VM Cable Vs BT Infinity

Cavallino · 14 May 2012 at 19:17

So I had a letter drop through the post today concerning BT Infinity.
Checking on BT websites, they state I can get up to 76MBps which is quite nice, whats even nicer is the price of £26 per month only.

I am currently paying £37.25 with VM for 50mbit and feel that its time I should move on especially since VM cheekily withdrew the discount I was enjoying and refused to reinstate it...

But I would like to ask about your experiences with BT Infinity, is it truly near to the max speed or is it really "up to XXMBps" and could be anything in between?

E.g. I am on 50MBit with VM and pretty much get that speed all the time. I am quite happy with it, and I am in two minds about moving considering that its relatively trouble free, but paying an extra tenner a month for a slower speed is not good...

I know that VM will be doubling speeds, but that will not happy till October according to VM...

So any ideas or thoughts from your goodselves would be appreciated.

jamjar · 14 May 2012 at 19:21

look at this http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18239808

Nick1881 · 14 May 2012 at 19:25

I recently moved from VM 50mb to Infinity.

BT quoted me 71mb, I actually get 80mb. Also my latency is so much better with BT. I'm glad I moved and I'm really happy with BT, not that I ever had any major problems with VM.

jamjar · 14 May 2012 at 19:28

Nick1881 said:
I recently moved from VM 50mb to Infinity.

BT quoted me 71mb, I actually get 80mb. Also my latency is so much better with BT. I'm glad I moved and I'm really happy with BT, not that I ever had any major problems with VM.

From what i read and hear from people around where i live , a lot on VM complain about there service and a lot say there connection is bad and slow , but all the B.T people say its a better network , which i believe it is

delpy8 · 14 May 2012 at 19:32

I wish I could get Bt infinity as Im stuck with sky

Justintime · 14 May 2012 at 19:35

No complaints with Virgin, could be my location but had em for almost a decade i believe and had maybe 5 outages and no longer than say 4hrs.

aln · 14 May 2012 at 19:49

If I were you, I'd go with BT.

Dist · 14 May 2012 at 20:04

Depends on your location IMO. my area does not have any over-subscription with VM and so I get great speeds. If I wanted to I could upgrade to 100Mb which will soon be 120 Mb, MUCH better than what BT can offer. If you think you are paying too much for VM, try to call them and say you are thinking of leaving and they should be able to sort out a nice deal.

Cavallino · 14 May 2012 at 20:14

Thanks for your feedback all. Seems BT are getting their act together compared to the previous days...

Dist - I did try to call but suprisingly there wasnt a lot that they could do on the package I am on.

jamjar · 14 May 2012 at 20:31

Yeah B.T are a lot better than the early days of ADSL , and it is about where you live with Virgin ,as most people are on Cable due to they were first to offer Fibre service ,but if it was me i,d go with B.T as they do generally have a much better Network in congested areas, also both VM & B.T are throttleing there services now so thats not an issue in my view

barmyllama · 15 May 2012 at 12:07

VM is all about location. My brother had it for ten years and it went off once in all that time, he couldn't fault it. My experience is the total opposite to the point that after more than 2 years of poor service, I've just given them 30 days notice and I'm giving Sky fibre a go.

Nymins · 15 May 2012 at 12:20

As others have said, it really depends on the area you are in. I've had mixed experiences with VM in the short time I've had it. When I first got it, it was brilliant. Maxed out all the time, day or night. However, since Christmas, its been very dodging in the evenings.

Its cleared up now, but I assume thats down to students going home for the summer or for exams. My contract ends in September I think (unless I signed up for 18 months, can't remember) and would love to try Infinity, but my cabinet hasn't been upgraded yet. Exchange has been done for awhile, but just the cabinet needs done.

ChrisD. · 15 May 2012 at 12:29

VM is a lottery, BT Infinity isn't. I moved from VM to BT and much prefer it.

Cavallino · 15 May 2012 at 13:08

Why isnt BT Infinity a lottery? What is it about the technology that makes it better than VM? Or is it because there isnt as many people using it as VM at the moment and frees up bandwidth?

Showboat · 15 May 2012 at 13:14

You need to actually cancel your account with VM to get them to re-instate the discount.
You give them 30 days notice, and wait for a phone call to try and keep you. You can change your mind and not cancel at any point during the 30 day notice period.

Theres a thread about it on moneysavingexpert.
Know what BT / Sky are offering and what you will be saving per month and call them up to cancel. I didn't even get that far before they offered me XL phone and 60MB for £30 a month, i was happy with that.

aln · 15 May 2012 at 13:16

Cavallino said:
Why isnt BT Infinity a lottery? What is it about the technology that makes it better than VM? Or is it because there isnt as many people using it as VM at the moment and frees up bandwidth?

One can only assume BT actually invested in their infrastructure, whilst VM run on the bare minimum. You could be right that BTs fibre network isn't doesn't see a lot of traffic, but that depends if its shared with the ADSL connections.

Either way, as an Internet connection what you'll get from BT will always be good with the exception of sync speed which is a lotto. The jitter, and access to services is something nobody seems to be complaining about.

With virgin you'll always get the good sync speed, but the quality of the connection is generally ****. Some people get lucky, but most who say it's fine probably just have low expectations. I'm with virgin, though lack of choice, and I'm convinced they're doing some shenanigans with the norths lines at Manchester.

jamjar · 15 May 2012 at 13:18

aln said:
One can only assume BT actually invested in their infrastructure, whilst VM run on the bare minimum. You could be right that BTs fibre network isn't doesn't see a lot of traffic, but that depends if its shared with the ADSL connections.

Either way, as an Internet connection what you'll get from BT will always be good with the exception of sync speed which is a lotto. The jitter, and access to services is something nobody seems to be complaining about.

With virgin you'll always get the good sync speed, but the quality of the connection is generally ****. Some people get lucky, but most who say it's fine probably just have low expectations. I'm with virgin, though lack of choice, and I'm convinced they're doing some shenanigans with the norths lines at Manchester.

another good post

totally agree with this

ChrisD. · 15 May 2012 at 13:24

Cavallino said:
Why isnt BT Infinity a lottery? What is it about the technology that makes it better than VM? Or is it because there isnt as many people using it as VM at the moment and frees up bandwidth?

In short, Virgin's core network was built in the 90's to support a lot less of the current bandwidth demand with a lot less users.

BT's core 21CN network has been built in the past couple of years to last a very long time.

jamjar · 15 May 2012 at 13:28

MilanoChris said:
In short, Virgin's core network was built in the 90's to support a lot less of the current bandwidth demand with a lot less users.

BT's core 21CN network has been built in the past couple of years to last a very long time.

yeah this is true

in short B.T have been around a lot longer than VM so they know the ropes or in this case cables ha!

cwhitehead · 15 May 2012 at 13:43

Im with VM and if you go on their forums it's riddled with people who cant game because of the ridiculous latency, me being one.

At the minute i cant switch as im stuck in contract for a few more months but even then BT arent in my area yet which may leave me no choice but to stay with them!