Hello all,

I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
My contract finishes early March 2024.
How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
stories.
My mobile is with VM / O2.
Will this be affected by the move?
Also my family land line is with VM.
I want to transfer to CF VOIP which is far cheaper.

Any reviews of this?

On Tue, 26 Dec 2023 12:10:57 +0000, Dan
<dannewsgroupsAAAA888@outlook.com> wrote:

>Hello all,
>
>I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>My contract finishes early March 2024.
>How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
>stories.

You won't find out until you try, will you? How can anyone else know
what will happen in advance? A neighbour has swapped from VM to CF
apparently without issues or delay.

>My mobile is with VM / O2.
>Will this be affected by the move?
It could be if it's included in the broadband contract. Don't you
know?

>Also my family land line is with VM.

If the land line is delivered by the VM cable then you'll lose it when
you terminate the broadband contract.

Dan <dannewsgroupsAAAA888@outlook.com> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
> My contract finishes early March 2024.
> How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
> stories.
> My mobile is with VM / O2.
> Will this be affected by the move?
> Also my family land line is with VM.
> I want to transfer to CF VOIP which is far cheaper.
>
> Any reviews of this?
>

I’ve recently moved to IDNET supplied over CityFibre from VM. I didn’t
attempt to cancel my VM service until the CF service was up and running.
Phoning VM to cancel was painless. Having the new service up and running.
VM asked if I had already moved, responding yes seems to have prevented any
attempts to send me off to retentions for a hard sell. I now enjoy a
symmetric 500/500 Mbit/sec service, compared to 250/25, at 60% of the
previous VM price. I was out of contract with VM. CF installation took a
week longer than originally planned because the Open Reach ducts into my
house were found to be blocked.

On 26/12/2023 16:44, Tweed wrote:
> Dan <dannewsgroupsAAAA888@outlook.com> wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>> My contract finishes early March 2024.
>> How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
>> stories.
>> My mobile is with VM / O2.
>> Will this be affected by the move?
>> Also my family land line is with VM.
>> I want to transfer to CF VOIP which is far cheaper.
>>
>> Any reviews of this?
>>
>
> I’ve recently moved to IDNET supplied over CityFibre from VM. I didn’t
> attempt to cancel my VM service until the CF service was up and running.
> Phoning VM to cancel was painless. Having the new service up and running.
> VM asked if I had already moved, responding yes seems to have prevented any
> attempts to send me off to retentions for a hard sell. I now enjoy a
> symmetric 500/500 Mbit/sec service, compared to 250/25, at 60% of the
> previous VM price. I was out of contract with VM. CF installation took a
> week longer than originally planned because the Open Reach ducts into my
> house were found to be blocked.

I'll reply to this in a few days as I have done exactly this 3 years ago!

>

On Tue 26/12/2023 12:10, Dan wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
> My contract finishes early March 2024.
> How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
> stories.
> My mobile is with VM / O2.
> Will this be affected by the move?
> Also my family land line is with VM.
> I want to transfer to CF VOIP which is far cheaper.
>
> Any reviews of this?

Who are you proposing to move to on CF? Remember that most SPs on CF
supply broadband only - they have no mail service, so unless you are
using Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or similar you will have to find another
organisation to deal with your mail.

I am on 50/5 with VM (no need for speed and already a reliable service)
and my monthly charge was going up from £42 to £51. They sent me a
letter which showed on the back that a step up from my rate - to M125 -
would cost £57/m, but in the first year it would be only £34/m. I rang
Retentions and expressed my disgust that I am subsidising new customers
and that CF are available to me. The guy went of for a couple of minutes
and came back to tell me they would continue my 50/5 service for £35/m
for 18 months. Suits me!

Woody <harrogate3@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> On Tue 26/12/2023 12:10, Dan wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>> My contract finishes early March 2024.
>> How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
>> stories.
>> My mobile is with VM / O2.
>> Will this be affected by the move?
>> Also my family land line is with VM.
>> I want to transfer to CF VOIP which is far cheaper.
>>
>> Any reviews of this?
>
> Who are you proposing to move to on CF? Remember that most SPs on CF
> supply broadband only - they have no mail service, so unless you are
> using Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or similar you will have to find another
> organisation to deal with your mail.
>
> I am on 50/5 with VM (no need for speed and already a reliable service)
> and my monthly charge was going up from £42 to £51. They sent me a
> letter which showed on the back that a step up from my rate - to M125 -
> would cost £57/m, but in the first year it would be only £34/m. I rang
> Retentions and expressed my disgust that I am subsidising new customers
> and that CF are available to me. The guy went of for a couple of minutes
> and came back to tell me they would continue my 50/5 service for £35/m
> for 18 months. Suits me!
>
>

There’s enough ISPs out there on CityFibre that will offer email and a
phone service for a nominal extra fee. Better still there’s a lot of
independent email and/or phone service for not very much money. You’ve not
really been given that good an offer by VM. After I quit they were trying
to get me back on 100/10 for £24/month. However I’m done with their random
price rises and the need to periodically barter to get a sensible price.
There is literally nothing that VM does better or cheaper than IDNET over
CF. (Excluding TV which IDNET do not directly offer).

