re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

What a useless rip-off Virgin Mobile Broadband is!

We live just 1km away from other homes that have Telstra broadband (ADSL), but couldn't get it so we thought 'screw Telstra' and went for Virgin MB.

BIG MISTAKE! Works ok at 2am, otherwise drops out every 10mins and slower than dial-up! HOW THE F&^% IS THAT POSSIBLE?! I THOUGHT NOTHING WAS SLOWER THAN DIAL-UP!

Unfortunately when we signed up (2 yr contract), the 'net had nothing but Virgin's praise for the product.

All we wanted was quality internet dammit! We've been screwed so we aren't paying another cent for a service that doesn't exist. And they can stick their cancellation fee up their arse. I hope they take me to court so I can spit in their face.

It goes without saying - KEEP AWAY FROM VIRGIN. About the only thing they do well is hire hot air-hostesses!

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I have Virgin mobile broadband which uses the same mobile technology but does not have the reliance on power or have 'phone access.

If you need a home 'phone you need to sign up with a company that has a "soft 'phone" Like mynetfone (www.mynetfone.com.au) or skype or something similar and NO I do not work for mynetfone I have been using them for over 12 months and LOVE them.

Back to the question, I have had no problem with Virgin except when Brisbane had the really bad storms where I had a little trouble accessing the network for whatever reason but generally have had no problems with them.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Yes and what a pain it has all been.But we managed to get out of the 2 year contract recently after nothinG but hassles and a general poor service. We are now with bigpond and very happy. Virgin sucks big time.Anyone reading this blog should avoid them at all costs.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

We have Virgin Mobile Broadband as a second internet option so that when we are away we have access to the net. We have never had a problem with the connection or the download speed. My son is always on MSN or downloading stuff and has never complained. I have used it for emails, banking etc. and have not had any issues. Even Facebook seems to work quickly and efficiently. I can't comment for those that use it as their primary home internet, but for 'mobile' use, we are happy. We just plug in the modem and connect, no matter where we are.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I have just recently set it up for a friend in Darwin who decided to try it.

as you can guess, what a dissapointment.

Slow transfer and way to many drop outs plus s**t support all round.

Believe it or not he then cut his losses and went to Bigpond for much the same setup and it actually works here quite effectively, but at a premium price. but forget the I*d*a support (lol).When it comes to problems best you know how to fix it yourself.

After i had set it up even i was surprised at the speed and rarely any drop outs and good performance.

Shop around and have a good read on many of the Blogs about the different providers which will give you an idea about the performance of many of the products and what sort of support you will recieve if you strike and problems.
Frank N stein

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Just realised this box is for posting solutions.

The solution is don't ever try Virgin Mobile Broadband.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Avoid like the plague!!!

I did not know internet connections could be so bad in this day and age. It is like going back in time 10 years and using a dial up modem.

Performance for me in Paddington, Brisbane is completely unreliable. The connection drops every 5-15 minutes when browsing the web, the speed can be OK but sometimes it just slows down.

The worst problems for me start when you I try to use something like SSH, FTP, or email using IMAP. The connections always dies cuasing the software to hang and sometimes crash.

Tasks that should take 15 minutes take an hour.

In my browser I always have the Virgin Broadband connection status screen open ready to click the disconnect button (I need to go and click it now as I have been disconnected while typing this).

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

A courier recently dropped off a Optus adsl modum .

I told him I might try Virgin. He advised me not to use Virgin BB because he picks up modems every day from unhappy customers in this area.
There have also been letters to the local papers complaining about Virgin BB. I am about 50 km's north of Brisbane CBD. Virgin uses Optus mobile towers from what I can glean. Is this the problem?

My brother in Melbourne was also complaining about slow Virgin connection speeds.

(I don't know if that's the problem,but it's true that Optus is the carrier. The problem is most likely only known to the people who determine the traffic levels and priorities on the network. My guess is that it's as bad as all these readers say it is. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

there service is bloody shocking, to top it off i can no longer browse during peak hours because it is that slow, im talking around 0.5 - 2kB/s

which is just rediculous, i have to put up with this crap for another 20 months!

(NO YOU DON'T. Contact the TIO and lodge a complaint. www.tio.com.au -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

MOST USELESS INTERNET EVER.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Virgin Mobile Wireless Pre-Paid has now jacked up the prices 500mb for $15 when it was 1gb for $15 same goes for 1gb+ and higher!

I think it's a scam making the prices cheap on the first months of release then secretly jacking up the prices how dare they!

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Thank god, I thought it was just me but obviously there are a lot of VBB customers experiencing the same probs as me. Phone calls dropping out after about 10 mins is a major prob. It is as though the system is set up to do this deliberately. I've got to the stage of telling callers that the line is likely to drop out. I can't contact VBB support cos the phone drops out before I can speak to them!

V webmail has to be the worst on the planet too.

Anyone got any bright ideas how we can stick one up these guys. Has any one tried one of the regulatory authorities?

Another unhappy VBB customer.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

We have been having no end of bother with Virgin.
Super slow speed, phone cutting out continually, in short hopeless.

Finally after weeks of trying I got onto a tech support bloke which was nearly impossible as there is a very long wait time in queues and the phone would drop out after a couple of minutes!

This chap reckons we are in a "poor area" and Virgin would release us from our contract without penalty. We are still to do this due to time constraints but intend to this coming week.

However, I have noticed that now there is a new advertising push on TV the access problems have become the worst they have ever been.

I can only assume they have oversold their bandwidth with increased numbers competing for access as the take up rate increases.

I rather think the Ombudsman should be loking closely at this company.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I totally agree with all the posts about how absolutely terrible Virgin Broadband is - download speeds of less than 180kpbs, frequent drop outs, spending literally HOURS on the phone trying to get customer service. I thought it might be my location (2 kms from Melbourne's CBD) as stupid as that thought may be, and tried it at my parents, which was even worse.

DO NOT BUY VIRGIN BROADBAND!!! If I can get this message out to as many people as possible, at least revenge feels sweet.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I've never been so unhappy with a product as I am with Virgin mobile broadband! Shockingly bad! If only I had read a few of these comments before I had signed my sanity away. Once the 6 month early penalty period passes, I'm out... in the meantime I need to find the faith to connect to another broadband service. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Virgin Broadband is the worst "product" that I have ever purchased in my life.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

day 6 - cancelling the service now!
unfortunate - but the service is not working for us - drop out problems recurrent

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Iam about to try it after waiting / trying to contact Go Talk
who are as bad or worse

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

If virgin sends you a nasty bill, don't get mad, get even and ring your bank and block virgin so the thieves can't take any more money from you. Make sure you give them a chance to fix the problem though. Worked for me after they tried to charge me for 2 modems they would not take back.

If virgin want to take you to court let them go for it, what are they going to say....This person owes us money for a service THAT NEVER WORKED AND WE COULD NOT FIX. Lets see them win that one.

Also try this as another user posted:

Anyone who has a real problem with VBB, email to Robert.Tihanyi@virginmobile.com.au

another option is to leave your connection going downloading past your download limit (if your net works). they will send a nasty letter giving you the option to leave vbb@h without fee. My inlaws were sent this letter when they did not turn on their encryption and a house next to them leached their connection.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

After Telstra disconnected my landline because they have trouble differentiating between a landline and a mobile service, I picked up a Virgin BB and home phone kit at Dick Smith with a 2 year extended warranty on the device. I thought great, now I'm rid of Telstra. Got 4 bars initially, then soon only 2 and virtually never HSPDA speeds. Bloody unusable, less user friendly than dial up. My brother could not call from Hong Kong. Connection kept dropping out. Refused to connect. I tried it for a couple of weeks, then decided to go back to ADSL. I phoned Virgin customer support and canceled under the 30 no questions asked as per the offer on the website, on the terms under footnote 5 of the offer. All done, no probs.

