How does information get to you through the internet? Virgin Media allows our customers to connect quickly via the internet to people and companies all over the world, but how does that photo you upload to Instagram or your pizza order get to where it needs to be? Imagine you visit a webpage that has a really cool video you want to watch. That video is held on a web server; your computer sends a request for the video to that web server. This request (known as a packet) contains the information on what you want, the address of the web server that has the video and your location. Computers known as routers provide directions to the packet to help it on its way to the web server to get you the video. Once the web server receives the request it reads it and sends the video back to you. Due to the size of the video, the information will need to be broken up into lots of packets to make the journey. The routers try to find the fastest possible route for each packet. They might take different routes and might not arrive in the same order they were sent. Once they get back to you, your computer will put them back together and start playing your video. Cool huh? Proxy Server A Proxy server acts like a middleman in your internet conversations. Your internet traffic flows through the proxy server on its way to the address you requested, and then back through the proxy server on its way back to you. Proxy servers are found in educational and business networks as they can provide web filters, and firewalls amongst other services. A good proxy server keeps users and internal network protected from the internet. For example, our internal intranet is a good proxy server. Bad Proxy Server  A Bad proxy works in the same way as a good proxy but can be harmful to our customers. They can be used to collect data or lead our customers to fraudulent websites. Most of the time customers don't know they are using a Bod proxy server. Cookies  As you use the internet your preferences or cookies will be stored to make re-visiting websites quicker and tailored to you. The law requires that all websites gain 'informed consent' from users before storing non-essential cookies on their device. Cookies stored on your device are the reason Amazon remembers what you was looking at the last time you visited or how TUI knows what holiday destinations you were researching. Web Browser  The most common way we connect to the internet is through a web browser. the most common ones are Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox. WHAT IS IP ADDRESS? IP represents where you live on the internet. Different IP address types  static This is the type of IP Address your device will be given as it's speaking directly to the hub. The world wide web doesn't see this IP address. Examples of this are variations of 192.168.0.2, 192.168.0.3 dynamic  If information is required to go to a public website e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Amazon a public IP address is needed. public  Companies like Facebook and X have static IP addresses, they do not change and information can always find their servers. It would be like if your local supermarket kept changing address, it would be very hard to find so they keep the same address. private We recycle Public IP addresses between our customers. This isn't a problem as whilst they are browsing the web, the information knows where it needs to return to at that time. Our hub will assign an IP address to each device that connects to it. This IP address is private as only the hub and the other devices connected to it can see it. When the device disconnects from the hub the IP address is now available for the hub to give to another device. These IP addresses are dynamic as they are recycled. This is why customers will often see their devices having IP addresses 192.168.0.2, .3, .4, etc. LAN vs WAN LAN (Local Area Network) This is the network within your home. It means that your hub speaks to all the different devices and remembers who has asked for what. For example, it makes sure that Mel’s request on the mobile for the football results doesn’t end up with Kim’s request on the tablet for their favourite shows. This is where the Private IP address comes into play. Each device has its own IP address starting with 192.168.0.X, the hub knows when it receives data where to send it to. WAN (Wide Area Network) This is the network outside your home – or the Virgin Media Network.  The Public IP address is how Google and Amazon know where to send your request back to. Think of it like the Post Office knowing where to send your letter, this IP address is unique to your Internet. Ethernet Connections Ethernet cables are a fast and secure way to connect online if your customers device is close enough to the Hub. The age and spec of our customer’s devices determine what speeds they can handle. If a customer is saying the internet is slow on their old PC it may be because their Network Interface Card (NIC) may only be able to handle 100MB. When an Ethernet port is active it will light up or flash to show data is being transferred. Our clever little Hubs will even indicate what speeds are running through the cable. To check if the Ethernet cable is faulty, simply plug both ends into the Hub and if both lights are on then the cable is fine. There are lights on the front and backs of our Super Hubs. Customers connecting a device directly to their Hub using an Ethernet cable Pro's  Faster data transfer (depending on speed of the