COVID-19 – Virgin Media Engineers Say Home Installs Risk Lives

Some of Virgin Media’s UK broadband ISP and TV engineers have accused the operator of putting “lives in danger” by continuing to do new in-home installations, during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis, for people who previously had a working service from another provider (they argue such work is unnecessary in this climate).

According to the Evening Standard, it’s alleged that some customers also do not reveal in advance that they are self-isolating in order to get their installations done, which if true is an obvious risk to those doing the work. The accusation is that Virgin Media may be putting profit ahead of the health of their workers (some engineers have also contacted ISPreview.co.uk to raise similar concerns).

On the flip side the Government has designated broadband engineers as “key workers” (much like those in the NHS, water and energy sectors etc.), which in practice means that work necessary to continue the roll-out of “gigabit-capable” broadband, and maintaining existing networks, can proceed. But home installations are a more complicated consideration.

For example, Openreach recently ordered a significant reduction in their work (here), but they made some exceptions for self-installs (no engineer required – e.g. ADSL, FTTC migrations / upgrades), installs for vulnerable end customers (only where essential), installs for critical national infrastructure customers (e.g. NHS, pharmacies, utilities, food, financial etc.) and, optionally, installs for those with no other form of broadband.

Meanwhile Virgin Media has introduced various policies around social distancing, cleaning, health and has said that their “engineers will only enter a home if they need to” (here). Likewise customers are asked on several occasions, before the visit, to confirm if they’re self-isolating or not (obviously some people may allegedly be giving the wrong response here).

The operator has also said, where it’s possible, that they’ll send customers a self-install QuickStart pack (i.e. no need for an engineer to enter your home). The problem is that a lot of Virgin Media’s service installations do require an engineer visit, especially since most of their new additions are coming from newly built Project Lightning (network extension) areas.

A Spokesman for Virgin Media said:

“The safety of our people and customers is our absolute top priority as we do everything we can to keep the country connected in these difficult times.

We are already taking steps to minimise the amount of in-home work we need to carry out. Our engineers will only enter a home if they need to in order to fix or install core services and will adhere to social distancing guidelines when inside.

We are frequently checking the health of our engineers and also check with all customers before a visit takes place to see if they, or anyone in the household, is self-isolating or has flu-like symptoms. We will not enter a property if that is the case.

If a customer does not feel comfortable with an engineer entering their home then we will work to rearrange an appointment for a suitable time in the future or see if there’s a way for services to be self-installed or fixed remotely.”

The situation highlights a difficult clash between the ability to keep working when designated as a “key worker“, during the COVID-19 crisis, and the different approaches being taken by other operators. For example, most people hoping to get a new ultrafast broadband (FTTP or G.fast) service installed on Openreach’s network will probably now be waiting until at least June, but on Virgin Media similar work can still proceed.

As if the situation wasn’t already awkward enough then we’re hearing some feedback, from different operators, about how ordinary people are hurling abuse toward engineers as they work (usually during street works). Many appear to be unaware that such work is still allowed to proceed (repairs, maintenance and network extension etc.) and in fact it may even go quicker with so little congestion on the roads to worry about (see here).

One recent update from INCA said, “We are getting multiple reports of staff who are working on streetworks being on the receiving end of abuse from members of the general public, who believe that the gangs are flouting Government restrictions. Clear signage and adherence to the guidance can help to protect these key workers.”

No doubt some of those same people wouldn’t be too happy if their broadband stopped working and no engineers came out to fix it for several months. We’d ask everybody to please respect those who are required to continue working during this crisis. Street works also have other problems to contend with since the COVID-19 situation has created wider issues in the supply and support chain, which will no doubt delay a lot of work.

UPDATE 31st March 2020

We should point out that Virgin isn’t the only operator receiving such gripes from their own engineers. We’ve also heard from several concerned KCOM engineers and have had a few reports from the odd alternative network ISP engineer.