Next thing I get a bill with a cancellation fee of $338, which is what they charge you to leave once you have signed up and cancel after the 30 day period.

I have been trying to get the charges withdrawn, and the residual from the initial purchase price and the extended warranty money for the last month and I can confirm that Virgin customer service, broadband support etc. are completely bloody useless. It doesn't matter if you try the phone customer service (heaven help you), e-mail or snail mail you may as well drink a lot of beer, stand on a cliff face in a gale and relieve yourself. Useless, frustrating. Virgin treats it's customers with absolute contempt. But then, it is designed to be this way. Once they have your money and/or you are on a contract they could not give a damn. The strategy is to piss you off, discourage you, obfuscate, deny you access to team leaders, managers and complaint staff so that eventually customers give up and go away, pay the cancellation fees etc. They got their customer relations strategies from Telstra's "to shocking to contemplate, but we'll keep it handy for when Armageddon comes" book of rejected and failed policies.

I even sent a letter to their customer relations team at Customer Relations Team
Locked Bag, 17 ROYAL EXCHANGE, NSW, 1225 and have had nothing back.

I had to get onto the state manager of Toll couriers and complain long and hard repeatedly to get him to send the courier that was booked to pick up the prepaid satchel to return the modem to Virgin. Normal people would have given up but I'm tenacious.

This service from Virgin is a scam and it should be revealed for what it is. The poor service, poor customer support, bad product could not all be a bad mistake, it has to be by design, surely.

The only way to stop this is let everyone know how bad Virgin's BB is, then let the market decide.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

It took about 10 years for me to HATE Telstra. But it has only taken 6 months as a virgin broadband customer for me to HATE, LOATH & DESPISE anything to do with the virgin name!
KEEP AWAY FROM THEM. I would like to list everything that is wrong with them, but I just don't have 8 hours to spare.
Remy

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

While it's good to find you're not alone the extent of the grief supplied to Australian consumers by VBB in place of the service for which they have paid is frankly shocking. For months now, in fact ever since our thirty day trial period has expired we have been dealing with identical problems to those outlined above. Unreliable internet with a speed worse than dial-up (for those occasions when you do manage to get on-line after multiple modem re-sets), home phone that drops out every five minutes and the only thing consistent about the service is the lack therof. Log another complaint forthcoming to the TIO.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I have had the same problems as the people above.

That is internet connections dropping out constantly at first. Then we got put on the $60/month plan and the drop out rate slowed at the same rate as the internet speed!!!

Absolutely phupping hopeless! Downloads are now slower than dial up of 10 years ago.

I can only assume Virgin have not got enough bandwidth to service their needs.

I will be looking to get my money back as they have clearly not honoured their part of the contract.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

service is dreadful - like most I've waited hours. Keeps telling me I have great connection, and then it drops out: having come from using satelite internet, I agree with those who allege greed - Virgin selling too much bandwidth. There's just not enough to go round, and it'll only get worse. Mine's going back if I can. Shaping's not an issue for me - I can't get anywhere near 4GB: It would take about 3 years at the speed VB works for me in Perth city.

Virgin Mobile Broadband Is Useless

Having problems ringing out to numbers where the phone for hours at a time would ring engaged no matter what number we would ring. Internet drops out all the time and some times during the day the internet is slower than dial up and that is even when the internet connects.

Last straw for myself and my husband is when my husband had a heart attack and I tried ringing 000 for an ambulance and the phone would not connect. As we do not own mobiles I had to rush next door to a neighbours house and ring the ambulance from there. Lucky for my husband he survived.

I am 80 and my husband is 86 and money is an issue to us both so this is the reason we went for a cheaper service.

we now do not have virgin broadband @ home and went back to a landline provider.

This service is too unreliable and could cost someone their life one day due to poor performance of the product.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Our virgin mobile broadband is cheap and crap for our area. Disconnect/reconnect/disconnect etc.
This post probably wont even load now. Our signal strength is high but no input output.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Virgin Home phone is Rubbish....
It is just disappointing to know, that home phone is dead, when u pick it up to call someone, and the phone is giving you busy tone,for hours and hours and u feel like to cry ALOUD....and you cant even ring Virgin customer service because you dont have an alive phone to call them,
their customer service number is always buy, and you have to wait 45 min before you hear a human voice.
I AM A VERY UNHAPPY CUSTOMER.
but i am trapped in a contract for 2 years, and i dont see hope.

VIRGIN THE WORST EVER!!!

It is by far the worst phone/broadband service we have ever received...although it does seem like a bargin at only $60 a month with a few other little perks, but hey if the thing doesn't even work or live up to acceptable standards then just flush that money down the toilet which we basically have been doing... I love going on the net but since getting virgin I have gone from a regular surfer to not wanted to even try........
the net is slow and that is if it is even GOING.... and the phone always cuts out on calls or LIKE the broadband doesn't even go.... numerous calls and a tone of supposed solutions from IT have not fixed a thing...even the firmware upgrade managed to make our connection WORSE... so yeh I would not recommend this ISP as it really sucks big time....and I am a customer but hopefully for not much longer.

ohhh and customers service is average when they know what they are talking about....OH AND DO THEY OUTSOURCE TO INDIA, cause damn!

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

VBB@home is a s***.
Virgin customer service is full of stupid untrained personnel.
I am happy now because I managed to quit without penalty after emailig to Robert Tihanyi, Director of customer service, Virgin. Anyone who has a real problem with VBB, email to Robert.Tihanyi@virginmobile.com.au

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Virgins broadband@home did not work for our family even with the new firmware upgrade. Still had issues with people ringing me and getting constant busy signal etc. Changed over to 3mobile broadband after reading another users comments on it as where I live is connected to "pair gain" as well.

Lucky for me my modem went back during the trial period.

Buyer beware of this product and if it does work I hope you do not need to ring their tech support as you will experience LONG wait times. Don't even bother emailing them for help. The emails I sent in came through to my hotmail account 2 weeks after I sent the modem back.

Only upside to this product is that they DO give you a trial period.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I installed the vbb wireless modem for my mother a while ago and after a few months of no probs, ran into some BIG ones. Firstly, the signal kept dropping out and then the phone would rarely work, people would call her and get a busy signal and she wouldn't be able to call out. After WEEKS of unproductive attempts at calling tech support,i went to the store and did me lolly. The poor dude handled it v well and although i shudder at my behaviour, recommended we update our 'firmware' and then gave an (02) number to cal in the event that this did not fix the probs. He jumped on their puter in store and showed me step by step how to. A ROUND OF APPLAUSE for this lovely man! I went to ma's and did same (only 2 days ago) and have been told by my ma that "the internet is much, much better :)" (I didnt think i could have been worse). Ok, so people, lesson of the day, IN PERSON is the key (just get the right person). If you, using the ethernet cord (connect this to your puter and the modem for those wanting step by step), somehow manage to get online, go to vbb home site, click on "support" then, on the left, click on "downloads" and follow the instructions. I wish all vbb the best of luck. They're a cheap service and have advantages but they are not without probs (as are any of the other companies i have ever dealt with). Please note, this info is for the wireless broadband @ home, not the totally wireless laptop, take anywhere one. Again, these probs were only ironed out after months and it is early days yet so we are yet to discover whether this new found internet freedom will be short lived.... Cheers.