On Tue, 26 Dec 2023 18:59:18 +0000, Woody <harrogate3@ntlworld.com>
wrote:

>On Tue 26/12/2023 12:10, Dan wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>> My contract finishes early March 2024.
>> How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
>> stories.
>> My mobile is with VM / O2.
>> Will this be affected by the move?
>> Also my family land line is with VM.
>> I want to transfer to CF VOIP which is far cheaper.
>>
>> Any reviews of this?
>
>Who are you proposing to move to on CF? Remember that most SPs on CF
>supply broadband only - they have no mail service, so unless you are
>using Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or similar you will have to find another
>organisation to deal with your mail.
>
>I am on 50/5 with VM (no need for speed and already a reliable service)
>and my monthly charge was going up from £42 to £51. They sent me a
>letter which showed on the back that a step up from my rate - to M125 -
>would cost £57/m, but in the first year it would be only £34/m. I rang
>Retentions and expressed my disgust that I am subsidising new customers
>and that CF are available to me. The guy went of for a couple of minutes
>and came back to tell me they would continue my 50/5 service for £35/m
>for 18 months. Suits me!

CF do a VOIP - this will save me a lot of money.
I have my own domain for shopping and Yahoo for general email. So I do
not need their web mail service.
CF fibre is clear to see across the road.
Mobile, well I will see if it is linked, even then I still save a lot
of money.

Dan <dannewsgroupsAAAA888@outlook.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Dec 2023 18:59:18 +0000, Woody <harrogate3@ntlworld.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On Tue 26/12/2023 12:10, Dan wrote:
>>> Hello all,
>>>
>>> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>>> My contract finishes early March 2024.
>>> How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
>>> stories.
>>> My mobile is with VM / O2.
>>> Will this be affected by the move?
>>> Also my family land line is with VM.
>>> I want to transfer to CF VOIP which is far cheaper.
>>>
>>> Any reviews of this?
>>
>> Who are you proposing to move to on CF? Remember that most SPs on CF
>> supply broadband only - they have no mail service, so unless you are
>> using Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or similar you will have to find another
>> organisation to deal with your mail.
>>
>> I am on 50/5 with VM (no need for speed and already a reliable service)
>> and my monthly charge was going up from £42 to £51. They sent me a
>> letter which showed on the back that a step up from my rate - to M125 -
>> would cost £57/m, but in the first year it would be only £34/m. I rang
>> Retentions and expressed my disgust that I am subsidising new customers
>> and that CF are available to me. The guy went of for a couple of minutes
>> and came back to tell me they would continue my 50/5 service for £35/m
>> for 18 months. Suits me!
>
>
> CF do a VOIP - this will save me a lot of money.
> I have my own domain for shopping and Yahoo for general email. So I do
> not need their web mail service.
> CF fibre is clear to see across the road.
> Mobile, well I will see if it is linked, even then I still save a lot
> of money.
>

To be picky, CF themselves do not offer VOIP. CF are wholesale only. The
services you get are dependent on the ISP you decide to use over CF.

In article <gfgloi5luok7nd5hjqqvtulv5ih32vfcge@4ax.com> you wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
> My contract finishes early March 2024.
> How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
> stories.

Contact them in early Feb (a month before your contract is due to end)
and inform them you want to cancel. Don't let them talk you out of it! I
let them do this the first time as they price matched the other company
I was going to jump to, but neglected to tell me about the in-contract
price rises which pretty much cancelled out that saving about half way
through the 18 month contract.

Some of the horror stories are correct, we got disconnected after
waiting on the phone for ages the first time we tried. Then the second
time, when we actually got through to disconnections, we were kept
waiting seemingly needlessly while they were looking for our account
details or some excuse. I think they were actually just putting us on
hold in the hope we would give up and forget about the idea...

> My mobile is with VM / O2.
> Will this be affected by the move?

You can cancel your broadband/tv package without it affecting your
mobile as far as I know. Check this with them at the time though.
Although there are probably better deals to be had for your mobile too
to be honest.

> Also my family land line is with VM.
> I want to transfer to CF VOIP which is far cheaper.

I got rid of my land line ages ago, everyone in the house has a mobile
and now all the PSTN and copper cables are being ripped out the land
lines they give you are effectivly VOIP. Everything is converging to the
internet so when there's a net connection issue it will affect all your
services...

