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PHLN
join:2003-07-31

2 edits

PHLN

Member

Beware: Lackluster experience with Vmedia/Cogeco

I want to share my experience with Vmedia. Hopefully it will be of use for future subscribers.

TL DR: Expect delays when installing Internet by Vmedia under Cogeco region. Speed will only be slower than what is advertised. Might run into false charges with modem, make sure to check it.

===========

May 1st

Signed up Internet only package with Vmedia. I am currently under Cogeco region so there is only one option.

I picked installation prefer dates as May 8th, 9th, and 10th. All 3 choices had 3 hours installation window. Was told that a email will be sent to confirm the installation date.

May 8th

Received the modem and router packaged from Fedex.

I was concern as I did not receive an email yet to confirm my installation date.

Somewhere along one of the conversation with the reps, I was under the impression that Cogeco confirmed the installation date as May 10th. This was verbally given to me by one of the rep.

Cogeco now changed their installation window time from 3 hours to 8 am to 5 pm.

May 10th

I was not at home but one of my housemate was.

He said he tried calling Cogeco to see if he can get a more exact time frame. Cogeco refuses to release information and asked him to called Vmedia and have Vmedia talk to Cogeco.

He called Vmedia, and one of the representative, after promising to talk to Cogeco, reassure him that a Cogeco will be there by 5pm.

No one came.

When I came home and called Vmedia, a representative told me that since I did not receive a email confirming my installation date, that there will be no one coming out today.

Why did the earlier representative confirm to my housemate that Cogeco will be there by 5 pm after supposedly checking with them?

At the end of the day, Vmedia could not tell me why Cogeco misses the 3 prefer dates I picked. Neither could they tell when my installation will be completed.

May 12th

A representative from Vmedia called to inquire about Cogeco installation that were suppose to occurred yesterday, May 11th.

This blindsided me since I still have not receive the precious email that were suppose to confirm my installation date. Yet somehow, they were suppose to come yesterday to do the installation?

No one came yesterday since I was at home all day. The representative then reassure me that this miscommunication will be rectify and I will get a email when Cogeco decide to come do the installation.

May 13th

No email yet. Even worse, now that my prefer installation dates had passed, I have no clue now when and how Cogeco will be picking their dates.

GeorgeBurger
join:2011-12-30

GeorgeBurger

Member

Re: Beware: Lackluster experience with Vmedia

Hi PHLN, that sounds like a pretty disappointing experience. Can you please PM me your order number and name and I will look into it right away?
PHLN
join:2003-07-31

PHLN

Member

UPDATE:

May 13th

Got a email confirming installation for May 14th.
PHLN

PHLN

Member

May 14

Cogeco technician came and did the installation.

Speed is not up to the advertisement 20 Mbps. After numerous testing, the average speed is 14.5 Mbps for downloads. Surprisingly the upload speed is double at nearly 2 Mbps.

»www.speedtest.net/result ··· 8538.png

I called Vmedia and the best reply I got was "The service is only rated UP to 20 Mbps".

Did a bit of digging and tried to get information on the line from the modem. I then noticed that Vmedia had sent me the wrong modem. Its a DCM425 instead DCM475.

Called and was told in Cogeco land, the only compatible modem is DCM425. As such they will reimburse me the cost difference. If you are signing up with Vmedia, watch out for this.

Here is my status from the modem. Can an expert take a look and perhaps can explain why I am not getting higher speed please?

»i.imgur.com/AfEaFuB.png

BTC Kevin
join:2011-10-01
Nepean, ON

BTC Kevin

Member

It's a docsis 2. modem, it only uses 1 channel.

the 475 uses 8! that is the big difference.

It has a much less max speed ability, as well it chokes up the channel it uses on cogeco's network more then a docsis 3.0 So cogeco would never let it run up at 20+mbps speed.

TypeS
join:2012-12-17
London, ON

TypeS to PHLN

Member

to PHLN
I can tell you right now, that you were misinformed about the DCM425 being the only modem being available in Cogeco territory, they allow a few DOCSIS 3 modems. I know for fact the Thompson DCM476 and Cisco DPC3008 (D3 modems) are allowed for provisioning in Cogeco territory since both TekSavvy & Start sell the DCM476 for that area and have the Cisco on the approved list.

I would be calling VMedia back because they have some very old information (which is probably coming from CIKTel). Being sold a DOCSIS 2.0 modem in 2013 is really quite bad and wrong for a customer, they've been outdated for more than a year now.

