virgin media fiber optic internet any good

[eddie benton]

does any 1 here have the virgin media fiber optic internet connection?
im thinking of getting it as i am Not getting the connection im paying for from supanet (8MB) and i only get like 5MB in the morning and 2MB or less in the evening

but its £30 a month and im paying £20 ATM and i don't even need the phone line that the package comes with from virgin media


so is it worth it? if the light cable as good as they boast about it?

[JohnBradbury]

what fiber connection?

I have their 20mb line and the most I've ever had is 2800KB/S but this can be caused by a number of factors, most of which are not within the power of Virgin to fix.

Virgin operate a fibre backbone, however the connection from the exchange to your home is copper.

[greenbrucelee]

I think Noelg does.

[hbroomhall]

JohnB is correct. Virgin's fiber is only to a street cabinet. The rest of the way is via copper coax. And that is in 'fiber areas'. Not all Virgin's areas are fiber.

The *actual* speed you get depends on the network beyond the fiber. This can be variable.

Harry (Standard disclaimer - I work for a well-known competitor to Virgin).

[noelg24]

Originally Posted by greenbrucelee

I think Noelg does.

let the cat out of the bag there didnt u mate? lol

i am also on Virgin's 20Mb connection and to be honest its not even that I get these days...i will admit my download speeds have improved over the last month...but im still probs getting at most 1.7MB/s download speed...when i should be clocking 2.3MB/s but even if they say they are running fibre optic...like the others have said its not all fibre optic...as if Virgin think we are all stupid (come on Sir Richard, sort it out!!) BT havent started rolling out fibre optic so why do Virgin claim they have? makes no sense!!

[wizard]

I think you are getting a little confused here.

Virgin Media offer an ADSL connection if your street isn't cabled, so Virgin Media like all the other ADSL providers will have their equipment installed in a BT exchange (correct me if I'm wrong with regards to VM).

As pointed out they do fiber upto the green street cabs in a VM cabled area, then the last mile is copper to the home.

[Ropenfold]

I'm on Virgin, the service is ok although my connection gets a bit patchy in the early hours of the morning, perhaps its the signal I should be in bed! I don't think anyone gets 20mb as advertised.

[wizard]

Originally Posted by Ropenfold

I'm on Virgin, the service is ok although my connection gets a bit patchy in the early hours of the morning, perhaps its the signal I should be in bed! I don't think anyone gets 20mb as advertised.

Virgin also throttle the bandwidth of heavy users as well and we all know as well the UBRs become quite packed and the service starts to suffer really badly.

[JohnBradbury]

Yes indead, the term is 'traffic shaping'.

Whilst I am unhappy with the introduction of this and feel it is not in keeping with the spirit of the service them advertise they are still by far the best broadband provider in the UK.

[wizard]

Originally Posted by JohnBradbury

Yes indead, the term is 'traffic shaping'.

Whilst I am unhappy with the introduction of this and feel it is not in keeping with the spirit of the service them advertise they are still by far the best broadband provider in the UK.

I also doubt whether they will be able to afford any new equipment, they are still losing money.

[noelg24]

Originally Posted by wizard

I also doubt whether they will be able to afford any new equipment, they are still losing money.

not to mention trialling 50Mb and 100Mb in some parts of the UK...if we cant even get a full 20Mb whats the point in trialling faster speeds...especially if they are going to throttle it at certain times...

[Ray_S]

I can get the full 20mbit most times and have little issues with them, but it is very dependent on location, you can get around STM (throttling) if you know the limits for the package you are on and the times when it's enforced.

However will be dumping them if their planned browser data sale to Phorm comes around: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/29/phorm_roundup/