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Vodafone UK to Disconnect Some Demon ADSL Broadband Users

Monday, Apr 15th, 2019 (8:03 am) - Score 18,354

At the start of this year UK ISP Vodafone confirmed that they were scrapping their own Demon Internet ISP brand and migrating its remaining users on to more modern services (here). Unfortunately some customers of the provider’s ADSL service, which was the only broadband product they still sold, will not be among them.

Demon started life by offering dialup (narrowband) based internet connectivity and a few other services, although for the past few years they’ve only been offering ADSL / ADSL2+ based copper line broadband packages to small business customers and skipped the newer generation of “superfastFibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) services.

At the time of the January 2019 announcement Demon still had around 15,000 customers and many of those will have been taking an ADSL based service. Most of those were initially lead to believe that they would be migrated to Vodafone’s own broadband plans as part of their “decommissioning programme for the ageing infrastructure that delivers the Demon Broadband Service.”

However, ISPreview.co.uk understands from some of those ADSL customers that they will not be migrated, which is because Vodafone are now only moving subscribers who can access an alternative FTTC based product. Sadly this means that if you’re on an ADSL package with Demon, but outside the reach of FTTC, then you’ll have no option but to find a different ISP. Charming.

Extract from Vodafone’s Letter

“The services listed will close from 12 June 2019, so your current service won’t be available after that date. Unfortunately, due to Vodafone’s business decision to move away from ADSL technology, we are unable to offer you a replacement service.”

Related customers are instead being advised to contact one of Vodafone’s “appointed partners“, which at present only seems to include Onecom and iTalk. “Alternatively, you could choose to move to another third party direct or indirect provider … If you choose to move to a third party provider, your service will need to be in place with them well before 12 June 2019,” said Vodafone’s letter (without being specific about what “well before” actually means).

We had wondered how Vodafone would handle this as they stopped selling ADSL based packages sometime ago in order to focus upon FTTC, although their existing base of ADSL users have continued to be supported and so the capability does exist. Similarly Demon’s packages were all sold without phone line rental included by default (optional), while Vodafone’s products included line rental, which added another layer of complexity.

At this point it’s unclear precisely how many of Demon’s customers have fallen through this particular crack. We asked Vodafone for a comment yesterday morning but, in being Sunday and a holiday period, we imagine their PR team was a little short-handed. We’ll update again once they respond. Credits to Peter for providing a copy of the letter.

Meanwhile Demon’s website was recently updated to include the more ambiguous promise to “wherever possible” offer “suitable alternative services.”

UPDATE 10:45am

Added a comment from Vodafone below.

A Vodafone Spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk:

“We are contacting all customers of Demon Internet to let them know that we are closing the 26-year-old service in a phased approach to ensure a smooth transition to alternative services. Where possible we looked to migrate customers to our FTTC-based broadband service.

If this is not possible because a customer is served by ADSL only, we are putting them in touch with third party partners who can support this technology to help ensure continuation of service.”

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Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and .
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Comments
63 Responses
  1. Avatar photo Optimist says:

    Some years ago Virgin Media transferred its non-cable customers seamlessly to TalkTalk. Vodaphone ought to do something similar.

    1. Avatar photo AnotherTim says:

      I suspect the problem with finding an alternative ISP to hand over ADSL customers to, is that not many ISPs want them – especially as some are still on Market A exchanges where wholesale costs are higher.

    2. Avatar photo Mark T says:

      Vodafone have issues with like for like ISP swaps as it is, disconnecting customers broadband, incoming calls or outgoing calls apparently at random during their switch. So i’m not surprised they are just going to disconnect something more complicated.

    3. Avatar photo Tony says:

      Actually Virgin Media do still sell FTTC services (BTW or TT based), albeit only for Business customers and obviously only in non-cable areas. Example, in ME10 2UN postcode area. Here’s the proof:
      https://imgur.com/a/ZqbRfPN

    4. Avatar photo HarrythePointer says:

      I expect there is a customer privacy issue. Would you want your details passed to TalkTalk without your express consent and guarantee of security?

    5. Avatar photo alan says:

      “Actually Virgin Media do still sell FTTC services ”

      No they do not and your screen cap proves nothing. It is either of their 50Mb down 5Mb up product (known as Essential Business Internet) delivered over their DOCSIS network the same way the VOOM packages are.
      Or its the dedicated line which is 50Mb down 50Mb up (product known as DIA LITE).
      Neither of which is a FTTC package.

