I saw an advert for virgin broadband in the papers today and it say's that they do speeds of up to 20mbps though a fiber optic cable and they claimed that all other providers give their customers lower speeds that advertised (which is very true to me, since i got BT with 8mbps and im only getting like 1mbps-2mbps...) So yeah... is it a good idea to switch? I thought I should consult with the technical people on EC before i started persuading my parents to do anything ^_^ thankies!
Not everyone can get the same speed, it all applies to the cables you have in the ground. (Well I think they're in the ground) You probably wont get 20mbps with virgin. You probably won't even be able to get it if its not in your area, so check that first.
Oohh did i forget to add that I checked on the virgin website and my house can have fiber optic cables?
Personally I would steer clear of anything Richard Branson is involved with. He is one of those people who make extravagant claims for how wonderful his new each new Virgin venture will be, then fails to deliver. Virgin Airlines? Virgin Trains? I was with Virgin Internet back in the dial-up days and it was hopeless. I'm just pleased he hasn't been able to buy Northern Rock (where our mortgage is). From a technical point of view, ADSL is established and works well now. Speeds do vary with distance and line quality, but unless you are downloading pirated movies, pirated software or other huge files, 1Mb is fine. Let the local fibre system settle in for a while, let them work the bugs out, and see how other people get on with it. Then if it looks good and is still in existence and not surrounded in bad press in a year or so you could look at it again. Check the details too. A high speed is no use if the monthly quota is only a couple of GB. If you are doing lots of bid downloads, work out how much you'll probably need, then double it. Also there is no such thing as "unlimited". They will say in small print that it is subject to their "acceptable usage policy" which is often a deliberately vague document that says they reserve the right to terminate or restrict the service if they think you are making excessive use of it, and does not give any figures. Look for terms like "traffic shaping" (which means allowing much lower speeds on P2P networks) or "more than 10 times the usage of an average customer" (which means any random figure they make up). Also look at the minimum contract period and what it will cost if you terminate early. Do they tie your home phone or TV into this too? I haven't read Virgin Internet's terms and conditions so I don't know how devious they are.
ooo on saying that if they can offer up to like 20mbps that's defo something that I need to look in to. I personally have 8mbps with orange, but there are one or two high lag websites that I use requiring me to have fast broadband. So even with 8mbps they don't load as fast as they could. Thanks for that Ty
Thankyou guys, im going to have a look into it. Hopefully their 'acceptable use policy' will be big enough and im going to look around on the internet for any criticisms and such. Also, good luck Jamie, if you decide to get it. For anyone in the UK who wants to check if theres fiber optic cables in their area, then go to www.hatetowait.co.uk =]
As expected their AUP is rather vague. See http://www.virgin.net/allyours/faqs/traffic_faqs.html and section F (in particular F1p) here http://www.virgin.net/terms/broadband_tc.html. That whole terms and conditions page is more than twice as long as the one at Zen Internet who I use, so I suggest you read it carefully.
Speaking of virgin, i'm kinda banned from virgin airways (or is it virgin atlantic? i can never remember) because i was watching a movie on a flight to dubai and there was this really dumb girl in it and i turned to my mum and said "wow, she's dumb". What i hadnt noticed was the hostess asking "tea or coffee?" right next to me :eek: and i said it pretty loud. :eusa_doh: i'm such a dumb*ss sometimes