>
> Any reviews of this?

I was a virgin media customer since they were Blueyonder, they got
progressively worse in customer service, stopped offering usenet access,
offloaded email to a third party and with price increases, culminating
with in-contract price increases to the point I could take no more.
We left them October last year.

Run away!

PS. I now use a 4G router with an unlimited SMARTY 4G sim in it and for
the most part it works equally well. Of course YMMV...

--

IanJ

gopher://gopher.icu

On Tue, 26 Dec 2023 20:39:12 -0000 (UTC), IanJ
<SPAMian_jones_01@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

>In article <gfgloi5luok7nd5hjqqvtulv5ih32vfcge@4ax.com> you wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>> My contract finishes early March 2024.
>> How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
>> stories.
>
>Contact them in early Feb (a month before your contract is due to end)
>and inform them you want to cancel. Don't let them talk you out of it! I
>let them do this the first time as they price matched the other company
>I was going to jump to, but neglected to tell me about the in-contract
>price rises which pretty much cancelled out that saving about half way
>through the 18 month contract.
>
>Some of the horror stories are correct, we got disconnected after
>waiting on the phone for ages the first time we tried. Then the second
>time, when we actually got through to disconnections, we were kept
>waiting seemingly needlessly while they were looking for our account
>details or some excuse. I think they were actually just putting us on
>hold in the hope we would give up and forget about the idea...
>
>> My mobile is with VM / O2.
>> Will this be affected by the move?
>
>You can cancel your broadband/tv package without it affecting your
>mobile as far as I know. Check this with them at the time though.
>Although there are probably better deals to be had for your mobile too
>to be honest.
>
>> Also my family land line is with VM.
>> I want to transfer to CF VOIP which is far cheaper.
>
>I got rid of my land line ages ago, everyone in the house has a mobile
>and now all the PSTN and copper cables are being ripped out the land
>lines they give you are effectivly VOIP. Everything is converging to the
>internet so when there's a net connection issue it will affect all your
>services...
>
>>
>> Any reviews of this?
>
>I was a virgin media customer since they were Blueyonder, they got
>progressively worse in customer service, stopped offering usenet access,
>offloaded email to a third party and with price increases, culminating
>with in-contract price increases to the point I could take no more.
>We left them October last year.
>
>Run away!
>
>PS. I now use a 4G router with an unlimited SMARTY 4G sim in it and for
>the most part it works equally well. Of course YMMV...

Thanks a lot.

On Tue, 26 Dec 2023 20:35:58 -0000 (UTC), Tweed
<usenet.tweed@gmail.com> wrote:

>Dan <dannewsgroupsAAAA888@outlook.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, 26 Dec 2023 18:59:18 +0000, Woody <harrogate3@ntlworld.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue 26/12/2023 12:10, Dan wrote:
>>>> Hello all,
>>>>
>>>> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>>>> My contract finishes early March 2024.
>>>> How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
>>>> stories.
>>>> My mobile is with VM / O2.
>>>> Will this be affected by the move?
>>>> Also my family land line is with VM.
>>>> I want to transfer to CF VOIP which is far cheaper.
>>>>
>>>> Any reviews of this?
>>>
>>> Who are you proposing to move to on CF? Remember that most SPs on CF
>>> supply broadband only - they have no mail service, so unless you are
>>> using Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or similar you will have to find another
>>> organisation to deal with your mail.
>>>
>>> I am on 50/5 with VM (no need for speed and already a reliable service)
>>> and my monthly charge was going up from £42 to £51. They sent me a
>>> letter which showed on the back that a step up from my rate - to M125 -
>>> would cost £57/m, but in the first year it would be only £34/m. I rang
>>> Retentions and expressed my disgust that I am subsidising new customers
>>> and that CF are available to me. The guy went of for a couple of minutes
>>> and came back to tell me they would continue my 50/5 service for £35/m
>>> for 18 months. Suits me!
>>
>>
>> CF do a VOIP - this will save me a lot of money.
>> I have my own domain for shopping and Yahoo for general email. So I do
>> not need their web mail service.
>> CF fibre is clear to see across the road.
>> Mobile, well I will see if it is linked, even then I still save a lot
>> of money.
>>
>
>To be picky, CF themselves do not offer VOIP. CF are wholesale only. The
>services you get are dependent on the ISP you decide to use over CF.

CF do offer VOIP.
They offer home broadband as well.

On 26/12/2023 12:10, Dan wrote:
> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.

I realize that you are crossposting from u.t.b, where this probably
makes perfect sense ... but reading your subject line in u.c.h I read VM
as Virtual Machine and CF as Compact Flash and wondered what the hell
you were on about!

