Virgin Media modem

How Poor Quality Control and Old Equipment Turned My Internet into a Nightmare

The whole saga began a couple of years ago when my previously fast and reliable internet connection decided to give me a headache. One day, out of the blue, my internet started to drop without any warning. First, I thought, “Oh, they must be having trouble in the area.” A quick search on various forums and review sites seemed to partially confirm this theory—others in my area were reporting intermittent service issues with the same provider.

However, my disconnections grew more frequent and far more annoying. As someone with an engineering background, I decided to troubleshoot the issue myself. Armed with Google and my experience working with DOCSIS* systems, I dove into my modem logs. What I found was unsettling: logs riddled with random disconnection errors, indicating something deeper than a fleeting network glitch.

A Call to Customer Support

The next day, I reached out to my internet provider’s support team, who were… well, let’s just say less than helpful. While they partially confirmed my suspicion that the issue could be narrowed down to my local connection, their solution was less than reassuring: they’d send out a technician to investigate further.

A few days later, the technician arrived. He inspected the connection between the outdoor cable and the termination outlet where my modem was plugged in. His solution? Replace the cable and add a signal attenuator, claiming the signal strength was too high. This, of course, made little sense since the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR**) was well within acceptable modem thresholds. But hey, he was the “expert,” right?

Still No Resolution

Predictably, the disconnections continued. Frustrated, I contacted customer support again, this time demanding they replace the modem. After all, they had exhausted every other option.

To their credit, they promptly shipped a new modem, which arrived two days later. And guess what? The problem was instantly solved.

Lessons Learned

This experience taught me a lot about the dangers of poor quality control and outdated equipment. While my provider’s network infrastructure might be solid overall, it’s clear their processes for identifying and addressing localized issues leave much to be desired. Worse yet, the reliance on old equipment made troubleshooting far more complicated than it needed to be.

Déjà Vu: The Nightmare Returns

For a couple of years, my internet connection worked flawlessly. Then, the nightmare returned. Small disconnections started happening once a day but quickly escalated to five or six times daily, making my work-from-home life increasingly difficult. Armed with lessons from my previous experience, I immediately contacted support. Predictably, they stuck to their script and offered to send out a technician.

The first technician never showed up and was unpleasant over the phone—clearly, customer service training wasn’t part of his onboarding. I waited another two weeks for technician number two, who claimed everything looked fine and promptly left. Three weeks had passed, and I was back to square one.

Frustrated, I called customer support again. After a 30-minute wait, I spoke with a representative who suggested my 500 Mbps connection might be “overworked,” causing my modem to restart. That comment unleashed a wave of frustration. I demanded either a new modem or the immediate cancellation of my contract. Unsurprisingly, a “new” modem arrived at my doorstep the next day.

I installed the replacement modem, and my internet stabilized… for a while. By December, just three months later, the same problem resurfaced. Initially, it was a disconnection every few days, so I ignored it. When the issue became more frequent, I tried resetting the modem. To my dismay, the reset button didn’t work. Power cycling kept things running for a day or two, but the issue persisted.

DIY Troubleshooting: What’s Inside the Box?

With Christmas approaching and support seemingly useless, I turned to my electronics background. I still had the old modem Virgin Media had replaced in August, so I decided to investigate. Breaking the warranty seal, I discovered that the circuit board was from 2016. A quick visual inspection revealed a bulging 63V 22µF capacitor—a clear sign the component was nearing the end of its life.

For those unfamiliar, a bulging capacitor indicates the internal electrolytic liquid is drying out, leading to failure. This issue is common in poorly designed circuits where cost-cutting trumps durability. Armed with this knowledge, I concluded that aging equipment and failing components were likely behind the disconnections.

Next, I opened the replacement modem sent in August. To my shock, this unit was even older, dated 2015! Worse, it was a refurbished device. Some capacitors had been replaced, but whoever performed the repairs didn’t bother replacing all the electrolytic capacitors. One critical component, a 25V 220µF capacitor, was missed. A multimeter test showed it was only holding 60% of its original capacity—not sufficient for stable operation.

Replacing the faulty capacitor brought the modem back to life, free of random disconnections.

A Call for Better Service

This experience highlights the poor quality control and lack of transparency at Virgin Media Ireland. It’s disappointing that, after years of complaints, they haven’t improved. My hope is that growing competition will challenge their dominance, forcing them to improve customer service and reduce prices. Until then, customers like me are left dealing with outdated equipment and subpar support.

*DOCSIS: Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification, a standard for cable modems.

**SNR: Signal-to-Noise Ratio, a measure of signal quality.