Virgin Media Broadband

[WestMidsClaret]

Is there actually any difference in the 100, 200 and 350 packages like they advertise?

[Quickenthetempo]

I don’t notice the difference everytime they increase it but I don't download films etc. I think you only need 5 meg or something for streaming.

[gandhisflipflop]

It is shocking where I am (Burnley area) they advertise 250mg which during the day you get but after 6pm as if by magic it slowed down to 5mg at times. After much arguing they eventually released me from my contract. It is caused by over subscribing people in the area so they throttle the speeds to a ridiculous level at night. I only noticed it when I started streaming the football and after testing different equipment I found this out. I switched to Plusnet 2 years ago, never had an issue.

[Quickenthetempo]

It is shocking where I am (Burnley area) they advertise 250mg which during the day you get but after 6pm as if by magic it slowed down to 5mg at times. After much arguing they eventually released me from my contract. It is caused by over subscribing people in the area so they throttle the speeds to a ridiculous level at night. I only noticed it when I started streaming the football and after testing different equipment I found this out. I switched to Plusnet 2 years ago, never had an issue.

It did get bad in the Burnley area like you say but they upgraded my hub and a lot left and it's been perfect ever since.
But don't rejoin back please incase it goes crap again.

[gandhisflipflop]

Fair enough quickenthetempo I won't be rejoining them in a hurry. I'm happy enough now with what I have.

[Goobs]

Never had any real issues with VM or their service however I don't get anywhere near the 100mbs they advertise and upgraded me to for free.

I was on 50mbs and generally get speeds of about 40-45 which is usually OK unless there are 4 of us trying to stream at the same time which can sometimes cause lagging.

[Darthlaw]

I joined in October on their 350mbs service. Couldn't get anywhere near with their router so bought my own and it never falls below 300mbs.

[gandhisflipflop]

I joined in October on their 350mbs service. Couldn't get anywhere near with their router so bought my own and it never falls below 300mbs.

What router did you get?

[houseboy]

I'm with BT and have been for a couple of years now. Never regretted it for a second. My previous ones were all crap because of the area I live in but I get consistently upwards of 40 and have done all along and it never drops out or slows. I used to get less than 5 with bloody Sky. BT are so good they sent an engineer out recently to see if they could get it higher as it should be around 50 but they couldn't do anything at the time but have since arranged for another guy who will trace it back to the exchange to find out the 'problem' which I don't really have. All this at no cost and no hassle (they now have UK call centres and if I call them they answer within a couple of minutes). Can't recommend highly enough. I even have our mobile phones with them now.

And just to top it off their Smarthub5 gets wi-fi to any part of my house, including my extension where it has to pass through an old cavited and insulated outside wall.

PS I don't work for them. Genuinely happy bunny.

[Bosscat]

I'm with BT and have been for a couple of years now. Never regretted it for a second. My previous ones were all crap because of the area I live in but I get consistently upwards of 40 and have done all along and it never drops out or slows. I used to get less than 5 with bloody Sky. BT are so good they sent an engineer out recently to see if they could get it higher as it should be around 50 but they couldn't do anything at the time but have since arranged for another guy who will trace it back to the exchange to find out the 'problem' which I don't really have. All this at no cost and no hassle (they now have UK call centres and if I call them they answer within a couple of minutes). Can't recommend highly enough. I even have our mobile phones with them now.

And just to top it off their Smarthub5 gets wi-fi to any part of my house, including my extension where it has to pass through an old cavited and insulated outside wall.

PS I don't work for them. Genuinely happy bunny.

Happy New Year House

We are with BT and also have been for several years we get 18Mb here in the dales and our Smarthub6 sends the signal all round the House and Garden..... I use a small booster just to give my Sky Plus maximum for down loading movies and catchup TV

[Darthlaw]

What router did you get?

Netgear R8000

[dushanbe]

A lot of the perceived problems with broadband are often related to the stock router provided. The VM hub for example is an absolutely under powered shocker.

As Darthlaw says, the best thing you can do is put it straight into modem mode and get a decent router. I've been using an Asus RT-AC3200 for a year or so, with a modified AsusWrt Merlin firmware. Aside from the improved internet experience, this allows you to use a VPN if required, directly within the router so traffic from certain devices can be sent via the VPN or not.

I also highly recommend setting up a ping monitor at https://www.thinkbroadband.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; this will allow you to see the quality of your broadband, rather than relying on speed tests which are testing your internal network speed as much as anything.

[bfcmik]

I live in Solihull and am on Virgin's 250Mb network. I just did a speed test and got a measured reading of - 224.56 Mb/s download 11.82 Mb/s upload.

[aggi]

I'm not in Burnley but I do get the advertised speeds. Again I don't use the virgin router (mine is all ubiquiti stuff).

I downgraded to the 100 as that's still plenty fast for most stuff. The only time I notice it is when downloading Xbox games which can be pretty sizeable.

[chipbutty]

I am getting 115mb download with VM and am on a 100mb contract, they are really good at sorting out any problems.
Using Virgin router and at times there must be 15 devices connected to it with no problems