Abbreviations are a bugger.

Back to the plot. No personal experience -- when I looked at Virgin long
ago (before they were Liberty Global) they only seemed to want to sell
me Television channels that I wouldn't watch and their sales muppets
didn't seem to understand that people might want cable speeds for
something called "the internet".

However, family members who use Virgin tell me that whenever they try to
cancel they get an offer that persuades them to stay. One, who was
trying to cancel because the WiFi in the house was bad was even given a
bunch of extender kit. They may be tossers, but they do know how to bribe.

--
Cheers,
Daniel.

On Tue 26/12/2023 23:15, Dan wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Dec 2023 20:35:58 -0000 (UTC), Tweed
> <usenet.tweed@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dan <dannewsgroupsAAAA888@outlook.com> wrote:
>>> On Tue, 26 Dec 2023 18:59:18 +0000, Woody <harrogate3@ntlworld.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Tue 26/12/2023 12:10, Dan wrote:
>>>>> Hello all,
>>>>>
>>>>> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>>>>> My contract finishes early March 2024.
>>>>> How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
>>>>> stories.
>>>>> My mobile is with VM / O2.
>>>>> Will this be affected by the move?
>>>>> Also my family land line is with VM.
>>>>> I want to transfer to CF VOIP which is far cheaper.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any reviews of this?
>>>>
>>>> Who are you proposing to move to on CF? Remember that most SPs on CF
>>>> supply broadband only - they have no mail service, so unless you are
>>>> using Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or similar you will have to find another
>>>> organisation to deal with your mail.
>>>>
>>>> I am on 50/5 with VM (no need for speed and already a reliable service)
>>>> and my monthly charge was going up from £42 to £51. They sent me a
>>>> letter which showed on the back that a step up from my rate - to M125 -
>>>> would cost £57/m, but in the first year it would be only £34/m. I rang
>>>> Retentions and expressed my disgust that I am subsidising new customers
>>>> and that CF are available to me. The guy went of for a couple of minutes
>>>> and came back to tell me they would continue my 50/5 service for £35/m
>>>> for 18 months. Suits me!
>>>
>>>
>>> CF do a VOIP - this will save me a lot of money.
>>> I have my own domain for shopping and Yahoo for general email. So I do
>>> not need their web mail service.
>>> CF fibre is clear to see across the road.
>>> Mobile, well I will see if it is linked, even then I still save a lot
>>> of money.
>>>
>>
>> To be picky, CF themselves do not offer VOIP. CF are wholesale only. The
>> services you get are dependent on the ISP you decide to use over CF.
>
>
> CF do offer VOIP.
> They offer home broadband as well.

I would suggest you read what both Tweed and I wrote earlier.
CF is purely a carrier and do not provide any services per se. You don't
go to CF for your broadband, you go to one of the Service Providers that
CF carry.

Daniel James wrote:

> when I looked at Virgin long ago (before they were Liberty Global) they
> only seemed to want to sell me Television channels that I wouldn't watch
> and their sales muppets didn't seem to understand that people might want
> cable speeds for something called "the internet".

VM have fibre (not coax) in this street, but CF don't seem to have any
offerings for me, I presume CF and VM only co-operate in selected areas?

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
> Daniel James wrote:
>
>> when I looked at Virgin long ago (before they were Liberty Global) they
>> only seemed to want to sell me Television channels that I wouldn't watch
>> and their sales muppets didn't seem to understand that people might want
>> cable speeds for something called "the internet".
>
> VM have fibre (not coax) in this street, but CF don't seem to have any
> offerings for me, I presume CF and VM only co-operate in selected areas?
>
>
I’ve never quite worked out what VM and CF’s build strategy is, even
assuming there is one. We are in an early 1980s housing estate. It gained
cable in the very early days from a regional operator, who then became NTL
who then rebranded to VM. BT/OR never really bothered to take high speed
broadband seriously and to this day we are only offered FTTC from a very
distant cabinet. So until City Fibre came along VM had a monopoly if you
wanted anything other than a slow service. They’ve been exploiting this
with massive price rises over the last few years. The strange thing about
CF is that they appear to be making zero effort to market their new
service. You’d imagine at least a leaflet drop. Nothing from any of their
ISPs either.