Worse is Cogeco's policy is they will not activate anything above 10Mbps or the former 14Mbps (which is now 20) on DOCSIS 2.0 modems. So you are being capped at 14 because of your modem.

@George, you need to look into this, Cogeco's policy is they will not not allow 20Mbps on D2 modems. You shouldn't be selling the 20Mbps package while selling D2 modems. My guess is CIKTel gave you some bad info.

BTC Kevin
join:2011-10-01
Nepean, ON

BTC Kevin

Member

Should have sold him a DCM476, that would give him full speed.

DCM476 and DCM475 docsis 3.0's should be modems of preference to sell.

These old DCM425's should be thrown into the garbage recycle bin. The Network operators hate them, and as TypeS said they speed lock em down at 10-14. This is to protect the network.
PHLN
join:2003-07-31

PHLN

Member

Thank you for the responses.

They originally sold me DCM475.
quote:
Product(s):
1. Cable Internet 20 - $54.95/month
2. Installation - $64.95
3. Cable Modem DCM475 - $59.95
4. Shipping - $14.95
5. WR841N - $29.95

I don't know what happen but now the website has been updated to reflect this new information I got from Vmedia today regarding the modem.

If you go to Vmedia and use postal code L8S 1Z2, you will get this note.

All customers are offered DOCSIS 2.0 modems at a price of $44.95 or a monthly rental fee of $5.95/month
 

Even worst! Now the modem is cycling itself on and off. Its basically auto restart every few minutes or so.

Now its stuck and won't even connect. Going to talk to support now.

DrugTito
join:2013-01-17
canada

DrugTito

Member

man, i am so damn glad i never signed up with VMEDIA.
PHLN
join:2003-07-31

PHLN

Member

Don't be afraid to sign up to Vmedia. This is not what this post meant. It is to document my own personal experience with Vmedia and give you an idea on what to expect.

Please understand that 3rd party ISPs are hated. The line owners, in this case Cogeco, definitely rather not have them sell their service. As such, lots of road blocks and difficulties might be had but you have to understand why companies like Vmedia exists.

Vmedia, throughout this whole ordeal, has been excellent in customers support. They have wonderful staffs who tries their hardest to resolved the problem while being blinded folded by Cogeco.

So now back to my situation.

I talked to Vmedia and they came up with a acceptable resolution to the problem. They will send me a DCM476 modem once Cogeco agree on a date to have it activated at my location.

During that time, they will try to resolved this disconnect problem and I will have internet while waiting for the switch over.

I will not be charge for the modem or to send by the old modem.

As long as everything go smoothly from here, I am okay with that. Again, I am very impress with the staffs working with Vmedia. They definitely had a lot of training on how to deal with customers in distress.

TypeS
join:2012-12-17
London, ON

TypeS

Member

said by DrugTito:

man, i am so damn glad i never signed up with VMEDIA.

Thanks for adding to this with your irrelevant post.

Moving on...

Well glad to see you got some progress there PHLN, the DCM476 is definitely the modem you want with a new cable internet service. It's good for up to some really high speeds, so you shouldn't have to worry about upgrade for at least a few years.

Your disconnection issues seem odd, I wouldn't see they're caused by the DCM425, if VMedia's willing to troubleshoot it, kudos them and to you for being patient.

Although, I think the line you were fed in your earlier correspondence regarding the DCM425, that is something that needs to be changed at VMedia. No CSR should be saying that, as it's not true. I hope George investigates this with CIKTel and coaches his staff on what modems are and aren't allowed on Cogeco's network.
PHLN
join:2003-07-31

PHLN

Member

Re: Beware: Lackluster experience with Vmedia/Cogeco

May 15th

Internet connectivity now stabilize.

After frequent and automated disconnects in the first few hours, the connection is now stable and havn't dropped since.

HenryA
join:2011-05-28

HenryA to DrugTito

Member

to DrugTito

Re: Beware: Lackluster experience with Vmedia

Reply to DTito:

Why, unless you're trolling for a competitor? From what I've read, they've done quite a bit to go the extra mile to address customer complaints. My interaction with George so far has been excellent, even though I haven't switched from Rogers and Distributel yet. Once we can work out a solution to the issue of ROGERS soaking the customer $65 dollars to come to the door to drop off a vmedia unit I'll be more than happy to give them my business.
Seems to me, you're just trolling for the sake of trolling.

