virgin is coming

northernstar007

thanks for the replies all and ive taken note of the price increase at end of contract then go through the rigmarole with with a new price in 18 months
so its been in 24hrs and wow i was on fttc getting 60/17 isssh now with fttp 137/21 web pages loads straightaway and it was cheaper than the new offer for fttc
in a 14 days cooling off period and so far so good 

iniltous

TBH , the difference in performance from 60Mb down 17Mb up on FTTC to 137Mb down 21Mb  on FTTP up will not be noticeable in normal circumstances , if it’s cheaper  , fair enough, and  if you took a 500Mb or more package, then game downloads etc would be much improved , but general stuff ( video including 4K ) , browsing, email , the difference in speed is good but not enough to noticeable , its  hard to believe that it going from 60 to 140 would have a  ‘wow’ effect on you , 

moneysaver1978

I was on FFTP getting something like 250mb (both sides I think) then moved to a different place where I could only get a FTTC. Getting 55-65mb/53mb upload and had no noticeable difference despite both of us working from home Zoom, Teams, 4K tv.

The main thing for me is reliability and we have had a couple of friends who had a fair number of downtimes with Virgin. What's the point of 650mb speed if you cannot consistently maintain this?

northernstar007

a fresh rebump and update
ive had virgin in now the 137 package and love it no drop outs, full signal around the house and still 12 months left in my £26.50 per monthcontract
but today a email from openreach turns up advising me full fiber is now coming to my street, so ive went on OR website done a check on my address its now showing as planned build date between NOW and Dec26
so thats anywhere in the next 2 years
if its not here by end of contract with virgin i will have to haggle with virgin to remain on discounted price as no way i will pay there full price of £49 per month, or other option is back on fttc with plusnet which does the job 60mbs untill OR pull there finger out 
anyone got a time scale from when OR starts to peddle these emails out to them to start taking orders?

housebuyer143

northernstar007 said:

a fresh rebump and update
ive had virgin in now the 137 package and love it no drop outs, full signal around the house and still 12 months left in my £26.50 per monthcontract
but today a email from openreach turns up advising me full fiber is now coming to my street, so ive went on OR website done a check on my address its now showing as planned build date between NOW and Dec26
so thats anywhere in the next 2 years
if its not here by end of contract with virgin i will have to haggle with virgin to remain on discounted price as no way i will pay there full price of £49 per month, or other option is back on fttc with plusnet which does the job 60mbs untill OR pull there finger out 
anyone got a time scale from when OR starts to peddle these emails out to them to start taking orders?

I believe they are required to install it by Dec 2026, that's why you have that end date. 

When they installed ours we had a date July 24- September 24. That's when it went it in. I would keep an eye on it and when you have a timescale like above it should be going in.

northernstar007

sorry to bring this old thread back up
i've had a email from OR saying we're building in my area soon
will OR be digging the street up like what virgin done or blowing new fiber through there copper pipes or can OR use virgin underground pipes thats just been layed 18 months ago
my current virgin deal ends mid oct25 there current deals are 24months and theres noway im paying there full price of £48p/m even if i have to wait for OR
btw ive had no problems with virgin since its been installed and love it in fact but lets see what they are like when it comes to renewals mid sept/oct

flaneurs_lobster

Can't answer the question about stuffing fibre through the existing copper ducts but can say that it can be a long wait between Openreach (and other providers) installing FTTP infrastructure in a street and consumers being able to sign up for FTTP services. There's a lot of joining up of local hubs that has to take place before an area can go live.

Was well over a year round these parts.

iniltous

northernstar007 said:

sorry to bring this old thread back up
i've had a email from OR saying we're building in my area soon
will OR be digging the street up like what virgin done or blowing new fiber through there copper pipes or can OR use virgin underground pipes thats just been layed 18 months ago
my current virgin deal ends mid oct25 there current deals are 24months and theres noway im paying there full price of £48p/m even if i have to wait for OR
btw ive had no problems with virgin since its been installed and love it in fact but lets see what they are like when it comes to renewals mid sept/oct

It really depends on the age of the housing how much digging etc will be required by Openreach , from early 1990’s BT (as it was then ) used fully ducted infrastructure so these areas are a relative doddle and apart from the odd blocked duct will need little excavation,  the 1960 through to the early 1990’s are the most excavation intensive as the copper cables were buried direct in the ground ( ducts between footway  jointboxes from the late 1970’s but not ducted to houses  ) , overhead areas (telegraph poles ) are relatively easy provided there is ‘line of sight’ between poles (so these areas preceding pole ‘feeds’ the next one .

FYI , there is no blown fibre in Openreach FTTP , they use multi fibre cables ,  Openreach cannot use anyone else’s infrastructure, so even when Virgin uses Openreach infrastructure it’s not reciprocal, OR can’t use VM ( or any other network’s infrastructure )