On Tue, 26 Dec 2023 23:20:57 +0000, Daniel James <daniel@me.invalid>
wrote:

>On 26/12/2023 12:10, Dan wrote:
>> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>
>I realize that you are crossposting from u.t.b, where this probably
>makes perfect sense ... but reading your subject line in u.c.h I read VM
>as Virtual Machine and CF as Compact Flash and wondered what the hell
>you were on about!
>
>Abbreviations are a bugger.
>
>Back to the plot. No personal experience -- when I looked at Virgin long
>ago (before they were Liberty Global) they only seemed to want to sell
>me Television channels that I wouldn't watch and their sales muppets
>didn't seem to understand that people might want cable speeds for
>something called "the internet".
>
>However, family members who use Virgin tell me that whenever they try to
>cancel they get an offer that persuades them to stay. One, who was
>trying to cancel because the WiFi in the house was bad was even given a
>bunch of extender kit. They may be tossers, but they do know how to bribe.

Morning Daniel,

I have very good wireless as the router is in modem mode and use
pfsense to protect the incoming raw Internet which is then via a
switch
to a asus RTAX88u pro.
Get full speeds across my 1930's two story's build house.
I have spoken to community on pfsense and they say that once CF is
installed the ONT is DHCP. So an active live Internet connection
will be seen on WAN of my pfsense router.
But cost vs speed comes into the equation. For far less I can get 1
Gbit symmetrical. Canceling VM is the big problem.

In article <umfn3b$3ksav$1@dont-email.me>, Daniel James wrote...
>
> On 26/12/2023 12:10, Dan wrote:
> > I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>
> I realize that you are crossposting from u.t.b, where this probably
> makes perfect sense ... but reading your subject line in u.c.h I read VM
> as Virtual Machine and CF as Compact Flash and wondered what the hell
> you were on about!
>
> Abbreviations are a bugger.
>

Ditto! I eventually figured out you must mean Virgin Media, but does CF mean
Community Fibre? (I think they are only in London.) I switched from
BTInternet (who were giving 60 Mbps) to Community Fibre this year, and now I
get over 700 Mbps on my mobile in bed, some way from the single
router/Wireless-Access-Point. Admin from CF (now you know who I'm talking
about) was glitchy, but all fixed, and the service has been rock steady. The
first BT agent I spoke to about the cease seemingly introduced a screw-up which
took many weeks to unwind, but they were helpful and persistent in getting it
sorted out, as was always my experience with them.

Downloads now take mostly zero time, after a moment of server latency. But
I've never had to deal with a fault, and that's when I'll find out just how
good they really are.

--

Phil, London

On Thu 28/12/2023 13:39, Philip Herlihy wrote:
> In article <umfn3b$3ksav$1@dont-email.me>, Daniel James wrote...
>>
>> On 26/12/2023 12:10, Dan wrote:
>>> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>>
>> I realize that you are crossposting from u.t.b, where this probably
>> makes perfect sense ... but reading your subject line in u.c.h I read VM
>> as Virtual Machine and CF as Compact Flash and wondered what the hell
>> you were on about!
>>
>> Abbreviations are a bugger.
>>
>
> Ditto! I eventually figured out you must mean Virgin Media, but does CF mean
> Community Fibre? (I think they are only in London.) I switched from
> BTInternet (who were giving 60 Mbps) to Community Fibre this year, and now I
> get over 700 Mbps on my mobile in bed, some way from the single
> router/Wireless-Access-Point. Admin from CF (now you know who I'm talking
> about) was glitchy, but all fixed, and the service has been rock steady. The
> first BT agent I spoke to about the cease seemingly introduced a screw-up which
> took many weeks to unwind, but they were helpful and persistent in getting it
> sorted out, as was always my experience with them.
>
> Downloads now take mostly zero time, after a moment of server latency. But
> I've never had to deal with a fault, and that's when I'll find out just how
> good they really are.
>
>
CF = CityFibre which is an independent carrier (formerly owned by
TalkTalk) that provides connection to your choice of about 14 different
SPs BUT said SPs in the main only provide the broadband bearer. If you
want email or VoIP you will need to find one of they SPs that provide
that facility.
The providers on the system vary around the country.

Woody <harrogate3@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> On Thu 28/12/2023 13:39, Philip Herlihy wrote:
>> In article <umfn3b$3ksav$1@dont-email.me>, Daniel James wrote...
>>>
>>> On 26/12/2023 12:10, Dan wrote:
>>>> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>>>
>>> I realize that you are crossposting from u.t.b, where this probably
>>> makes perfect sense ... but reading your subject line in u.c.h I read VM
>>> as Virtual Machine and CF as Compact Flash and wondered what the hell
>>> you were on about!
>>>
>>> Abbreviations are a bugger.
>>>
>>
>> Ditto! I eventually figured out you must mean Virgin Media, but does CF mean
>> Community Fibre? (I think they are only in London.) I switched from
>> BTInternet (who were giving 60 Mbps) to Community Fibre this year, and now I
>> get over 700 Mbps on my mobile in bed, some way from the single
>> router/Wireless-Access-Point. Admin from CF (now you know who I'm talking
>> about) was glitchy, but all fixed, and the service has been rock steady. The
>> first BT agent I spoke to about the cease seemingly introduced a screw-up which
>> took many weeks to unwind, but they were helpful and persistent in getting it
>> sorted out, as was always my experience with them.
>>
>> Downloads now take mostly zero time, after a moment of server latency. But
>> I've never had to deal with a fault, and that's when I'll find out just how
>> good they really are.
>>
>>
> CF = CityFibre which is an independent carrier (formerly owned by
> TalkTalk) that provides connection to your choice of about 14 different
> SPs BUT said SPs in the main only provide the broadband bearer. If you
> want email or VoIP you will need to find one of they SPs that provide
> that facility.
> The providers on the system vary around the country.
>
>

