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[OgTheClever]

I wish this counted for ADSL as well, I've been stuck on Virgin's 2mb connection for 5 years. I'm still living with parents at the moment and my dad's too stubborn to change or update the subscription even if I pay for any extra costs.

 

[StalkerUKCG]

Didnt BT say they are looking to get a service upgraded to 300Mbps by 2014?

I did look at virgin but there expensive if you just want internet alone. I would never swap Sky TV for virgin.

Well then your doing it wrong. SkyTV is from previous experience a clunky mess and a waste of time and money, V+ HD and/or the Tivo package is far superior in user interface and lacks a very small number of channels that sky has. Couple that with blazing fast broadband (im on 50mb currently) and for me Virgin has sunk the competition. Free upgrade to 100mb has made my day

 

[kharma45]

Well then your doing it wrong. SkyTV is from previous experience a clunky mess and a waste of time and money, V+ HD and/or the Tivo package is far superior in user interface and lacks a very small number of channels that sky has. Couple that with blazing fast broadband (im on 50mb currently) and for me Virgin has sunk the competition. Free upgrade to 100mb has made my day

Maybe back in the days before the current guide but it's brilliant for me with a great GUI (I've found Virgin's to be poor, but I've not tried Tivo yet).

Sky's broadband isn't a match for Virgin's top fibre but for what you pay as a Sky customer it's pretty good, just hope they roll out fibre soon enough to get them to upgrade to it. No VM for them here (I have it at uni) but I wouldn't make them pay for it, it's not worth the price imo.

 

[Messypandas]

Virgin sent me an 'announcement email' in 'error'. I was a virgin customer, til i moved to sky last year. Seems like obvious bragging to me, right?

 

[F#A#Oo]

Haha...yeah they're bragging...

 

[Threi]

meanwhile in canada

 

[Walshicus]

Chichester doesn't have Virgin Media cable where I live, so I'm stuck on ADSL.

 

[Mudkips]

Bitches, please.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1705675097.png

 

[The Albatross]

Charter boosted me from 60Mbps to 100 last month, just like they went from 25 to 60 two years ago. Same price.

I used to complain about Charter's customer service and some problems, but they're a really good ISP IMO, and the few times I've had problems in the last three years, they've been really great at fixing them or making up for it.

 

[brain_stew]

Chichester doesn't have Virgin Media cable where I live, so I'm stuck on ADSL.

Are you not on the roll out for FTTC?

 

[Walshicus]

Are you not on the roll out for FTTC?

No idea. Any way to check?

 

[brain_stew]

No idea. Any way to check?

Bt.com/infinity

 

[Slavik81]

meanwhile in canada

Shaw upgraded my internet from 15mbps to 25mbps late last year.

This year, I signed up for digital cable and got a promotional rate, lowering my total bill by $15/month for the next 12 months, and raising my internet to 50mbps. Though, in 12 months I'll have to cancel, since then it becomes obscenely expensive.

Things are ok in western Canada. Could be better, certainly, but we're slowly improving.

 

[123rl]

October for me. I'm on 20mb so I'm getting upgraded to 60!

 

[Randy Lanzarote]

2.6mbs here, 3.5km from the nearest exchange (straight line, real distance probably more like eleventy billion miles) not in a Virgin cabled area and no BT Infinity either.

Time to move.

 

[Walshicus]

Bt.com/infinity

Oh, no - don't really want to use BT. Sorry thought FTTC was something to do with Virgin's rollout of cable!

 

[Oblivion]

Google Fiber is 1 gigaBIT per second, not gigabyte. 8 bits equal 1 byte. So whatever the advertised speed is, just divide by 8. Supposedly it's 125 megabytes per second for Google fiber, so the speed test results of 151 makes it even better.

Dough! I'm dumb, sorry that makes sense.

In that case, :bow Google :bow

 

[brain_stew]

Oh, no - don't really want to use BT. Sorry thought FTTC was something to do with Virgin's rollout of cable!

