Virgin Media --> Fibre something...

JJ_Egan

Read the multiple Shell threads before using them .

As above i am the same with wifi   two items near to router fine on 2.4 .

Tablet in bedroom needs to be on 5g to not dropout .

ChilliBob

I actually went oldskool before and had a hard wired 1m cat5 cable from router to an old laptop against my work laptop on wifi upstairs. Ran a continuous ping for about 4 hours and the dropped packets were near on identical in terms of when they happened and the percentages. I think the hard wired was about 5-10 packets lower in terms of lost packets, but that's obvs fractions of a % over that time when it was around 5 or 10% loss. 

Whilst I appreciate it makes the above a little inconsistent, I did find rebooting the router would help for a little bit. (as in a few hours), I believe this is because the VM one 'auto selects' the least congested channel

We've had the VM router for I think 2 years or so. 

Question, how do home plugs factor into this?! - My old IT colleague was very against them saying that they were naff, I do have one on a desktop I never use (because it's old enough not to have wifi and it's upstairs)

ChilliBob

JJ_Egan said:

Read the multiple Shell threads before using them .

As above i am the same with wifi   two items near to router fine on 2.4 .

Tablet in bedroom needs to be on 5g to not dropout .

Yeah, I was instantly sceptical, seems this is backed up. My hunch is I should either:
* See if VM will deliver a new router, and a decent price (as they just did)
* If not, go with Vodafone

littleboo

There is some Ofcom data here, first part is looking at how the various providers performed in March 2020.
Virgin used to suffer badly in some areas with local area congestion in their hybrid co-ax/fibre network, caused by over selling capacity, not sure if that's still an issue

matelodave

Vodafone broadband uses the Openreach network. Openreach also provides access to most other major broadband providers. Sky, BT, EE, TalTalk, Plusnet and other providers all use Openreach. Vodafone's broadband speeds will be roughly the same as most other broadband providers

So in the end it should be as good (or bad) as anyone else who serves your area regarding system performance (speed, reliability etc) although their customer service or pricing may be different. Unless they offer a performance guarantee to allow you to escape you wont really know what you'll get until you try it.

TimSynths

I've been working from home since March and have the VM 100mbps service, I did have the 200 but downgraded to save money and have suffered no noticeable loss. To save costs further I too looked at moving away but I think I maybe biting off my nose to spite my face as the others in my team have way more access issues than I do with other providers, one went to Three for £20pm and there is no point me trying to video call them. I did suffer a loss of service in October on a Sat morning, logged the fault and an engineer was with me by lunch time on Monday and it was fixed in 25 mins, at this point I thought if I change suppliers will I get the same level and prompt service from someone else? I'm still with Virgin and as long as I have to work from home i'm going nowhere now, I don't think a few £'s saved is worth the risk, be like giving up your car and relying on buses.

JJ_Egan

(t I thought if I change suppliers will I get the same level and prompt service from someone else? )

You where lucky VM responded that quickly .

ChilliBob

That's interesting Tim, I too have been wfh since early March, I have had so many days of Zoom calls being near in impossible that it became a joke. For one really important meeting I resorted to sitting in my parents garden using their Sky Internet, which was vastly superior! A colleague with VM was the one suggesting the router change. 

Perhaps I'm being hasty then.. We need to call this time next week to cancel, so I'll see if thet can match or come close to Voda, and throw in a new router. I think they offered my partner £27 for 200mb, not sure if that's a decent deal, sounded okay. 

ChilliBob

littleboo said:

There is some Ofcom data here, first part is looking at how the various providers performed in March 2020.
Virgin used to suffer badly in some areas with local area congestion in their hybrid co-ax/fibre network, caused by over selling capacity, not sure if that's still an issue

Thanks, that makes for some interesting reading for a data geek like me

ChilliBob

JJ_Egan said:

(t I thought if I change suppliers will I get the same level and prompt service from someone else? )

You where lucky VM responded that quickly .

Quite, my partner and I both gave up even contacting them about it, each time we waited over an hour before giving up!