Are you sure City Fibre was ever owned by TalkTalk?

Tweed wrote:

> Are you sure City Fibre was ever owned by TalkTalk?

I though that didn't ring true, first mention on their own news stream,
from 2011 is to this article

<https://www.ispreview.co.uk/articles/11_CityFibre_Holdings_UK_Interview/>

On Thu 28/12/2023 16:08, Andy Burns wrote:
> Tweed wrote:
>
>> Are you sure City Fibre was ever owned by TalkTalk?
>
> I though that didn't ring true, first mention on their own news stream,
> from 2011 is to this article
>
> <https://www.ispreview.co.uk/articles/11_CityFibre_Holdings_UK_Interview/>

The FTTP solution was started early in 2020 by TalkTalk around here
using what looked to be a consultancy called Fibrenation who were using
an installation contractor called Make Happen - MH have since gone bust.
About maybe 6 months Fibrenation was acquired by CityFibre who also
'acquired' TalkTalk as a main customer.

On Thu, 28 Dec 2023 13:39:37 -0000, Philip Herlihy
<PhillipHerlihy@SlashDevNull.invalid> wrote:

>In article <umfn3b$3ksav$1@dont-email.me>, Daniel James wrote...
>>
>> On 26/12/2023 12:10, Dan wrote:
>> > I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>>
>> I realize that you are crossposting from u.t.b, where this probably
>> makes perfect sense ... but reading your subject line in u.c.h I read VM
>> as Virtual Machine and CF as Compact Flash and wondered what the hell
>> you were on about!
>>
>> Abbreviations are a bugger.
>>
>
>Ditto! I eventually figured out you must mean Virgin Media, but does CF mean
>Community Fibre? (I think they are only in London.) I switched from
>BTInternet (who were giving 60 Mbps) to Community Fibre this year, and now I
>get over 700 Mbps on my mobile in bed, some way from the single
>router/Wireless-Access-Point. Admin from CF (now you know who I'm talking
>about) was glitchy, but all fixed, and the service has been rock steady. The
>first BT agent I spoke to about the cease seemingly introduced a screw-up which
>took many weeks to unwind, but they were helpful and persistent in getting it
>sorted out, as was always my experience with them.
>
>Downloads now take mostly zero time, after a moment of server latency. But
>I've never had to deal with a fault, and that's when I'll find out just how
>good they really are.

Sounds good. Community fibre.

Dan <dannewsgroupsAAAA888@outlook.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 28 Dec 2023 13:39:37 -0000, Philip Herlihy
> <PhillipHerlihy@SlashDevNull.invalid> wrote:
>
>> In article <umfn3b$3ksav$1@dont-email.me>, Daniel James wrote...
>>>
>>> On 26/12/2023 12:10, Dan wrote:
>>>> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>>>
>>> I realize that you are crossposting from u.t.b, where this probably
>>> makes perfect sense ... but reading your subject line in u.c.h I read VM
>>> as Virtual Machine and CF as Compact Flash and wondered what the hell
>>> you were on about!
>>>
>>> Abbreviations are a bugger.
>>>
>>
>> Ditto! I eventually figured out you must mean Virgin Media, but does CF mean
>> Community Fibre? (I think they are only in London.) I switched from
>> BTInternet (who were giving 60 Mbps) to Community Fibre this year, and now I
>> get over 700 Mbps on my mobile in bed, some way from the single
>> router/Wireless-Access-Point. Admin from CF (now you know who I'm talking
>> about) was glitchy, but all fixed, and the service has been rock steady. The
>> first BT agent I spoke to about the cease seemingly introduced a screw-up which
>> took many weeks to unwind, but they were helpful and persistent in getting it
>> sorted out, as was always my experience with them.
>>
>> Downloads now take mostly zero time, after a moment of server latency. But
>> I've never had to deal with a fault, and that's when I'll find out just how
>> good they really are.
>
>
> Sounds good. Community fibre.
>