You don't have to get FTTC from BT but that site will tell you if FTTC is coming to your area. If Virgin aren't in the area at all then FTTC is your only realistic chance at decent BB.

Regardless, if you were willing to put up with Virgin's customer service then I don't really get what puts you off going back to BT if they have the product you want, both companies are equally average in this area and if traffic management or contention is your concern well Infinity actually has Virgin beat here, currently. I guarantee you that Infinity will crap over any ADSL product you may have atm, you really shouldn't let prior prejudices get in the way of getting an objectively better product, its nonsensical.

This goes for everybody but if you've got cable or FTTC in your area, and you're not one of the lucky few that can maintain 18-20mb on ADSL then its madness to stick with what you have.

 

[Omikaru]

On 40gigabit BT Infinity right now, but I've had a guts full of their hardware. Modem keeps overheating (been replaced three times now through no fault of our own), and I have to keep resetting my Home Hub because it becomes invisible for 90% of my house's wifi devices every couple of days.

Service is great, and whenever something goes wrong on BT's end (or with the hardware) they send someone out very quickly to sort it. Alas, everything's gone wrong one time too many, and I'm ready to bail.

I think 40gbit downloads is enough for just me, so I'll research a neat Virgin Media package for once my BT contract runs out, which I believe is soon.

 

[SLV]

Welp, the only good thing in my piss poor Banana republic of a country is the internet, unluckily, i cant get it as i am not thinking of moving in to a flat any time soon, so i am stuck on a shitty 10 Mbit DSL.

But see this picture, that is the fiber coverage in the country, the package offered is up to 500 mbit/s :O, the 200mbit/s package which i would love to have costs only 40 $ per month, with no bandwidth limit or throttling. Sadly, for me to get it, i either have to fork over 10k $ (ROFL) or move to a flat :/

 

[Dirtyshubb]

Read about this yesterday, fantastic news. Im going to be looking forward to my nice 100mb connection

Never had any problems with Virgin and i always get my correct speed, wouldnt change them for anything since every experience i have had with BT or Sky (family and friends) have been terrible, using the internet round theirs is always a buggy, slow mess.

 

[mrklaw]

oh well, jumped in. Figure it can't hurt for a year. Be nice to have a tivo again - I bought one at launch in the UK and it was fantastic.

i currently get about 9-10mb and I went for the 50mb virgin service which will get doubled to 100mb, so 10x internet speed soon I hope! Don't really give a shit about internet shaping. All my big downloads are scheduled to be between midnight and 8am, to avoid any issues if I want to stream something during the evening, so I should be ok there.

And with a cash back offer and 3 free months I'm saving £250 which will go towards my iPad 3 fund.


and after the initial 12 months, if its shit, BT will have upgraded me to infinity by then (my area is due mid-year), and hopefully Sky will have something to offer. Although LLU isn't as simple (you don't just put equipment in the exchange, you need it locally), maybe once BT have done the hard work, they'll open it up wholesale to other providers?

 

[brain_stew]

oh well, jumped in. Figure it can't hurt for a year. Be nice to have a tivo again - I bought one at launch in the UK and it was fantastic.

i currently get about 9-10mb and I went for the 50mb virgin service which will get doubled to 100mb, so 10x internet speed soon I hope! Don't really give a shit about internet shaping. All my big downloads are scheduled to be between midnight and 8am, to avoid any issues if I want to stream something during the evening, so I should be ok there.

And with a cash back offer and 3 free months I'm saving £250 which will go towards my iPad 3 fund.


and after the initial 12 months, if its shit, BT will have upgraded me to infinity by then (my area is due mid-year), and hopefully Sky will have something to offer. Although LLU isn't as simple (you don't just put equipment in the exchange, you need it locally), maybe once BT have done the hard work, they'll open it up wholesale to other providers?

They've been doing that for 2 years now.