    6. Avatar photo Tony says:

      @Alan
      So how are VM Business claiming to supply ‘up to 76 Mbps’ or ‘Up to 38 Mbps’ services in some NON-DOCSIS areas such as ME10 2UN? Perhaps Using imaginary DOCSIS cables? If you don’t believe me, I suggest you do an availability check for ME10 2UN on the VM Business website – they clearly state DOCSIS is not available and for 50 quid a month they certainly ain’t gonna be offering leased lines at that price.

    7. Avatar photo AnotherTim says:

      @alan, I believe Tony is correct. In my area they will provide FTTC (not to me as I have an EO line), but there is no VM network available here at all. I did speak to them at length about a business connection a couple of years ago, but the only option for me was a leased line which wasn’t economic for me.

    8. Avatar photo dave says:

      I do love it when people shout their mouth off when they are clearly wrong (except when it’s me of course!)

      Virgin absolutely do provide FTTC as until recently and for 4 years, I had 36Mbps from them via Openreach on a Market A exchange where there is no Virgin cable for miles around (tiny village).

    9. Avatar photo joe says:

      The 70Mb packages are legacy products and were available for both business and residential users.
      https://www.virginmedia.com/shop/broadband/speeds.html

      scroll down and click where it says “LEGACY PRODUCTS”.

      If an actual 70 odd MB product was still available and still existed the person concerned spreading the fud would be able to link straight to it.

      Virgin scrapped selling xDSL products years ago.

    10. Avatar photo Tony says:

      @joe
      I made it very clear its VM Business that are still selling FTTC services and even then, VMB only offer FTTC in certain non-cable areas. As I said earlier, do an availability check for ME10 2UN on the VMB website and they offer up to 76 and 38 Meg services for 50 quid a month.

    11. Avatar photo alan says:

      Oh so they are going to insist old products still exist are they.

      Sneaky screen grabs of products that you can no longer order and have not been able to for some time.

      For people still reading that are not trolls the old page his screen grab is from is…

      https://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/connectivity/internet-access/upto-76mbps-broadband/

      You will note when you scroll down to the other half of the page he did not show in his crafty screen grab neither the 38Mb or 76Mb have a buttons to click on for more info or to buy anymore and instead it refers you to the DEDICATED OPTION. with a big FIND OUT MORE button on that instead.

      Virgin quit selling ADSL in 2005 and moved the customers to Talk Talk, unfortunately though if you dig through VM sites (retail and business) enough you can find all types of pointers to old products you can even find details about OLD ADSL products (ill link to that also if people want) which they no longer sell. In that regard VM really need to tidy things up to stop fud like this appearing on sites like this by trolls that have nothing better to do with their time.

      Sad, it was better when the same troll just pretended to be a customer and whinged on every VM story.

    12. Avatar photo alan says:

      “@alan, I believe Tony is correct. In my area they will provide FTTC (not to me as I have an EO line), but there is no VM network available here at all. I did speak to them at length about a business connection a couple of years ago, but the only option for me was a leased line which wasn’t economic for me.”

      If you believe the fud a troll is spreading you could and still can have ADSL from them cos they still have old pages for that product also (YES ON THEIR BUSINESS SITE ALSO FOR THE TROLL)…
      https://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/help-and-advice/products-and-services/adsl-guide/

      That obviously does not exist anymore though because…
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/household-bills/11377380/Virgin-broadband-customers-told-were-moving-you-to-TalkTalk-and-youll-lose-your-email.html

      QUOTE”Virgin Media, which is passing the customers on so it can focus on its cable business”
      xdsl is obviously not its “cable business”.

      Now begone to the troll

      Shame VM do not update their site more often.

    13. Avatar photo AnotherTim says:

      @alan, you obviously feel very strongly about this.

    14. Avatar photo alan says:

      Only strongly about the FUD that the trolls here like to spread. I highly suspect with the suffering you have had for years and not able to not even get even ADSL from anyone except basically BT you would of known by now if ADSL as an example let alone FTTC actually existed from VM.
      You can waste your time trying to phone them though and get your hopes up of maybe saving a few quid on their adsl product (HINT you wont cos they wont sell it). 😉 and as you have stated you will instead get offered a £200+ per month lease line.

