NulliSecundus Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Fibre Optic is the future. The broadband is so so so fast it's amazing. Virgin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Virgin are upgrading everyone on their 2MB service to 10MB for no extra cost. woohoo. Have they done it yet? I dowloaded a movie earlier, usual speed when it's quiet is between 60 and 120 kbps I was getting over 900kbps :shock: Excellent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trekka Posted July 6, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted July 6, 2009 Although Virgin broadband is good, it's the capping that really gets on my tits. I ditched Virgin a while ago - I couldn't fork out the money for a "top" package, and now I'm with Be Unlimited (24 Meg download with no capping) for £17.50 a month and FreeSat (which includes BBC HD and ITV HD) for nothing. It's all a question about money though. If you have the money and want the top range of HD telly, including sport, then Sky is the only choice you should be making. I hear rumours of Virgin offering more HD channels soon but I doubt they're going to ever get Sky Sports HD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDon Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 I hear rumours of Virgin offering more HD channels soon but I doubt they're going to ever get Sky Sports HD. The latest ofcom report in the pay tv review is VERY damning of Sky and their withholding of certain services from competitors (mainly HD and the red button on sky sports) so I'm pretty sure that VM will get them as ofcom are prepared to intervene to ensure they do, it's just a matter of when. If sky fight the final ruling then it could be over a year away, if they don't, it could be before the end of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted July 6, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted July 6, 2009 Fibre Optic is the future. The broadband is so so so fast it's amazing. Virgin! Isn't Virgin coax to the premises? /me wants FiOS... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDon Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Fibre Optic is the future. The broadband is so so so fast it's amazing. Virgin! Isn't Virgin coax to the premises? /me wants FiOS... Yep, it's hybrid fibre-coax. The fibre optics aren't even until the street cabinets in most cases, they only go as far as the neighbourhood hubsites, which are then coax to the street cabinets, and premises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted July 6, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted July 6, 2009 Which isn't really fiber optic, then... I'd be willing to wager that the various DSL providers are fiber to the central office... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shambles Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 F.I.B.R.E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDon Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Which isn't really fiber optic, then... I'd be willing to wager that the various DSL providers are fiber to the central office... Not strictly fibre optic no, but as the majority of it is (from what I recall up to the last 500m are coax) they get away with calling it fibre optic. It's definitely fibre one hell of a lot closer to the customer than dsl will ever be. Sadly the UK lacks any real ftth options, the only schemes for it are fibrecity in bournmouth, which is rolling out ftth, but as of yet has not got an ISP signed up to actually use the network, so it's basically just running dark fibre to the home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted July 6, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted July 6, 2009 BT isn't going ahead with fiber to the premises in Ebbsfleet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDon Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 BT isn't going ahead with fiber to the premises in Ebbsfleet?It is, but it may as well not be. It's such a small scale, low performance network it may as well be over two plastic cups and a length of string rather than fibre. Standard speed of only 2.5mbps, it's a contender for biggest waste of fibre ever. I probably should have stated large scale rollouts, as there's a fair few localised schemes, but nothing targeting major rollouts or anything other than new builds other than fibrecity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted July 6, 2009 VT Supporter Share Posted July 6, 2009 Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubbs Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Sky al the way for me. Their HD channels are fantastic. Couldn't imagine switching now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NulliSecundus Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Fibre Optic is the future. The broadband is so so so fast it's amazing. Virgin! Isn't Virgin coax to the premises? /me wants FiOS... Yeah but it's a damn sight faster than any other UK BB service atm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted July 7, 2009 Moderator Share Posted July 7, 2009 anything branded Virgin is crap This is the law Trains - crap cola - crap record shops (when they were going) - crap record label - mainly crap condoms **** awful I hate Virgin with a passion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shambles Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 anything branded Virgin is crap This is the law Cobblers. Virgin Atlantic is an excellent airline and Virgin broadband is not only fast but good value. For the comparitively small sum of £30 I get their top TV package, 10 mb broadband and free anytime phone calls to land lines. I checked sky out last week and practically the cheapest deal I could do was about £35 and that was with slower broadband, less channels and free phonecalls limited to weekends.Also with Virgin you get to use their excellent Indian call centres when you have a problem. I prefer talking to someone in Mumbai these days as at least they appear to give a shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Cobblers. Virgin Atlantic is an excellent airline and Virgin broadband is not only fast but good value. For the comparitively small sum of £30 I get their top TV package, 10 mb broadband and free anytime phone calls to land lines. I checked sky out last week and practically the cheapest deal I could do was about £35 and that was with slower broadband, less channels and free phonecalls limited to weekends.Also with Virgin you get to use their excellent Indian call centres when you have a problem. I prefer talking to someone in Mumbai these days as at least they appear to give a shit. i have to agree with this. Virgin Broadband is the best broadband. You get the speed they advertise, not like the rubbish through a BT line where it depends on how far you are from a server, and who else is using it in your street! on my 2mb service, i could regularly get speeds of 3-4mb. also, its a lot cheaper than Sky. People always forget with Sky you have to pay BT for a phone-line as well. Not with Virgin. oh, and they actually train their tehnical staff in their call centre in India. one of the best call centres i've used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonahman Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Am I the only person who things Virgin's BB is absolute garbage? We've had it since they overtook telewest and it's just got worse. We were upgraded to the 20MB connection for free and it hasn't improved at all. Constantly slow at evenings and it's quite common that a clip from youtube doesn't download quick enough for me to watch it straight away. When doing speedtest.net i'm lucky if I reach 5MB. As soon as Sky do their fastest package in our area i'm moving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Well I just checked and I've got the 2mb upgrade up to 10mb, and its **** superfast compared to what it was Downloaded an "educational movie" yesterday, 600mb in just a few minutes. Excellent ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 ooo, i haven't checked if i got my free upgrade from 2mb to 10mb. i knew it was due soon, but wasn't sure exactly when it would happen. i will try to download an 'educational' film as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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