Fraoch
join:2003-08-01
Cambridge, ON
SmartRG SR808ac
TP-Link EAP225
Grandstream HT502

Fraoch to PHLN

Member

to PHLN

Re: Beware: Lackluster experience with Vmedia/Cogeco

Yes I think we should give VMedia a chance. From what I've seen they seem to be having teething problems...TPIA is bad enough but add the negotiations George had to go through to get TV channels - we should try to be a little more supportive and at least give them a chance.

If they fail, say goodbye to any company other than an incumbent providing IPTV in Canada for a number of years.

Kazi
@209.141.205.x

Kazi to PHLN

Anon

to PHLN

Re: Beware: Lackluster experience with Vmedia

My installation date was 01st of May as i had my own Modem SMCD3GN it took them (Rogers) 9 days to activate the connection form their end i got my connection finally on May 09th the speed is good 28mbps.

But had a very bad experience switching over from Rogers to VMedia but they tried their best to connect me ASAP but rogers was giving them very hard time as they cannot tell them NO straight forward so they were delaying as much they can so that the customer comes back to them the reason Rogers was telling them that the mac address provided is not correct i told VMedia its was bought from Rogers and i was using it for couple of years how come they are saying that the mac address is not right so the final story is rogers, bell or cogeco have to entertain small companies but they are not supporting them as per "CRTC" rules.

VMedia refunded me the installation charges , Modem charges + tax, but charged me a transfer fee of 19.99 which is ok no issues they even did refunded the 9 day for which i had no internet and the balance 21 days for free as a compensation for the trauma it caused due to no net. so far the net is good no connection issues.
vincom
join:2009-03-06
Bolton, ON

vincom

Member

could ur issue be related to vmedia being a reseller for ciktel and therefore cannot directly communicate to rogers except through ciktel, idk so correct me if im in error if vmedia is not a reseller or if they are that they cannot directly communicate w/rogers
PHLN
join:2003-07-31

PHLN

Member

Re: Beware: Lackluster experience with Vmedia/Cogeco

May 16th

I have been noticing since installation that I get frequent disconnections only during in the evening time. Around 5 pm and would stop after 10 pm.

A representative from Vmedia called and arranged for a technician to come look at the line this weekend. Hopefully they can figure out what is going on.
Sanek
join:2006-08-10
Kanata, ON

Sanek

Member

said by PHLN:

May 16th

I have been noticing since installation that I get frequent disconnections only during in the evening time. Around 5 pm and would stop after 10 pm.

A representative from Vmedia called and arranged for a technician to come look at the line this weekend. Hopefully they can figure out what is going on.

Watch him show up in the morning when everything is fine
PHLN
join:2003-07-31

PHLN

Member

No one showed today.

It seems that verbal communication is not the proper communication channel. Due to the fact that I did not receive the appointment through email, it didn't exist.

Waiting now for Cogeco to confirm it through email.
zipperhead
join:2009-01-07
Ajax, ON

zipperhead to GeorgeBurger

Member

to GeorgeBurger

Re: Beware: Lackluster experience with Vmedia

Sorry to say I am not impressed, I soooooo wanted to be. I have emailed support a few times over the last week with speed issues as I am only getting about 17Mbs down when it should be 48. PMed George too, alas to no avail except an email last Wednesday to say they are looking into it. The last thing I wanted to do was come here and have to complain, I am disappointed George, not a great way to start. I am in Ajax and I don't know if it's just me or every body in my area that's affected. I will head over to RFD and complain as that's where Vmedia seems to hang out.

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

1 edit

Davesnothere to PHLN

Premium Member

to PHLN

Re: Beware: Lackluster experience with Vmedia/Cogeco

 
Regarding your modem confusion (George, please investigate this too), Cogeco does not support the DCM475 at all, unless it is a VERY recent change to their lineup.

They DO however support the DCM476, and have done so since earlier this year (or was it late 2012 ?).

Both are good choices, both are D3 spec, and both are supported in Mister Rogers' 'hood, but only one of them is supported by Cogeco, and BTW only the OTHER of these 2 models by Videotron, last time I checked.

The D2 spec DCM425 should be avoided - as should ALL D2 spec modems - even if they were FREE or if you already own one - as they do not work as well, and they clog the local nodes both for yourself and for your immediate neighbours.

However, regarding your unfortunate logistical problems etc., I cannot comment with any degree of certainty - only can sympathize.
PHLN
join:2003-07-31

PHLN

Member

UPDATE:

I spoke to a representative at Vmedia today. It seems they are going to try swapping the modem to the DCM476 and see if the disconnections still happens before booking a technician to come over.