    15. Avatar photo dave says:

      Alan, you are so wrong.

      You can still get FTTC from Virgin Business, you just have to do it via phone. I know this because I first got it from them 4 years ago and 2 years ago we did a premises move. It all had to be arranged by phone, both times.

      I don’t know why you insist on arguing with people who have actual practical experience, rather than just going by their admittedly confusing web site.

      If you still want to argue, how about this from our latest bill? https://ibb.co/S7XgdFX

      Looking forward to your reply 🙂

    16. Avatar photo Tony says:

      @Alan
      Not sure why you think I’m a troll as I’m only stating what the VMB broadband online checker shows for a particular postcode (eg ME10 2UN). Since you’re accusing me of putting up fake screenshots why don’t YOU check for yourself the availability at ME10 2UN (choose any porperty no)?

      https://imgur.com/a/8PeZdrg

      After you click on ‘broadband up to 38 Mbs’ the VMB site takes you to
      https://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/connectivity/internet-access/upto-76mbps-broadband/

      Unless you know for a fact that their online checker is telling porkies? In which case I apologize, however I was always led to believe ISP online checkers were fairly accurate hence why the insistence they were still selling FTTC.

    17. Avatar photo alan says:

      Yeah obviously not faked at all them billing you for a dating period which has not yet even been reached. Christ if you are now going to fake stuff at least do it well.
      Funny you use the same img host as the “other” troll also eh.

    18. Avatar photo alan says:

      “After you click on ‘broadband up to 38 Mbs’ the VMB site takes you to
      https://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/connectivity/internet-access/upto-76mbps-broadband/

      Unless you know for a fact that their online checker is telling porkies? In which case I apologize, however I was always led to believe ISP online checkers were fairly accurate hence why the insistence they were still selling FTTC.”

      Ive already mentioned that link, and as i also mentioned there is no option to buy that product no matter what post code you enter because they do not sell xdsl products anymore, that page has a nice big button refering you to more info on lease lines, it has that because you can not buy xdsl anymore.

      People can waste their time ringing them if they wish and be told that fact although a 2 second google search will also tell them they ditched dsl back in 2005.

    19. Avatar photo dave says:

      I have nothing to gain by faking (and it is not even the same host, as you claim) whereas you do have something to lose, your pride, after spouting off about something you have no practical knowledge or experience of.

      BTW billing a month in advance is standard practice. I would guess you are a kid who has never had any kind of contract for telecoms services, otherwise you would know that.

      Once again on this site I am encouraged to remember the saying “Never argue with an idiot as onlookers may not be able to tell the difference”.

    20. Avatar photo Tony says:

      @alan
      why do you refuse to do a random check for postcode ME10 2UN on the Virgin Media Business website and then SEE FOR YOURSELF what the website is churning out? Then you can’t accuse anybody of posting false info as the results will be in front of your eyes. Is that really so hard to comprehend?

    21. Avatar photo dave says:

      @Alan “People can waste their time ringing them if they wish and be told that fact although a 2 second google search will also tell them they ditched dsl back in 2005.”

      We took out our FTTC with them in 2015. Perhaps you shouldn’t be mislead by what a newspaper publishes?

    22. Avatar photo dave says:

      @Tony

      Obviously doesn’t want to risk anything which might challenge what he already believes so strongly as then not only will he look like an idiot, he will also feel like one.

    23. Avatar photo joe says:

      “Yeah obviously not faked at all them billing you for a dating period which has not yet even been reached. Christ if you are now going to fake stuff at least do it well.”

      Yeah its not like he also blanked NOT ONLY his personal info (and rightly so on that bit BUT…. also the name of the actual product “the big black blobs” he subscribes to which will give away what his actual product package he is subbed to……

      Oh hang on, nope thats exactly what he did to try to convince us.

    24. Avatar photo alan says:

      Clearly the “2” of them are the same troll. There is no FTTC available to buy on the site, you can enter his magical postcode it results in exactly the page linked to and NO OPTION to buy any FTTC product.

      As for “We took out our FTTC with them in 2015. Perhaps you shouldn’t be mislead by what a newspaper publishes?”

