Virgin broadband - Milton Keynes area

[Sinizter]

Is anyone in the MK area using Virgin Broadband over cable ?

According to the post code checker, my street has broadband through cable available.

But when I called up Virgin to enquire, they said they dont have any cable networks in the MK area and therefore I can only get broadband over the phone. Im only interested in switching if I can get it through cable.

I havent had time to call them up again, so I was wondering if anyone here knows whether MK area is cabled.

Thanks.

[Moby-Dick]

MK doesn't have digital cable at all. The VM website takes the liberty of bull-pooing you

MK was the one of the first towns in the UK to have cable , but its analogue.

[Sinizter]

MK doesn't have digital cable at all. The VM website takes the liberty of bull-pooing you

MK was the one of the first towns in the UK to have table , but its analogue.

I thought tables have been around nearly forever....

Thanks for the quick reply.

[Moby-Dick]

on the bright side I suspect Mk might get 21CN from bt quite quickly.

I was part of the fibre to the home trial

[TheAnimus]

on the bright side I suspect Mk might get 21CN from bt quite quickly.

I was part of the fibre to the home trial

because no one can tell when they're digging up the streets?

[Avalon]

The postcode checker only says at least ONE person in your postcode can get services, it doesn't narrow it down to you on an initial check, it also doesn't say what those services are without you going further into it.

[kalniel]

MK will get new stuff quickly.. because it needs it. They've got duff phone cables so broadband over phone is also slow.

[Sinizter]

If MK wants to continue to be the fastest growing UK city, they damn well better get with the times and get these problems sorted quickly.

[Funkstar]

Not directly relevant to cable in MK, but we have a similar situation in Aberdeen. We had cable years ago, again it was one of the first in the country, if not the first. It was a joint venture with BT. The signal was sent from Aberdeen Cable to the BT local exchanges, and then repeated out to the subscribers over coax. Without starting again there was no way for it to be moved to digital.

Aberdeen Cable was purchsed by Atlantic Telecom in the mid '90s. They then went bust. BT walked away from the cable operations, it wasn't worth their effort. There is no cable operations in Aberdeen at all now, and probably never will be.

Our target date for 21CN is Q3 2009.

[jamin]

21CN is more focused on BT's IP core migrations to a single integrated solution rather than the 13 existing networks (I think 13, but CBA to search again) Fibre to the home is a different although related trial.

VM postcode checker has become less reliable as it no longer just registers just cable ready homes since the integration of the virgin.net adsl provider into the business. In other words it may well say you can get VM services but in reality it may only be virgin.net adsl.

[beanbandit]

because no one can tell when they're digging up the streets?

No real need to dig up streets in MK for cabling, there is ducting going to every home, all they need to do is "push" the cables through.

The big problem with the cable network in MK is that they have had a few owners down the years. BT took over the cable back in the 80's, then they were forced to sell it off by the EU due to furure projects they were involved with. Selling to NTL should have bought a big upgrade to digital and to install cable to the original villages/towns around MK. But NTL couldn't afford the upgrade, so now we have an ageing analogue network that needs lots of money spent to bring it up to date. I can't see Virgin doing this for some time to come.

[Robert]

I presumed this 21CN stuff would include putting fibre in...but it doesn't.

Oh well I'll stick with blueyonder.

[Sinizter]

All these factors have come together to make MK a near-black hole as far as broadband is concerned. Maybe different in the city centre, but for homes spread out further it definitely not with the times.

Looks like whatever changes are coming, I am not likely to be there to benefit from it.

[burble]

There are some exchanges in MK that have been LLU'd so there are reasonable options there.

[abcdale]

LLU will only give you the same service as bt as the kit in the ground that gets you from bt exch to you is still the same ,be it good or crap

[burble]

LLU will only give you the same service as bt as the kit in the ground that gets you from bt exch to you is still the same ,be it good or crap

No it won't. Whilst you'd still be using the BT copper back to the exchange, you'd be connecting to the LLU providers equipment in the exchange.

Bearing in mind the %age of households in MK that have broadband (63.7% apparently - the second highest in the country) then I would assume that the copper already under the ground is good enough for you to see a benefit if you were using an LLU service.