Waiting on the modem now.

jmck
formerly 'shaded'
join:2010-10-02
Ottawa, ON

jmck

Member

why did they even send out a docsis2 modem to begin with?
PHLN
join:2003-07-31

PHLN

Member

said by jmck:

why did they even send out a docsis2 modem to begin with?

This is a question I can not answer. Note that they send me a DOCSIS 2 modem when I had ordered a DOCSIS 3 modem. Quite a surprise when I found out.

So today I got a shipping notice from Vmedia that they are sending the new modem to be swap over. Sound great.

Problem is, in order to facilitate this switch over, they end up disabling my old modem. I no longer have internet access at my location as a result.



I'm trying to be very patient and understanding, but as you can see from all my posts, that this has not been the smoothest installation experience.
vincom
join:2009-03-06
Bolton, ON

vincom

Member

said by PHLN:

said by jmck:

why did they even send out a docsis2 modem to begin with?

This is a question I can not answer. Note that they send me a DOCSIS 2 modem when I had ordered a DOCSIS 3 modem. Quite a surprise when I found out.

So today I got a shipping notice from Vmedia that they are sending the new modem to be swap over. Sound great.

Problem is, in order to facilitate this switch over, they end up disabling my old modem. I no longer have internet access at my location as a result.



I'm trying to be very patient and understanding, but as you can see from all my posts, that this has not been the smoothest installation experience.

that's just dumb, wtf were they thinking

happens
@videotron.ca

happens to PHLN

Anon

to PHLN
said by PHLN:

Problem is, in order to facilitate this switch over, they end up disabling my old modem. I no longer have internet access at my location as a result.


Sucks, but this isn't anything new. We've seen modems deactivated for the same thing, or never even activated on the service dates, or in the cases where MAC number has to be given for cable, they make mistakes in the MAC and then the customer waits and waits till they figured out the mistake. Seen this by the various resellers here before.

But, they are a young company. They are going through what teksavvy, Acanac, Ebox and others have gone through. None of this is new or unique to Vmedia.

Next time they may wait 24-48hrs before delisting a modems MAC (if the system allows for this). They are learning, as everyone else has, and will address these issues as they grow so as to minimize them.

I think you realize this as you seem like a pretty patient person. Seen some rather really pissed of people in the other forums due to this before. Nowhere near your level of patience. Hang in there. When all is good fill us in on how it all works for you.
PHLN
join:2003-07-31

PHLN

Member

UPDATE:

Received the modem today. Once connected, I finally was able to receive the advertise speed of 20 Mbps download.

Will keep an eye out to see if the random disconnection resolved too as a result.

jmck
formerly 'shaded'
join:2010-10-02
Ottawa, ON

jmck

Member

what a shit sandwich, no wonder George isn't hanging out on these forums anymore. they never should have deactivated your old modem until your new one arrived.

i wonder if they even ship the modems or if they just get CikTel to ship them. i highly doubt Vmedia would buy or have any docsis2 modems since they just started offering cable services and docsis 2 is over 10 years old.
GeorgeBurger
join:2011-12-30

GeorgeBurger to PHLN

Member

to PHLN
Hi Jmck you are right on both accounts, the sandwich and its contents and me not being here as much as I should be. We are just swamped, not just with new subscribers, who are inquiring and thankfully joining at a more or less manageable pace especially since we have not really begun to market our services yet, but also because we are going through a major addition to our TV lineup(finally) and conversion of most of our channels to HD(just waiting on equipment delivery). However I have been checking in pretty close to everyday, and trying to make sure complaints like PHLN's are addressed. We really appreciate the understanding that some of you have expressed in this thread, and thankfully these delays and complications are pretty rare. We do everything we can to address these issues once they are brought to our attention, and sometimes the problems are truly beyond our control-that just goes with the territory, we are dealing with very reluctant suppliers-and sometimes the problems are of our own making, like disabling a modem before a new one arrives. That I don't get and I have asked our team to explain and make sure it doesn't happen again. Thanks again for your support.
GeorgeBurger

GeorgeBurger to PHLN

Member

to PHLN
Hi PHLN, I looked into it and we are sorry, apparently Cogeco typically takes 48 hours to switch after notification, this time they did it right away, so we have to be careful not to take past practices for granted. Glad(hope?)you are up and running smoothly again.