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Virgin Broadband Reliability

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I am looking at joining up with Virgin Media for broadband only. I am looking at the 10MB option as my current provider can only give me up to 8MB although I am lucky if I get 3 MB on a good day.

With the Virgin i belive you get a new fibre optic line run into the house for broadband.

Does anyone have this and can you tell me how good it is.Do you always run at the 10MB or does it drop to much lower.

Any advice woul be great.

Comments

  • Cat695
    Cat695 Posts: 3,647 Forumite
    they won't just fit fibre optic (which is a slight con as its actually CABLE into the house not FO) in your house you have to be a cable BB area (you will have a cable BB box in your house if you are)

    I believe you can get upto 24meg on phone lines at the mo (O2 do 20Meg) however its depends on your location (just one of the reasons) whether you can get these speed....ie the further away from an exchange you are the less likely you will get high speeds

    Like I said that is just one of the factors...there are many others

    and if your only getting around 3 meg then I think you'll find thats all you will get.

    I'm lucky as I have cable BB and yes its bloody good (I'm on 20meg) Virgin media have annouced 50meg to be brought out very soon
    If you find yourself in a fair fight, then you have failed to plan properly


    I've only ever been wrong once! and that was when I thought I was wrong but I was right
  • I have done the postcode check and I can have broadband cabled in up to 20MB. The normal broadband I egt through my current phoneline only gives me around 3mb
  • Cat695
    Cat695 Posts: 3,647 Forumite
    dexterlevi wrote: »
    I have done the postcode check and I can have broadband cabled in up to 20MB. The normal broadband I egt through my current phoneline only gives me around 3mb

    well if you want truely fast BB then get it.....I have had no problems

    the difference you will see will make you smile....and I reckon you will get a pretty good deal as a new customer to

    even at "slow" times I still get over 15meg
    If you find yourself in a fair fight, then you have failed to plan properly


    I've only ever been wrong once! and that was when I thought I was wrong but I was right
  • Nilrem
    Nilrem Posts: 2,565 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    I've had Virgin/NTL cable for about 8 years and it's been very reliable (about a day of downtime a year on average, not including maybe a couple of times a year it drops during maintinance work for a few hours overnihgt).

    Generally I get about 17-18mb, except on the rare occassions I download a lot in the day when i might get hit by STM and cut down to 5mb for a few hours.
  • colinw
    colinw Posts: 59,967 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I have had Virgin BB for a couple of years and it excellent. Remember to do it through www.quidco.co.uk and get £80 cashback.
  • soolin
    soolin Posts: 74,118 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I'm on Virgin broadband and if it wasn't for the hassle of changing I would have given up a long while ago.I don't know if this message will actually post as the broadbacd status is currently showing as 'red' on their status page...which is unusual as usually when they have problems they pretend they don't.

    I can regularly lose any service for an hour or so, about 8 weeks ago I had no service at all for 3 days and no email (even via net mail) for 8 days.

    The really really irritating thing though is when you phone them they always tell you it is your equipment that is at fault, even when they know they have problems. It is the first thing they always tell you and I now just tell them to cut out the nonsense and just agree the system is down and to let me know why and to estimate how long it is likely to be.

    For the past week for instance the service has been on/off, I am sitting here watching th einternet light go on and off as I type.

    The service page here:

    http://status-cable.virginmedia.com/vmstatus/summary.do

    shows a red blob for broadband, but later says "There are currently no issues", so that is a discepancy on the same page. Click on local issues and I get "National Issue - Customers experiencing loss of Internet Services" 19th Dec

    Customers will have complete or intermittant loss of Broadband services.

    Which then goes on to state "
    Estimated Time Fix 4 Hours"..yet the problem is ongoing as at the 21st.
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the eBay, Auctions, Car Boot & Jumble Sales, Boost Your Income, Praise, Vents & Warnings, Overseas Holidays & Travel Planning , UK Holidays, Days Out & Entertainments boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know.. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
  • I had an excellent service with Virgin/NTL and hardly any problems. Rarely got much above 13 on a 20 meg connection, and maybe only 9 or 10 at peak times, but it's still better than the BT's 8 meg service i get here, at 3.5 max (this house is not cabled in the cul de sac, they went straight past).

    The fibre optic to your home bit is a con. It goes as far as the multiplexer (you find these about a mile apart in built up area's, and can handle about 800 telephone lines. The TV and Cable modem work though a series of amplifiers from this point to the little green/grey cabinet in your street (the DP).

    From there it is also taken, usually by coaxial cable, RG6 (can be 7 up 11 depending on the distance and the amount of equipment you have installed in your home).

    There is no problem a coaxial cable taking 100 meg connection, so there is no reason yet to install a fibre directly into your home.

    The reason they mention firbe optic, is that it is very close to your home, not miles and miles like can be used in normal phone lines with a 2 single wires.

    Cable technology does and will have the power to pith (lisp accepted ! ) all over satellite due to it's costs vs transmission.

    50 Meg on Virgin has already started in certain areas, and they hope to be online for everyone late next year (20 meg was 4 months overdue for my area when the increase to 20's rollout was annonced)

    Dan.
  • Wow, I got 3 *, when did that happen :j:T:p
    It is not illegal to open another persons mail unless you intend to commit fraud - this is frequently incorrectly posted:)
    I live in my head - I find it's safer there:p
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