Virgin 20mb VS Virgin 50MB

Relentless81 · 24 May 2010 at 14:11

I'm currently on 20MB and I get the maximum speed but its throttled at certain times, not a massive deal i'm not a smelly pirate hooker my connection is mostly used for gaming

My question is, is it worth going for 50mb, anyone had both?

Also, seeing as though BT are rolling out fibre I was wondering if its a bit daft to get tied up with another connection just now because it might become cheaper for a fibre connection when BT is ready to go but I have no idea how long that will be, could be waiting years?

PistolPete · 24 May 2010 at 14:42

I upgraded from 20MB to 50MB. I only hit the STM I think 2 or 3 times and I was getting full 20MB speeds. I upgraded because a) it had a better upload speed with talk of much more later if the trials are successful and b) it was only £7 a month more.

Pings are not any lower in gaming.

Is it worth it? Well I like the idea of no STM at all so I could a game on EA and be playing it fairly quickly. Other than the brag factor it's not much different to 20MB (except 2.5x faster)

Guest2 · 24 May 2010 at 14:45

PistolPete said:
it's not much different to 20MB (except 2.5x faster)

So its a lot different then. Its like saying my 2ghz computer isnt much faster than your 4.5ghz computer

Relentless81 · 24 May 2010 at 14:47

I was really hoping i'd see a difference in BFBC2? I dont understand how it can be that much faster but not have an effect on the latency

Also, they want £50 to install so I want be going ahead unless its worth the £50

HEADRAT · 24 May 2010 at 14:57

If you can get 50Mbps then I see no reason you wouldn't want to upgrade.

Hotwired · 24 May 2010 at 15:07

Relentless81 said:
I was really hoping i'd see a difference in BFBC2? I dont understand how it can be that much faster but not have an effect on the latency

You're confusing two things.

1) The speed it takes data to travel down the lines

2) The amount of data capable of being sent

The speed the data travels at does not change BUT you can be sent larger chunks of data. So a file can download faster but latency is the same.

Having 50MB vs 20MB wouldn't be noticeable in gaming you're not transferring that much data.

bigredshark · 24 May 2010 at 15:11

HEADRAT said:
If you can get 50Mbps then I see no reason you wouldn't want to upgrade.

It costs more and most people won't use the bandwidth therefore it represents pretty terrible value for money?

Relentless81 · 24 May 2010 at 15:12

Hotwired said:
You're confusing two things.

1) The speed it takes data to travel down the lines

2) The amount of data capable of being sent

The speed the data travels at does not change BUT you can be sent larger chunks of data. So a file can download faster but latency is the same.

Having 50MB vs 20MB wouldn't be noticeable in gaming you're not transferring that much data.

Oh I see, thanks for the explanation, I think i'll stick with what I have until prices come down, thanks

HEADRAT · 24 May 2010 at 15:21

How much more is 50Mbps than 20Mbps, if it's £7 like the poster above claimed then I just can't see you wouldn't, an extra £1.75 per week!

Relentless81 · 24 May 2010 at 15:28

Its a £50 install fee, plus the messing about. If there was no install fee I would just go ahead and do it but £50, messing about and the above info plus the fact it could become cheaper when BT get theirs out renders it pointless

HEADRAT · 24 May 2010 at 15:32

Have you checked out Sam Knows to see when 21CN is coming?

www.samknows.com/

Relentless81 · 24 May 2010 at 15:40

Nope, I dont know what 21CN is

PistolPete · 24 May 2010 at 16:39

Guest2 said:
So its a lot different then. Its like saying my 2ghz computer isnt much faster than your 4.5ghz computer

Your 2Ghz machine isn't at all faster than my 4.5Ghz computer

If gaming is you primary concern then there is no point upgrading. I'm happy to pay the extra as when I go online I like to be able to get it done faster.

Another way to think of bandwidth and latency is to think of cars and roads.

You have a car on a dirt track then you might hit 5mph, and only 1 car at a time. That's dial up.
Car is now on an B road, doing 40mph - that's a 1/2Mb ADSL line
Car is on a A road doing 60mph, that's a 2Mb line.
Car is on a dual carridgeway doing 60mph but you can now have 2 side by side - that's 10Mb
Car is on a motorway still doing 60mph, but there can be 3 side by side, that's 20Mb
Car is on an american freeway - 8 lanes wide - doing 60mph.

Thinking of a single car is the latency. One car when going from an A road to a freeway gets there just as fast. Thinking of multiple cars at the same time, that's bandwidth - you get more cars from A to B on the freeway at the same time as you would on the A road.

Relentless81 · 24 May 2010 at 17:40

Thanks for the explanations people, money well saved

Ryan-3 · 24 May 2010 at 17:51

Bt ain't to be cheaper + if your like me, BT doesn't even think we exist!

apatia77 · 25 May 2010 at 15:16

I wouldn't upgrade, 20mb is fast enough and if you want to download large amounts then do it after 9pm and save yourself few £ every month.

infernox · 25 May 2010 at 15:49

I Used to have 20Mb connection with VM.
my analogy is css and steam updates

20Mb :
Css: 15-21 ping dependant on server location
Updates: 900kbps- 1.5Mbps

50Mb
Css: 5-6 ping constant dependant on server around 18 on german..
Updates 1.5Mbps- 3.2Mbps

Why not i did and im never looking back

-Infernox