You won't be disappointed with Virgin's 50mb service, there's no strict traffic management rules on it like their lower end packages. There will be some minor shaping on torrents and usenet traffic in the evening but then any sensible ISP would do that (well at least on torrents) anyway, lest they spoil the experience of the rest of their customers.

 

[krae_man]

meanwhile in canada

I got my speed with Rogers bumped from 10mbps to 24mbps 6 months or so ago. Data cap stayed the same though

 

[Jeff Albertson]

Really people would be better off sticking with BT.

And I'm not in any way saying that because I work for BT and would like the share price to remain high for my share save schemes and I also quite like having a job.

 

[leadbelly]

I'm on Virgin Media. They've been steadily upgrading me from the start, so it's pretty much what I expected really.

 

[Mordeccai]

Some of your DL speeds make me cry. I was home for the break at my parents house, and they live in buttfuck nowhere. Fucking 2 mbps download speeds. My dad tells me he is paying 65 bucks a month for this, so I call the company and bitch about how utterly ridiculous this is.

Apparently, they are the only provider for my parents location, and that is the highest speed they offer.

 

[Biggzy]

I'm on Virgin Media. They've been steadily upgrading me from the start, so it's pretty much what I expected really.

Same here I started at 20 mbps years ago. They upgraded me to 30mbps a year or two ago and there are now upgrading me again and I have not paid anything extra all this time - its brilliant.

 

[kharma45]

Anyone elses VM fucked tonight?

I seem to be lucky to still be able to access some sites but most stuff isn't working now.

 

[zomgbbqftw]

Anyone elses VM fucked tonight?

I seem to be lucky to still be able to access some sites but most stuff isn't working now.

Yup. Bastarding VM is busted.

 

[Lakitu]

Anyone elses VM fucked tonight?

I seem to be lucky to still be able to access some sites but most stuff isn't working now.

YES.

I was about to post this. Their telephone numbers aren't working, most sites (except for Neogaf) aren't working either and worst of all, Xbox Live isn't working which means no Battlefield 3 :<

 

[Ushojax]

Anyone elses VM fucked tonight?

I seem to be lucky to still be able to access some sites but most stuff isn't working now.

Yep, mine is buggered. Hotmail, ebay, plenty of others all inaccessible.

 

[kharma45]

I can access the odd site like Facebook, Twitter, Google and obviously GAF, but I need to get onto my uni email to send stuff out but it looks like that's not happening tonight :\

Time to venture to the library I guess.

 

[Dirtyshubb]

Hadn't seen this posted anywhere but i just received a letter informing me of the speed increase, which I knew but they also mentioned that because im such a great 50MB user they are going to also bump me up to 120MB for free once its available in my area!

I know some people have problems with Virgin but they really are so much better than any other provider in the UK, never had any problems myself and always get the right speed. Funny too how much BT go on about 'Virgin trying to catch up with us' yet today the news showed that Virgin have better speeds then them on average and from my knowledge have for years now.

 

[kharma45]

Virgin Media now traffic managing all broadband packages

http://shop.virginmedia.com/content/dam/allyours/pdf/Traffic Management Threshold_30.pdf

Pretty shit, might not bother renewing now.

If you can't made heads nor tail of that PDF this is a better breakdown of it

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/...anagement-policy-to-reflect-new-products.html

 

[surly]

Virgin Media now traffic managing all broadband packages

http://shop.virginmedia.com/content/dam/allyours/pdf/Traffic Management Threshold_30.pdf

Pretty shit, might not bother renewing now.

It's shit for those that are yet to be upgraded, but when your connection is upgraded your speed will be either doubled or tripled, and if you download enough for STM to kick in your speed will be halved, so you're still better off than you were before.