      No not misled by newspapers…
      https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/01/virgin-medias-adsl-broadband-users-given-talktalk-marching-orders.html

      Of course if this site misleads people and you the great armchair troll do not feel free to contact MarkJ about his site misleading people also.

      Until then as i stated………. (TWICE NOW so ill just requote the second occasion)

      People can waste their time ringing them if they wish and be told that fact although a 2 second google search will also tell them they ditched dsl back in 2005.

      But what does this site and the press know, trolls know best eh.

    25. Avatar photo alan says:

      Pre empt……… (trolls are obvious)

      Another incoming fake screengrab this time with a modified package name no doubt *YAWN*

    26. Avatar photo dave says:

      Ah for christs sake.

      The blacked out bits are my address, the phone number, account number and circuit number.

      The product name is RIGHT THERE! “Business Broadband FTTC 40Mb”.

      You people are so desperate to be right, it’s hilarious.

    27. Avatar photo dave says:

      I found the contract in my email archive too, here’s some relevant bits:

      https://ibb.co/TgFjpVT

      https://ibb.co/FHxqZ3d

      Notice the references to 40Mb FTTC and off-net (i.e, BT/Openreach)?

    28. Avatar photo joe says:

      PAGE 1 of VM BILLS are your address details.

      PAGE 2 and the black blobs you put on your screengrab in the MIDDLE are the product details.

      The account number and invoice number (at the top) NO issue with you blanking out
      The circuit ref and telephone number (at the bottom) NO issue you blanking them either

      THE NAME OF THE PACKAGE YOU SUB TO under “product details” (the black bits in the middle) thats the issue.
      If both those bits are your address (which they aint cos im a VM customer also sunshine) and not the product name then why are they an entirely differently length and end in different words??

      You aint fooling anyone.

    29. Avatar photo joe says:

      And that now confirms you are faking things

      Your original screengrab of your bill shows MONTHLY total is £60.

      And now you present 2 screen grabs showing showing a monthly total of £70

      Good try though dig the hole bigger.

    30. Avatar photo dave says:

      @ Joe

      You’re probably not a virgin business customer though are you?

      You know what, the account has been terminated recently so I don’t care about revealing some details, so I’ve just blanked out enough of my address to keep it anon.

      https://ibb.co/s5DX0P8

      I’m not saying any more on this matter. Neither you nor Alan have called Virgin Media Business and tried to get FTTC at a non-cable address whereas I have provided proper evidence that they do in fact supply it under the right conditions.

      You are both idiots.

    31. Avatar photo alan says:

      “Pre empt……… (trolls are obvious)

      Another incoming fake screengrab”

      LOL well that was predictable. Now you cant decide if hes on a £60 a month package or a £70 a month one.

      Im done with the *ehmm our fave* MAX troll now. How predictably boring, he should stick to just being drunk and moaning on VM news items who he left years ago and went to Plusnet. He has many names but anything VM you can always count on him being stupid about.

      Well that was fun entertainment for the evening.

      This site misleads people though remember LOL

    32. Avatar photo alan says:

      “You know what, the account has been terminated recently so I don’t care about revealing some details, so I’ve just blanked out enough of my address to keep it anon.”

      Which is of course why they are still billing you, up to the 21st of this month at the very least, but its been terminated, you just pay still for services you have terminated obviously.

      RUN ALONG MAX back to trolling the TBB forums you go.

    33. Avatar photo joe says:

      One VM package, One lot of line rental and internet and one bill…

      For errrm 2 phone numbers…. So nice of them to give you 2 phone lines for the price of one.
      Opps did someone forget to alter one of the numbers LOL

      This is beyond funny now.

      I think i better stop replying also, hard to take seriously at all now.

    34. Avatar photo dave says:

      @Alan

      Service was terminated *recently* which means since the bill was issued, hence it isn’t represented yet.

      The reason for the £60 / £70 discrepancy is because at our original address we had 3 lines, one with broadband (£50 for the BB line and £10 for each additional voice line) but when we moved and transferred the service we cut it down by 1 line, so £10 less.

      I haven’t a clue who max is.

      You guys need to be whacked with a clue stick.

    35. Avatar photo dave says:

      @Joe

      I can’t even follow your waffle anymore but I’ll try to be clear.

      £50 for a fixed line with broadband
      £10 for an additional voice line

      It is not difficult to understand.