Up here in Scotland CF = Cityfibre.

https://cityfibre.com

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 26/12/2023 17:17, SH wrote:
> On 26/12/2023 16:44, Tweed wrote:
>> Dan <dannewsgroupsAAAA888@outlook.com> wrote:
>>> Hello all,
>>>
>>> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>>> My contract finishes early March 2024.
>>> How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
>>> stories.
>>> My mobile is with VM / O2.
>>> Will this be affected by the move?
>>> Also my family land line is with VM.
>>> I want to transfer to CF VOIP which is far cheaper.
>>>
>>> Any reviews of this?
>>>
>>
>> I’ve recently moved to IDNET supplied over CityFibre from VM. I didn’t
>> attempt to cancel my VM service until the CF service was up and running.
>> Phoning VM to cancel was painless. Having the new service up and running.
>> VM asked if I had already moved, responding yes seems to have
>> prevented any
>> attempts to send me off to retentions for a hard sell. I now enjoy a
>> symmetric 500/500 Mbit/sec service, compared to 250/25, at 60% of the
>> previous VM price. I was out of contract with VM. CF installation took a
>> week longer than originally planned because the Open Reach ducts into my
>> house were found to be blocked.
>
>
> I'll reply to this in a few days as I have done exactly this 3 years ago!
>
>
>>
>

Herwwith my follow up after the Chrimble and NY break... :-)

I am writing about my experience of almost 3 years ago.

I had been on VM for a good 10 years and had the 300 Mb/s down and 30
Mb/s Up package with a landline phone, no TV and this was costing £70 a
month. VM were at the time charging line rental.

Its important to emphasise that VM's network is completely seperate and
independent to either BT/Opem Reach or City Fibre.

City Fibre went round rolling out fibre to new roadside cabinets using
the existing BT network ducts and new roadside cabinets.

We then had leaflets through the door saying Fibre broadband was
available in our street.

At the time, Vodafone had signed a exclusivity agreement with CF where
they would be the only provider for the 1st 2 years on City Fibre's
infrastructure. This agreement has now expired and there are about 10
different internet providers now available on the CF infrastructure.

So I looked into Vodafone Gigafast as it was called then, I chose the
500 mb/s down and 500 mb/s down package. This was £40 a month and there
was NO line rental at all.

So I signed up to Vodafone Gigafast vbia my wife as she has a Vodafone
mobile contract and they were offering a small discount to new fibre
signups from existing vodafone mobile phone contracts.

At this point you need to make a decision as to whether to port your
existing VM phone number either to Vodafone or have a totally new
number. Choosing the latter option means that you can port your existing
VM number to an alternative VOIP provider rather than to Vodafone.

The ONT and router was then mailed to us.

Our number had previously been with BT before being ported to VM, so we
had no worries about porting the number to Vodafone or to an alternative
VOIP provider.

We were then given an install and go live date.

There were several visits from Kelly to try and install cityfibre from
the roadside cabinet to a new wall box on our house, which was placed
next to our existing BT wall box.

it needed 3 visits in total in the end as blocked underground ducts were
encountered and that meant applying to the local council for temporary
pavement closures.

The real actual go live date ended up being 2 months later than the
original date we had been given.

Finally, we then had a working Vodafone Gigafast service to the house.

I must caveat this by saying that Vodafone customer service is SHOCKING.
I ended up complaining about the delays in installing a service and we
got a 6 month credit of free internet so the first 6 months of the
working service was FREE.

Once we had a working fibre service, I then initiated a cancel request
with VM. They will do the hard sell and offer you discounts to stay with
them. Proceed to a cancellation and the service will cease 31 days after
you call. You have to carry on with the VM DD so dont cancel it and what
will happen is that VM will do a final bill and either do one more DD
for the last final amount or send you a cheque in the post for any
overpayment. (cheques are so retro!)

There is a telephone port on the back of the gigafast router, I simply
wired this into the existing house telephones so all the house phones
now connect to the Voda router as Voda provide our VOIP service.

I added an UPS to the ONT, Router and Wifi AP so that our landline
phones would still work in a power cut and the wi-fi calling on our
mobiles, our iPads and laptops would still work on their batteries onto
the internet.

