Virgin vs. FTTC

arty

arty

arty

Soldato
Joined
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Location
Stamford
Hi guys,

I'm at the end of my contract with Sky LLU ADSL and am considering upgrading to a connection which is a bit faster than the ~10mbits I currently average.

Fortunately I can get either Virgin Media cable or a FTTC connection so I have a choice to make between them :)

My budget is around £30 p/m. I don't need a landline or any TV services, only an internet connection. Ideally I'd like something with unlimited (or at least high) download allowance per month and as close to symmetric as possible (i.e. a decent upload). I do quite a bit of both downloading and uploading, such as lots of iPlayer HD. IPv6 is also a nice-to-have. I don't need any kit beyond a cable modem if I go with Virgin.

What would people recommend? Thanks for any thoughts :)
 
Line rental is a requirement of a FTTC package.

Sky is cheap only if you get the TV packages as a bundle. Fibre goes through BT so you have the standard 2Mb upload. Line rental is full price of 14.50.

TalkTalk works out Cheapest for Phone / Plus package / Fibre. Again Upload speeds are limited to 2mb. Line rental can be paid upfront for a total on 9.50 month.

the upload speed of the FTTC (wholesale) fibre seems to be better for some than others (the standard 8Mb vs the wholesale 2Mb)

Only using BT infinity gives you the advertised upload speeds and line rental paid up front for 10.50. You are probably looking at Infinity 2 vs you Cable alternative package if guaranteed uploads over 8Mb are critical. Both require a standard cable router. OR meeting your "upload" requirements through other means.

Or talk to the Sky people who deal with contract renewals ( you are thinking of leaving ) and renegotiate your contract based on your needs and alternative deals.
 
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Was on Virgin for years changed to Infinity and haven't looked back really.. I use the internet a lot download/upload a lot and it suits me fine.

Reason I left Virgin was because of STM and at peak times I could barely get good speeds.

Now no matter what time of day I can get full speeds.. so i'd recommend FTTC (I think a lot of people on here recommend Sky so that's worth looking at)
 
I left BT as they wanted to charge me for a 76mb connection but could only supply 45mb and tried to convince me not to worry coz the service is better. Virgin offered 100mb and supplied 100mb lol

MW
 
KIA said:
Search the Virgin Media forum for the first part of your postocde. It'll give you an idea if there's any congestion in your area.
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Thanks, I'll do that.

EDIT: Quite a lot of posts for SG7 with VM representatives responding with posts such as:

The UBR which handles your connection is currently experiencing downstream utilisation, particularly at peak times. This has been raised to our network teams under reference F002206656. Work to resolve this issue is currently scheduled to take place on 02/01/2013 (although this may be subject to change).
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Not a great sign for VM.

What is your predicted FTTC speed? https://www.btwholesale.com/pages/s...unity/Coverage/ADSL_Availibility_Checker.html
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It says:

Code: 
WBC FTTC	Up to 69.7	Up to 20	--	Available

...which sounds pretty good to me.
 
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Go for FTTC. I've recently switched from VM cable and FTTC is far better despite the lower headline download speed. No jitter, more consistent speeds and no traffic shaping if you go with Sky. Also if you get the 80/20 product you get double the upload of VM.
 
If you don't get congestion then VM can be absolutely great....

Sadly, there's a good chance you will (especially based on the results of your post code googling). Even with congestion, VM can be okay if you just upload/download and browse. It's streaming, voip and gaming where it falls over in those situations.
 
Thanks for all of the thoughts guys, it's very much appreciated :)

FrenchTart said:
If you don't get congestion then VM can be absolutely great....

Sadly, there's a good chance you will (especially based on the results of your post code googling). Even with congestion, VM can be okay if you just upload/download and browse. It's streaming, voip and gaming where it falls over in those situations.
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I do stream quite a lot of video and use various VOIP / videoconferencing services fairly often (usually Skype).

I'll look into FTTC but my only concern with it is cost. At the moment the going rate for a decent download allowance seems to be ~£25 p/m plus ~£15 p/m line rental, which at £40 p/m is a bit more than I was hoping to pay. Having said that, it would give me more of a choice as to ISP.

Will have a look about for decent packages :)
 
I have been on NTL/Virgin Medias top tier broadband package for about 10 years now and can honestly say, never had a problem with the service they provide.

I browse, game, stream, upload (FTP), downand (Usenet) and video conference (Skype - Almost everyday for 8 hours).

Something with Virgin Media which does crop up is that if you live among a dense student population, the chances are the UBR WILL be overloaded.

If you are on a well functioning UBR, I do not think Virgin Media can be beaten by anything other than a leased line.
 
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Joop said:
sky was doing a offer to pay all of line rental in one go for the year, that would bring it down!
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Absolutely, but I'm fairly keen to move away from Sky and I believe their FTTC offerings are not particularly well-regarded unfortunately. Thanks for letting me know about it though :)

Gimpymoo said:
I have been on NTL/Virgin Medias top tier broadband package for about 10 years now and can honestly say, never had a problem with the service they provide.

I browse, game, stream, upload (FTP), downand (Usenet) and video conference (Skype - Almost everyday for 8 hours).

Something with Virgin Media which does crop up is that if you live among a dense student population, the chances are the UBR WILL be overloaded.

If you are on a well functioning UBR, I do not think Virgin Media can be beaten by anything other than a leased line.
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Thanks, that's good to know. The only problem is that I'm not sure how I can establish whether I would be on an oversubscribed UBR or not, without signing up to a 12 month contract. This seems like a bit of a gamble to me which is why I'm still looking at FTTC.
 
If there are VM forum posts with engineers replying then go FTTC, virgin seem to be going through a sticky patch right now with the roll out of higher speeds seemingly stretching the network beyond its capacity.
Hopefully things will come good soon but if I had the choice i'd go FTTC and when I'm out of my first year with VM I shall be considering both again, my area should be getting FTTC capability some time around March.
 
arty said:
Absolutely, but I'm fairly keen to move away from Sky and I believe their FTTC offerings are not particularly well-regarded unfortunately. Thanks for letting me know about it though :)



Thanks, that's good to know. The only problem is that I'm not sure how I can establish whether I would be on an oversubscribed UBR or not, without signing up to a 12 month contract. This seems like a bit of a gamble to me which is why I'm still looking at FTTC.
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There is a legally binding cooling down period anyway so you can cancel if unhappy.

I would not read too much into the forum posts, a problem was found and they said they are onto it. Depending how you look at it, to me, that seems rather good. I search for my postcode and a myriad of things crop up from different people, my service has not hiccuped one bit so read into that what you will.

I have gone through a few "network" upgrades and none have caused a problem. Specifically, when switching to 50Mb and 100Mb, neither were a problem.

As with anything, the unhappy ones will always be the most vocal.

Only one problem I have had is with the Superhub, it is super **** for anything beyond basic so a decent router is recommended.
 
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VM 100mb and get 100mb at all times with a constant smooth low ping.

No reason to even look at FTTC.
 
Gimpymoo said:
I would not read too much into the forum posts, a problem was found and they said they are onto it. Depending how you look at it, to me, that seems rather good. I search for my postcode and a myriad of things crop up from different people, my service has not hiccuped one bit so read into that what you will.
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The many Thinkbroadband ping graphs that have been posted here speak for themselves.
 
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