(Thanks for sharing that Nicky. As one who occasionally "does their lolly" I know the angst that comes when you calm down and realise that the poor person wasn't necessarily responsible - but what else are you expected to do? I'm sure your experiences will help others. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Hi there,
Just thought I'd put in one for the positive. I have been on virgin mobile broadband for a month, I get 7.2Mbps minimum and haven't had any trouble thus far... I am very close to a tower however so perhaps this is what is making the difference? I think with any provider you have to give it a go to find out what works and I agree that you should not give financial details until you are satisfied with what you have.

re:hell with virgin broadband

hi all, i live 4.7 km from optus wireles tower and i'm always on 5 bars of wcdma or hsdpa, it's opyus wireless "yes" 2 gb for 34.95 a moth it usally sits at 460-560-868-2000 kbps, you should get it

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Just to put some clarity on this situation.

Where I live is in a black spot for some mobile providers (Telstra and obviously Virgin) get 1 bar or less on the mobile phones and have to go outside to make phone calls and do the mobile phone dance to get reception. Oh and by the way where I live is very close to the hills and I only have to drive for about 15 minutes to get to the nearest country town :).

I get great reception for where I live without using an aerial or anything like that I have been getting some dropouts lately and strangely when it■s raining or really windy. One of the house mates has rings his mother which would normally be a STD call for around an hour or so which doesn■t cost anything.

So the product works (on a technical level) as advertised. The only two issues are the following

Post sales customer service:
- I have no direct experience with this because there has never been any need.
- I sent an email to support about not finding a button on the broadband usage page and got a response about having to send an email. Then a few months later I notice a button for managing email accounts.
- This is a new product so they are no doubt trying to get the existing functionality working (and keep it working) while adding the extra functionality like SMS.
- Not to mention some other posts seem to say that the service was decent.

Connections problems:
- Anyone using mobile phone technology has to share the tower with everyone else. When lots of people use a mobile phone tower it■s first in (or closest to the tower) first served and the area that the tower covers is reduced to handle the load.
- The more people that uses mobile technology the slower. So if the area you live in is hard to get decent broadband for lots of people then there is no surprise that wireless broadband is slow because a lot of other people had the same idea (or lots of people are making phone calls :) ).

Lastly nothing is perfect and a solution is never right for everyone so pick wisely.

(I'm glad that it's working for you Allan. That's the way it should be. But for those who find that it doesn't work, shouldn't they be allowed to close their accounts without penalty? -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

i have it and it works perfectley, at 512 kb/s i reckon it's that fast, i wish there was a website to check the speed, i recommend it to anyone it is exelent!

it's so fast, like the fastest broadband in aus!

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Virginbroadband is useless. If you are stuck on a 2year contract:
do yourself a favour - get another telstra line into your house. Tell virgin to cut you off - and tell them to do it NOW!! Set up with someone else!
I went with Gotalk and Voip - I am soooo much happier
Virgin are the worst crowd I have dealt with - I nearly went crazy with all the 'same problems' that I have read on this forum. Months and months of phone not working, or no internet etc, etc, even a new modem, and hours and hours waiting for their customer service. Eventually after all my complaining 'they' decided that they would troubleshoot the situation. I asked why it had taken them 8 months to finally decide to do that. No answer!
Troubleshooting would take them 10 days they said. 14 days later when I had not heard a word, I phoned them (again - and waited while I wasted another hour of my life!) and asked how the troubleshooting had gone? They were still working on it , they said, and now also (THEY SLIPPED IN A NEW RULE HERE!) I would have to record 3 phone calls in the space of 24 hrs ( that dropped out, or would not connect.) before they would take it any further!!!!
I LOST the plot at this point - I wont repeat what I said, but the end result was that Virgin sent me an airbag for me to return their STUPID modem etc, and the contract was cancelled.
The stress that they placed into my life was real and YES I believe they should be made accountable for the crap product they are selling (together with their lies and schemes)

(Hi Lee. Can you imagine what a terrible job some telephone support people must have. I don't have Virgin but I've done my share of dummy-spitting at other companies. I know what frustration you went through. And like me you probably felt bad later about yelling at the person but that's the closest you can come to yelling at the company. Apart from saying it in public such as here. Are you listening Virgin? This thread is getting very long and you still haven't bothered to respond. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Re Josh Turners comment regarding the ACCC stepping in. HA. They have a one eyed attitude and only hound Telstra. Read the news on Whirlpool web site and every third story is about the ACCC and Telstra. I sent a letter of complaint to the ACCC about Foxtel's increased amount of advertising and continued increases in monthly prices and got fobed off with a letter about how there is nothing they can do to help with Foxtel. How many times have they been on the news about fuel prices and their lack of interest, we will shame the servo on television. HAHAHA big deal the oil companies dont care about a tv shame file. ACCC, toothless tiger, no a pussy cat actually.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Hi everyone ,I was lucky, I was able to return my modem with no charge after only being able to pick up the lowest band. I found that a great way to talk to someone who speaks english and are able to get through in about 2 min is to ring their sales dep. They are very quick to answer the phone and then hammer them hard until they put you through to their supervisor.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

VIRGIN MOBILE BROADBAND IS A SCAM don't touch it, i get 5kbps with 90% signal, cant get through to customer service and when i send an email, the reply is to call their service team. For all the people thinking it's good, i think you are using the BB@home which is different to mobileBB. Stay away from the mobileBB is my advice!!

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

virgin are a shocking service, do not touch them if you can help it. Their mobile broadband always drops out, customer service is non existant (waited on the phone for one hour 21 minutes and finally gave up) their customer support is not in Australia (contrary to what they have on their website)... lousy lousy service. go elsewhere

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

virgin are a shocking service, do not touch them if you can help it. Their mobile broadband always drops out, customer service is non existant (waited on the phone for one hour 21 minutes and finally gave up) their customer support is not in Australia (contrary to what they have on their website)... lousy lousy service. go elsewhere

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

OKAY. How to get out of your contract...

First. Keep a folder containing anything they send or mail out to you. Include printouts of any emails. Evidence is hardware.

Second. Any phone conversations, write down or if answering machine tape the calls.

Third. Contact your states consumer and employment protection office. Any help? Follow through.

Fourth. Lodge official complaint with Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

Fifth. Ask friends, family and foe for advice, sharing information. Joint attack.

Sixth. Notify them in writing. Outline what was promised, what you expected, what you got. The conclusion and your action.

Seventh. Pay your last monthly bill, if at all. Then if direct debit through financial institution cancel any and all future payments.

Eighth. They contact you or a debt collection agency. Notify them youll appear whenever, wherever and divulge their lack of product and/or service merchantability ie failure. Dont waste time running around unless its at a judicial court where their dirty linen is exposed.

Nineth. Contact the media, community activist groups, freelance activists (lawyers, politicians, other Telcos - competitors for kudos and point-scoring) for joint defensive/offensive.

Tenth. Watch them squirm

Eleventh. You cant contact me....

(People power. -PZ)

Shame on you Virgin

Thanks to Telstra I like many other users are on a PAIR GAIN system so it is impossible for me to get broadband and can only get dial up or mobile broadband.

Thank you to those who have posted here as I am a customer that was seriously looking to join VBB@H till I stumbled into this review site.

I went over to 3 and although you don't get the call features of VBB@H you DO get reliable broadband with speeds during the day peek period between 512 and 750. Off peek between 1000 and 1500.

Shame on you virgin.

One would think that with the number of complaints the ACCC or the TIO would step in and put a stop to this robbery.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

It's been a week now, since I had VBB. I have 4 (FOUR!!!) solid bars switching between UMTS (3G) and HSDPA (3.5G) on my modem with an $170 aerial and a $100 pole. Just in case you thought this will provide good service I get on average 50-160kbps, once in a while 200kbps, with drops every 10mins or so (instead of 512kbps). Most phone calls drop after a few minutes as well which makes calling the help line almost impossible given the usual waiting times.

