Virgin media and gaming

[Robert]

With the 2meg I had major issues when my two sons tried to go online simultaneously. Upgrading to 10meg fixed the problem - however, even with 10meg, my third old PC does not get much of a look in for accessing mail or causal web browsing, when my boys are online.

I don't see why :/

Online gaming shouldn't use much bandwidth at all and browsing/e-mail shouldn't be a problem. It was fine for us when we first got 512kb (the only service they offered back then).

[chavo]

i used to have problems with mine with tiscali then i switched to sky 16meg and its lovely bt just upgraded the exchange for adsl2 so i get ping around 20 all the time and love downloading things at 1600kbs from some sites

On the 20 meg virgin line i get 2.4mbps from my newsgroup, (giganews) it is really quick.
only problem now is of course there is a 3GB cap every day starts at 4 finishes at midnight when you hit 3gb speed drops to 600kbps. gutted!!!

[finnrogers]

I think the speed cap is quite fair tbh - It prevents the filesharers from slowing the network down when it hits it's peak in terms of traffic.

After all, I'd rather be slowed down due to speeding than face a congestion charge and traffic jams!

[No.72]

My 2 meg virgin pings get worse in peak times 7pm-10pm. In cod2 UK servers go from 30-40 to 50-80. My ping gets really laggy on any server when my other computer (light web browsing) is on so it makes games un-playable. I think for gaming you want 10 meg.

[RRRuss]

I'm with Virgin - I'm on 4MB through a Linksys router - my average ping on Multiplay UK based BF2142 servers is about 18. I don't have a single complaint about their service.

[peterb]

My 2 meg virgin pings get worse in peak times 7pm-10pm. In cod2 UK servers go from 30-40 to 50-80. My ping gets really laggy on any server when my other computer (light web browsing) is on so it makes games un-playable. I think for gaming you want 10 meg.

High speed does not automatically mean low latency - you can get high latency (ie ping times) on a fast connection.

[vc54321]

i was on virgin 4mb and have now moved onto the 10mb, the pings are still the same. gaming is perfect, no lag or anything

[Apex]

The thing most of you lot have missed with regards to speed is that it's not the download that matters a lot theses days, it'sthe upload, with most services capped beolow 400k/s which equates to around 50kb/s of actuall through put.

10m/b down is fine but it will feel like 56k when more then one of you are using the upload

[Andy3536]

Have the 2meg service from virgin and not had many probs, but not recomended if you have more than one internet connection.
And on phoning about a fault with thier modem came out and replaced in 2 days so customer service gets a thumbs up!

[FrobinRobin]

Interesting thread ... I have a Bulldog telephone line and their 8MB DSL, also have a Virgin line and was considering moving to their Cable internet service.
With Bulldog I reguarly get 11 ping on BF2142 and my highest actual download speed is 700k and its never capped.
I was looking at the 10MB Virgin line (which they say may go to 20MB ) so as long as the ping doesnt suck.. and 3GB is quite a lot for a days use ... I dont presume it would matter!

[Jay]

well I use SDSL in work we have 2mb / 2mb on 1:1 and its close to £10,000 a year!!

but I can tell you that even though its only 2mb its bloody fast. you can get it for about £3,000 a year but thats at 25:1.

[FrobinRobin]

i was on virgin 4mb and have now moved onto the 10mb, the pings are still the same. gaming is perfect, no lag or anything

Can you tell me what the upload speed is on the 10meg service? and do you know if its the same on the 20mb?

[Carlh]

The 10mb service has a 400k upload speed,

The 20mb has 768k upload speed,

Saying that vigin have rebranded there service and most of the 10mb users would have been upgraded to 20mb already or in the next couple of months.

[RRRuss]

I upgraded from 4MB to 10MB yesterday - it's awesome, I wish I'd have done it sooner

I get the 20MB upgrade during August... yay!!

[simplygreg]

I don't get it - .... i didn't think there was a 10mb service? Thought it was only either 2, 4 or 20???

Meh I am thinking of taking the plunge for ADSL on virgin cus its a good deal! Not sure how close we would get to 8mb though!

[Carlh]

Not all areas have been upgraded to 20mb as yet therefore if the upgraded service isnt in your area yet you will be put on 10mb until the speed is upgraded.