Virgin Media has taken its 100Mbps united kingdom

jimbo45 · 14 Dec 2010

Hi all
I still think these xxxx mb download speeds are a bit of a "sucker them in and then make them pay" type of scenario.

If you want remote access / operate any type of web site etc etc then UPLOAD speeds are important too.

I'd much rather have a 10 Mbs DOWN AND UPLOAD speed than say a 20 or even 50 mbs download and a sluggish 1MB UPLOAD (which is usually a lot slower than that in actual practice).

However the customer is NEVER asked and the capping now of bandwidth makes the whole exercise rather academic in any case.

If it's going to cost me MORE in bandwidth to download and watch LEGALLY a film in full HD / 1080p definition than it would do to buy the blu ray DVD then I'm going to continue to use Satellite HD transmissions with smart cards sourced from (can't say on the Forum of course).

A lot of this superfast stuff is just sales hype --always look at the small print.

Cheers
jimbo

Fliplip · 14 Dec 2010

brianzion said:

The 10Meg upstream speed is respectable, and given powerful enough video encoding solutions would allow someone at home to transmit video at current HD TV levels.

And of course Virgin will moan that those people are hogging the network and within 6 months they will introduce traffic management. So that way we pay for something we dont really get.

Same old excuse. Give the customers faster speed and then stop them using it.

Saying that, im on the 50mbs service and i get a healthy 6MB/s download speed from giganews as long as i dont use the common port number as VM are now capping that.

Tarka Dal · 14 Dec 2010

poopoo!
off to Talk talk it is then...

Fliplip · 14 Dec 2010

VM have been managing traffic (or capping) for years.

At the moment the XXL service is clear but they are introducing faster upload speeds, and introducing capping in the evenings to go with it.

They are also capping port 563, heavily.

severedsolo · 14 Dec 2010

Personally, I would never go back to VM if they paid me to take their service.

I was on VM's ADSL at the beginning of last year. Come 6pm every evening speeds would drop from 6.5Mb/s (which is about right for my line) to 512Kbps.

As for their customer support... well I phoned to complain. First I got a man who claimed that it was the normal "settling" period on the line. Which is fine (and almost plausible) except for 2 things.

1) My line was already settled as it was a MAC port from TalkTalk. (someone else at VM actually confirmed my line wasn't going throught the 10 day training period again)

2) When this happens, the line speeds vary wildly, they do NOT stick at 512Kbps from 6pm-12am. Also this effects sync speeds as well as Payload speeds, and my sync speed was constant.

Then, finally, a week later, I got them to admit there was a problem. Every week, for 2 months I was promised "it should be fixed by the weekend"

Eventually, I emailed their CEO and got out of my contract scot free, as they were not "providing a reasonable level of service" (god bless Terms and Conditions)
[/rant]

Anyway, my point is, that I dont think you will ever see 100Mbps from the service, their servers are overloaded to hell as it is. Take that and traffic management into account, and you will end up with a "10Mb/s service, with occasional flashes of 100Mb/s"

Fliplip · 14 Dec 2010

I was getting capped randomly last year. They insisted i was going over my 3GB evening limit. I made around 10 calls to CS, each time i was told something different but it wasn't until i went in to one of their newsgroups that i found out their new Motorola hubs were false triggering and they didnt know how to fix them.

I have always had top speed from VM (and TW before that) so while i dont like the company and its policies i really cant knock the speeds i get.

Everlong · 14 Dec 2010

BT has a 1Gbps connection test planned soon in Suffolk. It will also have a 400Mbps upstream. The 100Mbps connection I'm on at the moment will seem slow to that, lol.

severedsolo · 14 Dec 2010

Everlong said:

BT has a 1Gbps connection test planned soon in Suffolk. It will also have a 400Mbps upstream. The 100Mbps connection I'm on at the moment will seem slow to that, lol.

and yet in Norfolk we're still waiting for ADSL2+ despite having supposed to have got it last March.

BomberAF · 21 Dec 2010

kado897 said:

don't be fooled. Those are package prices. Size L is £25 on its own or £18 with XL TV (Which is my package). You only get that price with TV, Phone line and Call plan.

You don't only get those prices with the TV bundle TV package, you only get that price if you also take out a phone line with them.

BomberAF · 21 Dec 2010

Everlong said:

BT has a 1Gbps connection test planned soon in Suffolk. It will also have a 400Mbps upstream. The 100Mbps connection I'm on at the moment will seem slow to that, lol.

How long if ever do you think it will take for BT to start rolling out 1GB BB,is there even any need for 1Gb unless you are a small firm or somthing?

1Gbs will only be any good or of any use when ultra HD is brought out in about 25 years time.