Virgin Media Discussion Thread

I’m a bit confused here. After openreach came and upgraded all but a 100m stretch of my road that I happen to live on, I was wondering what options I would have. Now, only a few months later, the same parts of the road are being re-dug and what looks like boxes to the edge of properties are being installed. They have virgin media logo on them. However, they appear to be chasing out the pavement and linking up the access boxes marked ‘BT’, which I assumed was openreach’s kit.

So how is VM fibre delivered? They can re-use openreach infrastructure? Or are openreach coming back to finish the job but using VM access boxes at properties (seems unlikely)? I was on VM before in Bristol (now in Essex) and it was terrible, but that was the co-ax style. I assume it’s fibre based now? That said, the issues were congestion rather than hardware at the property…not to mention laughable service from VM.

Edit: Of course I’ll find out eventually but wondering how fibre arrived for others. Currently on VDSL2 (I think - about 20mbps).
 
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kindai said:
Yup. But not the other way around.
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Ah, thanks. Good for competition I guess. I suppose it must be VM running fibre in that case. I assume that’s how it’s done now and not a coax approach like I had before.

What speed can I expect? I can’t see pricing yet for this area but lots of talk on that earlier in the thread.
 
alex24 said:
I’m a bit confused here. After openreach came and upgraded all but a 100m stretch of my road that I happen to live on, I was wondering what options I would have. Now, only a few months later, the same parts of the road are being re-dug and what looks like boxes to the edge of properties are being installed. They have virgin media logo on them. However, they appear to be chasing out the pavement and linking up the access boxes marked ‘BT’, which I assumed was openreach’s kit.

So how is VM fibre delivered? They can re-use openreach infrastructure? Or are openreach coming back to finish the job but using VM access boxes at properties (seems unlikely)? I was on VM before in Bristol (now in Essex) and it was terrible, but that was the co-ax style. I assume it’s fibre based now? That said, the issues were congestion rather than hardware at the property…not to mention laughable service from VM.

Edit: Of course I’ll find out eventually but wondering how fibre arrived for others. Currently on VDSL2 (I think - about 20mbps).
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It is called PIA, Other providers are allowed to use Openreach ducts and poles to roll out their own FTTP services, this is to massively reduce their deployment costs so helps competition, but Openreach do get rental income from it I think, so they gain something from it as well.
 
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alex24 said:
Ah, thanks. Good for competition I guess. I suppose it must be VM running fibre in that case. I assume that’s how it’s done now and not a coax approach like I had before.

What speed can I expect? I can’t see pricing yet for this area but lots of talk on that earlier in the thread.
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Is there any nexfibre work going on in your area on bidb.uk?

Although I suspect they'll hopefully be doing the XG-PON (I thought all/most new areas were this?) - I believe it'll be similar speeds to HFC/RFOG VM but with a (paid unfortunately - really?) symmetrical speed add on
 
RT123 said:
Is there any nexfibre work going on in your area on bidb.uk?

Although I suspect they'll hopefully be doing the XG-PON (I thought all/most new areas were this?) - I believe it'll be similar speeds to HFC/RFOG VM but with a (paid unfortunately - really?) symmetrical speed add on
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It shows nexfibre in my immediate area in status ‘granted’ with the planned dates of work they have already communicated locally. So is that not VM or is it a contractor on their behalf?

What are your acronyms in plain terms?

Edit: OK I googled and see it’s a fibre provider joint venture. Sounds like we’ll get something fairly cutting edge then, wonder what the packages on offer will be. This is an area never served by VM before.
 
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HFC - Hybrid Fibre Coaxial and RFOG - RF Over Glass are both coaxial methods with all the disadvantages of the DOCSIS standard. NexFibre installs should have much improved reliability and latency (if that matters to you)

Nexfibre is a company that VM have partnered with for the roll out of their new network (they're not part of VM - could be used by other providers in the future potentially)
 
RT123 said:
HFC - Hybrid Fibre Coaxial and RFOG - RF Over Glass are both coaxial methods with all the disadvantages of the DOCSIS standard. NexFibre installs should have much improved reliability and latency (if that matters to you)

Nexfibre is a company that VM have partnered with for the roll out of their new network (they're not part of VM - could be used by other providers in the future potentially)
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Okay well I hope it’s using XG-PON but I wonder as I’m not sure how VM deliver their full package of services efficiently without using some of the legacy tech. Although if it is I can one day hope to ditch VM for someone else at least.
 
alex24 said:
Okay well I hope it’s using XG-PON but I wonder as I’m not sure how VM deliver their full package of services efficiently without using some of the legacy tech. Although if it is I can one day hope to ditch VM for someone else at least.
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Definitely it's all XG-PON. The thing is with XG-PON areas you can only get the VM Stream box rather than the TV 360 AFAIK
 
Am I the only one who feels these stream boxes are a real step backwards compared to the 360 box? Ditto Sky stream Vs Sky Q.

Theyre great for areas where virgin don't have infrastructure, same for properties where people arent authorised to have a satellite dish but they appear lacking Vs the full fat boxes so to speak
 
russ9898 said:
Am I the only one who feels these stream boxes are a real step backwards compared to the 360 box? Ditto Sky stream Vs Sky Q.

Theyre great for areas where virgin don't have infrastructure, same for properties where people arent authorised to have a satellite dish but they appear lacking Vs the full fat boxes so to speak
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I haven’t used one (either VMs or Sky’s one) - but the one thing I (or rather my family) would notice is the lack of recordings
 
I thought recording being missing would be an issue, and it is to some extent, but I’m assuming most things have an ‘on-demand’ element now that negates this for the vast majority of people. I would rather have ‘live tv’ for want of a better phrase, mostly as the streaming quality over internet tends to be much worse and more compressed. Possibly not the case anymore but it has been my experience to date. I have Freesat right now and some channels are terrible but HD is usually better than on-demand services for the normal terrestrial type channels. Netflix/prime etc. are better although compression varies there too. Dark scenes on Prime can sometimes have awful artefacts.

Edit: I would also say, kind of like the move away from physical media in TV/Movies/Games, this latest move from recording boxes brings us less control over our media, which presumably can be removed from on demand services without notice or consent. This is bad, bring back VHS etc. When I play a Blu-Ray I always am shocked with improvement in sound and picture over streaming. So keeping those for now.
 
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dakaiez said:
Mega TV is with everything right?

I renewed at the following.

1 GIG with Volt (Originally 250 but boosted to 500 with volt)
Mix It TV with Extra Box (Originally with 1 Box but basic TV package nothing more)
Anytime Chatter Phone (Had this before)

£45 a month was paying £78 originally for 1 less box and half the speed.
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My contract ends and I am doing the retentions dance, but I may change to FTTP now its in my area.
For that exact same deal they wanted £88 lol

I have requested to cancel and see if I get a call back with better offers.
 
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