Virgin fibre optic internet

[Englander]

Not long ago they popped a leaflet through my door telling me how I could get up to 20MB fibre optic internet.

I was just wondering what the package was like and if anyone else currently has it.

[Grey M@a]

I am on the 20mb cable and its alright, it hits the 20mb speeds but the throttling is a nightmare and when you are running patches or downloading demo's you can fill the 3gb limit with ease.

[Lee H]

I was going to say check the 2 following links on hexus about virgin and their throttling

http://forums.hexus.net/networking-b...-question.html

http://forums.hexus.net/networking-b...ull-speed.html

[Englander]

I am on the 20mb cable and its alright, it hits the 20mb speeds but the throttling is a nightmare and when you are running patches or downloading demo's you can fill the 3gb limit with ease.

Ew yuck, I hate throttling. My BT line is currently reduced because I downloaded a bit too much a bit too often. Actually, I think it was removed at the end of August, but no doubt it will be back on soon again

Speaking of throttling, who's the best for not throttling?

[Grey M@a]

Ew yuck, I hate throttling. My BT line is currently reduced because I downloaded a bit too much a bit too often. Actually, I think it was removed at the end of August, but no doubt it will be back on soon again

Speaking of throttling, who's the best for not throttling?

They are all heading that way these days but I am sure I heard BE weren't throttling atm

[danroyle]

sky are also not throttling there customers but you need sky tv to get the broadband

[Englander]

sky are also not throttling there customers but you need sky tv to get the broadband

Ah, so throttling is an industry standard, almost I thought BT just had a particular hatred for my families downloading habits.

[Lee H]

Ah, so throttling is an industry standard, almost I thought BT just had a particular hatred for my families downloading habits.

Nope, it's not standard, it's just a way for ISP's who have not invested in their backbone or infrastructure to stop people using their networks to the point of saturation by stopping people downloading at full speed.

[breezer]

I am on the 20mb cable and its alright, it hits the 20mb speeds but the throttling is a nightmare and when you are running patches or downloading demo's you can fill the 3gb limit with ease.

I second that!

[BUFF]

http://www.virginmedia.com/help/traffic-management.php

If you can get cable though I would as imo it's superior to ADSL.

[acrobat]

I dunno about that. It's only really superior when it is working at it's normal speed, and that can be rare depending on what you do. The average web browser / email checking user will probably like it. But like mentioned above, on my 20mbit connection I can reach the 3gig limit in about 20 minutes and then you are gimped for the next 5 hours which is most of the day for me. Unless you are a night owl, it's kind of pointless. For example if I get home about 5pm, and I start downloading something big, I hit the limit by about half past five.... and then its not until almost 11pm that they put it back to normal and by then it's too late to really do anything I wanted to do anyway. So you end up leaving things going over night, and if I'm doing that, then I'm not really any better off than I used to be on my old little cheap connection.

And 3gig now days isn't much. If you do online game betas, or you like to embrace the modern most high tech media distribution method (aka: buying stuff online and downloading it, or getting stuff streamed etc), then it's really crap and you are barely better off than a 5mbit BT connection or something.

I wish I went with Be Internet or Sky instead but now I'm stuck in my stupid Virgin Media contract. Be Internet told me I was about a mile or so from the exchange so I would only likely get 17mbit. So I would have been much better off having 17mbit 24/7, than 20mbit for a few usable hours or whatever. Also Be Internet's upload speed was double what Virgin's is, and even higher if you get the top end Be Internet deal. I really regret not going with them now, or Sky.

I suspect they will end up crap eventually too, because that's just the British ISP way. But I probably could have got at least this year or most of it.

[Madafwo]

I cann't stress this enough... do not touch Virgin media with a barge pole, even if it appears to be the best deal, it wont be in the long run.

Incorrect bills being sent out that show no relation to what you're actually paying, Call centre's based in everybodys favourite location that are below useless, broken promises and in my case they were in breach of contract, I was paying for 4Mb and they were providing 2Mb, they actually told me I ordered 2Mb and the contract I had showed the order for 4Mb.

Finally got off of the service and am now on O2, I could not be happier.

[acrobat]

Yeah the incorrect bill thing seems quite common. My friend had a direct debit set up and they started overcharging him by a whopping £20 per month. And I know from experience how hard it can be to deal with them. You are always put through to India unless you ask for retentions and when I wanted to cancel my account I called retentions and got cut off twice in a row, so it was only on my third or fourth call that I actually got to speak to someone and talk about closing my account.

I upgraded instead... which I now really regret.

[Madafwo]

Isn't it funny that Retentions is the only department that you are guaranteed to get through to a UK based call centre. Even then it can be in one of a few locations.

This thread actually reminded me to call them again because they sent me a bill for my early cancellation fee, which they had already stated they would waive. Also reminded them that my account was actually in credit so they are sorting out a £38 cheque to be posted out to me.

They really are a bunch of cowboys, I would not go back to them for any money, Be or O2 all the way now for me.

[will101]

They did that to you too? I moved from a cable to a non-cable area and they tried to charge me an early cancellation fee.

Several phone calls and several hours later after being passed from pillar to post "you have got through to the cable department, you want the non-cable department". 10 mins later - "you have got through to the non-cable department, you want the cable department". Gahh!

They also owed me money which I am happy to say is now safely in my bank

BT are also crooks - they owe me £1.50 for overcharging me when I requested paperless billing.

/Rant

[moogle]

If you can get cable though I would as imo it's superior to ADSL.

technology-wise yeah Virgin Media wise not always. Unless you live in a village or somewhere far from your exchange it'd probably be better and cheaper. If you're an O2 phone customer it's even cheaper.

I wish I went with Be Internet or Sky instead but now I'm stuck in my stupid Virgin Media contract.

How long's your contract? Be* are still going good for me 1 year on ;D
Others have been on longer so they still have more good years to go. Just don't try too hard to get people onto it though then it'll start going down the poo-chute like VM

Oh yes pings are very good too if that's of any interest to anybody