Superhub : 200Mbit coming soon? (According to a survey)

[roughbeast]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

But that just brings us back to driving customers to cancel their contracts, disconnect, and sign up again as a new customer. Which is more hassle, more work, and more costs for everybody, including VM.

Simple solution: Don't offer services to new customers that you don't offer to existing customers. By all means offer cheaper enticement deals, if you think anyone is fooled by that, but please show some loyalty to loyal customers.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by roughbeast

Simple solution: Don't offer services to new customers that you don't offer to existing customers. By all means offer cheaper enticement deals, if you think anyone is fooled by that, but please show some loyalty to loyal customers.

I challenge this notion of loyalty, Roughie.

VM charge for their services and try to maintain the income for the same basic reason as "loyal customers" want the cheapest price; money retention.

If you could get a faster service for the same price from someone else, why wouldn't you do it?

I suppose there might be customers who can get a cheaper service for a lower price but can't be arsed. They're not loyal - they just can't be arsed.

Hope you don't mind that analysis!

[roughbeast]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

I challenge this notion of loyalty, Roughie.

VM charge for their services and try to maintain the income for the same basic reason as "loyal customers" want the cheapest price; money retention.

If you could get a faster service for the same price from someone else, why wouldn't you do it?

I suppose there might be customers who can get a cheaper service for a lower price but can't be arsed. They're not loyal - they just can't be arsed.

Hope you don't mind that analysis!

Don't mind at all. We differ on this as you probably surmised from earlier exchanges on the subject.

Call me old-fashioned, but when someone has been with a company since the year zero, that means something regardless of the service offered. This hasn't been inertia on my part, but a feeling, backed up by experience, that VM, despite its faults, is the best ISP in my area. This is partly emotive and is focused on the brand too. I remain tempted by BT's 80/20 non-contended service, particularly the upspeed, but hopes of something better have kept me hanging on to VM.

VM has changed in it's attitude since the early days. Up until 5 years ago I received a number of unrequested TV upgrades, including all the sports channels, purely because I had subscribed to the full multi-platform thingy for over a year. That is rewarding my loyalty/sustained investment. Recently attitudes have changed. Long-standing customers get left to last when it comes to upgrades, or at least that is what it feels like.

Really, there is no commercial advantage to offering upgrades like 152Mb, 200Mb, 300Mb to existing customers last, is there? New customers can still be enticed with discounted months. Roll outs can be managed on a regional basis, surely, if overloading admin and engineers is an issue!

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by roughbeast

I remain tempted by BT's 80/20 non-contended service, particularly the upspeed, but hopes of something better have kept me hanging on to VM.

If it's the upload speed that interests you so much you may find yourself hanging on for a while.

BT's service isn't uncontended though. People can and do see quite severe slowdowns.

[jb66]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Ooh, Edinburgh and Aberdeen both listed.

None of the actual links go anywhere useful though :-/

There digging up at fountainpark towards cowgate

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

BT's service isn't uncontended though. People can and do see quite severe slowdowns.

That said, the upstream on Openreach is practically uncontended.

---------- Post added at 10:23 ---------- Previous post was at 10:23 ----------

Originally Posted by jb66

There digging up at fountainpark towards cowgate

Now all I need is to buy up one of the many empty office buildings around there and move in

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

That said, the upstream on Openreach is practically uncontended.

I'm not talking about the Openreach network. There is precisely zero visible contention on the Openreach GEA network.

[roughbeast]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

I'm not talking about the Openreach network. There is precisely zero visible contention on the Openreach GEA network.

So, at what stage is the contention? There's no contention at street level because of individualised line from the box, so the only reduction in the headline service comes from crosstalk etc. You must be talking about the exchange to street box section.

[Ignitionnet]

I said visible contention.

I also mentioned only the Openreach GEA network. Awful lot between the edge of that network in the exchange handovers and punters

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by roughbeast

You must be talking about the exchange to street box section.

That is the Openreach GEA section. Where there's practically zero actual contention on the upstream, visible or otherwise

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

That is the Openreach GEA section. Where there's practically zero actual contention on the upstream, visible or otherwise

With the current tiers it is actually zero. There's enough backhaul from each cabinet for every single customer to max out their upload simultaneously.

[qasdfdsaq]

That was my point Their service target results in them having that much capacity but it's not an ironclad guarantee.

[Chrysalis]

virgin media not heard the phrase "learn to walk before you run"?

They cannot even supply their existing service yet, and want to do marketing speed upgrades.