I re-connected my phone to the not-yet-disconnected old landline service and after 120 minutes I got someone. When I told the dude at the help line that I have a glorified dial-up on 4 bars strength signal he pretty much run out of 'lines'. IT IS A BIG FAT SCAM, THE SPEED HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SIGNAL STRENGTH, THEY ARE JUST GREEDY AND OVERSELL THEIR BANDWIDTH. Their advice was to wait until Optus will upgrade their towers (should take only "a couple of weeks"...). I told them that in my opinion they are having too many users for the existing bandwith, that's the only way I can explain why I get poor performance with excellent signal. All I got on the other line was the silence of the guilty.

Too bad I signed up our 2 mobile phones to Virgin as well to get the discount bundle ($5). Although they sell it as bundle the contracts on the mobile phone are separate because I am told "they work". It does not matter that the only reason why I let myself talked into swapping my mobiles over to them was to get the bundle.

Anyway, damage control, the vbb modem will go back with a few invitable scratches. Contemplating 2 years with these kind of service just gives me the chills.
However, if they turn nasty and won't take the modem I was smart enough not to give them ANY of my financial details, there is no way they can flog my credit card or bank account. The deal was for them to e-mail me the bill, I print it, and pay it as I wish at the post office. I advise anyone who is tempted to try vbb DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY OF YOUR FINANCIAL DETAILS, they will try and argue a little bit but just tell them you want the bill e-mailed and they will do it.

Cheers and good luck.
Juan

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Absolutely hopeless. It was okay at first but now the phone drops out regularly and the internet drops out every time we use it and the speed is slow.

I cant complain about the after sales service because there is none. Very dissapointed.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

After reviewing all the posts in this thread, I have included this url in my blog.

Under the Information Technology or Telecoms Categories, there are some alternatives listed.

Regards.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

MOBILE BROADBAND 5GB FOR $39 IS RUBBISH!!!

I have this deal and get on average 5kbps - or 90% slower than dialup! I also can't get through to the helpline as i'm either disconnected or give up after 1 1/2 hours...

DO NOT RECOMMEND TO ANYONE!!!

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Absolutely dreadful...I have just put in complaint with telecommunications ombudsman. VBB was okay at first for a few months but now internet drops out constantly and speed is erratic but now is as slow as dial-up.

What is really upsetting me is for the past month the phone is disconnecting repeatedly, and my mother has been seriously unwell and cannot get in contact with me, and/or we get cut off repeatedly...extremely upsetting.

I have not been able to get through to anyone on the help desk for months...and then on sending emails to their "support" team, they tell you to ring the help desk. What a joke.

I have previously been a fan of the Virgin brand which is why I signed up, but VBB's totally non-existent customer service and product has killed off that notion.

Extremely disappointing, do not touch them with a barge pole.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

this mob are hopeless, just like Optus and Telstra rip you off...so sorry Australia, you are screwed!

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I just installed my third modem in less than a year. To me, it seems like it's a repair job. Totally useless. I reckon that I will pay out the contract and try to flog my $180 aerial to some idiot who thinks that VBB is a good thing. My record for the Help Line is a wait of 2hours 40minutes - just to be told to phone back in the morning. Dont try to phone them after 9pm as you will still be waiting at 11pm when they disconnect the phones. The only person I would recommend VBB to is Mr. Mugabe. Probably not - I would begin to feel sorry for him.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I now have had the service for 3 months. I have had no dropout on the telephone. The internet service has some drop out but can resolve by disconnecting the modem from inside my browser. My internet, land line and call charges were together $120-140 per month (With Telstra, no better package available with them). These charges have now dropped to $70 per month. I have waited 10-20 minutes to speak to their virgin call centre (Try ringing the tax dep 140 min). Virgin have been very helpful. One thing to consider is an external aerial $ 150 and easy to install.

Tony Bell

(Thanks Tony. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Hello All

We were able to demand no cost termination of the contract once VBB advised they needed Optus to check the service.

The lack of service was supposedly related to deficiencies in euipment capacity and not likely to improve even long term.

I feel that my exhaustive daily emails outlining lack of system performance and speedtest results probably helped the acceptance of mutual termination.

Happy elsewhere now

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

After my experience with Virgin broadband I would strongly recommend caution. I believe the service quality can vary from suburb to suburb and therefore there are different views on its performance by users.

I can say that when VBB is not working (which for me seemed to be most of the time and worsening) it is infuriating. Then wait 90+ minutes on the the VBB phone to be told we will look into it and get back to you.

Seriously, I could write an major essay on the failings of VBB as there are so many problems. Stay with someone else

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

terrible .avoid at all costs

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Try this site for solutions:
www.mikotechnology.com.au

It is still being updated on a daily basis, but the info regarding wireless broadband and external antenna availablility seems to be great.

Been on Virgin Broadband @ Home now for three months and have had no problems with phone call drop outs at all. Few days ago, internet would drop out after about 3 or 4 mins. Phoned Virgin - got through to Tech Support the 2nd time in about 8 mins. The guy there directed me to download the firmware upgrade for the modem and since then have had no problems.

Talk to this guy at that website above - he is very helpful and knows his stuff - and no obligation from what I could gather.

Virgin signal strength

Yeah had lots of problems with phone and net.Took 3 months for number porting but since then phone is not a problem.The net drops out around every 8 minutes with poor signal strength,does anyone know if you can boost the signal through other devices.

(Probably the best you can do is relocate the device to get a better signal. It may only need a slight move or re-orientation. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

VBB is total rubbish. Since late last year I have lost track of the times the telephone has dropped out for no reason for periods of time. The worst case was over Christmas 2007 when it stopped working for 4 DAYS!! I cannot use the internet and the phone at the same time (this IS broadband not dial up isn't it??).
My maximum speed is (was) 120kb.s but could dip down to 3kb/s at some points (assuming it didn't drop out which it does with great regularity).
Furthermore, I have a printout from the VBB website from late last year which states "if you go crazy and download more than 4GB a month we won't cut you off". Guess what happened. I used 5.275gb this month and got cut-off (suspended in Virgin-speak) took me a few calls and 5 days to get my phone and broadband reconnected. The customer "service" person refused to tell me at what point they would cut me off at again. They are inforcing a fair use policy which was written AFTER I signed up with them (the correct fair use policy does not mention a figure do adher to). They ironically cut me off without warning and yet their own fair use policy states that they have to give you waring before suspending your service. Shame of VBB.

got a 400 dollar bill

Ok this is not my first post here but just wanted to update you all.

For months now I have been ringing, emailing, faxing VBB about the return of their crap modems as I have not been with them for over 4 months now. For whatever reason they do not send me satchel packs and yesterday in the mail I get a bill for $400 for their equipment. I phoned the bank ASAP and put a 15 month block on any direct debit that VBB may attempt to reclaim their money from me LOL.

Send the bloody packs out to me you thieving bastards and you will get your crap modems back....Hell I don't want them they don't work anyway.

I suggest all users with problems like this do the same and get your bank to block them taking any direct debits.

VBB shove your 400 dollars where the sun don't shine as you are not getting a cent more from me.

Steve

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

The first post, Bonnie is like VBB a total scam...

