Virgin Media
Created by Monty2011Recently I had an in-depth conversation with a very helpful Virgin Media engineer who is assigned to the Quedgeley area. He informed me that Virgin at present have no plans to install in Kingsway, as there is no evidence of demand by the local public. (Plus Virgin have to bear the cost of running fibre optic cables into properties).
I for one would like to have the option of extra services Kingsway residents can receive in relation to TV, Phone & internet… not just the current Sky & BT only.
So to resolve this issue, the Virgin Media engineer told me that the only way they would seriously consider installing in Kingsway, is for enough residents to enquire with Virgin, or to raise a signed petition.***
Finger’s crossed eh!
Editors Note: An online petition was created on March 6th – Please Sign It.
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February 10th, 2012 at 11:54 am
Hi
Where I can find this petition please?
February 10th, 2012 at 12:05 pm
With BT infinity ALMOST available in Kingsway, broadband is about go get faster for anyone who wants it, and anyone who wants more TV has Sky available. I really don’t see why we should do Virgin medias market research for them. If they were competent then they would have agreements in place with developers to lay down cable while the roads were being dug up for new houses.
February 10th, 2012 at 2:49 pm
BT Infinity will be offering 80Mb from March too but I’m not sure everyone in Kingsway will have it enabled in March according the the BT Wholesale ADSL checker. No real need to Virgin anymore.
February 10th, 2012 at 3:27 pm
I’d happily have Virgin, if it were available, and I’d be happy to sign a petition too.
February 10th, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Cant see this happening petition or not as Evari says ‘If they were competent then they would have agreements in place with developers to lay down cable while the roads were being dug up for new houses’.
Also probably not enough demand from 3000+ houses to justify digging up paths etc to lay cables to receive Virgin cable. I use to be a Virgin National broadband customer -it’s a cheap enough service but it was always dropping connection due to wi-fi interference, I even upgraded the router to no avail.
Changed to BT though more expensive it aint dropped a connection once in three months.
One can sign up for BE line bonding for faster speeds of 44meg though a bit steep in price see
here.
No Monty, I shan’t be signing the petition, as far as I’m concerned there are far better causes to sign a petition for… incinerator for one (‘though a bit late for that one now) but good luck with the petition.
February 12th, 2012 at 5:03 pm
Hi All,
Over the past few years I have had a lot of discussions with Virgin over their laying cable, and there are a few posts on here reflecting that.
At last discussion, Virgin would not consider laying more cable until the village is much more complete, and even then they were not very keen given the current economic climate.
I do plan on keeping to push as more houses are built as I think it is a popular service, but it will take a lot more volume of houses for Virgin to see a return on investment.
Cheers,
Barry
February 17th, 2012 at 12:17 pm
Does anyone else now have the mental image of Samuel L Jackson in a high-vis jacket digging up our pavements?!
February 18th, 2012 at 8:24 pm
Hi all,
Well after a little research on my part, I found that Sky & Virgin have the best over-all packages at present, as I suspect quite a few residents have already researched for Kingsway.
The BT package is nothing but a glorified freeview HD box, backed up by it’s Infinity Router… a poor excuse for a package, but this is reflected in their price.
As regards a petition for Virgin Media, I do not know of any in existence, was just a suggestion forwarded onto me by one of their engineer’s… but maybe Virgin will get the message if they get enough telephone enquiries eh! Only telephone and ADSL internet are available at present to Kingsway from Virgin, we can only go on what Barry Kirby has investigated over this issue regarding the fibre optics needed to receive all!
I am not targeting this one issue regarding Virgin alone, but think that as a resident of Kingsway since 2006, we should have the choice of services to our estate, just poor planning initially I suspect as the past years have revealed… when I first moved to Kingsway, I did not have a telephone line for 3 months, but good old BT informed me that I was connected in writing; how much forward planning is that for a new build?
February 18th, 2012 at 8:53 pm
Virgin Media still have massive debts from previous fibre roll outs as it’s really expensive to install fibre even into new developments.
As such I would find it surprising (but not going to totally rule it out) that in the current climate they would want to do any further roll out.
What is likely to happen though is that Virgin start to resell the BT FTTC, offering essentially the same package as Virgin On Net customers get, but perhaps at a slightly higher price: (here).
The BT Vision packages aren’t great but I expect that they are awaiting the You View collaboration to be finalised before releasing their new box, which I would expect (and hope) will have freeview HD in it as well.
February 21st, 2012 at 9:08 am
Looks like our Hardwicke exchange is now enabled for BT Infinity (see here).
Unfortunately it looks like Kingsway will have to wait a while as I can only see one BT Infinity cabinet on the entire estate. The BT website estimates 31st of March but as they need to install and commission new cabinets (4-6 months on average) we have a long wait.
Quedgeley seems to be fully populated with Infinity cabinets, which is typical as they already have access to high speed internet via Virgin. Looks like we’ve been put to the bottom of the list!
February 24th, 2012 at 9:12 am
Hi all
If anyone wants to help in this “campaign” for Cable, then the Citizen are going to be running a story next week on the issue. To that end they are coming to take a Photo on this Saturday at 10:30am and meeting in the Local Centre area. Anyone who wants to come and join us and be part of the group photo, your more than welcome. I would email each contributor to this thread but am unabe to do so from here.
Cheers
Barry
March 6th, 2012 at 6:51 pm
Hi All,
In a bid to show Virgin Media just how much support there is for this, I have set up a petition. Please do take two minutes to sign up for it, even if you don’t necessarily want Virgin but would like the option, please sign up.
Kingsway – Virgin Petition
Cheers,
Barry
March 7th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
Hi Barry,
Nice one… I’ve added the petition link to the original post above.
I’ve also signed up today, and I urge everybody to do the same, (choice is always a good thing)!
Clive
March 7th, 2012 at 2:32 pm
Hi Barry,
I agree it’s always good to have competition but your probably find Virgin will soon being using the BT FTTC infrastructure anyway as it’s far cheaper than laying new cables. I would be more inclined to get onto BT and get our cabinets upgraded to FTTC so we can all receive high speed internet.
Gavin
March 21st, 2012 at 12:08 am
BT have delayed Infinity again for Kingsway. Now scheduled for 30/06/2012
March 21st, 2012 at 10:02 am
Hi All
My husband and I haven’t quite finalised our move to Kingsway yet (although we hope to be in our new home by the summer) and the one thing that is going to be really hard is having no choice with our broadband / media supplier. We’re currently with Virgin and love it, especially with the new Tevo box! I’ve added my name to the petition and I’ll get hubby to do the same
Kelly
March 21st, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Unfortunately there is no schedule for BT Infinity to be rolled out through the whole of Kingsway.
I have just got off the phone with Openreach and they confirmed the Hardwicke exchange is completed. The cabinets that haven’t been enabled yet are not scheduled to be enabled. The only way to get any more enabled is if Openreach get enough requests, then they’ll be added as “infills”.
At the moment we have to settle with Sky and in my opinion O2 are the best we can get for internet
March 22nd, 2012 at 10:39 am
Morning All,
I have noticed a lot of questions surrounding BT’s roll-out of Infinity now the Hardwicke Exchange has been upgraded for these higher speeds. I can advise everyone who wants to bring their concerns before the right person within BT in order for their awareness at a much higher level toward those who want this service is… Mr Warren Buckley (Managing Director Customer Service) he can be contacted directly on this, and any other matters surrounding your BT services: warren.buckley@bt.com