    36. Avatar photo alan says:

      WOW hes is lucky He has one of those amazing FTTC packages people have wanted for years where you do not have to pay line rental on it and can just have FTTC on its own.

      He felt guilty though so slipped VM an extra £10 per month for a second separate phone line but didn’t bother having broadband on that line.

      Or i imagine thats something along the lines of the next BS explanation. Either way this is comedy gold. A shame i have to go pick the Mrs up from work. The again i did promise i would stop responding to him so probably a good thing. Its a legit bill though honest gov they break everything down and detail charges for each thing except when it will not suit a trolls explanation.

    37. Avatar photo dave says:

      @Alan

      WTAF are you talking about?

      “WOW hes is lucky He has one of those amazing FTTC packages people have wanted for years where you do not have to pay line rental on it and can just have FTTC on its own.”

      Line rental might not be listed for that line but it’s obviously included with a price as high as £50.

      “He felt guilty though so slipped VM an extra £10 per month for a second separate phone line but didn’t bother having broadband on that line.”

      We needed 2 lines for business reasons. We did not need a second broadband line as we already had that from BT Business. Now that BT business have given us 4G assure, we are no longer as bothered about having an alternative ISP to failover to, so we decided to ditch Virgin entirely. It also allowed me to remove the dual WAN router.

      “Or i imagine thats something along the lines of the next BS explanation. Either way this is comedy gold. A shame i have to go pick the Mrs up from work.”

      I do feel sorry for your Mrs, for marrying an absolute moron.

    38. Avatar photo rinserepeat says:

      “Service was terminated *recently* which means since the bill was issued, hence it isn’t represented yet.”

      This person is obviously lying. Those screengrabs are either entirely faked or someone elses bill (probably found on VMs forum if thats the case or its a kid using his friends account…. Og god i hope its not a kid posting mum and dads details).

      1. If you had cancelled the service BEFORE the end of the contract period (which according to that bill is 22/03/2017) then you would have a charge on there for early termination.
      2. If you cancelled the service AFTER the 22/03/2017 then the billing period would not be for 22 March to 21 April instead it would be for 30 days from the date you cancelled.
      3. If you cancelled exactly on the 22 March then the bill would clearly state FINAL bill.
      ALL THIS INFO IS IN their FAQs on the site
      4. for a business neither of the phone numbers on that bill from what i can find online are registered to a business. The last recorded registered user of the number ending in 436 (the one which is apparently phone and not broadband) is to a residential female user, so unless she has had a sex change and became a bloke named dave his constant goal post shifting explanations seem unlikely. Or to use part of the actual registered users name of that phone number his explanations are a bit GRIM.
      5. The latest ive change to this and that provider explanation and gibbering about DUAL WAN routers sounds like a MAX explanation. IE complete lies. I agree he needs to clear off from this site, back to TBB were a whole forum can ridicule him when he is caught out in a lie which is usually monthly.
      6. Of course if any of it were true he could just point to the webpage where you can actually buy FTTC from Virgin, rather than old reference pages to products you can not buy and Virgin are too incompetent to remove.
      7. As it is MAX though he will continue posting because (by his own admissions on TBB) he has mental issues, so probably best to just let the unhinged troll have the last say and then ignore him (i will not be entertaining him or his response and latest but, but, but this and that explanations he has already started drafting before reading to this point).

