BT copper wire vs Virgin Media too good to be true 150MB

[SantaClaus]

Thanks everyone for all your answers. Been clearing out the loft, so only managed to get back on the forum!

I guess there's no straightforward answer as everyone has different experiences. I decided to go for Virgin, 150 Mb download. They re-assured me that I have 28 days to cancel from the day of installation with no charge, so will trial it for that period.

Got a failover modem, so will use 3G as my failover in case the tulip hits the fan.

Thanks again.

[Halo Jones]

We have been on virgin fibre for the last 5 years, I don’t know the spec but we have never had down time & downloading works fine.

[Ticktock]

It's worth checking twitter/Neighbours to see if they have any complaints.

Yes, ask Harold if he can download tuba music quickly.

[BlueSharp]

As you have said it depends on the local load. Our Virgin Media infrastructure has been upgraded and 150MB is available even at most peak times. It's worth checking twitter/Neighbours to see if they have any complaints. Prior to that peak time was awful.

[stek]

Speedtest on Virgin has just given me 156.11 Mbps download and 11.25 Mbps upload.



But as with any ISP, that's going to fluctuate a fair bit.

The Virgin fibre where I stay always reports dead on 50mb with speed test. Still can't stream anything reliably on it at any time and before 19:00 forget totally.

[TheFaQQer]

Speedtest on Virgin has just given me 156.11 Mbps download and 11.25 Mbps upload.



But as with any ISP, that's going to fluctuate a fair bit.

[VectraMan]

My ADSL would connect at 20Mb (to the exchange), which in reality gave you about 16-18Mb on the speed tests. Now it does 80Mb over copper wire (to the cabinet). Both were more than fast enough for anything I wanted to do; I only really notice the difference in upload speed.

Heard lots of good and bad things about Virgin but never lived anywhere where I could have it.

[stek]

I had 18mb copper to exchange with Be on ADSL2 - no problem.

Have BT Infinity - great, my brother has Virgin Fibre at home - utter pants, the house where I stay mid-week has Virgin Fibre - utter pants.

Here in Leeds council business scheme thing are offering 100mb both ways un-contended for £250 a mo - no setup - tempting!!

[psychocandy]

15Mb over copper to exchange? Good luck with that one.
I went from 1Mb until they installed FTTC - now I've got 40Mb. Very reliable.

A cautionary tale. I got some company in who did grants via welsh government for sort of microwave line. Aerial on house etc. paid for by government etc. £20 for guaranteed 5Mb or something.

First two weekends not working. So I kicked off - then they said but we dont work weekends. F off then no good to me.

Funny thing is they were coining it. £1000 installtion fee for a small aerial and a £10 router and the government were paying it for the householder. Nice work.

I told them to come and get their stuff they never did. They werent happy when I refused to sign the grant form for them to get their £1000 either.

[d000hg]

I get 10/1 when I just tested, it has been closer to 20 in the past. Quite fast enough if you don't want to download video IMO.

[Platypus]

Get a 'business' broadband connection over copper. You should get 15Mb down and iirc 1Mb up plus much lower contention ratios. It worked a treat for me for years until infinity came along. You get better Qos if you choose one of the smaller providers and again iirc you can get a one month rolling contract in case it doesn't work out. Look at coms.com

[SpontaneousOrder]

I'm moving house and just found out that BT Infinity is not available. They are saying up to 15MB, but I'm wondering if that is hopeful over copper wire.

Having suffered over utilisation problems and frequent disconnects with Virgin Media in the past, I'm loathe to go with them, even though they are offering speeds up to 150 MB.

Last time I used them, I ended up buying a 3G failover router because their service was so appalling. They kept upping my speed, but the service still kept going down for days at a time.

For my day trading, I need a fast download and upload, rock solid connection, no over-utilisation, quick ping, etc.
What says the forum?

Copper from the exchange? Or copper from the cabinet? 15 is very doable if you;re not too far from the cabinet - assuming it;s fibre from the exchange to that cabinet (and you pay for that fibre to cabinet).

[SantaClaus]

I'm moving house and just found out that BT Infinity is not available. They are saying up to 15MB, but I'm wondering if that is hopeful over copper wire.

Having suffered over utilisation problems and frequent disconnects with Virgin Media in the past, I'm loathe to go with them, even though they are offering speeds up to 150 MB.

Last time I used them, I ended up buying a 3G failover router because their service was so appalling. They kept upping my speed, but the service still kept going down for days at a time.

For my day trading, I need a fast download and upload, rock solid connection, no over-utilisation, quick ping, etc.
What says the forum?