I have some questions.

[CODWAWlol]

I'm considering getting the 20meg deal from virgin.

You see I already have an internet connection whihc is with orange and they are utter **** (I'm on a 10meg deal and I'm not even getting 2meg some times it's even worse like 0.8megs)

My orange connection is dsl so will this conflict with virgin or not or do I need to cancel (I need to pay 2 leave orange!!!!!!!)

and what are virgin like are they good and do they come and fit it for you?!?

[AndyCambs]

You'll hear a lot of stories asking questions like that. I can only tell you that I've had Virgin Media (and prior to that NTL and Cable & Wireless) broadband services for several years. Over that time, I have had increases in speed (I am now on the L package which gives up to 10MB speeds).
Overall the prices are better if you have a package - broadband, television and phone, or a combination of them.
My speed is perfectly acceptable, and the reliability is good.
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2009/03/5.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

I suppose I should clarify that I am on 10MB SACM (Cable modem).

[xocemp]

20Mbit would be via cable (HFC) you don't need a phone line.
I have had no great issues with VM. But since you asked that question, expect an onslaught of posts on how bad VM are. Just remember you have 30 days to cancel with VM, make up your mind in that time and cancel if you think its bad, other peoples views are as they are, their views.

And welcome to the forum.

[Ryoden]

I have been with Virgin since the blueyonder days (before virgin took over) and the speeds and reliability are fairly good. They are the only choice if you dont live close to a telephone exchange really (and want decent speeds).

I think I can count the number of outages I have had (total loss of internet service) within 5 years on one hand, each outage lasted from 2 to 8 hours.

I started with 4mb and got bumped upto 10mb (which I am still on), the occasional speed check I run comes out at between 9 and 10mb DL so thats acceptable to me.

I have only had dial up before broadband so I cant compare it with other providers.

[AndyCambs]

I think the only outage I had was when my STB failed - and even then it was workable but needed re-booting every three hours. The engineer came and replaced it the next day. (Now of course all broadband connections are done through SACM).

[Noggo]

You might want to post your location, as you might get lucky and find someone in your area who posts on the forum. They will be able to exactly what your area is like, as performance does seam to vary from area to area.

If you do take out the 20Meg service and find that it doesn't live up to spec. Just remember with virgin media you have a money back guarantee (http://allyours.virginmedia.com/money_back_guarantee.html)


And as mentioned earlier, you will be better off getting two or even three services. As it will probably work out cheaper.
Triple builder (http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/bundles/triple-builder.html)

XL broadband, M TV and M Phone for £ 31 /month (£20/month + phone line @ £ 11/month) + Join Online, Save more. Add TV and phone to get a whopping £50 credit!

and stand alone XL broadband is £ 35 / month after initial discount


ooppps and yes they'll come out and install everything for ya!

[pabscars]

I'm considering getting the 20meg deal from virgin.

You see I already have an internet connection whihc is with orange and they are utter **** (I'm on a 10meg deal and I'm not even getting 2meg some times it's even worse like 0.8megs)

My orange connection is dsl so will this conflict with virgin or not or do I need to cancel (I need to pay 2 leave orange!!!!!!!)

and what are virgin like are they good and do they come and fit it for you?!?

Your name suggest's your a fellow gamer, so from one to another, i would not recommend the 20meg for gaming only based on my experience's. i,m sure there any many who use the 20 meg and are happy with it though

The 50 meg is decent for gaming, a bit expensive but for me worth every penny, and game demo's can usually be downloaded in 5 to 10 minutes.

[MovedGoalPosts]

20 meg is absolutely fine for gaming. I use mine all the time. You would only benefit from 50 meg if there are multiple users in your household sharing at the same time as you are playing. Or if you like to self host and want to try a multiple slot server.

However, with cable, although you should get very close to the stated speed, contention of services does seem to be a consistent issue in some areas of the country, and that affects available capacity and speed. Gamers who complain of speed issues are inevitably suffering from contention due to network capacity in their area. You'd probably need to state which part of the country you are in to get a more definitive opinion.

[pabscars]

20 meg is absolutely fine for gaming. I use mine all the time. You would only benefit from 50 meg if there are multiple users in your household sharing at the same time as you are playing. Or if you like to self host and want to try a multiple slot server.

However, with cable, although you should get very close to the stated speed, contention of services does seem to be a consistent issue in some areas of the country, and that affects available capacity and speed. Gamers who complain of speed issues are inevitably suffering from contention due to network capacity in their area. You'd probably need to state which part of the country you are in to get a more definitive opinion.

off topic,

Hi Rob, what kind of games do you play and on what consoles. I dont want to be seen rubbishing VM's 20 meg BB service but since my upgrade to XXL, it has made a massive improvement to the fps games i play on PS3, although the xbox 360 doesnt seem any different than when it was 20Mb sadly,

on topic,

I would also like to note, that download speeds were generally very good when on the 20Mb BB, granted there were a few hic-cups along the way but pretty consistent showing regular 20Mb from speedtest.net.