(Explain please? -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

yes. . less than a day in actually a few hours in and i started having problems with VMB. . i called the customer service number. . waited forever. .i explained my problem and it sounded like he had no clue what to do. . he suggested me with try uninstalling the program. . is there solution to everything is to unplug and replug that annoying message they play to you when you're on hold. . when i asked is there any way i can get out of the contract cause it's only been less then a day. . they said no. . i replied with so i have to pay for a service that doesn't work n have to wait over f*ing 30 minutes for a response. . the guy replies with don't swear at me or i'll terminate this call. . and i jus answered with i'll terminate this call and hung up. . they don't think how fustrating their lack of staff is to us as well as their poor service. . we're the customers who are paying for their wages. . i went back to the place where i purchased n it seemed to work there when i got home it didn't work again. . so i called up the place and they said they'd give me a call back. . less then 5 minutes later the guy calls mee back. . the folks at virgin wanted to see if there was a problem with my settings by this time all i want is out of a worthless contract and the guy was helpful and said that he just has to say the word and my virgin contract will be cancelled coz what i am after is a reliable service not a worthless service. . i have been told that there is a 7 day grace period where i am able to leave. . the guy at the call centre wouldn't tell me that! ! and from most the comments i think that it would be a smart move to get out while i still can. . i would not reccommend this product to any of my friends or family or any one i like. . haha. .

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I have had it for 3 days and so far so good.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Ive read all these posts, I see im not alone in my frustration. Ive had no phone or net virtually for 3 days, and before that i was resetting modem every 15-20 mins. I cancelled bigpond and home phone for this, even though bigpond offered me $20 a month cheaper to stay. Does anyone know what the odds are of getting out of the 24 mnth contract? How about getting Virgin to pay reconnection to Bigpond and telstra phone? And the $20 a month discount I turned down to foolishly go to Virgin? Surely they are liable, as i pay $60 a month to be provided with jack s*&t. Im so Angry !!!

(As far as I'm concerned you have every right to cancel; the contract. They aren't fulfilling it. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

YOUR BROADBAND TELEPHONE SERVICE IS A BLOODY DISGRACE.
I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO CALL GET A LINE OUT FOR TWO DAYS NOW.
HOW CAN VIRGIN BE SO GREEDY TO FLOG THE SERVICE ON TV UNTIL IT CAN'T COPE WITH THE DEMAND.
I AM GOING TO THE MEDIA ABOUT THIS YOU ARE JUST RIPPING CUSTOMERS OFF FORCING THEM TO LOCK INTO TO A TWO YEAR CONTRACT FOR A TELEPHONE SERVICE THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN CRAP 30 YEARS AGO.
DO YOU REALLY EXPECT PEOPLE TO PAY THEIR BILL? ARE YOU GOING TO PAY ALL THE PEOPLE'S MOBILE BILL'S THEY ARE FORCED TO USE BECAUSE THEY CAN'T GET A LINE OUT.
I HAVE HAD ENOUGH AND YOU WILL BE NOT GETTING A CENT OUT OF ME WHEN I CANCEL.

I AM DISGUSTED. IMAGINE IF YOU RAN YOUR AIRLINES LIKE THIS?

ARTIE

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I have taken Virgin's advice and call back each time they are busy. Day 256?

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Have just ended a contract with Virgin BB, as the vast majority of people have said, it was utter rubbish. Very slow download speeds even before shaping, which tended to occur about 2-3 weeks into any billing month. 4GB is not a huge limit considering that so many pages these days are broadband optimised - we did not download a massive amount of music/vids/youtube stuff.

I can also add our tales of their abysmal customer service, a simple phone call to change the billing name when one of the people in our flat moved out (which took all of 5 minutes to do the same with foxtel) took 3 calls of 60-80 minutes, none of which were eventually answered.

For anyone wanting to get out of the contract though here is how we were able to - by downloading a fair bit over 4GB we were obviously flagged up over fair use and were asked if we'd like to end the contract for free or use less bandwidth.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

THIS SERVICE IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!

just as i was reading all the posts. i have the exact same problem, virgin dont give a shit about the customer all they think about is the profit, when we call them we wait n wait n wait even get cut off, if we get through all they say is they want examples of when the phone drops out n the time n now they want more specific examples ... i give ya a specific example get your finger n shove it where the sun dont shine.

Honestly how more specific do you need to be to say that you want to cancell the service, no they just keep saying the same shit over n over again like robots and actually defend the company when they know that it doesnt work, PEOPLE HAVE TO BE WARNED ABOUT THIS SERVICE AND TO KNOW THAT ITS JUST A BIG LIE while we suffer the effects from the service

ITS A LOAD OF BULLSHIT. WHOEVER READS THIS PLEASE COPY AND PASTE IT... SO THAT EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT ALL THE PROBLEMS WITH THIS SERVICE AND NOT TO GET SUCKED INTO THERE TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE OFFER THE MORE PEOPLE WE WARN THE LESS CUSTOMERS VIRGIN WILL HAVE. THEY ARE SNEAKY SCUMBAGS WHO WILL DO ANYTHING TO GET YOUR BUSINESS

post it in newsletters, magazines, other forum websites anywhere where we can get through to people who will actually read this!!!

please help me by helping others not to connect to this service DO WHAT EVER YOU HAVE TO DO!!! I WILL NOT STOP UNTILL I HAVE BEEN LET OFF THE STUPID (CATCH)2 YEAR CONTRACT

if anyone knows how to get out of the contract asap please contact me hsv_boy_racer@hotmail.com

thank you.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I was one of the 1st one to sign up with virgin broadband and home phone.The phone is perfect, and never had problem with the broadband (my be a bit slow,but as we used for a stand by service this is no problem)We never had to contact the customers service ever.
P.we also have telstras phone and broadband service, it is the most reliable service we ever had.(Most other ISP. We had experienced unreliable service eg: aanet,iinet,tpg,and the wost was DODO). The combination of virgin and telstra work fine for us cost vise and service relaibility vise.but as we use a lot of eBay services we would not be happy with virgin services only.

Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I have been on VBB@H since JUL07.
Initially, the phone and internet worked a charm although the home number porting took almost FOUR months... Customer service is almost non-existent and the e-mails I sent were not replied for weeks. The value package and reasonably good connections kept me happy though.
The last few months, the Internet AND phone service has been dropping off consistently daily. We would get cut off in the middle of a conversation and have to revert to using our mobile phone. Friends trying to call us would complain that it is forwarded to Virgin Voice Mail frequently even though they know we're at home. I have since disabled all call forwardings and voice mails and now friends would complain that our phone is engaged the whole day. My wife is exasperated with the service.
I am sure this standard of service is not acceptable and I am at a point of contacting the Telecommunications Ombudsman to see what can be done with this consistently BAD SERVICE and PRODUCT.
If you are considering VBB@H, my advice is to STEER CLEAR!!

(Hi Tony. Don't consider calling the TIO - DO IT. And pleawse let us know what happens. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I agree with Greg Horne. I was happy with the 30 day trial but once I was locked in for the two years the service dropped. I quite often am unable to make calls. The number dials out but nothing else happens. This goes on all evening and then it works OK the next day. This has happened far too often. I also often am unable to get a broadband connection which I find frustrating. They are still nowhere near as bad as Telstra though, I'd never ever go back there.

Wireless

Pete

Read my post a couple down about 3. If you only want a couple of GIG then have a look at 3. I'm still with them and they are fine with no problems at all. 29.95 for 2 gigs and you keep your landline.

Pair Gain sux.

re: Broadband options?

It would be useful, given the amount of feedback PCuser gets, and the mag's popularity, to try a simple map by suburb/area of the number of homes/business having broadband issues and what the problems are. A great opprtunity to get pollies and govt aware of how widespread issues are, given broadband contract is up for grabs (sort of).

As we are on a Telstra pair-gain with them not going to change that at all! And it seems VirginBB is not reliable, (don't want to try other wireless as I prefer to keep a landline for health reasons) then my only option is cable (which happens to run past our place luckily - we'll see once connected). The issue then is that I can only just afford the 400MB plan at $50pm as there is no other step below the 12GB unaffordable plan for pensioners. I'd just like 1GB at a reasonable cost!

