Should I Subscribe to 100Mb?

[zero967]

Hi There,

I'm new to the Cable Forum.

I am considering ditching my current provider on the basis that their performance has started to detereorate over the last few months now with issue upon issue upon issue. At one point it was like all the subscribers were being put down a line the size of a soft drink straw, t'was ridiculous!

Anyway i have heard from numerous sources that VM can be succeptable to other issues such as the STMs and Congestion locally but i am going to be unaware of any congestion aren't i until i am connected and stuck with a 18 month contract.

Thats another thing, with my current provider i am on a rolling 30 day contract which you cannot get anymore as old account and i was just wondering, if i do sign up with VM could i get 12 Month Contract and NOT 18 or is that not an option, i don't mind paying more?

I work @ CPW and we have sales leaflets from VM saying Free Install and 12 Month Contracts on new customers but it says nothing about 100Mb, which is the service i am after?

In simple terms i would just like to know should i sign up for 100Mb from VM and is it worth it or should i stay away?

Thanks for your input, advice and comments and any other infomation.

Regards

Paul
Ex VM (Telewest) BB 1st Line Tech Support Agent.

[jb66]

The 50meg is now the 100, you have a 28day happiness garuntee so best bet is to order and let it overlap your other broadband by two weeks so you can try before you quit your other contract.

[General Maximus]

I definitely recommend 100mbit and it is great when it is working. I personally dont have any probs and always get full speed but there are some areas which suffer horribly due to congestion and there is nothing you can do about it. The best thing you can do if you are serious is follow jb's advice. You arent going to know for sure until you try it and if you ask VM they'll give you a load of bs about upgrades and stuff just to get you to take it.

You can go with VM and see what you get or go for BT Infinity where speed is pretty much guaranteed atm.

[kwikbreaks]

I'll add that you you still won't know for sure even when you do try it. Things can go downhill very very fast when your broadband is delivered through the tiny local pipes that cable uses. The addition of a single 100Mbps customer can tip the balance if they are a heavy user.

That said the odds are that you'll get a good service. Unlike me and the many others complaining on the VM community forum (http://community.virginmedia.com/).

[zero967]

You can go with VM and see what you get or go for BT Infinity where speed is pretty much guaranteed atm.

Thats true if you live near to the Green Active boxes which now have the equipment the exchanges have in them followed by new dark fiber channels to the box.

My Green Active box is about 0.5 Miles from my home so the most i will get via Infinity or new Infinity 2 is going to be either 24Mb or 34Mb approx as its still distance based, even on 80Mb i would probably only manage about 45-50Mb maybe at most, they did a survey on it based on distance on the Thinkbroadband news pages, look for it on there.

Where as with VM its not so much distance based its more like "how many people are on the cabinet / ubr i am connected to" sort of thing that affects performance along with the speed they are purchasing.

I remember someone from 2nd Line BB Support who was upstairs from us BB 1st Line Agents telling me that the pipelines from the cabinets was only something like 33Mbps or something but again that was back in 2007/8 when 20Mb was the top package on BB!!

Also the comment that jb66 has stated, Is that definatly true they have some sort of 28 Days Satisfaction or "happieness" guarantee as that would be really useful as i would have to give that to my current provider anyway before i leave so it would allow me to test both as to what you all have suggested anyway. Just don't want to be tied into a 12 / 18 month contract only to recieve the same or worse service than i am getting on BE.

Does anyone know whether if there has been another Green Cabinet put next to the old one, would this show a sign of congestion as there is more and more people taking up these services as i only want VM BB and nothing else??

Also does anyone know if VM are doing anything via their technical partner Fujitsu Telecommunications UK to alleviate the congestion and increase general capacity to cope with demand as the company i am with at the moment for my interner (ADSL 2+ with Be Broadband atm) do NOT seem to be doing anything about it hence the interegation into VM before taking any steps!