cable). Delivers a consistent Speed. More Secure - No encryption needed. Con's They will need to be near the hub or have a long ethernet cable. Clutter of cables. They can only have as many devices connected as ethernet ports available (Maximum of 4) Customers connecting their device to their Hub using a wireless signal Pro's Freedom to move around or be further away from the hub. Less clutter as no need for wires. Lots of devices can connect. Devices without Ethernet ports can connect. Con's Congestion with multiple devices being connected at the same time. Signal strength and obstructions (Black spots). Lower Speeds. Less Secure - Need for date Encryption. The speed code of conduct is a voluntary code of practice that various broadband providers signed up to from 28th February 2019 onwards. This lesson will explain what it means for our customers and you. What does it mean for our customers? Firstly, we want customers to be able to understand and compare the broadband services they’re interested in before they purchase their service. By providing an expected minimum and maximum speed range for the Virgin Fibre tier they’re interested in, they can make a more informed decision. They’ll see information about speeds on our website and at various points on their buying journey. Secondly, we want to help customers manage speed related problems after they’ve bought our services, including a right to cancel immediately without penalty if their download speed doesn’t meet our minimum download guaranteed speed. We’ll provide customers with a minimum guaranteed download speed for the Virgin Fibre tier they are interested in at the point of sale.  The minimum guaranteed download speed will be 50% of the advertised speed for the relevant Virgin Fibre tier. From time-to-time OFCOM may send mystery shoppers to ensure we remain compliant with the code. Hence why it’s really important that you always tell the customer about the speed information as part of your sale. What do we mean by minimum and maximum download speed? The values of the speed range and the minimum guaranteed download speed cover the speed the customer is receiving into their premise and not the wired or Wi-Fi speeds from the Wi-Fi router to the customer’s devices. The values of the speed range and the minimum guaranteed download speed are directly related to the specific Virgin Fibre tier and can be updated monthly. It’s super important to use your agent tools to provide the customer the most up to date information. The six main principles We have six principles that stack up against OFCOM’s residential speed code. Realistic information on broadband speeds at point of sales. Detailed information provided after the sale. Detailed information on our website. Managing speed related problems. Right to exit without penalty where the speed problems cannot be resolved. Delivering the objectives of Residential Code through appropriate processes. What does it mean for me? Here’s what you’ll need to do:  Provide our customers with the relevant information around the Virgin Fibre product they are interested in so they can make an informed decision. This information must be provided before the customer provides us with any personal or financial information.  You MUST use the correct agent tools and read the broadband honesty statement to the customer word for word as the values that automatically appear within the statement can change on a monthly basis. Further information about the OFCOM Speed Code and right to exit will be sent to the customer within 7 days of the customer placing their order. This information is included in the contract and Change of Service Receipt, so that the customer has everything in one place. These can be viewed, downloaded or printed from within the MyVM self-serve online portal. If a customer request any further information on OFCOM’s Voluntary Code of Practice – Better Broadband Speeds information – direct them to virginmedia.com/our speeds or send them the relevant supermail. If a customer wants to raise a speed complaint, please advise they would need to contact Customer Services when they are at their premise in order for us to perform diagnostics to fix the fault before we would raise a speed complaint.  CABLES  To connect to their Wi-Fi, our customers will need the network name or SSID (Service Set Identifier) and their Password. These can be found on our Hubs, either on the back or bottom – or on our newer hubs there is a pull-out card with the details on. Intelligent Wi-Fi We know that there are many things that can interrupt a Wi-Fi signal, which is why we’ve got Intelligent Wi-Fi.   Intelligent Wi-Fi adapts to whatever’s happening in your customer’s home, however many devices are connected, to give the best Wi-Fi experience.  All of our Hub 3 customers will have Intelligent Wi-Fi technology deployed. There are a few elements which make up our Intelligent Wi-Fi technology: Band Steering  Devices connect to the Hub over two frequency bands, depending on how far away they are. The 2.4GHz band has the longest range. Like a marathon runner, it covers longer distances, slower. There are around 11 channels on this band, with 3 channels that don’t overlap, which are 1, 6 and 11.  