Virgin Media Community

[brammers]

So, some 2 years after upgrading my package to M500 Fibre broadband, it has never got anywhere near that level. The average is 60Mb (often much less) and I'm tired of phoning up only to be told to reset the bloody router. Trying to get through to a real person has been made so hard, so I'm thinking of switching to G Networks and Sky. If anyone from Virgin is reading this, maybe you can tell me whether the 516Mb is pure hype and never a realistic service in my area? 

[Client62]

"60Mb (often much less)"   - that reads like a speed test over a WiFi connection or even an Powerline adaptor.

Share the results from the link below which aims to show the speed to the Hub as well as how fast your device works.

Once the test starts click on : Run full test  to show more details.

https://www.samknows.com/realspeed/

[brammers]

Router is showing 465Mb, but standing right next to it doing a speedtest on my Iphone gets only 61Mb. Is that normal? I never used a wired connection so what value is the 500Mb if you can only get 60Mb on wi-fi?

Thx.

[g0akc]

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@brammers wrote:

Router is showing 465Mb, but standing right next to it doing a speedtest on my Iphone gets only 61Mb. Is that normal? I never used a wired connection so what value is the 500Mb if you can only get 60Mb on wi-fi?

Thx.

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• The speed applies to wired, not wireless connections - use a wired device to utilise it
• you could share the overall speed across multiple wireless devices in the household 
• Try using 5GHz while close to the hub as it will be faster than the 2.4GHz your phone is likely using - you can split the bands if you wish by giving them a slightly different name (add a 5 for example)

[g0akc · Accepted solution]

I should add, in my view, part of the 'obsession' with speed is down to marketing - how the provider can make more money out of you by distinguish different prices for different packages.

The only (main) differentiator they can have for broadband is speed - unless they limited the number of devices connected or what you can do with it in some other way, even an amount of data (which is what the mobile operators do).  It's on, right?  Limit time periods it's available for different prices?

Customers get convinced they need an upgrade and it will be better - that depends what you want to do with the bandwidth - you will always be limited by other factors like a wireless connection or device capability.  

How big is the household?  What is your usage.  Several teenagers in the house all gaming and downloading?  What do you do on the web?  Lots of uploading of photos and media (one of my relatives is an estate agent and does a lot of that)?  We only upgraded to VM 200, then 250 from BT 20mbs so we could get UHD TV and watch TV on more than one device.  Otherwise not really needed.

I remember a little old lady being up sold an upgrade to a faster broadband package - all she did was read a few emails from relatives each week and the parish newsletter once a month from the vicar - fast broadband totally unnecessary.

Something to think about....

[brammers]

Thanks. I tried the 5Ghz solution and miraculously I get 500Mb on wifi (next to the router). 

There's no one else making big demands on the network, so maybe this is/was one of the problems. 

TBH the speed is generally very variable, with unpredictable outages that make working from home (Zoom etc) really problematic.

I use the Virgin "pods" around the house. Do you know if these should be set to the 5Ghz band?

Many thanks for your help.

[TonyJover]

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@brammers wrote:

I use the Virgin "pods" around the house. Do you know if these should be set to the 5Ghz band?

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No, you don't need to do anything to the pods; they create an intelligent mesh WiFi.  I only use one, which has transformed a dead room into a usable one.

[g0akc]

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@brammers wrote:

Thanks. I tried the 5Ghz solution and miraculously I get 500Mb on wifi (next to the router). 

There's no one else making big demands on the network, so maybe this is/was one of the problems. 

TBH the speed is generally very variable, with unpredictable outages that make working from home (Zoom etc) really problematic.

I use the Virgin "pods" around the house. Do you know if these should be set to the 5Ghz band?

Many thanks for your help.

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If you’ve got the VM pods you likely need to keep the WiFi as default, without changing the network names.

Trouble is some kit, including Apple iPhones, will try to cling to the 2.4GHz channel, which they will generally see and connect to first when coming back to the house, rather than switching to the generally faster 5GHz channel when they can use it.  They will only switch if the channel becomes unusable.  Not much you can do other than switch manually with your own kit, or maybe turn wifi off/on on the phone….

[Robert_P]

Hi Brammers

Glad to hear the wireless speeds were better when connected via 5ghz, this tends to be the faster frequency but with less range than the wider 2.4ghz. We have help here to improve signal strength and range of wireless networks if required.

Rob