    39. Avatar photo dave says:

      What a bunch of idiots are gathered, trying to act like they know all about how VM works when an actual customer of their services knows the facts….
      “This person is obviously lying. Those screengrabs are either entirely faked or someone elses bill (probably found on VMs forum if thats the case or its a kid using his friends account…. Og god i hope its not a kid posting mum and dads details).”
      It’s a business account, so no mum and dads details. There aren’t even personal details on it. I challenge you to find the image anywhere online, try using Google image search. Fact of the matter is, I have this bill on paper too.
      As for what follows… you obviously know little about anything VM or billing related.
      “1. If you had cancelled the service BEFORE the end of the contract period (which according to that bill is 22/03/2017) then you would have a charge on there for early termination.”
      Not if I had given 30 days notice for it to end after the contract end date. Anyway I’ve already said that the service was ceased after the issuance of the bill, which is why the bill was issued as normal.
      “2. If you cancelled the service AFTER the 22/03/2017 then the billing period would not be for 22 March to 21 April instead it would be for 30 days from the date you cancelled.”
      For Christ sakes, the billing date is 23rd of each month (so that it can catch any activity up to midnight on the 22nd). You know, it ties in with the contract start and end dates, twit. How would a bill issued on the 23rd represent something which occurred after?!
      “3. If you cancelled exactly on the 22 March then the bill would clearly state FINAL bill.”
      I didn’t.
      “4. for a business neither of the phone numbers on that bill from what i can find online are registered to a business.”
      Do you honestly think that every phone line used by any business is listed somewhere? We are in the business 2 business telecoms sector (that’s how come I actually know what I’m talking about, contrary to you morons) and as such we didn’t need to publish these particular numbers anywhere for the public.
      “The last recorded registered user of the number ending in 436 (the one which is apparently phone and not broadband) is to a residential female user, so unless she has had a sex change and became a bloke named dave his constant goal post shifting explanations seem unlikely. ”
      Totally irrelevant as that’s obviously from before we got the number. You know that people don’t necessarily keep their numbers forever right and that nobody has a publicly searchable database of who holds what numbers and the dates they were allocated from and too?
      “6. Of course if any of it were true he could just point to the webpage where you can actually buy FTTC from Virgin, rather than old reference pages to products you can not buy and Virgin are too incompetent to remove.”
      I will say it one more time. You can buy the product, just not via the website.
      You might notice that even if you click on “More Info” for their dedicated internet access (leased lines), enter a postcode which is not in a Virgin cable area (and also enter a phone number and email address) you will then end up with this:
      https://ibb.co/fkKRXS5
      Notice how it says “Dedicated Internet Access – Call to order”? When you live in a non Virgin cable area, you can’t get ANYTHING without CALLING THEM!!!

    40. Avatar photo dave says:

      And it’s all gone quiet…

      Joe?
      Rinserepeat?
      Alan? Alan? Alan?

      According to Clive C:

      “To settle the argument about whether up to 36 Mb/s and 76 Mb/s services are available from Virgin Media business in non cabled area the answer is they are still available.

      I have just spoken to my VM Business account manager today, who confirmed they are still available for new supply in non cabled areas. The reason there is no ‘order now’ button on the webpage is that you need to phone them to order over the phone, and they will happily take an order and have no plans to stop selling FTTC services in non cabled areas.”

      And:

      “I thought I’d give them a call to see if it was still on sale, as some of the messages were from accounts established a few years ago – and as you rightly said – confirmed still on sale to anyone that asks from a non VM Cable area.”

      Nothing to say about this? A bit red faced perhaps?

      I forgive you, just think twice before shouting your mouth off next time.

  2. Avatar photo AnotherTim says:

    In January’s press release they said:

    “Turning off our legacy technologies is a critical to ensure we are investing for the future, reducing our energy costs and making sure our customers are able to take advantage of the latest broadband services.”

    I’m not sure about “investing for the future”, but they are probably reducing energy costs. However, they are totally failing on “making sure our customers are able to take advantage of the latest broadband services” for the affected customers.

    1. Avatar photo Clive C says:

      To settle the argument about whether up to 36 Mb/s and 76 Mb/s services are available from Virgin Media business in non cabled area the answer is they are still available.

      I have just spoken to my VM Business account manager today, who confirmed they are still available for new supply in non cabled areas. The reason there is no ‘order now’ button on the webpage is that you need to phone them to order over the phone, and they will happily take an order and have no plans to stop selling FTTC services in non cabled areas.

    2. Avatar photo dave says:

      Exactly as I have been saying to Alan, joe and rinserepeat in the other discussion above. I guess they are just going to claim that you, me, some guy called max and I don’t know who else are all the same person and yet not one of them will call virgin media business to hear it from the horses mouth (or at least won’t admit to it).

    3. Avatar photo Clive C says:

      I thought I’d give them a call to see if it was still on sale, as some of the messages were from accounts established a few years ago – and as you rightly said – confirmed still on sale to anyone that asks from a non VM Cable area.

