Burwell is able to get Virgin Media apart from ours! Even next door they have it. I contacted Virgin Media who have agreed to send out a field engineer to check why this is. The CATV box on the pavement is about 4m from our drive. It is not the end of the world: I can revert to Sky (or BT) phones, TV and broadband and get over 10M download speeds but I will wait until the VM engineer feeds back his findings as it would be preferable to stick with our current provider. Virgin's broadband is VERY reliable and fast.
I now have a firm plan on where to erect the VHF/UHF antennas. The earth electrode antenna for VLF/LF/MF will be installed in the next few weeks. I have still to decide on the location of HF wire antennas in a way that is "sleuth" i.e. low profile and not obvious. Our new patio is right outside my new shack, so operating in the garden should be very easy and fun.
Would you believe it, but every house in Mill Close, Burwell is able to get Virgin Media apart from ours! Even next door they have it. I contacted Virgin Media who have agreed to send out a field engineer to check why this is. The CATV box on the pavement is about 4m from our drive. It is not the end of the world: I can revert to Sky (or BT) phones, TV and broadband and get over 10M download speeds but I will wait until the VM engineer feeds back his findings as it would be preferable to stick with our current provider. Virgin's broadband is VERY reliable and fast.
I now have a firm plan on where to erect the VHF/UHF antennas. The earth electrode antenna for VLF/LF/MF will be installed in the next few weeks. I have still to decide on the location of HF wire antennas in a way that is "sleuth" i.e. low profile and not obvious. Our new patio is right outside my new shack, so operating in the garden should be very easy and fun.
27 Jun 2013
WiFi extenders?
At the new QTH, the ham shack will be some way from the wireless router and I will not be able to see if the signal will be usable in the shack for some weeks yet; I have yet to organise the move with the internet service provider. (Reminder to self: contact supplier) Although I could run a network cable through, I'll not do this yet in case the signal proves to be good enough. It means drilling yet more holes in walls and scrabbling around up in the furthermost reaches of the loft, not something I want to do at my age.
Does anyone have any recommendations for WiFi extenders? Maplin and others advertise these but I am concerned about pumping data along mains cables and the resulting QRN likely to be produced, especially in the lower HF spectrum. Does anyone know of one that is electrical quiet, if that is even possible?
In distance terms, the shack is about 20m from where the router is likely to be located, but the microwave signal will have to get through 3 doors (one is metal) and 3 walls. In the current home the router is upstairs and is a decent signal in the lounge downstairs, but through one more door the signal is non-existent. Incidentally I use a recent Netgear super hub supplied by Virgin Media.
Does anyone have any recommendations for WiFi extenders? Maplin and others advertise these but I am concerned about pumping data along mains cables and the resulting QRN likely to be produced, especially in the lower HF spectrum. Does anyone know of one that is electrical quiet, if that is even possible?
In distance terms, the shack is about 20m from where the router is likely to be located, but the microwave signal will have to get through 3 doors (one is metal) and 3 walls. In the current home the router is upstairs and is a decent signal in the lounge downstairs, but through one more door the signal is non-existent. Incidentally I use a recent Netgear super hub supplied by Virgin Media.
15 Nov 2012
Winning the noise battle a step at a time
This evening I've been trying to track down various noise sources that have been making reception on MF and the lower HF bands all but impossible in recent weeks. I'm pleased to report a couple of successes.
My first "trap" was the 12V Netgear AD6612 AC-DC adaptor that feeds my Virgin Media internet superhub. This little terror was producing an S6-8 noise floor on many of the lower ham bands. I tried ferrite chokes in the leads but to no avail. Fortunately I had an old Linksys 12V supply with the same sort of rating and 12V plug. Swapping the PSUs over and, guess what, the lower HF bands were much quieter once again.
At 470-500kHz though I still had an S8 noise floor, so there was another candidate noise generator around. Switching everything off in the house the noise floor dropped, so it was in the house. In the end I tracked this down to a Salus mains powered controller that receives wireless signals from the central heating roomstat. Turning this off and, guess what, 470-500kHz goes much quieter too! This unit is quite close to my antenna wire and must have a noisy SMPSU inside. Luckily we tend not to have the central heating on in the evening so all I have to do is turn off the Salus wall unit controlling the central heating boiler and I can, I think, go back to better reception on the MF bands in the evenings.
In 30 minutes I've reduced the noise floor in my home considerably from LF to at least 10MHz. This goes to prove that with a little bit of detective work we can do a lot to overcome many of the noise issues plaguing us these days. Both the Virgin Media superhub and the Salus unit are new (less than 6 months old) so this also explains why the noise issue was not such a problem last autumn and winter.
If you have a noise problem then I recommend you do some detective work and very good luck.
My first "trap" was the 12V Netgear AD6612 AC-DC adaptor that feeds my Virgin Media internet superhub. This little terror was producing an S6-8 noise floor on many of the lower ham bands. I tried ferrite chokes in the leads but to no avail. Fortunately I had an old Linksys 12V supply with the same sort of rating and 12V plug. Swapping the PSUs over and, guess what, the lower HF bands were much quieter once again.
At 470-500kHz though I still had an S8 noise floor, so there was another candidate noise generator around. Switching everything off in the house the noise floor dropped, so it was in the house. In the end I tracked this down to a Salus mains powered controller that receives wireless signals from the central heating roomstat. Turning this off and, guess what, 470-500kHz goes much quieter too! This unit is quite close to my antenna wire and must have a noisy SMPSU inside. Luckily we tend not to have the central heating on in the evening so all I have to do is turn off the Salus wall unit controlling the central heating boiler and I can, I think, go back to better reception on the MF bands in the evenings.
In 30 minutes I've reduced the noise floor in my home considerably from LF to at least 10MHz. This goes to prove that with a little bit of detective work we can do a lot to overcome many of the noise issues plaguing us these days. Both the Virgin Media superhub and the Salus unit are new (less than 6 months old) so this also explains why the noise issue was not such a problem last autumn and winter.
If you have a noise problem then I recommend you do some detective work and very good luck.
29 Jun 2009
G3XBM webpages have moved
Today I switched my webspace from NTL to Google Sites. I've been having issues with FTP connection to the NTL webspace for weeks and the Virgin Media "help" has been anything but. I do so HATE having to press button 1 for this, 2 for that etc and in the end getting connected to someone who doesn't have a clue. No problem with the help centre being in India, but I would like to get help in the end. No joy.
So, I decided Google Sites would be a better bet. Google Sites is free, allows 100M of webspace and pages can be edited without HTML. There is also good feedback on site visit statistics using Google Analytics. The downside is the page formatting I can use is less complex, less fancy, but this is no big deal.
If you go to http://www.g3xbm.co.uk you will be directed to the right place.
So, I decided Google Sites would be a better bet. Google Sites is free, allows 100M of webspace and pages can be edited without HTML. There is also good feedback on site visit statistics using Google Analytics. The downside is the page formatting I can use is less complex, less fancy, but this is no big deal.
If you go to http://www.g3xbm.co.uk you will be directed to the right place.
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