We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Virgin Broadband really 20mb?

Options
I am tampted by this and they say the speed is not dependant on the distance from the exchange like broadband over a telephone line - those that have this, is it really 20mb?
«1345

Comments

  • gaming_guy
    gaming_guy Posts: 6,128 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    i think its dependent on how many users are connected to the service and i guess you will probably get slightly less than 20mb
  • Blacksheep1979
    Blacksheep1979 Posts: 4,224 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    you get (or rather I do) 16mb on a good day - I was on the trial before 20mbit came out properly and got better speeds then, but that was back in the day when it was ntl and in general the broadband seemed better then.
  • Hippychick
    Hippychick Posts: 738 Forumite
    My DH has this at home and regularly gets 19.5mb on speedtests. We were told by a virgin engineer though that our area didn't have that many customers, hence the excellent speeds :)


    CC debt at 8/7/13 - £12,186.17
    Barclaycard £11,027.58
    Halifax £1,158.59
    5 year plan to live unsecured debt free and move home
  • BillScarab
    BillScarab Posts: 6,027 Forumite
    Personally I wouldn't bother with the 20Mb service. Currently I'm on the 4Mb service and and they're upgrading all of those to 10Mb this year for no extra cost.

    In terms of reliable speeds Cable is much better than ADSL. If they say you'll get a particluar speed you'll get something very close to it. On a 4Mb line I've never seen less than 3.8Mb. Although I also think the service has got poorer since Virgin took over, it was better with Telewest.
    It's my problem, it's my problem
    If I feel the need to hide
    And it's my problem if I have no friends
    And feel I want to die


  • Stageshoot
    Stageshoot Posts: 592 Forumite
    I live in an "old Foggey" area, so get 20mb 24 hours a day 7 days week

    if you live in a student area you would be lucky to get 2-4mb on a 20mb line at peak times,

    If you get a good service its superb, if you get a poor service its DIRE

    All you can do is ask any neighbours if they use it and how they find it.
    Over 100k miles of Electric Motoring and rising,
  • Nilrem
    Nilrem Posts: 2,565 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    Cable (almost) always connects at the speed it's sold at - unlike ADSL you don't have any problems with the distance from the exchange affecting the speed you get, and it tends to be much less trouble than ADSL as it's running on lines intended for that use (and much higher quality to start with*).

    The downside is that you do get your speed affected by the number of heavy users in your area, and they do implement shaping/speed limiting if you download/upload more than a set amount during certain times (with 20mb you get limited to 5mb for something like 4 hours after you hit the certain bandwidth usage between 4pm and 9pm).

    It's also got the ability to be speeded up quite a lot, much easier than ADSL (Virgin are getting ready to roll out 50mb using some new equipment on the existing lines, and I think the people that design the equipment are working on much faster versions).

    However, as Vickyhurn says if you're in an overloaded area the speeds can be dire, but the combination of the speed limiting, removal of analogue TV on the lines, and the roll out of the 50mb should help a bit with that (the 50mb level uses bandwidth the current equipment can't use, and they are hoping to move the really heavy users over to it).


    *I was having a conversation with my brother in law earlier as he'd been asked to move an ADSL modem to another room for someone and when I explained the things that might affect how he could do it his words were something line the lines of "For Smeg's Sake, why couldn't he (his friend) have proper broadband" :p
  • LadyMorticia
    LadyMorticia Posts: 19,899 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I normally get 18-19mb in the early morning/early afternoon and then sometimes 8-10mb late afternoon/early evening when kids are home from school and people are home from work and using the internet. That's on ethernet though. When I'm using wireless I get about 4-5mb.
    2019 Wins
    1/25

    £2019 in 2019
    £10/£2019
  • bingo_bango
    bingo_bango Posts: 2,594 Forumite
    276016603.png

    This is what the 4mb service is getting me this morning. Sooner it goes to 1 the better.
  • planemad
    planemad Posts: 569 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    276028564.png

    I'm on 2mb for £10 per month. More than enough for me.
  • Ken68
    Ken68 Posts: 6,825 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Energy Saving Champion Home Insurance Hacker!
    Plus net £10 a month, less initial cashback. 8mb but more than a mile from the exchange so mostly 4mb plus. Pleased.
    We all old fogeys tho so don't want it too fast :-)
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 350.9K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.5K Spending & Discounts
  • 243.9K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.8K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.9K Life & Family
  • 257.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.