  3. Avatar photo Mark says:

    Been a Demon customer since about 2003 and yes during that period they had many company change overs, foreign call centers and buggy unsupported cheap router equipment was some of their personal highlights of terrible service over the years. Yet the line always remained stable, still suspect personal details were sold off during the dodgy Indian call centre years by rogue employees. (Current call centres much more professional). Unfortunately or should I say a refreshing change to finally be leaving Demon. Long gone are the days of homeoffice accounts to get fast speeds at reasonable price. Vodafone approved partners couldn’t offer any cheap deals. OneCom customer service was very helpful I might add. So therefore have moved to TalkTalk as my exchange being semi-rural only really lets me get a cheap deal from BT, Sky and TalkTalk. BT should get rid of the Google home gift and reduce its prices, ridiculous money by the time you add on the landline package. Sky were pushy but couldn’t match the low price of TalkTalk, who have been a pleasant experience to deal with compared to the others and are offering the lowest package without any delivery charges or activation fees. And again when using ISPreviews comparison page, TalkTalk with their Easter sale are at the top of the list. So that’s my experience, and unfortunately for Vodafone in my semi rural location, can’t offer their own FTTC fibre packages to us, and their mobile phone signal has been diabolical for years along with O2, unlike EE here.

    1. Avatar photo Chris Drake says:

      Talk talk are like Vodafone rotten to the core ok if you haven’t got a problem then your screwed if you do

    2. Avatar photo Mark says:

      Chris Drake, that might be your experience, but I’m going where I can get the best deal on a limited exchange.
      TalkTalk has concerned me, but I’ve heard all the scare stories before. But in actual fact I think they’re moving in right direction. Fantastic customer service agent better than the others. And no one else could offer us the cheapest price Inc a free speed boost to 70Mbps with our landline options. Agreed we shall see what time brings and we have a cooling off period. But let’s be sensible about this, customer service is poor for all the big household brands these days. Vodafone aren’t interested in my area with small subscriber size, so that’s their loss!

  4. Avatar photo easy says:

    have been a long term demon customer for so long i cannot remember when i started. probably the 90s. our service is due to be cut off on may 6th but…as of last thursday the broadband service hasn’t worked. according to their help desk there is an “outage in the area which is affecting about 500 customers” and it won’t be resolved for “10 working days.” we are in london and no one else i know has any “connectivity issues” in the area. mysterious…we were offered to be moved over to vodafone straight-away and told we could apply for a refund. doesn’t seem likely they intend to fix the problem for the twilight moments of demon…? hope i’m wrong. switching to another provider underway…

  5. Avatar photo Michael V says:

    I think Vodafone are kinda doing the right thing not providing new DSL connections. It’s time ISPs put more focus into fibre. Plus Vodafone have the cheapest price for the 36meg dwnld speed at around £22. Not charging the £18 for a line rental makes it even better. They just need to get their FTTC coverage of there… I think they provide an excellent service.

    1. Avatar photo AnotherTim says:

      As far as I’m aware Vodafone have no intention of extending FTTC at all. Those of us without FTTC will never be able to use Vodafone. Far from providing a good service, I think they provide no service at all.

    2. Avatar photo Mark says:

      I agree, and if I was in an Vodafone enabled exchange, they would have kept a new fibre customer. As yes they are currently 1 of the cheapest. But that’s not possible for me. But then their mobile signal is also poor for me. Location, location, location. Bring on Gigabit the UK should all be on Gigabit it’s 2019. Lol.

    3. Avatar photo alan says:

      “As far as I’m aware Vodafone have no intention of extending FTTC at all. Those of us without FTTC will never be able to use Vodafone. Far from providing a good service, I think they provide no service at all.”

      That sounds like Openreach is to blame to me.

    4. Avatar photo AnotherTim says:

      I do get service from Openreach (indirectly). It is only ADSL2+, but I can get it. I can’t get anything from Vodafone (or Sky, or TalkTalk, or Virgin Media, etc…). I don’t think Openreach are to blame.

    5. Avatar photo alan says:

      “It is only ADSL2+, but I can get it. I can’t get anything from Vodafone (or Sky, or TalkTalk, or Virgin Media, etc…). I don’t think Openreach are to blame.”

      In regards to VM not offering you anything. If you believe the troll about VM selling FTTC earlier then in regards to VM you should also be able to get ADSL from them (see my link above in earlier reply to you).
      As it is though id guess you have queried that in the past and they told you no (as you mentioned and instead offered you a leaseline). Probably because they no longer do any XDSL products

      Sky, Talk Talk, Voda etc likewise you can not get anything from because they all rely on LLU equipment at the exchange, much like VM did until they got rid of all their legacy phone line customers and flogged them and the gear to Talk Talk.