(Which cable is it Pete? That sounds quite expensive doesn't it. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I am currently on hold waiting to speak to a customer service rep...we have had problems with a very unreliable service, frustratingly even when making local calls the line is very unclear - often people can't hear us at all.
Still waiting...incidentally, I am having to call from my mobile as the home phone is too unreliable to call for help!!!
Great idea Virgin, but in practice this is a nightmare. The only good thing is you don't have that crappy voice recognition thing that the Telstra call centre has!

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I wish I had read some of these before I got sucked in. After being told by telstra that there were no ports at the exchange for us to get broadband I was looking at other options when virgin announced BB at home, decided to give it a try and was so impressed that I ported our home phone number over. Strangely, after the 30 day trial period elapsed the service started to rapidly decline. We are now at a point where we do not have a landline, and our service is so unreliable that even telephone calls dropout. Not to mention that our BB speed is below dialup! If you expect any after sales service from virgin dont hold your breath. Have tried their help line only to wait up to 55mins before signal cuts out or grow tired of waiting. You can email for support but they give you the usual answers "how about try moving the modem to various places around the house. I have even had it on my roof and no better than 2 bars of sig strength. Cant wait for the 2 yr contract to end!!!!!

(Don't wait Greg. If it's that bad complain to the TIO www.tio.com.au as that simply isn't good enough. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

It is a shocking product. Beware of thinking that things are ok during your trial period because after that it was dramatically downhill for us. The customer service (or non-service) is the worst I have ever experienced from any company in any industry.
DO NOT JOIN UP FOR VIRGIN BROADBAND UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!! You will only regret it. It has caused enormous stress for our family and Virgin doesn't give a rats. We are desperately trying to be released from our contract.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Hi!Guys
Ive had Vigin since Novenmber and since I downloaded new firmware in December it's been hell .
BUT today I downloaded the latest firmware and it's firing better than ever and is A1. At last it's as it should be.
Try it for free 30 day period and if you can get a good signal take it. If not return it and look else where. It's now down to free phone calls and 2 gb downloads for $60 OR
$70 FOR 4 GB.
REALLY A BARGAIN IF IT WORKS FOR YOU.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

VIRGIN BROADBAND IS MUCKED UP SO BAD!>!>!>!>!> DONT EVER GET IT>>U'll JUST REGRET IT!

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I was lucky that I saw this discussion; was seriously considering Virgin. Apparently, when it works, it works well. I've decided to wait longer.

It seems a pity, because BB@home has potential. Many of the enterprises started by Branson before this have triggered innovation in their markets. Telstra needs the competition for a start.

I've contacted Virgin BB to say if they can alter the 2-year contract period (it's unrealistic) then I'd go for BB@home.

I went with "3"

Hey Burt,

After my problems with virgin (posted here and many other threads) I wanted to go with IInet but thanks to Telstra I am on a "Pair Gain System" so it is impossible for me to even get 256k broadband at my house via copper.

Being most upset at this prospect my brother put me onto "3" wireless (plans starting from $29 for 2 gigs). I signed up with them and have the wireless hooked up to my home pc and have not had 1 problem to date. 3 bars of strong signal and during the day the download speed sits at 750kbps to 1500kbps and during the night when not many people on the network I have done speedtests reading 2275kbps. In short it performs like a 1500 speed ADSL connection and better later in the night.

The customer support is great even though I think it is done in India but I have had to ring them 3 times for minor setup issues and did not have to wait any longer than 30 seconds before I got friendly service.

Anyone looking for wireless over the DODGY AS HELL VIRGIN BROADBAND and much much cheaper than Tel$tra give "3" a look.

Keep in mind though that it is more of a capital city mobile broadband rather that a roaming country network (make sure you are within the "3" coverage area.

Cheers
Steve Reilly

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

WELL WELL WELL! What perfect timing for me to read this! I am lookinga round for a wireless solution and after reading all this...despite being happy Virgin Mobile customer for years....VBB will not be for me :) NOTHING AGGRAVATES ME MORE than bad customer service regadless of all other shortcommings. I've read enough thank you fellow readers. Keep it up and stick it up'em!
Cheers
Bert

(Well Bert, they obviously don't think much of their service either. Otherwise they would have defended it, but they haven't bothered. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I just don't feel comfortable using an internet provider that won't go all the way.

ZING

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

The below is a copy of an email I sent to them 7 days ago. I still have had no response. I now have found the problem I am having is related to the modem's firmware.

Dear Sir/Madam,

This past month has been a shambles and to put it simple, your service is pathetic. A backyard business could provide service and support better then what your company does. I have previously laid a complaint with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsmen, to which you called me back and convinced I take no further action over. Foolish of me to believe you would stick to your word and improve the service.

Our internet is not working more times then it does. Simple things like I love playing Hardwood Euchre which is an online cards game. I can never get to finish a game because your service drop's in and out to often that I get kicked from their server for time outs. Even a dialup connection does not get kicked out for time outs. Online chat programs such as Skype, Windows Messenger and Yahoo Messenger constantly appear offline and then may come back online for a few minutes if we are lucky.

There is no point in calling you for technical help as you never answer your phone (3 days I have been calling you for, after nearly an hour I give up). You put customers on hold and tell them to turn the modem off and wait 30 sec then try again. Well funny how the tech support call drops out because you told me to turn the modem off. Its obvious by stating this to your customers that you don't want to talk to them, why don't you just tell us to hang up as you don't care about us.

I have researched these problems myself with others users and I have found many users are saying the modem needs an external aerial. I have found a shop in Queensland who sells the cables and Arial and also offer a money back if the aerial doesn't work. You obviously know about the aerial as you contracted Option to supply you with the Globe Surfer for your customers. They say the cables and aerial inc freight will cost $180 and I have to install it myself. Also checkout the following website, it has loads of the same complaints, 27 pages actually.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=885889&p=26

I am left with no alternative other then to place a formal complaint to the TIO with further complaints and actions filled with the ACCC. You have failed your customers as a communications provider. Furthermore I find your companies ethic and fair trade standards to be illegal. You also have a legal obligation to your customers to provide 'duty of care' in which you have utterly failed to provide.

Formally you are given 48hrs notice to make contact with myself and or Mr x x to resolve this matter. Please call 04xx xxx xxx to speak to us in regard to this urgent situation.

Kind Regards

(Good luck. And for the record, HelpStation hasn't heard back from Virgin either. It seems that the company doesn't care about customers. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Its great, However their call center sucks big time. It takes absolutely for ever to get through to anyone. I had trouble setting it up to start with and could not for the life of me get someone to speak to. So kept having to go back to the start up guide, i finally managed to get it going.
Now to pay the bill, again takes over half an hour to ever get through to any one to pay the bill. GET MORE CALL CENTRE STAFF VIRGIN - You are tight asses!

Users Having Problems Read

Am going to post here what I have posted on another forum related to the dodgy service/support that VBB@H gives to it's customers. I got out of their contract 5 months in though I did grow many more grey hairs in the process. Don't stay with these scam artists. Complain LOUDLY and don't take no for an answer. YOU are the consumer and as a consumer YOU have rights that are protected by law.

Potential new customers beware of this service.

PS: I still have 2 VBB@H modems sitting at home awaiting reply paid parcels to turn up at my house so I can send the damn things back. Several phone calls and faxes to them regarding the return of the modems and still nothing. I want to bin them but know if I do then I will have to pay for them. Their product is so crap they can't even arrange for the return of their hardware.
---------------------------

Post taken from
http://apcmag.com/6795/virgin_broadband_it_will_ slaughter_telstras_profit#comment-43509

What they need firstly is a product that "WORKS" so people do not need to ring their customer support staff.

