Any 2mb cable VirginMedia people about?

o_t_e

Hello all - I'm looking for some advice about the kind of performance I can expect from VirginMedia's broadband cable service.

Years ago I used telewest's 1/2MB service and it was rock solid at that rate most of the time. VM are offering a combined phone line/ 'up to' 2mb internet package for £15.50 which seems a good deal.

That said, after reading some negative comments about the decline in service under Virgin I'm wondering if anyone would recommend going with VirginMedia or not? How close (or otherwise) do people get to 2mb? Are tales of being reduced to dial-up speed accurate?

Any comments welcome.

ps Apart from general surfing I need broadband for uploading photos (10mb files) and sometimes downloading stuff from channel4, if that's in any way pertinent.

fayraz

I am on 2MB with Virgin and have always maxed out my connection when downloading if you are going to upload large files it will take a long time because the limit is 20kb/s.

I think most people are having problems on the 20MB connection.

normanmark

I'm on the 20mb connection, had a few teething issue's last month with speeds but it was only for about 2 days or so. Working like a dream now!

roses

I am in North London. First thing in the morning, I get speeds of 3.7mb on my 4mb connection. As soon as evening peak time comes on, its down to an appauling 0.2mb.

It used to be good but in the past month or two, they are having huge problems.

So I guess it depends on where you live on how good your connection is.

CHR15

It all depends on how heavily subscribed the ubr is which will feed your house.

If it is low you will have no issues, if it is heavily subscribed then you will have issues.

There are some guys over at digitalspy or VM newsgroups who could help you identify but apart from that, it is a bit of a gamble.

I am on 20Mb and during the day I download (via newsgroups) at 2.3Mb/Sec

Come 4pm my downloads drop to just 520Kbps due to traffic shaping.

Much as I dislike Traffic shaping, I otherwise have no problems.

o_t_e

Thanks everyone for the input; 0.2mb downloads on a 4mb connection sounds awful Roses - I think you're right I need to find some local people (Newcastle) who are with VM to see what cable is like here - thanks again

mcmanlyn

I'm with VM cable in Liverpool. It's great on a weekend and after midnight, but try and download anything in the evening and it takes forever!!

eg downloading Heroes (naughty me!) on Tuesday night took about 4 hours for a 350 size file - however do it on a Sat morning and it takes about 30 mins!! Grrrr!

Apparently they throttle the bandwidth if you download over a certain amount between 4pm-midnight, but they seem to just throttle mine auto in an evening

o_t_e

Thanks mcmanlyn - this 'bandwidth throttling' sounds painful! It seems as if I had it good back in the days of Telewest's Blueyonder, before "up to..." became an acceptable prefix to the download speed you were paying for - just found out about the premium rate tech support line which I don't think is remotely acceptable so I don't think Virgin is an option for me.

spud17

I'm on the VM 2mb, been on since beginning of May.

I did change my package after ordering which did cause a bit of confusion.

That was sorted, the 2 guys that installed it were good and informative.

Due to me changing the order the DD was missed out, resulting in me being charged an extra £5 the first month, but CS credited my next bill.

The couple of times I called I found them helpful and generally on my side.

I know many will disagree but I can only speak of my experience.

Speed and reliability have been first class.

90ms, 2070mbs and 246kb would be typical and steady stats.

My usage is 1.5/2.0gb/mth.

I did download 2 Linux distros in succession and ran into the busy period
without thinking.

They did then (as per T&C s) throttle me to half speed.

The latest Ubuntu (approx 700mb) was downloaded in about 45mins.

HTH

epz_2

the virgin network aint as good as it was but it is a lot better than adsl, i on 2 meg after a downgrade but cause they are crap am still getting 20meg

spud17

o-t-e
I'd be wary of taking any package which involves moving your phone line rental away from BT.
Assuming you won't want both. I'm always think any reconnection charges should be put into the equation.
VM have high charges to mobiles and don't allow the use of services like 18185 or 1899.
In my case I have BT line but Primus CPS and use 18185 to call mobiles.

Everyone should read this

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=1598074&postcount=4