      You are NEVER likely to have any LLU provider options where you live (if i remember right its quite rural and thus id guess your exchange is tiny serving only a few hundred if not low 1000’s of people which would make investing in it with LLU equipment pointless). The fact it took BT as long as they did to just upgrade you from ADSL to ADSL2+ shows how little anyone wants to invest anything in your exchange.

      If i were you id wait patiently for Gigaclear (i think thats who you were waiting on) as it seems progress to some of their delays is finally being made so you may be free of the BT xdsl ripoff soon (if lucky by this time next year).

    6. Avatar photo AnotherTim says:

      @alan, you are quite correct about Gigaclear being the only future provider. The last update from them was that if there were no further delays I should be able to order FTTP in two or three years from now. However, there have been no changes to that date for a year, and no progress in the meanwhile (they have not yet connected a single home in Fastershire Lots 3c or 2). Fastershire are due to publish the “new improved” roll out schedule later in March (it was going to be November, then January, but they missed all those targets – and that’s just the schedule, not the build).

    7. Avatar photo alan says:

      It could be worse, I would actually kill for a supplier like gigaclear even if i had to wait 3 years.

      You may think im lucky because i have FTTC in my area but like your problems with gigaclear FTTC here was delayed for over 2.5 years. It was quite funny to watch the availability site at the time and the date constantly for those 2.5 years get pushed back 6 months each time.

      Im now one of the errm “lucky” which could also buy G.Fast due to my cabinet being enabled a couple of months ago… Erm only not so lucky because while it will boost my UPTO 76Mb FTTC download offering to a nice 100+Mb download the Upload speed quoted to me via G.Fast is 5Mb….

      Yes im not joking i get 18Mb upload on FTTC currently and i could “UPGRADE” to G.Fast and have a nice 5Mb upload LOL (and yeah before some BT Pr spin lord says im lying about that don’t tempt me to post a screen grab of estimated G.Fast speed from the likes of a decent provider such as ZEN for that G.Fast upload quote).

      Trust me having FTTC and its “UPGRADES” people like me get which the BT PR news machine likes to plug on here constantly is not all sunshine, unicorn farts and rainbows either. You may be frustrated having limited options right now but at least you are “eventually” (be hopefull and pray lots lol) going to actually get some “FUTURE” “NEXT GEN” (insert latest buzz word) product, ill be stuck with the oh so latest sunshine and 5Mb Err *cough* “upgrade path” product for probably the next 10+ years.

    8. Avatar photo AnotherTim says:

      Unfortunately I suspect that by the time Gigaclear FTTP becomes available I won’t actually need it. I work from home (software developer), and need decent broadband to work. When I moved here FTTC was a couple of months away. A year later Fastershire cancelled plans for FTTC as some properties in my EO bundle wouldn’t have got the 30Mbps required for BDUK funding. Five years later FTTP is still 2-3 years away. However, I’ll be retiring soon after that. Annoyingly, if I’d never been in the Fastershire plans I could have got a business grant and would have had a leased line 3 years ago. So I see Fastershire as a problem rather than a solution.

  6. Avatar photo Steve says:

    We have FTTP here but the Vodafone service withdrawal letter makes no mention of migration to it or, for that matter, refund to cover days of denied service. As far as Vodafone is concerned we’re still a business customer. Very much not good enough.

  7. Avatar photo SailingTim says:

    Our sailing club was just cut off last week – apparently the sent a letter, but no one received it. An email to our account manager just bounced as unknown recipient.

  8. Avatar photo Libby says:

    Just to alert people to keep a check on the billing from Demon. I received an invoice for a month starting 2 days after my service was withdrawn. It took a few emails to sort it out.

  9. Avatar photo Stephen Crocker says:

    I’ve just found this article having been unable to connect to the Internet since Sunday. I have not been contacted by Vodafone and I am in a ADSL only area. Have I just been cut off without warning?

    1. Avatar photo Max says:

      My father is in the same situation – no record of any communication from Vodafone whatsoever. How many others has this happened, I wonder?

Comments are closed

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