Also agree with BE, never had any problems with them. I did get a warning from O2 when I pulled 3.2GB down over 3G through my iPhone though
Virgin do provide fast net, but i'm on 50meg package and have been since it came out. It's apparently unlimted and in traffic management there are no limits... Try downlowding more than 150gig in a month. You will be asked to move your download times to between 9pm and 9 am, basically when your asleep so they asked me not to download through the day. I come home from work and if i want something downloaded i don't want to do it at night I want it ready when i get home(oh well). If you refuse to do this as i did they disconnect your service for being detrimental to the network. It's all fair on the other packages they tell you an amount, but the 50 meg and above is a load of rubbish, there are no limits but if you download between 9 am and 9pm too much they'll cut you off. The best bit was, between 9pm and 9 am when i apparently was aloud to download as muchas i wanted i decided to rape the connection between these hours, i did nearly 5tb i think. Was still sent a letter, when i told them they told me i was having detrimental effect to users in my area. Prove it, i said... nothing was done. Moral of the story, don't go with virgin. They don't offer an unlimted service, it doesnt exist. Whats the point in having fast net if you can only download very very small amounts? If they specified an amount it wouldn't be unlimted would it? I say again, stay the **** away from virgin media if your an even slightly heavy user.
How on earth can you download 5TB in a month? That's over 160GB per day. If you're going to take the piss, they'll say you're taking the piss and threaten to cut you off. My advice: stay with Virgin, upgrade to their 20/30MB service and the daytime throttle threshold moves to 7GB.
What happens if I want to play a game at a reasonable time, not 3am? It's not always convenient to leave things running overnight. I use BE as my ISP, have done for over 5 years, and never ever had a problem with capping or download limits. It's great.
people are side stepping issues here somewhat. 1. Virgin inform you about traffic management and the cap is not 3GB a day get your facts right. on the 10mb package its 10am-3pm = 3GB, 4pm-9pm=1.5GB and 9pm-9am=unlimited (within reason and not downloading the entire net) 2. While others company can be a good alternative due to the traffic management used by virgin they cant provide the top speed for EVERY user so some get their full 10mb or 20mb while others on the same package get 5 or even 2. So for some it makes sense to go with virgin for speed rather than slow ass ADSL 2mb thats unlimited. Virgin are 1 of the very few companies that give you 95%+ of the quoted speed 24/7. they are also one of the few who wanted to change how its marketd to people with average speed of users quoted rather than max speeds. BT, Sky etc dont want this because the vast majority of their users are between 3-5mb regardless of which package they are on. PS - no i dont work for virgin but they are also not rubbish because they employ traffic management to make sure everyone gets what they pay for. Different packages suit different people some want speed others want unlimited packages with no throttling.
it's do-able on his 50Mbps connection. i could do 40GB overnight (11 to 10) on my 10Mbps connection. 200GB can be done easily. all he has to do is put up a few torrents or line up a lot of game demo. back on topic: VM is one of the best in my experience. yes there are traffic management over specific time period. yes it is annoying. but as long as you manage your usage pattern, it will guarantee you the speed you paid. i do all of my download on my NAS, that is on 24/7. so i've set it up to download 12 to 3pm, then when i come home at 6pm, any traffic management will have timed out. rarely had throttling problem during the time i use it, only a few times when i REALLY wanted to play a game on Steam that decided to download a large patch that day.
Not sure what you're talking about here. ADSL providers don't artificially cap your connection speed because they don't want you downloading as fast, your speed is a result of distance from the exchange and length of wiring. Yes, the average may be 3-5Mbit, but that's because the average customer doesn't live near enough to the exchange. Not because BT or whoever is trying to diddle the customer. Virgin don't give you 95%+ of the quoted speed 24/7, they give you the quoted speed until you hit your cap, which can take a matter of 30 minutes. Then you suddenly don't get your quoted speed, because Virgin are dicks. Or, you go sign up for a decent ADSL2+ provider (read: BE), who will connect you as fast as your line can go (which in my case is 23.8Mbit) and you can download 24/7, 365 days a year, at maximum speed. If I'm paying for whatever speed, I want that speed whenever I want it, and for however long I want it.
