Virgin Media Community

[jacamanda]

I am currently paying for the M200 broadband package, but am I overpaying for something I'm not fully using?

What I mean to say is, could I downgrade to the M100 package without affecting my family's experience?

HOW could I go about finding out what my usage is in terms of Mbps over the course of, say, a month? Does that make sense? Is that even possible? Google hasn't been my friend and I'm not very technical. 

I understand that it's not all about the download speeds, but the upload speeds too. I have the HUB 5 if that's any help.

If I were to leave VM and switch to, say, EE who offer speeds of 31Mbps, how would I know whether this would 'cut it' for my family's need? 

It can't just be a case of: make the switch and see, surely?

I know nothing, Jon Snow! Help a girl out!

[Adduxi]

Get a 30 day EE data SIM and use an old phone as a Hotspot.  See how you get on with the 30Mb speed.  However if anyone in your house are gamers, forget about using Mobile Internet.  The latency will be horrendous !

FYI, when my two kids were at home, we managed fine on the 100Mb Tier.

[jacamanda]

My two kids are gamers, especially my son (Apex). My daughter usually sticks to Sims. They both watch a lot of YouTube. I play Valheim on Steam myself, but solo. Minecraft multiplayer is played a lot in my household. My partner streams a lot or he's on Steam games or the PS4, gaming with family. So yeah, we're all pretty much "online folk". We also have HIVE gadgets and Echo devices.

Hence my question: will the 100Mbps plan meet our needs. In all honesty, I don't think the broadband offered by EE (in my OP) will.

[Adduxi]

If the EE is a mobile plan, then it will NOT work for gaming.  If it's a VDSL connection, then it will and most likely have lower latency.

However, I still think you would be okay with 100Mb, and then invest in your own Router/Mesh system.  Any ISP supplied router is a problem when you have lots of IoT kit.  Best to use the Hub in modem mode and \dd a good 3rd party system.