My connection was upgraded from 20 Mbps to 60 Mbps last week. Here is how the traffic shaping affected me then: -

Download over 7 GB between 10AM and 3PM = speed cut by 75% to 5 Mbps for 5 hours
Download over 3.5 GB between 4PM and 9PM = speed cut by 75% to 5 Mbps for 5 hours

And now: -

Download over 10 GB between 10AM and 3PM = speed cut by 50% to 30 Mbps for 5 hours
Download over 5 GB between 4PM and 9PM = speed cut by 50% to 30 Mbps for 5 hours

 

[br0ken_shad0w]

Virgin Media now traffic managing all broadband packages

http://shop.virginmedia.com/content/dam/allyours/pdf/Traffic Management Threshold_30.pdf

Pretty shit, might not bother renewing now.

If you can't made heads nor tail of that PDF this is a better breakdown of it

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/...anagement-policy-to-reflect-new-products.html

Quite sad their throttled speeds are leagues above my current max speed.

Only issue I have is why are they throttling late at night and early morning? That defeats the purpose of easing congestion.

 

[caramac]

Virgin Media contacted me last week and offered me an upgrade to a tivo box with free activation and no installation fee and an early broadband speed upgrade from 10 to 60mb, it's only costing me about £6 per month more. Good offer I thought.

 

[kharma45]

It's shit for those that are yet to be upgraded, but when your connection is upgraded your speed will be either doubled or tripled, and if you download enough for STM to kick in your speed will be halved, so you're still better off than you were before.

Yeah that is true, at worst I'll get capped to 60Mb but it's the fact that first they upped speeds, then increased the price a bit later and now this, just seems like their struggling to meet demand. I also don't feel when you're paying £37-38 a month (I can't remember what it is now after the increase) you should be capped. By all means cap the bottom packages but not the top end one, it's the reason I took it out in the first place.

 

[brain_stew]

So BT have reacted and the upto 80/20 upgrade is going to be free for all customers on the £26 unlimited package. The best part is that it's available to everyone straight away, there's no staggered rollout like VM.

The end of my Virgin contract should coincide quite well with the launch of Infinity in my area, and I'll have to put it under very serious consideration now. That 20mb upload isn't something to be scoffed at.

 

[TGMIII]

Anyone elses VM fucked tonight?

I seem to be lucky to still be able to access some sites but most stuff isn't working now.

I was streaming for a bit and my upload went from 2Mb/s to 200Kb/s. I thought they capped me for some weird reason but I guess they're just having issues?

Also, I've had this contract at my parents house since NTL back when a 20MB line was around £40 and I moved out and recently moved back in and realized they're still paying £40 a month. Anyone had any experience getting them to actually fix the price of what I should be paying or do you think they'll just say no?

 

[brain_stew]

I was streaming for a bit and my upload went from 2Mb/s to 200Kb/s. I thought they capped me for some weird reason but I guess they're just having issues?

Also, I've had this contract at my parents house since NTL back when a 20MB line was around £40 and I moved out and recently moved back in and realized they're still paying £40 a month. Anyone had any experience getting them to actually fix the price of what I should be paying or do you think they'll just say no?

Give them a call, armed with the prices online. You'll be able to get 100mb for less than you're paying ATM.

 

[kharma45]

Sorry for bumping this thread but I thought I'd ask some of you guys here who are on VM.

At the minute I've got the XXL broadband package and am paying £37.25 a month (it's currently £34.75 on their website) and got this in regards to wanting to downgrade to a cheaper package, sounds like either someone doesn't have a clue or is lying to me.

Hello kharma45,

Thanks for your e-mail to Virgin Media about downgrading your Broadband
to size XL (30Mb) package.

We're sorry to hear that you're thinking of downgrading your Broadband
package.

We can confirm that you're subscribed to the Broadband size XXL (up to
100Mb) package. The standard monthly charge for Broadband size XXL
package is £47.25. As you're getting a monthly discount of £10.00,
you're paying £37.25 for your Broadband package.

You’re in you're in contract with us from the 18th July 2011 to the 17th
July 2012. If you'll downgrade your Broadband package you'll lose your
monthly discount.

Just so you know the standard monthly charge for the Broadband to size
XL (30Mb) package is £38.50. There is no new contract to downgrade any
of the packages.

Kind regards,

Amrita Sonar
Virgin Media

Anyone got any idea what's going on?