All I can suggest (users having troubles) is ring them constantly (if you can get through). They make notes on their system of your complaints but make sure you document all your problems and the times you have the problems incase they ask for times and dates (which they will). The more evidence you can support the more evidence you have to be let out of your contract.

If they will not let you out of your contract you must get onto the "Telecommunications Ombudsman" http://www.tio.com.au/ and make a complaint. Those dated complaint time logs you kept will now come in handy to give the TIO a case.

One last point to remember is Virgin uses a standard quote when they let you out of their contract.

"You must be living in a fringe, blackspot or poor reception area so we can't provide you with a service"

With documented proof they by law have to let you out of the contract as they are not providing the promise of working phone and internet.

I can't stress this point enough.....Document problems, dates and times and ring VBB support daily if needed to make your complaints.

Hope this helps VBB@H users having troubles.

Steve

(Thanks Steve. We're still waiting for Virgin to respond to these negative comments. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Yes.
The modem has not let me make phone calls for over a month .. so everytime I ring them to discuss this I have a long wait and have used up on one occasion a $20 recharge and still did not get to talk to a customer support person.
So to contact them I have to use a friends phone .. wait a long time and still have no resolution to this problem,
they were sent the direct debit details but never direct debit (the money is in the account to cover the expense at time of billing) so my experience is woeful.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Like many others, I'm not happy with the service in general and glad I'm not the isolated case as was told by VBB@H support after waiting over an hour. My complain was simply internet and call dropouts. At some stage I can hear saying 'you cannot make calls to this number', thought they are frequent numbers i used and stored on the phone. It wasn't too bad at first but after the honeymoon was over, phone and internet keeps dropping or sometimes no connection at all for hours. With hardly getting 2bars of signal constantly, i'm told to move closer to a window but makes no difference. Some comparison test were done using virgin mobile and signal is almost full and on the otherhand the virgin modem is sitting only on 1or2bars but mostly 1bar. Emailing support is just as bad as it took them 3weeks to respond to a query.
The deal was too good to be true, saving you some money but cutting me short.

I guess this is where our gov't agencies should start investigating.
larryD.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Shame PC User ... shame! You really should be telling your readers about such blatant and crap advertising. I'm sure it's a breach of same charter or code of ethics somewhere.
I think I'll report this to MEDIA WATCH and see what they make of it.

(Did you read through the posts from readers? But if you think we're misleading people, I've now added a note to the original answer. -PZ).

Hey Andrew

I would partly agree with you Andrew about fringe or country complaints BUT.....

I live in Perth and although Perth is classified as the "Sleepy" city we do have ADSL2+

VBB@H should work in a capital city or anywhere you get reception on a Virgin Mobile phone. My phone and the wifes phone are both Virgin phones and get full service at home yet VBB@H worked poorly.

I live about 200m away from a mobile tower so no excuses for VBB@H not to work.

Check other threads Andrew and you will see that a great deal of people that live in capital cities are having major issues with this product.

apcmag.com/6796/review_virgin_broadband#comment-43375

apcmag.com/7198/virgin_broadband_ cutting_off_calls_on_unlimited_calling_plan#comment-43514

http://apcmag.com/6795/virgin_broadband_it _will_slaughter_telstras_profit#comment-43509

This is just to name a few.

Steve from Clarkson W.A. (Capital City) not fringe or country.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

WHAT A COMPLETE LOAD OF RUBBISH THIS POST IS!!! Shame Bonnie shame! This person obviously works for VIRGIN. Bonnie ... I hate to tell you this but if your hubby spends that long on the net then you need to look very closely at your relationship as you are either extremely tedious, asexual or just not very bright? 18 hours a day on the net... crap!

A few facts about the plan. The standard plan is now 2GB (if you want the 4GB plan it'll cost you $70) and is shaped to 64kb/s if you exceed the limit. If you use peer-to-peer then forget it as it's throttled at 64kb/s. If you call overseas, non.VIRGIN mobiles, 13/18/19 numbers then keep and mind that none of them are included in your 'free calls' and they are billed at absurd rates (40c/30sec for non-V mobiles + 40flagfall). And a general point that you should consider for either broadband or mobile (with VIRGIN) is the process of getting the hardware fixed/replaced should it fail - i.e warranty and repair issues. VIRGIN mobile's handset return policy is appalling! Speak with most people who've experienced it 1st-hand (as I have) and you'll see what I mean. CHeck out the policy on MODEM warranties before signing up.

VIRGIN do not care about their customers. They are adopting a very agreesive growth strategy and seem to have only about 20% of the support staff needed for cust-service and tech support that is essential for such an enterprise. In effect what this means for the customer is this - that if anything goes wrong or there are any hickups at all you'll spend, at a minimum, of 1 - 1.5 hours waiting on the phone to speak to either their techies or cust-service.

I just want to say that I think VIRGIN are a rubbish company. Since Sir Richard sold VIRGIN MOBILE to OPTUS the company has gone to sh*t.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Have been with Virgin for about 6 months.
After about 2 months (trial period expired) continous problems with dropouts, works for anything from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours, phone failing, this went on for about 3 weeks.
A further couple of months went by OK, then same problems again, lasting nearly 2 weeks.
On the 3rd of Feb problem started again, not able to connect at all that day.
Next day Monday call Virgin, told an outage in SA try again in a couple of hours, no joy all day.
Tuesday afternoon connected for about 3 hours before it disconnected. Similar day on Wednesday. Late Thursday morning before finally working.
During that time had problems receiving and making calls.
On a number of occasions phoning Virgin service (non) kept on hold for over an hour, including over one and a half hours on one occasion at which time I got disconnected, (fair use policy 90 min) and had to call back.
After 2 days of no connection at all in this last episode, I decided enough was enough.
I phoned Telstra got a new number and broadband connection to Bigpond.
Phone was up and working next morning, new modem arrived 3 days later (I was told 10).
Now as soon as I put together $273 that Virgin want to payout contract (another couple of weeks) and they can have their modem back.
On top of all the above problems they also direct debited my account twice for the same month, and instead of fixing it immediatly as they could see it was taken twice I had to run around and get the bank to fax them a copy of my bank statement. Even then I was initially told it could take 6 weeks to fix.
All in all the problems and agrevations are not worth the price.

(I'll give your detaikls to Virgin if they want them John. Then they could waive your disconnection fees and perhaps regain some of their reputation. I'm not holding my breath. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

One thing i can quite honestly say here. 10 years ago, i was a total computer novice. I was too ill during the 90s to care about anything, much less pcs. However. Having been with Telstra for all those years for everything (cable internet,landline,mobile) i have watched, with almost amusement at the demise of a lot of Internet Service Providers. I've been guilty of raving about certain things, only to have them turn around and bite me on the bum (internet security suites are a good example). I've heard a million complaints about Telstra and their services BUT their is a common thread to quite a few complaints. People here who do complain are in the high majority of those who live in fringe or country areas who don't have access to even ADSL for example. I've even heard of people who loved Telstra start bagging it as soon as they move. We then eventually find out that they have moved to Upercomebucketwest where there is just no financial gain to be had by Telstra. No company, big or small is going to rush out to the middle of no-where, just because you can't get broadband or mobile reception. It's not that i'm being mean here. This is how business works. Would you sell a great business with a high turnover then sell it and move to a financial disaster area just because you want the peace of living in the country? In the future, things will change, but the internet is really just a child. The best idea is to treat it as such until it grows up. Hop i helped. Cheers Andy. :) :)

(You rave Andy?" Never, surely. -PZ :-)

Yes I agree with Rob

Yes Rob I was told the same thing by one of Virgins team leaders when they let me out of my contract for the same reason of not being able to supply a phone and internet service. will not mention names of who but the team leader told me to stay connected with Virgin till my number could be ported over to my new provider in this case IInet as well.