Any questions, just holler! :-)

On 05/01/2024 14:53, SH wrote:
> On 26/12/2023 17:17, SH wrote:
>> On 26/12/2023 16:44, Tweed wrote:
>>> Dan <dannewsgroupsAAAA888@outlook.com> wrote:
>>>> Hello all,
>>>>
>>>> I have a VM connection but want to transfer to CF.
>>>> My contract finishes early March 2024.
>>>> How long and difficult is it to cancel VM as I have seen horror
>>>> stories.
>>>> My mobile is with VM / O2.
>>>> Will this be affected by the move?
>>>> Also my family land line is with VM.
>>>> I want to transfer to CF VOIP which is far cheaper.
>>>>
>>>> Any reviews of this?
>>>>
>>>
>>> I’ve recently moved to IDNET supplied over CityFibre from VM. I didn’t
>>> attempt to cancel my VM service until the CF service was up and running.
>>> Phoning VM to cancel was painless. Having the new service up and
>>> running.
>>> VM asked if I had already moved, responding yes seems to have
>>> prevented any
>>> attempts to send me off to retentions for a hard sell. I now enjoy a
>>> symmetric 500/500 Mbit/sec service, compared to 250/25, at 60% of the
>>> previous VM price. I was out of contract with VM. CF installation took a
>>> week longer than originally planned because the Open Reach ducts into my
>>> house were found to be blocked.
>>
>>
>> I'll reply to this in a few days as I have done exactly this 3 years ago!
>>
>>
>>>
>>
>
>
> Herwwith my follow up after the Chrimble and NY break... :-)
>
> I am writing about my experience of almost 3 years ago.
>
> I had been on VM for a good 10 years and had the 300 Mb/s down and 30
> Mb/s Up package with a landline phone, no TV and this was costing £70 a
> month. VM were at the time charging line rental.
>
> Its important to emphasise that VM's network is completely seperate and
> independent to either BT/Opem Reach or City Fibre.
>
> City Fibre went round rolling out fibre to new roadside cabinets using
> the existing BT network ducts and new roadside cabinets.
>
> We then had leaflets through the door saying Fibre broadband was
> available in our street.
>
> At the time, Vodafone had signed a exclusivity agreement with CF where
> they would be the only provider for the 1st 2 years on City Fibre's
> infrastructure. This agreement has now expired and there are about 10
> different internet providers now available on the CF infrastructure.
>
> So I looked into Vodafone Gigafast as it was called then, I chose the
> 500 mb/s down and 500 mb/s down package. This was £40 a month and there
> was NO line rental at all.
>
> So I signed up to Vodafone Gigafast vbia my wife as she has a Vodafone
> mobile contract and they were offering a small discount to new fibre
> signups from existing vodafone mobile phone contracts.
>
> At this point you need to make a decision as to whether to port your
> existing VM phone number either to Vodafone or have a totally new
> number. Choosing the latter option means that you can port your existing
> VM number to an alternative VOIP provider rather than to Vodafone.
>
> The ONT and router was then mailed to us.
>
> Our number had previously been with BT before being ported to VM, so we
> had no worries about porting the number to Vodafone or to an alternative
> VOIP provider.
>
> We were then given an install and go live date.
>
> There were several visits from Kelly to try and install cityfibre from
> the roadside cabinet to a new wall box on our house, which was placed
> next to our existing BT wall box.
>
> it needed 3 visits in total in the end as blocked underground ducts were
> encountered and that meant applying to the local council for temporary
> pavement closures.
>
> The real actual go live date ended up being 2 months later than the
> original date we had been given.
>
> Finally, we then had a working Vodafone Gigafast service to the house.
>
> I must caveat this by saying that Vodafone customer service is SHOCKING.
> I ended up complaining about the delays in installing a service and we
> got a 6 month credit of free internet so the first 6 months of the
> working service was FREE.
>
> Once we had a working fibre service, I then initiated a cancel request
> with VM. They will do the hard sell and offer you discounts to stay with
> them. Proceed to a cancellation and the service will cease 31 days after
> you call. You have to carry on with the VM DD so dont cancel it and what
> will happen is that VM will do a final bill and either do one more DD
> for the last final amount or send you a cheque in the post for any
> overpayment. (cheques are so retro!)
>
> There is a telephone port on the back of the gigafast router, I simply
> wired this into the existing house telephones so all the house phones
> now connect to the Voda router as Voda provide our VOIP service.
>
> I added an UPS to the ONT, Router and Wifi AP so that our landline
> phones would still work in a power cut and the wi-fi calling on our
> mobiles, our iPads and laptops would still work on their batteries onto
> the internet.
>
> Any questions, just holler! :-)
>

P.S. I should also add that my mobile phone was with Virgin Mobile.

Leaving Virgin Media (broadband and landline) made no difference at all
to my Virgin Mobile contract.

2 years later, I jumped from Virgin Mobile to both 1p Mobile (runs on
EE) and Smarty (runs on 3) as (a) my new 5g phone could hold two SIMs
and the total cost of the 1p & Smarty was less than the Virgin mobile
contract it replaced.

So I now have a presence on two physical mobile networks when out and
about. This is handy in rural locations where there is patchy network
coverage.

S.