Virgin Media 'overwhelmed' by broadband customers fleeing BT

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From The Register

Virgin Media 'overwhelmed' by broadband customers fleeing BT
By Kelly Fiveash 28th August 2009 12:03 GMT
Exclusive Hundreds of people who have recently signed up to Virgin Media UK’s ADSL broadband service face lengthy delays getting their accounts activated.
The company has blamed a sudden spike in demand for its relaunched ADSL package, which is intended for would-be customers who live outside of the operator’s cable coverage and want to bundle their broadband and phone lines together.
At the beginning of August Virgin made lots of noise about its new all-singing-all-dancing (http://allyours.virginmedia.com/webs...ervice.do?id=2) ADSL broadband service packages, that boosted faster download speeds of up to 20Mbps and its own telephone line rental.
All of which offered an attractive proposition to customers wanting a simple, BT-free life that involved having a single bill with one telecoms supplier.
But here’s the rub: A spokesman at the cable giant told us it had been inundated with customers fleeing BT and running headlong into Virgin’s increasingly burdened arms.
“Since we relaunched our National service with line rental and our Best Speed Promise, we have been overwhelmed with new orders, resulting in a few delays in getting customers on to our superfast ADSL broadband,” the spokesman told The Register.
He also confessed that the company has been struggling to post out modem kit to its new punters.
“We have now resolved modem stock problems and are working flat out to get customers up and running as soon as possible. We are very sorry for any delays some customers may have faced.”
It’s not clear at this stage if customers who have suffered delays with their ADSL broadband service will have their £30 activation fee cancelled by Virgin. Those affected have been urged to send an email to the firm detailing their complaints.
Virgin Media has been dogged in the past for failing to provide the capacity customers have demanded from its service. The company has clearly upped the ante by invading BT’s heartland with its new bundled broadband and phone line rental offer.
But failing to respond adequately to such a positive uptake from customers leaves the firm open to the same old complaints, no matter how appealing its packages may appear at the outset. ®
Related stories:
Virgin mail struggles to its feet (27 August 2009)

[Scoobs]

Be a lot of upset people then if there are trying to sell it "boosted faster download speeds of up to 20Mbps" over a BT line when there isnt many exchanges that have this speed yet.

Also Acceptable Use Policy applies.
Traffic Management operates from 4pm to 9pm and 10am to 3pm to ensure a consistent user experience.

Not to rush to defend them but i've just moved my mother into a new house, set her up with Virgin National, no problem. Phone line was deactivated, they reactivated that much more cheaply than BT were offering to, the router/modem came promptly (could be a higher spec though) and the broadband connection was there on time.

Only reason i'm here on forums like this is that i'm having an issue connecting MS Outlook up to her new virgin media email account.

Traffic management is a pain but not as big a one as the capped download account i got for her. Fine for her because she just mails and surfs but it means i can't really use it in the way i would when i'm staying.

So, from where i am, they've done as expected, and am happy not to be with BT etc.

Ube

[mike54]

sounds about right with the way bt treats there customers

[centaur]

Unfortunately, BT still appear to be locked into the old 'nationalised monopoly' mentality, despite years of commercial freedom.

Eventually, they will respond to such competition, after all, they have most of the infrastructure to do so, and just need to replace the copper with fibre optic stuff.

However, those of us 'out in the sticks' will continue to be ignored by EVERYONE, including BT when it comes to such replacement and therefore faster speeds !