Virgin Media Virgin Media Community

tepark · ‎31-03-2023

Hi All,

I have been a Long Time Virgin Media customer mainly because they have been the only company to offer me higher than 5mb broadband service. Now that CityFibre is available in our area I was curious to understand what Virgin Media are going to do to make them selves more competitive with the new providers.

Firstly I am interested to know if Virgin Media are going to increase their "consumer" upload speeds. Provides using CityFibre's network get uploads speeds that are considerably higher than those on Virgin Media. For example I am currently on a 600mb download speed with Virgin Media with an upload speed of 40mb max. I can't find on Virgin Media's web site the price for broadband only for this package so pricing is a bit of a pain to check. However for a package that includes 500MB down and up 500MB upload with a minimum of 250mb up/down guaranteed are Virgin Media considering or going to increase the Upload Speeds.

Now the reason I bring this up is that more and more people are working from home, and if you work in a IT Support Role sometimes you need to handle "large" (3gb or greater for example here) log files on the 40mb at best upload speed for Virgin Media it take a while. On these new services using the City Fibre Network this would be much better.

I know the paragraph above is a "smaller" subset or users however this could apply in other area's, such as content creators, Accounts or people that work on larger files. It would also help improve VPN Speeds for Business Users that have a requirement to work on documents that remain on their corporate network.

I am aware that there has been some "issues" on CityFibres' side however, it seams a bit of a shame that Virgin Media can't just increase the Upload Speed (network infrastructure dependent) and retain some of their customers.

Yes the TV is good however more and more people are moving to streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu etc.

What is everyone else's thoughts on this?
Virgin Media - do you have plan to address this (that is not moving to a Business Broadband Solution)?

Andrew-G · ‎31-03-2023

A long and complicated story behind it, but no, VM can't just increase their upload speeds - the core cable technology permits around 10:1 ratios. Within that there's some leeway to offer more to some customers than others, but overall the ratio holds true.

As and when VM have a true fibre offer that's not got a DOCSIS element in the chain then yes they can consider symmetrical speeds (which is not to say that the economics will make that attractive to VM), but for this even to be an option they'll need to have upgraded the network to XGS-PON, and the customer droplinks, as well as replacing the customer's hub. That's part of the strategy but it is years away. If you want faster upload, go with CityFibre. If you want VM's bundles, TV offering, regular massive price rises, and top notch customer service then stick with VM.

tepark · ‎31-03-2023

What is interesting is that within the same postcode you can get VM's Business Solutions that use a similar hub (including network) and give much better upload speeds but consumers seam to be left behind...

@Andrew-G wrote:
If you want faster upload, go with CityFibre. If you want VM's bundles, TV offering, regular massive price rises, and top notch customer service then stick with VM.

Yes the massive price increases are forcing my hand, and the "customer Services" well... far from "top notch".

carl_pearce · ‎31-03-2023

@tepark wrote:
What is interesting is that within the same postcode you can get VM's Business Solutions that use a similar hub (including network) and give much better upload speeds but consumers seam to be left behind...
@Andrew-G wrote:
If you want faster upload, go with CityFibre. If you want VM's bundles, TV offering, regular massive price rises, and top notch customer service then stick with VM.

Yes the massive price increases are forcing my hand, and the "customer Services" well... far from "top notch".

From what I can see on VM's site all business connections conform to the 10:1 ratio.

Since the introduction of the DOCSIS 3.1 upstream channel it appears that VM had/have plans to roll out 100Mbps upload for Gig1 residential users, so you never know, they may roll out 10:1 for other subscriptions.

cje85 · ‎31-03-2023

Virgin Media's answer to CityFibre?

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2023/03/virgin-media-o2-uk-ponder-3bn-acquisition-of-rival-cit...

Andrew-G · ‎31-03-2023

@tepark wrote:

Yes the massive price increases are forcing my hand, and the "customer Services" well... far from "top notch".

That's polite sarcasm, as it pleases the forum staff more than outright humour with a sharp edge (which I find gets me a brief ban from the forum).

But I've already voted with my feet, and left VM a couple of months back.

Roger_Gooner · ‎31-03-2023

I've been a cable broadband customer for a long time and there has been a number of cost-free speed increases at unpredictable intervals. We're now expecting all the Gig1 customers to get 100Mbps upload at no cost, in which case there will be headroom, in a manner of speaking, for those on M500 to get an upload increase to (probably) 50Mbps.

As for TV: yes, there is more streaming than before and VM is well aware of it, which is why there are more apps (Disney+ has arrived and Paramount+ is coming).

--
Hub 5, TP-Link TL-SG108S 8-port gigabit switch, 360

My Broadband Ping - Roger's VM hub 5 broadband connection

cje85 · ‎31-03-2023

@Roger_Gooner wrote:
I've been a cable broadband customer for a long time and there has been a number of cost-free speed increases at unpredictable intervals. We're now expecting all the Gig1 customers to get 100Mbps upload at no cost...

Other than the small, insignificant 13.8% (average) price hike.

Andrew-G · ‎31-03-2023

@cje85 wrote:
Other than the small, insignificant 13.8% (average) price hike.

Point of information, Sir! "The small, insignificant 13.8% (average) price hike that's applied in a manner that the majority of customers (who are on discounted deals) face much higher increases in their monthly bills."

How that's in any way legal kcuf knows.

jem101 · ‎31-03-2023

@cje85 wrote:
@Roger_Gooner wrote:
I've been a cable broadband customer for a long time and there has been a number of cost-free speed increases at unpredictable intervals. We're now expecting all the Gig1 customers to get 100Mbps upload at no cost...
Other than the small, insignificant 13.8% (average) price hike.

Oh, now come on, we mustn’t criticise the entirely justified ~~massive~~ increase in prices which is entirely and understandably necessary to fund the ‘free’ speed increases as well as ~~executive bonuses~~ noticeable improvement in the overall quality of the customer support provision.

Honestly, some people, are just never satisfied!😉