How does Virgin Media's DOCSIS network compare to FTTP?
- Thread starter g67575
- Start date
Caporegime
It really depends on your area but for the most part, an FTTP connection will be superior for all of those metrics.
Permabanned
Decent area for me and overall it's good but full fibre is superior. I doubt 99% of users would notice much difference though.
Caporegime
Can range from noticeably better if the Virgin connection is particularly congested with erratic maximum latency, frequent latency spikes and packet loss to largely unnoticeable for some general online gaming.
I think for gaming you should only really be concerned if you're seriously competitive as a latency spike or packet loss at the wrong time isn't ideal.
Could someone with a Virgin Media connection (DOCSIS) connection run this test and let me know the % of packet loss please?
https://speed.measurementlab.net/#/
Packet loss would probably only bother me if it led to video call issue, or streaming issues.
https://speed.measurementlab.net/#/
Packet loss would probably only bother me if it led to video call issue, or streaming issues.
Caporegime
0.00% but I'm in a very good area for VM.
Soldato
I’d been with Virgin before FTTP, which I’m now on, for the past 2 years in two different areas. Neither I would consider particularly oversubscribed - both connections were stable and never went down from memory.
The area I noticed it most was gaming. On Virgin, I would have ping times of 15-25ms on various online games, but have frequent packet loss issues resulting in a fair bit of rubber banding.
This was hard wired into the router.
Where I am now, I don’t experience this at all - Battlefield and COD are rock solid, and my ping times are usually 10-15ms. This is over WiFi or Ethernet.
The area I noticed it most was gaming. On Virgin, I would have ping times of 15-25ms on various online games, but have frequent packet loss issues resulting in a fair bit of rubber banding.
This was hard wired into the router.
Where I am now, I don’t experience this at all - Battlefield and COD are rock solid, and my ping times are usually 10-15ms. This is over WiFi or Ethernet.
Caporegime
SamKnows RealSpeed test has a more accurate jitter and packet loss measurement as a browser-based tool. On that one, I get 0.84 for jitter and 0.44 for packet loss.
Permabanned
Similar results to Ayahuasca for me. Have no issues with zoom/teams etc, both myself and wife use them regularly. Also dont appear to get much packet loss in games.
Associate
0.03% just now, with 10ms latency. I don't have any issues with video calls (my wife and I have been working from home during the pandemic with no issue), and I'm bad enough at online gaming I wouldn't notice any issues!
However, I'd go FTTP for the symmetric upload/download speeds if I had the choice.
Virgin's broadband network is generally toilet compared to BT, and probably still worse than Sky and TalkTalk. Even in FTTP areas you're DOCSIS for the last little bit and then at the mercy of the pants modems they supply. I think you'll need to wait for the proper FTTP overlay and a move to PON before the latency can compare to FTTP.
A BQM I have running to a VM connection in London (zone 2) shows a baseline 10ms of latency, which is the same number as pinging a TalkTalk FTTC connection 100 miles further north achieves.
A BQM I have running to a VM connection in London (zone 2) shows a baseline 10ms of latency, which is the same number as pinging a TalkTalk FTTC connection 100 miles further north achieves.
Soldato
In what's considered a decent area for VM with Gig1 and their Hub 4... Did 2 tests and small packet loss on both.
But I echo others and would 100% say FTTP networks are so much better and more solid than VM's DOCSIS one.
Code:
Results
Test Server London, GB
Download 857.98 Mb/s
Upload 51.51 Mb/s
Latency 16 ms
Retransmission 0.26%
Code:
Results
Test Server London, GB
Download 862.28 Mb/s
Upload 52.01 Mb/s
Latency 15 ms
Retransmission 0.38%
I'll point you to my latency from Sky FTTC (G.Fast) vs DOCSIS, FTTP should in theory be as good if not better than FTTC, I am close to cabinets, no FTTP in my area yet. VM is consistently 5-10ms higher than my FTTC line.
I have had more periods of outage with VM, fortunately I have 5G backup that's faster than VM
but on the whole I am generally pleased with VM, I have enjoyed the bandwidth seeing as everyone is streaming the variable latency has posed no issues for me doing interactive graphics work but I am no longer top of the ping charts in games, not good enough to notice .
No loss using that speed measurement thing though and have had no issues despite higher latency and a much messier BQM.
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Waiting for my Volt to kick in for 1Gig right now
sky latency
virgin
I have had more periods of outage with VM, fortunately I have 5G backup that's faster than VM
but on the whole I am generally pleased with VM, I have enjoyed the bandwidth seeing as everyone is streaming the variable latency has posed no issues for me doing interactive graphics work but I am no longer top of the ping charts in games, not good enough to notice .No loss using that speed measurement thing though and have had no issues despite higher latency and a much messier BQM.
Code:
Test Server London, GB
Download 654.26 Mb/s
Upload 41.74 Mb/s
Latency 11 ms
Retransmission 0.00%Waiting for my Volt to kick in for 1Gig right now
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