I phoned IInet and after running extensive line tests they told me that it was impossible for me to port over my old phone number from VBB@H and I would have to be issued a new phone number. I also had the same problem with phone line being dead with no dial tone.

I have been waiting now 3 weeks for a lines person to come out to my house and do whatever it is they do to get my phone working again after Virgin messed it up. With any luck I should be connected on the 18th or 19th.

Glad to hear I am not the only one this happened to.

I will give VBB@H a 1/10 as well for sub standard product and general sub standard performance all round. Call center with hour long waits to talk to a tech is a joke, give them a 1/10 as well

Steve From Clarkson W.A.

(Thanks for the report Steve. I haven't heard anything back from Virgin yet. -PZ)

Virgin Broadband Nightmare

I am not even going to go into details about how unhappy I am with not only the Virgin Broadband @ Home package or how bad the customer support is. I want to make it known what happens when you leave VBB@H

I was able to get out of my 2 year contract about 4 weeks ago due to virgin not being able to supply the promise of broadband and a working phone system. I signed up with IInet to get my phone connected and low and behold the phone line is dead, not even able to ring telstra (something all phones can do even if not connected). The IInet people said to me that when virgin ported my number over something has happened to my phone line that requires a service tech to come out to my house, exchange etc.

I also want to let people know that your number can't be ported back from virgin broadband either once it has been burnt onto their sim card. Virgin told me it can yet both Telstra and IInet told me it can't. THANKS VERY MUCH VIRGIN.

Now I have the headache of having to use my mobile phone to make all calls and pay bills etc till my new phone and new phone number is activated through IInet. I have the hassle of also ringing every company that has my home number and updating my details.

The ACCC needs to get onto this and do something about it. I have read many review sites with users posting many many problems with the product. Thought I was saving myself money at the end of the day, all I gave myself was headaches and a new bloody home phone number.

1/10 hate it, wish I never went over to it, glad to be rid of it.

(Thanks for the report Rob. I'll contact Virgin to see if they want to respond. You'd think that they would. Those are some serious problems. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Connecting with Virginbroadband was the worst ever experience of my life.

Will keep it short.

Poor product
Phone drops out all the time
Voice mutes when talking to people on mobiles
Long customer service waits
Internet drop outs
Very high ping rates for gaming
long periods of having no internet at all
1 bar of signal strength
unable to conenct messages when using phone.
unable to connect when ringing home phone from mobile.

For living in a capital city this product is poor regardless of price. At least with the more expensive ISP's your service WORKS. Maybe there is a lesson in that.

My solution is go with another ISP and phone compnay that works....I did

Poor product Virgin team

Peter from Perth WA

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Yea I am using VB now and hate it.

Thought the package was great before I ported my number over with no problems at all. Since my number was ported over the package went to sh**. My ping rate went to 999ms (instead of about 170) and my downloads went to about 1/4 of what they should have been as well (download speed).

To make things worse I now can't make or send calls using my phone. Dial a number and I get the engaged beep. Ring the home phone and I get the message (the mobile you are trying to contact is switched off or not in a mobile serviced area). Have replaced modem and phone still does not work as it should. Internet is dead as well.

Have exhausted all evenues with VB support staff and they have now handballed the issue to optus. They have given me no time frame as to when my phone service will be up and running again so needless to say I am pissed off.

The only way I can make calls now is to remove the sim card from the modem and put it into my mobile phone and use the mobile phone as like a portable phone. The support staff got pissed off when I told them this but at least I have a phone to make calls with till they get their sh** together.

All in all I am not happy with the service and am sort of wishing they can't fix my problem so I can get out of the contract and I can switch over to IINET ADSL2 naked broadband and phone package for the same price.

I have spoken to the other people I have put onto VB since my connection and they say they are starting to get the same problems as I am getting just not as bad yet.

Also a correction on some of your posts. When new users sign up with VB now you don't get 4 gigs for 60 bucks and shaping to 128k...you only get 2 gigs(have to pay extra for 4) and you get shaped to 64.

(Sorry to hear that Steve. -PZ)

Virgin Mobile Broadband- Incoming calss not getting connected

I signed with v. and ported my number. When phone calls made from some phones, particularly from Telstra, they are not connected to my homephone number. They get a message the number is not connected.
Also my phone number listing in whitepage.com.au also has disappeared since I joined virgin.
Anyone else has faced this sort of a problem?

(Give Virgin a proper chance to fix the problems. then if not foxed go straight to the Telecommunications Ombudsman - in Australia that is. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

If someone calls you on this Virgin deal, it is a LOCAL CALL (not mobile call as the 'journalist' mentions)

And why would you bother with VOIP if you can get FREE local AND interstate calls with this Virgin plan. Go Virgin, you rock today's world for value!

(Interesting and famous name you have there Vincent. Am I smelling Rattus Norvegicus? -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

The product described is Virgin Broadband @ Home (not Virgin Mobile Broadband) which provides a standard number with calls TO that number being the same as calls to any other standard home phone - PLUS calls TO any other standard home phone are FREE - anywhere within Australia.

(Thanks Ken. I've made the correction. You'd wonder how they make money on it. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

I have been hooked up to Virgin Broadband@Home for three months.

I can guarantee that people calling me are not charged any differently from how they were charged before I ported my home phone number from Telstra.

I live in a broadband blackspot in Canberra and this is my first chance to have broadband at an affordable price.

I absolutely LOVE it. Oh, the technology!

At $60/month ($55 for us as we have a Virgin post paid mobile on the account too) including 4GB download and all virgin mobile, local and STD calls, it is saving us a lot of money every month, the phone can be used at the same time as the internet and 4GB of download is more than enough for us.

The Virgin modem also acts as a wireless router so you can very easily share your internet access over multiple computers using wireless networking.

The Virgin Broadband @ Home product offers a 30 day, no obligation, money back trial so people have nothing to lose by giving it a go.

If this sounds like a sales pitch, it isn't. I'm just a very happy customer.

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

A few random facts to go with your thoughts
1. 4GB limit is shaped to 128kbs after reaching limit
2. Incoming calls are not charged at mobile rates.
3. As you say, if the power is off, so is the phone.
4. Many users are using VOIP with VBB@H - not all with success but some ar
5. Who wants to sign up for two years? Fairly standard ISP behaviour to get people on contracts - VBB@H charge $15 per month to leave so if you wanted to leave after 6 months it would $270 which is not all that onerous
6. I can't believe that Bigpond couldn't have given you broadband on Windows 98. You could have had it via a router-modem at least.
7. If your data limit and phone usage fits VBB@H then it provides outstanding value imo

It also comes with no relocation costs if you move just ring up and tell them your new address/

(Thanks Garth. All points noted. It's beginning to sound quite interesting. I had another chat with a telesales person today and he almost had me signing up. He was good. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Quote:
2. Not having a fixed phone means that most people have to pay mobile rates to call YOU.

No, that is not correct, you will have a "fixed line" to which call made are charged at normal local call rates.

(Thanks Roy. I was wrong there. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

we have virgin broaband in our share house and the system works very well. we all have laptop puters. we share the monthly cost. i dont think we have a contract tho. we can quit any time other wise it wouldnt suit a share house.

(You still might find that whoever did the deal with Virgin has signed up for a two-year contract Tina. -PZ)

re: Ever tried Virgin Mobile Broadband?

Looks like a PR job to me. ADSL works fine at home to Win98se via a modem / router. I think Bigpond no longer help you if you have problems if using Win98. Phillip