Virgin Media is pushing ahead with the roll-out of its smart support service to millions of full-fibre broadband users across the UK, following a successful trial with a few thousand earlier in the year. The supercharged service will see Virgin Media O2 monitor customers' internet connection every hour of every day to detect early signs of trouble — like drops in internet speed or connection errors.
Fixes will be quietly rolled out overnight to minimise disruption and keep people connected, the British company says. If everything goes to plan, the first signs of trouble will be quietly fixed behind-the-scenes before you've even noticed an issue with your home internet connection, let alone a full-blown outage.
According to Virgin Media, its new system — powered by Cisco ThousandEyes — will help prevent faults from disrupting your broadband connection
VIRGIN MEDIA O2 PRESS OFFICEThe expansion of always-on monitoring and proactive problem-solving capabilities comes as research reveals that while 98% of Britons rely on broadband every day — a third lack confidence in fixing issues themselves.
The smart support service offers a range of key features to enhance customers' broadband experience:
According to Virgin Media, Smart Service is designed to improve customers' experience during bandwidth-intensive tasks — like streaming video, making video calls, or playing online games — by ensuring a more reliable connection throughout the home. Virgin Media O2 says it will be able to do this by monitoring the connection at all times to gather an overall picture of the health of customers' broadband.
Virgin Media believes Smart Support will improve over time and could be used to diagnose more issues with Wi-Fi and broadband throughout your home in the coming months. It says the service should be able to offer guidance to tackle any Wi-Fi blackspots in your home.
The broadband supplier already offers a Wi-Fi guarantee to customers, which promises a minimum download speed of 30Mbps in every room. If the company fails to meet that target, you will get £100 in bill credit.
Most issues detected by Smart Service should be patched remotely by Virgin Media O2. This will take place overnight to prevent too much disruption.
If that doesn't solve the fault, Virgin Media will send its customers personalised guidance to try and fix the problem from inside the house. Should further assistance be required, an engineer visit will be arrange at no extra cost.
According to Virgin Media, its nifty smart support service has already made a significant impact since its launch. Over 200,000 customers have benefited from its diagnostic and problem-solving capabilities to date. Announced this month, Virgin Media O2 now says it expects an additional 150,000 broadband customers to gain access to the service before the end of the year.
There's no way to volunteer your household for the smart support service, with Virgin Media signing-up people at random.
The broadband firm is relying on Cisco ThousandEyes, formerly known as SamKnows, to help monitor the network and customers' Wi-Fi hub. According to Cisco, "ThousandEyes provides proactive visibility into the delivery of any web application across any network, so you can detect issues proactively and troubleshoot quickly to deliver the stellar digital experiences your customers expect."
This rapid expansion underscores the growing importance of reliable connectivity in British households. As more customers rely on their broadband for daily activities, the smart support service aims to provide peace of mind and reduce the stress associated with potential connection issues.
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Gareth Lister, Director of Connectivity at Virgin Media O2, emphasised the company's commitment to customer satisfaction: "We're committed to giving our customers the very best broadband experience, that's why we've invested in accelerating the roll-out of smart support so even more homes can benefit from the service at no extra cost each month.
"Smart support is a unique benefit that no other major network offers. This game-changing technology will give our customers extra peace of mind, without them having to lift a finger."
