Virgin Media has taken its 100Mbps united kingdom

[jimbo45]

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]

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]

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

 

[Fliplip]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[brianzion]

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.

i think they have changed this you do not need the phone line to get broadband

 

[kado897]

You can get Virgin broadband without the phone line you just pay more for it.

 

[BomberAF]

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.

i think they have changed this you do not need the phone line to get broadband

That is what Iam saying, you don't need to take out the full TV, BB and phone line package to get the lower price you just need to take out the phone line with your BB. If you don't get the phone line as well then you pay more, I am with VM and find them a very good company at least as far as the actual speeds you get. I also find the customer care to be very good also.

 

[Everlong]

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.

Well what's wrong with advancing technology? I'm all for that, though I doubt it won't be released nationwide for a while yet.

 

[BomberAF]

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.

Well what's wrong with advancing technology? I'm all for that, though I doubt it won't be released nationwide for a while yet.

I don't think they shouldn't be creating these new technologys, nut just like ultra hd the technology is either not available to bring it to the masses or it needs huge investment to get it to the masses.

With the 1Gbs I would say that you are looking at at least 2 network upgrades and how long was it between the last 2 network updates that BT, Telecom or GPO done? I would say about 50 years or so.

 

[costello]

still slow at connection at TOP countries

 

[Mitchell90]

I think Virgin Media should be sorting out their current overloaded/congested DOCSIS 2.0 networks first before rolling out faster speeds on DOCSIS 3.0. There are also a lot of areas in the UK that still don't have cable services available to them, and have been waiting on them since before the NTL/Telewest days, yet still no progress has been made on this front.

While I think it's a good thing that Virgin Media are introducing faster broadband speeds to the UK, I still think the above issues need to be addressed first, including their traffic management policy.


In the near future I'd like to see ISP's such as Virgin Media provide a top-class broadband service without the need for traffic management/speed throttling, and where every user can experience the speeds they pay for 24/7, whenever they want.

I don't see that coming any time soon however, especially from Virgin Media but something tells me that BT may already have a head start on achieving that goal.