The 5GHz band covers short distances, faster – like a sprinter – so it’s best for devices near the Hub. There are 23 non-overlapping channels on this band. Although devices are supposed to move between the two bands automatically this often doesn’t happen, so the Hub will steer the device on to the 5GHz band where optimal. Devices must be dual band compatible to benefit from this feature. Channel Optimization Each band has several channels. The Hub will automatically search for the least congested Wi-Fi channel based in the local environment, changing the broadcast channel overnight in order to provide the fastest and most stable Wi-Fi connection. This happens periodically when the Hub isn’t busy, and on request by an agent. NB: This feature does not guarantee a better connection if every channel in the local environment is heavily congested or if a customer overrides this decision by choosing to select a specific channel manually via the Hub UI. Airtime Fairness There’s only a certain amount of Wi-Fi ‘airtime’ available for devices to communicate with the Hub. Legacy devices or devices a long way from the Hub tend to consume a disproportionate amount of Wi-Fi, which can slow down other Wi-Fi devices even if they are closer to the Hub. Our Hub 3’s ensure that all connected devices have their fair share of Wi-Fi airtime, so no individual device is penalized. - Our tools have told information Centre how the hub and network is performing and the status of the account. - We've confirmed and the hub has the valid IP address, provided by us and that the customer's device has got the valid IP address from the hub.  QuickStart Hub Activation Broadband diagnostics: IP Addresses As part of diagnosing the fault, you’ll need to check that the device has an IP address. Without one, our customers won’t be able to get online.  Here’s how to check that the device the customer is using has an IP address: Checking for an IP address on Windows Access the Run command (Windows Key + R together) Type CMD and press Enter Type ipconfig and press Enter The customers IP address will be listed next to IPv4 Address Checking for an IP address on MacOS Click the Apple Icon in top right of the screen Click System Preferences Click Network The IP address will be listed underneath the status Information Centre will guide you through this process. A ping is a test to see if a network resource or device is reachable. This allows you to test different parts of the network all the way through to the webpage that the customer is trying to visit. And in the lesson, we'll find out how we use them. Broadband diagnostics: Ping test One of the tests that Information Centre may ask you to do as part of diagnosing a broadband fault is a Ping test.  A Ping will send packets of data from your customer’s device to a specific IP address. The results will let you know how long it took to send the data and how long it took to get a response. It will also tell you if any data was lost along the way.   What is Ping? Command line utility Available on any OS Test via network  What else? Packet loss Round trip times How to use Ping? Troubleshooting  Monitoring network availability Polling  How to ping using Windows Access the Run command (Windows Key + R together) Type CMD and press Enter Type ping [website / IP address] and press enter How to ping using MacOS Click on Spotlight search Type in Network Utility and double click on the application Select Ping Enter the website address and click Ping How to read the results How the results are displayed will vary slightly between operating systems. The important information is the packets sent / transmitted, packets received and packets lost. If successful, the Ping will return Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss). This indicates that everything is working ok. If unsuccessful, the Ping will return Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss). If any / all of the packets are lost, this indicates a problem with the journey. Information Centre will ask you to perform different Ping tests as part of your diagnostics, but don’t worry, it’ll guide you through the process. Broadband diagnostics: Trace route A Trace route maps the journey from the customer’s PC to the website – reporting back on its progress along the journey. It can help us to locate the source of an issue. Performing a Trace route on Windows Access the Run command Type CMD and press enter Type tracert [website / IP address] and press enter Performing a Trace route on MacOS; Click on Spotlight search Type in Network Utility and double click on the application Select Trace route Enter the website address and click Trace route How to read the results There will be a difference in how the results are displayed from different operating systems, but they contain the same information. As part of your diagnostics, you’ll look for issues on our network. In our example, steps 1 – 6 are the Virgin Media network and steps 7 – 12 are off the network. Step 1 – represents the first step on the journey to the website, followed by the address it has reached on its journey to the website. It shows that it has reached “arrisatom (192.168.0.1)” – in this case this is the customers Hub4. Steps 2, 3, 6, 7 and 9 – 12 – This is the time it’s taken to get to that part of the journey in milliseconds. Steps 4, 5 and 8 – Here you can see * * * instead of any information. This means this step of the journey did not respond to the trace routes ‘hello’ message. This doesn’t always indicate an issue, but it can mean there is packet loss. If the Trace route journey stops or you see high response times on steps 1-6, there may be issues on our network which you may need to investigate.  