Your Internet is Too fast (LTT Video), dont waste your money

[Dave6018]

I've been with Virgin Media's 1 Gig service for 18 months. I spent a lot of money on a Wi-Fi 6 XT8 setup specifically to get 1 Gb speeds over Wi-Fi, but when the renewal came through, the price hike made me reconsider.

So, I had my partner sign up for their 350 Mb service(it was cheaper than my renewal). Honestly, apart from the occasional large Steam download, I haven't noticed any difference in performance. We also switched to Sky Stream, which offers 4K and Dolby Atmos, which is is so much better than virgin360, thank you virgin media retention team

Recently, I watched a Linus Tech Tips video about internet speeds, and after checking my own setup, I completely agree with Linus's findings. There's no way I'd sign up for Virgin's 1 Gb service again, unless they offer a symmetrical connection. feel free to go and watch linus tech tips video "your internet is to fast" and make you own mind up  

[asim18]

I've been watching Linus for over a decade now. I agree with almost everything he says.

I feel the same about 1Gb+ domestic grade interenet connections. They are pointless to me too. Realtime communications are more important to me than bulk transfers. And for that, you need to improve latency/speed, not increase bandwidth.

When I was a child with 56k broadband, I was patient. I didn't mind waiting hours, even days, for something to download. Fast forward a few decades... being able to download things faster than everyone else is still the last thing I'm concerned about.

Personally, I wish that ISPs would work to improve latency and improve global peering. At work we have a 200Mb dedicated line with 1ms ping to London datacentres and time-guaranteed packet delivery to international DCs. It's an absolute pleasure to surf the web and use realtime applications on such a responsive connection. Feels 1000 times better than any 2Gb Virgin connection, that's for sure.

[legacy1]

Yup I agree low latency is more important I'm on M125 with my own BWM setup I can watch 4K and download and even play a game without problem download a game is the only problem but if your happy to wait then not a problem.

[unisoft]

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@Dave6018 wrote:

I've been with Virgin Media's 1 Gig service for 18 months. I spent a lot of money on a Wi-Fi 6 XT8 setup specifically to get 1 Gb speeds over Wi-Fi, but when the renewal came through, the price hike made me reconsider.

So, I had my partner sign up for their 350 Mb service(it was cheaper than my renewal). Honestly, apart from the occasional large Steam download, I haven't noticed any difference in performance. We also switched to Sky Stream, which offers 4K and Dolby Atmos, which is is so much better than virgin360, thank you virgin media retention team

Recently, I watched a Linus Tech Tips video about internet speeds, and after checking my own setup, I completely agree with Linus's findings. There's no way I'd sign up for Virgin's 1 Gb service again, unless they offer a symmetrical connection. feel free to go and watch linus tech tips video "your internet is to fast" and make you own mind up  

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Whilst I agree with most of what you say, I must disagree with Sky Stream when it comes to comparison with VM Stream. VM Stream is much better; I've used both extensively. Sky were plagued with numerous firmware issues like "Please wait for the channel to load" despite oodles of bandwidth tested at the box and lots were complaining on their forums.

I realise you were coming from Virgin 360 box, but comparing like for like products, VM Stream is (unusually) better in terms of software and hardware speed and even VM's remote control is much better than Sky Stream. The only thing I didn't like of VM Stream was lack of WPA3 support as it really should have it. VM ironed out most of the firmware bugs now (adding optional subscriptions can be buggy still), but Sky really haven't and their box hardware is a dog in performance terms. Sky's interactive services work by some sort of virtual machine and they often can't load because of demand, their box cannot cope if you have your own router and set a WiFi schedule to turn off WiFi during the night hours. The next day you will be greeted by a loss of WiFi screen and having to go into settings even if you set power management to always be on. Please wait for the channel to load, gets fixed in one firmware release and then broken in the next. None of this happens on VM Stream (assuming your broadband and WiFi are good). Depending on TV model, as not all models, the sound and picture can be out of sync on Sky Stream, despite tweaking sound delay on Sky software (which was only + values and no minus values) and also trying PCM. VM Stream on same OLED LG TV and it was fine.

Admittedly, I am not bothered about 4K and Atmos because TV and streaming services offer a highly compressed version of it and its not worth while on a 55" television because HD is good enough. 4K Blu ray, now that is something else 😉

[Dave6018]

Not tried Virgin Stream, but really can't fault Sky Stream. Absolutely zero issues and the picture quality on my TV is stunning(qn94a). Oh and it's good to have sky Atlantic and the f1 red button, just watched a review of virgin stream on YouTube, can you watch every program from the start ?  Doesn't look like you can 

[unisoft]

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@Dave6018 wrote:

Not tried Virgin Stream, but really can't fault Sky Stream. Absolutely zero issues and the picture quality on my TV is stunning(qn94a). Oh and it's good to have sky Atlantic and the f1 red button, just watched a review of virgin stream on YouTube, can you watch every program from the start ?  Doesn't look like you can 

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Not by the annoying way Sky put that pop up when you change channels (and forever accidentally clicking OK to go to a mini guide and it thinks I want the on demand player). VM is longer to restart a programme agreed.

Sky Atlantic is mostly repeats these days so I won't miss that. The picture quality on HD and SD is BETTER on VM Stream though ( I didn't say 4K at this point) and a number of channels are encoded correctly on VM Stream whereas on Sky Stream they have a lazy 1080i to 1080p at 25 frames resulting in loss of temporal motion. Again some people won't care because they may not watch those channels (QVC/Challenge and others). Also Sky Stream is like double the price per month on rolling monthly. Not pay a subscription and ALL tv is lost whereas on VM Stream, get keep the Freeview channels plus a load more as subscriptions are optional.

I have no need to defend VM on this one as leaving VM in around 11 days, but just wanted to point out for others reading, that Sky Stream isn't the best in class and suggest visiting Sky's own forum to see customer feedback....