Shane Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 Hey guys, I'm considering upgrading my internet to 200Mb Virgin Fiber optic, right now I'm on standard broadband with BT getting 4Mb on a good day (Yes I'm the guy who kills you thanks to lag comp ) I'm looking to find out how reliable virgin are? I've already spoken to a rep from the technical department and he confirmed that they do throttle during peak times, 5pm-11pm were the times he gave me. Does anyone have this setup? If so, how bad is the throttling? What are your average pings? I currently average around 17ms on my awesome 4mb internet The exchange is only about 10-15 minutes from my house so should I experience any issues with not receiving the speed I am paying for while out of peak times? On average, how often are you getting the speeds you pay for? I.e. you're on the 200mb package, how often can you run a speed test and be between 195-200mb? Also, what is the superhub like? I've heard mixed reviews about it to be honest so would I be better replacing it with a different router and then connecting the duma to that? Right now I have the BT Home hub 3 Filter coming from the wall, into an extender so I can have it upstairs and then have the duma plugged into it. Any help would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yam Yam Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 Hey Shane, Not lecturing you but Virgin doesn't connect to an exchange, its an HFC (hybrid fibre coax) network, its one of those green cabinets in your street or around the corner, no matter how far you am from their cabinet you'll be ok as they just need to get a certain signal strength to your modem. BT connects through phone lines or loans them to Sky, Plusnet, Talk Talk etc but they also sell FTTC (fibre to the cabinet). So you get fibre instead to the exchange, then it goes through the phone line. Virgin is a seperate network which only they can use. I'm on the Wolvo UBR of Virgin's Network. Since last November my connection quality is that graph below (BQM, broadband quality monitor) which is unplayable for gaming. It's kept me off the ps4 using my Duma, kept me away from joining in on the forum & wasted my ps+ sub. Estimated fix (by personal letter March 2106) is April 21st but this problem started when I had a previous letter (Nov 2015) stating again that maintenance work will be carried out... but made it worse. 2015 fix was for the 'throttling' you mention which really is between 4pm - 12am, I get around 4mb down & 6-7 up.Take it from a tester & someone who used to diagnose/repair/install in your neck of the woods for 5yrs. So, the 2015 'fix' was supposed to end the 'throttling' (known to Virgin as high utilisation) which had been present for 4 years previously It could be different for you as you would be connected to a different segment of their network. I'd only advise you to 'try it out', setup a ping monitor like mine below (graph) and see if you have a better result. Next thing would be to do quite a few speed tests from speedtest.net but take no notice of the 'ping' because the result that appears is bull****. I prefer what the duma army seem to use most, dslreports.com You need to do the above within 14 or 30 days (get confirmation in writing first) so you can cancel before you're tied down to a 12month+ contract... Or you can save all that hassle... If you're close to an exchange then I'd recommend getting FTTC from you're existing supplier or maybe some recommendations from others on the forum. The BQM graphs I've seen have always been the best quality with hardly a glimmer of ping & jitter just like you get now, plus if you do get a fault, 9 times out of 10 when they say its repaired... it works.You can get speeds of 80 down 20 up normaly, which might not sound a lot compared to Virgins 200 down but their upload is low & their quality is a lot worse.I'm still with them as I'm not paying a penny but if not fixed by my given date, I'll be going for FTTC myself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macca65 Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 Hi Shane, I have just left Virgin and gone with BT, mainly because of a cost issue, (too expensive for what I was getting). I was getting/paying for 150 ul 12 DL, and to be fair the majority of the time I was getting those speeds, except in the evenings when it dropped to about half of those speeds which is still good enough for gaming. The issue I had was that the line was very unstable, I was getting ping spikes constantly the Duma was showing around 30 ms but the graph was like a politicians lie detector On ping plotter I was getting spikes of 160 ms not all the time but enough to make the game unplayable for me at least. I still get bad games (don't we all) but my ping stays flatfish at around 12 ms and I am actually enjoying the experience a lot more. This is MY experience and yours could be totally different, I don't regret changing the ISP, but the tellys a different matter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Posted March 26, 2016 Author Share Posted March 26, 2016 Thanks for both of your inputs, taken everything into consideration, I also take it FTTP is better than FTTC correct? I just read that if I am to be connected by FTTC then I may not see a difference at all (not sure how true that is) I think I may take the 14 day trial and give them a run, installation fee for a trial will be a pain Thanks again! Hey Shane, Not lecturing you but Virgin doesn't connect to an exchange, its an HFC (hybrid fibre coax) network, its one of those green cabinets in your street or around the corner, no matter how far you am from their cabinet you'll be ok as they just need to get a certain signal strength to your modem. BT connects through phone lines or loans them to Sky, Plusnet, Talk Talk etc but they also sell FTTC (fibre to the cabinet). So you get fibre instead to the exchange, then it goes through the phone line. Virgin is a seperate network which only they can use. I'm on the Wolvo UBR of Virgin's Network. Since last November my connection quality is that graph below (BQM, broadband quality monitor) which is unplayable for gaming. It's kept me off the ps4 using my Duma, kept me away from joining in on the forum & wasted my ps+ sub. Estimated fix (by personal letter March 2106) is April 21st but this problem started when I had a previous letter (Nov 2015) stating again that maintenance work will be carried out... but made it worse. 2015 fix was for the 'throttling' you mention which really is between 4pm - 12am, I get around 4mb down & 6-7 up.Take it from a tester & someone who used to diagnose/repair/install in your neck of the woods for 5yrs. So, the 2015 'fix' was supposed to end the 'throttling' (known to Virgin as high utilisation) which had been present for 4 years previously It could be different for you as you would be connected to a different segment of their network. I'd only advise you to 'try it out', setup a ping monitor like mine below (graph) and see if you have a better result. Next thing would be to do quite a few speed tests from speedtest.net but take no notice of the 'ping' because the result that appears is bull****. I prefer what the duma army seem to use most, dslreports.com You need to do the above within 14 or 30 days (get confirmation in writing first) so you can cancel before you're tied down to a 12month+ contract... Or you can save all that hassle... If you're close to an exchange then I'd recommend getting FTTC from you're existing supplier or maybe some recommendations from others on the forum. The BQM graphs I've seen have always been the best quality with hardly a glimmer of ping & jitter just like you get now, plus if you do get a fault, 9 times out of 10 when they say its repaired... it works.You can get speeds of 80 down 20 up normaly, which might not sound a lot compared to Virgins 200 down but their upload is low & their quality is a lot worse.I'm still with them as I'm not paying a penny but if not fixed by my given date, I'll be going for FTTC myself Hi Shane,I have just left Virgin and gone with BT, mainly because of a cost issue, (too expensive for what I was getting). I was getting/paying for 150 ul 12 DL, and to be fair the majority of the time I was getting those speeds, except in the evenings when it dropped to about half of those speeds which is still good enough for gaming.The issue I had was that the line was very unstable, I was getting ping spikes constantly the Duma was showing around 30 ms but the graph was like a politicians lie detector On ping plotter I was getting spikes of 160 ms not all the time but enough to make the game unplayable for me at least.I still get bad games (don't we all) but my ping stays flatfish at around 12 ms and I am actually enjoying the experience a lot more.This is MY experience and yours could be totally different, I don't regret changing the ISP, but the tellys a different matter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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