Thanks all for the help and assistance as always

Paul

[craigj2k12]

My Green Active box is about 0.5 Miles from my home so the most i will get via Infinity or new Infinity 2 is going to be either 24Mb or 34Mb approx as its still distance based, even on 80Mb i would probably only manage about 45-50Mb maybe at most, they did a survey on it based on distance on the Thinkbroadband news pages, look for it on there.

the 40 and 80 packages use the same network/frequencies, so your max speed will be the same on both (i.e. if you can get 55mb on 80 package you can get 40 on the 40)

I think that makes sense

[qasdfdsaq]

the 40 and 80 packages use the same network/frequencies, so your max speed will be the same on both (i.e. if you can get 55mb on 80 package you can get 40 on the 40)

I think that makes sense
Yes.

The BT estimator is generally a conservative underestimate (assumes 80% takeup), and the Thinkbroadband table is an even bigger underestimate (assumes 100% takeup). Rarely though people do get speeds less than the estimate but there is still a minimum guarantee on FTTC, there is no such thing on VM but there is as mentioned a 28 day happiness guarantee. I've seen people on FTTC getting double what the Thinkbroadband table shows.

[zero967]

The only downsides to FTTC that i see in certain cases is that you have to pay for install (sometimes, depends on offer on day) if thru BT if not then its pay for install. Also don't really like BT anyway and the only one offering 80/10 on FTTC is BT and TalkTalk (Another company i cant stand)

Not only this but BT FTTC tops out at 80Mb and uses existing Copper wire from the FTTC box (further away than the VM one) to get to me where as VM will take me 120MB and beyond and the box is amplified and closer to me (over the road), therefore futureproofing.....unless BT pull their finger out and decide to offer fiber to my door then thats when VM is int S*** street.

Can some other people confirm for 100% that there is "a 28 day happiness guarantee" whereby if during that time the service is not what i am getting (besides the STN and any other restrictions), i can cancel?

[qasdfdsaq]

The only downsides to FTTC that i see in certain cases is that you have to pay for install (sometimes, depends on offer on day) if thru BT if not then its pay for install. Also don't really like BT anyway and the only one offering 80/10 on FTTC is BT and TalkTalk (Another company i cant stand)
There is no 80/10 on FTTC. There's 40/10 or 80/20.

80/20 on FTTC is offered by at least seven different ISPs.

Not only this but BT FTTC tops out at 80Mb and uses existing Copper wire from the FTTC box (further away than the VM one) to get to me where as VM will take me 120MB and beyond and the box is amplified and closer to me (over the road), therefore futureproofing.....unless BT pull their finger out and decide to offer fiber to my door then thats when VM is int S*** street.Wrong on every count. FTTC does not top out at 80mb.

The VM fibre cab is further than the BT FTTC box.

Unamplified fibre runs are better than amplified ones.

BT have already announced they *will* be offering fibre to your door.

Can some other people confirm for 100% that there is "a 28 day happiness guarantee" whereby if during that time the service is not what i am getting (besides the STN and any other restrictions), i can cancel?http://allyours.virginmedia.com/money_back_guarantee.html

Page currently unavailable (but then the whole site is down at the moment) but that's where the info used to be.

[General Maximus]

The only downsides to FTTC that i see in certain cases is that you have to pay for install

I checked the BT website last week and it said that on 80/20 I would receive 55/13, the reactivation of my phone line would be free and I had to pay £20 for the dude to come round and install everything.

[qasdfdsaq]

Did to take up the offer?

[kwikbreaks]

I had to pay £20 for the dude to come round and install everything.Rats - it used to be all free. By the time they get their fingers out and activate mine it will probably require a second mortgage :(

[qasdfdsaq]

According to the website it is still all free, except £25 activation fee on the lowest tariff which has always been there.

[General Maximus]

Did to take up the offer?