No they just throttle your connection instead at peak times or prevent p2p downloading. BT do this actively. O2 and BE dont as far as im aware though. Most other ISPs are have some form of throttling or traffic management. ADSL users generally dont get the nice speeds your getting in fact your in a very tiny minority (which is why ofcom is investigating speeds). I know speed is related to distance from exchange and quality of line but thats also part of the problem. If i pay for 20mb and my line only handles 5mb then i get 5mb not the 20mb im paying for. With virgin you pay for 10mb you get 10mb, pay for 20mb get 20mb. I know BE are great as are O2 but your limited by your line. Theres also the fact that on top of the great broadband service you receive you STILL have to pay BT line rental / Talk talk (eww) / sky line rental. If your a heavy user on virgin then pay for it don't buy their entry level package its as simple as that. The 20mb service offers double the limits of 10mb and the 50mb and 100mb are unlimited. ADSL offers similar packages with caps or none except they cant provide you with the speed you pay for 9/10
Yes, you get that speed for the 30min it takes to go over your 1.5GB limit at peak times. Great! I'd rather get a consistent speed, even though it may be slower due to exchange distance. 50Mbit and 100Mbit are insane prices. Seriously. I'd never pay that much just to get unlimited access - it costs me £22.44 a month for my BE line, and £14 from BT for my line rental including unlimited 24/7 calls.
in my case, would be £37 for internet access that only gets me 2 to 3 Mbps. compare to 10Mbps for £20. i think i'd rather stay with 10Mbps package. don't forget, even when been traffic managed, i'll still get 2.5Mbps, doesn't disrupt normal internet usage.
thats you not everyone. I dont heavily download and when i do its done at night when i can. I like having pings of <40ms and a constant 10mb donwload for bits and bobs when i need it. Be may offer you the same but your in the moniroty that receives this kind of service. Hell if i could get it i know id be on BE or O2 20mb packages. Fact is im 2 miles from my exchange which only supoprts up to 8mb or so of which i get around 5mb on average with pings <80ms. As i said its not for heavy users that seem to download the world. It works for the vast majority of users especially those just looking for fast reliable internet. 50mb/5mb from virgin is £35/month which is what you pay in total isnt it ??? 100mb/5mb is £45/month id hardly call those insane prices since the 50mb service is the same price as your ~20ish MB service with free weekend calls (ooohhh. dont we all have mobiles nowadays). Plus 5mb upload is far far better than 1mb or even 512/768 which is typical of ADSL.
Both types of users exist, so packages should exist that serve both sets of needs, I think. Currently it's virtually impossible to be a heavy net user, because there is no nationwide ISP that offers a service for it. (BE is only available in certain regions, and even their speeds aren't amazing compared to many other countries.) It won't happen until the government get off their arse and start working on the infrastructure, though. This country's just **** for internet all around, and it's a hardware problem.
+1 totally agree countries so not ready for any real speed although i liked the trail of 1Gbps internet in a small few office blocks in london. economically impossible to roll-out nation wide though
£35/mo, just for service. So that's compared to my £22.44 (and I can get a cheaper package, same speed, just no static IP). Oh, not free weekend calls, free calls 24/7. Yes we do all have mobiles, but most people still have landlines, so add that on to your Virgin cost. I get 2.5Mbit upload as well.
Good for you. But what is your point? Most people have mobiles now, so they won't need a landline, that is why the cost of broadband should be added on top of landline line rental when comparing Internet packages.
The annoying thing for me is how they implement the throttling. Dropped packets, terrible pings that make browsing difficult never mind playing online. I wouldn't mind the FU policy if it worked better, like you say 2.5mb is still plenty for just browsing.
My point, mainly, is that throtting annoys the hell out of me, no matter the justification. Sell me a 20mbit service, I want that all the time, not just when it suits my ISP. Yes, most people have mobiles. A lot of people also have crap signal at home, or can't use a work mobile for personal business. There's still a very large number of landlines out there.