A speed test will show the speed a customer is getting to their device. To run the speed test, the customer should disconnect / turn off all devices except the one they are testing and if possible, connect via Ethernet. The customer will need to go to https://www.samknows.com/realspeed/ and click Go. The speed test will complete, and you will be able to see their speed tests results through SamKnows via your knowledge tools. Information Centre will guide you around what Virgin Media O2 does for customers with slow speeds. Wi-Fi is fantastic  When its working as it meant to Luckily, we have an amazing tool that can help you resolve your customer Wi-Fi woes. Plume will can help you to understand and resolve many different Wi-Fi related issues and when used in conjunction with Information Centre makes getting to the bottom of issues a cinch. WHAT IS PLUME? (no troubleshooting) Plume is our virtual tool for diagnosing and fixing issues with Virgin Media broadband. It gives you live insights into broadband speeds, which devices are connected and how they’re performing. So, you can figure out any problems and get our customer’s internet back up and running pronto. HOW DO I LOG IN? Just type ‘Plume’ into your laptop’s search bar. Then click the app to open it. Once it’s open, select Partner ID and choose ‘LOGIN with LGI’. Here’s the URL, should you need it: How do I log in? When you first log in, you’ll get a quick report of any changes since you last used Plume.  Release notes: When you first log in, you’ll get a quick report of any changes since you last used Plume. Keep an eye out for new features! How to use PLUME? You'll see your customers' MAC address, in the EQ screen under category D=the performance How to find a MAC address You’ll see your customer’s MAC address and load of other helpful info in the overview tab in SVC. The MAC needs to be entered without spaces or use the customer’s MAC address to access their Wi-Fi data Health Check Health Check gives a quick and easy overview of the customer’s WIFI connection. It’ll give their connection an overall score –which starts at 100 for a perfect score and decreases from there. Potential issues will turn amber, then red depending on how severe they are.  If the customer has a poor overall score, use the alarm circles to troubleshoot what the customers issue is. Pods & Nodes DBM = milliwatts used to measure/ frequency used for cellular phone" This tab will help you to get the most out of Wi-Fi Pods. To find the perfect spot, take a look at the RSSI (received signal strength indicator) for that Pod. If it’s too low, it’s too close to the Hub and you’ll need to move it further away. If it’s too high, you’ll need to move it closer. An RSSI between -46 and -55dBm is ideal. If moving the Hub or Pods doesn’t work, especially if they’re in a large property with thick walls, the customer may need a second or third Pod. Devices This screen shows how many devices the customer has connected, what they are and an overview of their performance. Whether it’s their phone, a Wi-Fi Pod or a smart toothbrush, you’ll see it here. Click any device for a more detailed view of how it’s working. If interference is a problem and Cloud Steering is switched off, ask the customer if they’re happy to enable it. It’ll take around 12 hours before the network optimizes and they start seeing results. Topology This handy tool shows you how many devices in the network are connected –and whether they’re linked to a Hub or Pod. When customers have multiple Pods, you’ll be able to see which ones are online and picking up devices. Just like on the Devices tab, clicking an individual device will bring up a more detailed view. If a Pod isn’t working right, check the RSSI. If it’s no good, it’s time to move the Pod. The table on the next page shows what you should do based on the results. If the RSSI is fine and there are still issues, it’s best to reset the Pod. Just turn it off at the mains then turn it back on. It’ll take up to 48 hours for the Pod to optimize and fix any issues.  *46-65 are the acceptable dBm *-44dBm tell the customer to place the pod further  *-75dBm tell the customer to move the pod closer to the router if the pod and the router have a wall between them, you have to move the pod into the open spot Fixing RSSI problems Here’s a look at what different dBm thresholds might look like –and how to improve them. What do I need to do? Using the iCare Diagnostics Panel and IC, read through the below scenarios. Hit the Resolve button in iCare. Explore the different causes of the issue and possible steps to resolve them. Make notes as you work through your scenarios. Remember, only use the account provided by your facilitator and do not access any other accounts in iCare or Information Centre. Reduced Transfers- empowering agents to resolve more issues on the spot Increased Recontract Opportunity- Turning resolutions into retentions wins Raising a Task & Customer Callback in CJM  When you hear an issue make sure you always log it in CJM, failure to do so = care form or coaching log How do you diagnose a complaint  RASS Request: Plume- Deep diving into the issue, health, checks. Angents... Samknows the router should not be touching the floor, it should be at least an inch higher from the ground *you can see if there are any disconnection *Profile management- you can see if they have created email addresses. they can make up to 10 virgin media email addresses. EBUL -backup -if the broadband is not working the EBUL will serve as a backup if the there is no internet to make the landline work