Not this time, i cant ditch my vm bb till november. If i was having issues i would switch but my connection has always been 100%. I dont want to switch to infinity till i can get 100mbit or more (regardless of the cost) because going back down to 50mbit would feel like taking a step backwards

[qasdfdsaq]

I see. Whatever works for you, if VM service was without issues I wouldn't have switched either. For the record I was predicted for 53/14 or so and am getting 87/27, while Seph I believe was bang on his prediction, and others have been in between these extremes; an estimate of 55 doesn't mean you'll actually get only 55.

I actually met some people recently who thought getting 60mb on a 100mb service at peak times was "pretty good". Consumer expectations these days...:rolleyes:

[General Maximus]

Consumer expectations these days...:rolleyes:

yeah it is quite sad. But then again I suppose it depends what you use the connection for and how frequently. None of my family would have a clue what speed they were getting if you asked them.

[zero967]

According to BT they are already advertising "Up To" 100Mb internet in some areas and can be checked out here:
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=33828

Also check this out what BT are planning:

http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/news/2012/04/bt_begins_preparation_for_330mb_broadband_trial/

BTW according to the check on that page above i can get Infinity 30.1Mb/5.7Mb approximate which is not bad but not great either.

On another note, I just wish our telecommunication systems was easier just like in Japan where they have fiber trunks\switches to nearly every street corner on a pole and then they feed a fiber line into your property and bingo 100+Mb instantly the whole process takes less than a hour to get it up and running!, here it seems to be so lathargic its unreal!

Other countries for example old russian states have 100/150Mb+ Fiber broadband already & have done for the last few years, Korea are sayin they want 1Gb (1024Mb) internet in the next 12-24 months not years!!

[General Maximus]

how cool would it be to be able to host your own games server on a 1000/200 :)

[zero967]

I have to admit i think even 500Mb would be sufficient! :P

[Scurra]

Far be it from me to defend anyone, but part of the problem - and it's not confined just to telephone infrastructure - is that we in the UK were often among the first to install something. The result is that we also have the oldest, least efficient systems. And although the obvious response is to say "well, install a new one then", that's not so easy unless it was designed from the outset with some sort of expectation of upgrading. Again, that's more true these days but wasn't the case in the nineteenth century...

[qasdfdsaq]

Other countries for example old russian states have 100/150Mb+ Fiber broadband already & have done for the last few years, Korea are sayin they want 1Gb (1024Mb) internet in the next 12-24 months not years!!
BT intend to release 1Gb broadband within the next 13 months.

[zero967]

BT intend to release 1Gb broadband within the next 13 months.

I await in baited breath to see that one pulled out the bag! (and when i say this i mean a commercial release of 1Gb NOT a trial)

Well let me put it this way, half of Japan was swept away by a Tsunami and yet they managed to get back to "some" form of normalcy in vast majority of places within a year and nearly all by 15-16 months, now thats what i call WORKING FAST! The simple fact is like other people have said, "we are the first to build it" but in my opinion always the laziest to keep it maintained.

I mean if they had just listend to the demands of the public few years back and watched the way the BB market was unfolding and at what rate it was expanding at we would probably all have 300-400Mb by now!

Its not all this either, they should take on other countries tried and tested methods too. This way people in rural parts would be able to enjoy the fast lane also instead of being in the "not economically viable" bracket!

[qasdfdsaq]

Given that they successfully released 80mbps ahead of schedule, 330mbps only slightly behind (commercial release will be May/June) I see no reason 1Gbps won't also be released according to plan.

[kwikbreaks]

BT intend to release 1Gb broadband within the next 13 months.
I'm guessing that will that be FTTP only?

[craigj2k12]

I'm guessing that will that be FTTP only?

as will 330 :)

The launch for all FTTP on demand was Jan 2013 the last I heard

[zero967]

Same here, i heard FTTP was going to be around the 2013 mark but did not know when.

Just wish that there were other competing companies, other than BT or Virgin!! Feels a bit unfair really that we only have the option of 2 what happened to monopolisation and compertition, do they not exist any more?

Before you say i am aware there are other companies doing same services but they still "rent" it off of BT for the moment and not on an LLU basis either!