So it seems Openreach are coming after all. Would you jump ship from Virgin?

I'm sort of confused why you're having this discussion, it really seems like you want to stay with Virgin, so stay with them.
 
I'm kind of thinking out loud and asking for input.

Yes it would appear that the pros outweigh the cons with regards to Virgin but I'm willing to be convinced otherwise.

It's all obviously academic for now until something actually happens and it does seem like the best thing to do right now is renew with Virgin (if I can get a decent enough deal) and then re-evaluate next year.
 
Vertigo1 said:
The question now becomes, should I sit tight and suffer paying full price for a couple of months at least to see what actually transpires with Openreach?
Assuming they do roll out, is it worth waiting and switching from Virgin? I know the knee-jerk reaction will be yes as I appreciate the benefits of genuine FTTP over Virgin's HFC network with better latency being a bit benefit (I'm a casual gamer).
On the downside, I am a very heavy downloader and currently have Virgin gigglebit with solid 1150Mbps speeds, plus they've finally caught up on upload too. AIUI, even the gigglebit FTTP services top out around the 900-950Mbps range so I'd actually be giving up around 200Mpbs or 17% of my download speed. Is it worth it?

I should add that, unlike many, I've actually had very few problems with Virgin and find their service pretty reliable, which only makes the decision harder.
I'd be interested to hear opinions, especially from anyone who's jumped from Virgin to FTTP and what their impressions are.

Cheers :)
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Are you THAT concerned about 200Mbps? I know I wouldn't be. It obviously depends on what you do and how many people you have in your house, but I have been considering stepping down from 300Mbps. None of the sites I frequent and things I do ever need more than about 150Mbps.

I have always found all services to be reliable. What's not, is customer services. I used to be with VM years ago, and they had an absolutely awful CS staff. What really annoyed me about them was when I got letters from a law firm who threatened me over a dispute with their CS department, and it turned out it was actually just a department inside Virgin pretending to be a law firm.

Anyway, going OpenReach gives you the option to go for different vendors. Personally, I would at least go with them for a year, so you get the fibre laid to your house. If you can't find a good company that suits you, you can always go back.
 
Vertigo1 said:
It's a valid question and it may well be that sacrificing a bit of speed is indeed worth it for improved latency and so forth.
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Usually it's how browsing feels, it feels much snappier on FTTP compared to VM, things load quicker, and it's just easier to use. You can't quantify that easily. If you don't make use of VM's TV services, an extra 200 Mbps download (which at near 1 Gb makes very little difference) it's hard to argue pro's for staying with VM.
 
I'm in a similar position and received the letter from YouFibre back in February. No news since but I've decided to stay off contract. Currently paying £65 for Gig 1 and a sim.
It's probably worth doing the same Material Defender!
 
ChrisD. said:
Usually it's how browsing feels, it feels much snappier on FTTP compared to VM, things load quicker, and it's just easier to use. You can't quantify that easily. If you don't make use of VM's TV services, an extra 200 Mbps download (which at near 1 Gb makes very little difference) it's hard to argue pro's for staying with VM.
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Agreed on this. Even my parents' crappy 65Mb VDSL connection is noticeably quicker for general browsing than my Gig1 VM connection. Their VDSL has a latency of around 10ms which is pretty good and is about half of what my VM connection is. Now I finally have FTTP as well with average 4-5ms and it's also very noticeable over VM.
 
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Do you really need the 200mb+ extra download speed? The latency drop alone will make things more snappier compared to raw download.

But just see who offers the best price in future, it's too early to guess if either VM or FTTP OR will be more worth your money.
 
The "snappiness" argument is actually a valid one and even regular browsing can feel slugging on VM compared to proper fibre services like we have at the office.

To be honest, if and when FTTP is available then I think I would switch, even if it meant a drop in speed. The practical difference between 940 and 1150Mbps isn't that much really. So it takes about 20s longer to download 10GB - who cares? :)

Even given the above it seems the smart move is still to renew with VM for the time being, if they give me a deal that makes it worthwhile of course.
 
Sign up with someone on a rolling monthly contract even if it costs more, run them side by side and see which you prefer.
 
I switched from Virgin to Plusnet fibre this year and I'm happy with my choice.

DL speed is similar but latency is quite a bit lower.
I now get 12 ping to some EU servers rather than 25

Biggest advantage will be not having to do the virgin cancel, callback rubbish every renewal.
 
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