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davrob's avatar
davrob
Up to speed
2 years ago
Solved

Virginmedia Fibre is it fibre?

I have the offer of a Full Fibre (FTTP) at a very reasonable quotation far better than VM. I consulted VM to ask when are they going to do FTTP in my area but they replied that is already FTTP but I understood it was only Fibre up to the small box on the pavement in front of my house and the rest to the house is a coax cable.

Plus they added they will be doing VOIP within the next few YEARS! - as this will be bypassing phone line will our premiums be reduced as we are not using the line anymore.

Your thoughts will be appreciated  

  • carl_pearce's avatar
    carl_pearce
    2 years ago

    There are three 'types':

    • HFC - Coax from cabinet to your home.
    • RFoG - Fibre to the wall box on the outside of your home converted to coax between the wall box and HUB.
    • XGS-PON - Full fat FTTP where a HUB 5x is used that can accept a fibre connection directly.

    All are more than capable of just over 1.1Gbps on the Gig1 service (And 2.2Gbps in the future), however, the main difference is latency.

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  • jb66's avatar
    jb66
    Very Insightful Person
    2 years ago

    My thoughts are that I don't care what material is used to deliver my Internet as long as I get the speed I pay for

  • carl_pearce's avatar
    carl_pearce
    Superstar
    2 years ago

    There are three 'types':

    • HFC - Coax from cabinet to your home.
    • RFoG - Fibre to the wall box on the outside of your home converted to coax between the wall box and HUB.
    • XGS-PON - Full fat FTTP where a HUB 5x is used that can accept a fibre connection directly.

    All are more than capable of just over 1.1Gbps on the Gig1 service (And 2.2Gbps in the future), however, the main difference is latency.

    • Stephen93's avatar
      Stephen93
      Superfast
      2 years ago

      I’m have XGS-PON on the gig1 plan, the hub 5x runs at 1132mps but when testing speed on my iPad Pro I get sometimes 910mps & at most 810 on iPhone 15 Pro Max & this is with both next to the router, should I be getting 1 gig on WiFi?

      • robbiekhan's avatar
        robbiekhan
        Up to speed
        2 years ago

        No. to get the full fat speeds you need to be using wired. Wireless has overheads involved so will never reach maximum speeds generally. Plus no wireless device like those mentioned will ever need or benefit from such speeds anyway.

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    2 years ago

    I would ignore the technologies, focusing my attention on buying a connection that provided the services needed.

    The range is from a VM high cost big bundles of Internet + TV + Home & Mobile Phones to a pure IP connection from the other provider.

    The latter would be perfect for us, but is not on offer here,  so we have VM RFoG internet only + 3 VOIP phones via Sipgate + Sky TV.

    But what suits you ?

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    2 years ago

    If the new FTTP service is cheaper than VM, by all means go for it, but it won't include any TV channels that you have subscribed for on VM.

    You could instead use the new quotation to argue for a better renewal deal at renewal time with VM. 

    • davrob's avatar
      davrob
      Up to speed
      2 years ago

      Yes well TV does worry me as enough to choose from Smart TV & Freesat.

      Offer of 500Mbps @ £19.90 for 18mths then £29.90 for next 18mths and will include increases at March like all other providers. Only downside is I shall loose my landlines as on VM so will have to get VOIP contract. Talking about VOIP does anybody recommend a good & reasonable price VOIP provider. I do realise VM is going to be doing this sometime but will commit when

  • robbiekhan's avatar
    robbiekhan
    Up to speed
    2 years ago

    200Mbps is nothing and any phone made in the last few years can easily maintain 200Mbps over WiFi. It's when you start getting into the 500Mbps+ internet packages where you really start to encounter the overhead ranges of WiFi and where distance/WiFi type matter more and dictate how fast a speed test will be.

  • robbiekhan's avatar
    robbiekhan
    Up to speed
    2 years ago

    @davrob They already are using VOIP bypassing phone lines, I got my little dongle that connects to the HUB5 last year to plug in the phone to. Your premium will not be reduced because of this, analogue lines are just going over the internet is all.

    • Tudor's avatar
      Tudor
      Very Insightful Person
      2 years ago

      "They already are using VOIP bypassing phone lines" VM are not using VOIP, they are just using the fibre/coax connection instead of a dedicated wire. All the termination equipment is still POTS, they will perhaps transition to true VOIP in the future, but many people are still abandoning their fixed phones for a mobile one.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    2 years ago

    Virginmedia are using something they call CV21, which they brought in to allow domestic phones to operate over their local broadband circuits. It's not true VOIP and you can't plug proper VOIP phones into the VM Hub.  But it does mean you can just plug existing phones into the Hub, so it does the job.

     

    • robbiekhan's avatar
      robbiekhan
      Up to speed
      2 years ago

      Oh yes sorry it's not true VOIP but it uses the normal internet via a regular phone, hence the little adapter they sent out to households ages ago with a letter informing of the switchover.

      No bother for me as I have a landline via Vonage so already have voip in place long as there's internet.

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta
    2 years ago

    Nobody loses their landlines as what happens is that you connect your existing handset to the hub via an adapter. The line rental is the same but I expect that it will be reduced after 2025 when VoIP is fully implemented.