cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

VM 600/800/1GB

JerryFrands
Tuning in

Hey, Been using the 500MB option for 2+ years now (voom). Seen the new 1Gig and related 600/800 tier. Tempted to hop on. Will mostly be using ethernet only. Mostly use it to grab windows/software update, etc. Normally get anything between 350-540MB depending on if it's peak. VM seems confident I'll get a decent speed (if opt for full gig). Tempted to either get the 600M option (cheaper by a third) which is faster than the current 500MB, or cough up for the 1 Gig (actually cheaper than what I pay now). Are there any hidden difference between the 600/800/1GB option in terms of real world speed? (E.g. different hubs on anything below 600MB; ethernet overhead being around 900-950MB, if so is the 800MB tier the sweet spot if budget conscious?) Does anyone know if it'll be long before they'll start to roll out the 2.2Gig /1.1 /600 options?

8 REPLIES 8

Andrew-G
Alessandro Volta

Well, it's your call.  If you get a 1.1 Gbps speed then you're capped by the single gigabit port as you state.  That narrows the difference against the 600 (typically 630) speed tier.  Your choice then depends on the pricing of the real world 630 versus the real world 940, and how desperately you need that speed.  A Hub 5 would sort out the gigabit port issue, but they're not on general release yet and no way of requesting one.

In terms of 2.2 Gig speeds, they're already on field trial in several cities, but VM only launch a new speed when they think enough people will pay more for it.  There's no sign of a commercial launch yet, and seems to me unlikely they'd do it as we go into the summer holidays, and then I'd expect a soft launch in a few cities first, and then make it go live in other regions progressively, but this is also probably contingent on the Hub 5 working for those higher speeds.  I'd guess the marketing people are pushing for availability in Q3 or 4 of this year, the commercial people are probably worried that not enough people will pay a premium over 1 Gbps, and angling to hold back whilst overall market expectations of speed increase.  So a complete guess, but I'm thinking general availability of 2.2 Gbps is probably Q2 2023 at the earliest.  You should also consider that whenever VM launch a new service or product, there's teething troubles - if you were an early adopter of 2.2 Gbps, then you'd be a guinea pig and should expect some anomalies, and any expectation of blissfully uninterrupted cat videos at 2.2 Gbps download are probably unrealistic - these speeds really are pushing a real world implementation of DOCSIS to the absolute limit and possibly beyond.

One rhetorical question: In your quest for speed, how much time do you really spend watching progress bars?

2.2Gbps with a 52mbps upload... 🙂

Andrew-G
Alessandro Volta

Possibly that's another reason for holding off a 2.2 launch - nobody in the mass residential market is offering 2.2 Gbps, so there's no commercial pressure, and going for a 2.2 Gbps download and 0.052 Gbps upload would be really rather embarrassing, particularly as Openreach and altnet providers are offering symmetrical speeds up to 900 Mbps more widely. 

Andrew-G
Alessandro Volta

nobody in the mass residential market 

The largest of those passes 500k homes, but only has connections to around 100k of those.  Compared to BT Group, VM, Vodafone, or Sky these are minnows.

Residential VM customers are not offered M800.

Those on Gig1 have an advertised download speed of 1130Mbps but that's only available through the 2.5Gbps Ethernet port of the hub 5 - which doesn't work as well as it should and is still on limited release.

--
Hub 5, TP-Link TL-SG108S 8-port gigabit switch, 360
My Broadband Ping - Roger's VM hub 5 broadband connection

newapollo
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Voom is the VM business broadband and does have an M800 speed.

https://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/connectivity/internet-access/business-broadband/ 

 

Dave
I don't work for Virgin Media.
I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge.
Problem solved? Click to mark as a Helpful Answer, or use Kudos to say thanks
The do's and don'ts.
Keep the community welcoming for all. Please read the FAQ's
The Service you do for others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth - Muhammad Ali


@Andrew-G wrote: Tell Culvers

Possibly that's another reason for holding off a 2.2 launch - nobody in the mass residential market is offering 2.2 Gbps, so there's no commercial pressure, and going for a 2.2 Gbps download and 0.052 Gbps upload would be really rather embarrassing, particularly as Openreach and altnet providers are offering symmetrical speeds up to 900 Mbps more widely. 


Thank you for the explanation. It is clear for me Exactly what I needed!