 

[Slair]

Sorry for bumping this thread but I thought I'd ask some of you guys here who are on VM.

At the minute I've got the XXL broadband package and am paying £37.25 a month (it's currently £34.75 on their website) and got this in regards to wanting to downgrade to a cheaper package, sounds like either someone doesn't have a clue or is lying to me.


Anyone got any idea what's going on?

They spout absolute shit most of the time, every time i called i've got an overseas call centre and they have no clue, they tried to charge me £90 for my free speed upgrade, then for a super hub, then an increased monthly fee on top. I phoned up to say i was cancelling because they were lying to me, this connects you to a british call centre. This solved everything. Person solved everything and apologised profusely.

 

[kharma45]

They spout absolute shit most of the time, every time i called i've got an overseas call centre and they have no clue, they tried to charge me £90 for my free speed upgrade, then for a super hub, then an increased monthly fee on top. I phoned up to say i was cancelling because they were lying to me, this connects you to a british call centre. This solved everything. Person solved everything and apologised profusely.

Must do the same then, I didn't phone up as I didn't want to waste my time with their foreign call centres asking about downgrading so I'll call and just say I want to cancel and see how far I get.

 

[Jezbollah]

Jesus fucking christ, I honestly dont know how that kind of treatment happens. Disgraceful.

Just to add re this thread - I have been on Sky Broadband Fibre Pro for a few weeks now - 80mbs down/20mbs up. It's fantastic. But a little overkill IMO.

It's fantastic when you have something like a demo to download off XBL - the recent Mass Effect ending DLC came down in eight minutes. I think anything over 40 meg will be enough for most - especially when it comes to demolishing HD streams.

There is no doubt competition like this is driving things forward in this country, and that's a great thing. Lets hope FTTC can roll out quickly.

 

[moojito]

Without taking into account random discounts that seem to be on everyone's account, the base price for l broadband has always been £27, xl £37 and xxl £47.

I've seen people paying as little as £2.50 a month for xxl though, so it's definitely worth calling up and going through the whole thinking of cancelling routine. Just don't do that with tech support. They don't care ;o)

 

[kharma45]

Jesus fucking christ, I honestly dont know how that kind of treatment happens. Disgraceful.

Just to add re this thread - I have been on Sky Broadband Fibre Pro for a few weeks now - 80mbs down/20mbs up. It's fantastic. But a little overkill IMO.

It's fantastic when you have something like a demo to download off XBL - the recent Mass Effect ending DLC came down in eight minutes. I think anything over 40 meg will be enough for most - especially when it comes to demolishing HD streams.

There is no doubt competition like this is driving things forward in this country, and that's a great thing. Lets hope FTTC can roll out quickly.

Yeah they've absolutely woeful customer service, Sky's for my parents at home has been great as has the broadband (it's just the unlimited LLU one) whereas Virgin's up in my student house is woeful, the SuperHub is the biggest piece of shit I've ever come across.

And nice to a VM advert at the bottom of this page for me, wankers.

Without taking into account random discounts that seem to be on everyone's account, the base price for l broadband has always been £27, xl £37 and xxl £47.

I've seen people paying as little as £2.50 a month for xxl though, so it's definitely worth calling up and going through the whole thinking of cancelling routine. Just don't do that with tech support. They don't care ;o)

It has? Even looking at their website now it's nothing like that

Although I see all packages now are 18 month fucking contracts, used to be 12 months without the phoneline.

 

[daviyoung]

Sorry for bumping this thread but I thought I'd ask some of you guys here who are on VM.

At the minute I've got the XXL broadband package and am paying £37.25 a month (it's currently £34.75 on their website) and got this in regards to wanting to downgrade to a cheaper package, sounds like either someone doesn't have a clue or is lying to me.


Anyone got any idea what's going on?

I'm on XL60 for £27 a month.

*shrug*

 

[The Dutch Slayer]

wel Virgin Media GAF start posting your new speeds here

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=460560