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Rumour Mill – UK ISP Virgin Media Business Prep 500Mbps Broadband

Wednesday, Jan 9th, 2019 (8:32 am) - Score 18,039

A number of sources have indicated to us that UK cable operator Virgin Media, specifically their Virgin Media Business division, could be preparing to launch a new small biz focused 500Mbps (35Mbps upload) “VOOM Fibre” broadband package during the first few months of 2019. But residential users may have to wait.

Regular readers will know that there have been whispers of a future 500Mbps or similar tier for awhile (today’s top small business tier is 350Mbps, with upload speeds that range from 7Mbps to 20Mbps), although until recently this was little more than casual speculation based on what some of Liberty Global’s other divisions had been doing and a few related hints.

However we’ve recently received a number of stronger indications from known sources, which all point to the potential launch of a new VOOM 500 business tier this year. In the past few years it’s become normal for Virgin Media to introduce their fastest tiers to small business customers first, although it can take up to a year for this to then filter down to residential customers.

NOTE: Some of Virgin Media’s selected residential customers are also being invited to “trial … a new tier of service between now and June 2019” (labelled as a ‘speed tier trial’), which may well reflect the same speed as planned for VMB but perhaps not for launch until later in 2019.

Our current expectation is that any new tier will still use Virgin Media’s existing EuroDOCSIS 3.0 based cable platform, rather than their future Gigabit capable DOCSIS 3.1 network. Virgin seem intent to ensure that every corner of their network is ready for 3.1 before flicking the switch (although a 3.1 capable router may arrive before the new network goes live) and the Project Lightning expansion could also still be taking precedence.

Meanwhile we strongly suspect that VMB’s customers will be hoping to see something better than the operator’s existing Hitron router. Officially VMB aren’t giving anything away and a spokesperson merely told ISPreview.co.uk that, “right now, we’ve nothing new to announce.” Take all this with a pinch of salt until confirmed.

The Government may be keen to press forward with their aspiration to achieve nationwide coverage of “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband by 2033, although equally it would be a travesty if politicians overlooked the future Gigabit capability of Virgin Media’s HFC network in all this.

Today Virgin are still the main source of “ultrafast” 100Mbps+ or 300Mbps+ speeds – covering over half of all UK premises – and they’ll almost certainly retain that position for a fair few years yet, at least in terms of downstream performance. A 500Mbps tier would certainly be a useful reminder of the positive impact they can have, even if most people have no real need for such speeds (much like 350Mbps today).

NOTE: We have heard that Virgin may offer a faster upload tier than 35Mbps but this is perhaps for the trial to help decide.
Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and .
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Comments
109 Responses
  1. Avatar photo Marty says:

    To me seems like Virgin are afraid of losing customers to G.fast. You’d think they would aim for a better upload speed though maybe it’s not possible with DOCSIS 3.0

    1. Avatar photo Joe says:

      They could go much faster on 3.0 than they are – just depends on how many channels they want to use

    2. Mark-Jackson Mark Jackson says:

      Virgin have enough channels to boost upstream speeds again via 3.0 if they really want but they do tend to move rather slowly on this side of things.

    3. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Virgin Media aren’t raising speeds out of concern over G.fast. They’re already faster on the downstream and the upstream doesn’t sell to many. Vodafone and FTTP in general are a motivator, G.fast isn’t. It’s largely a waste of time on every level besides politically in its current incarnation.

    4. Avatar photo Simon says:

      Well I bet I won’t be selected, I never am. Not for anything

    5. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Business customers aren’t used for trials of new tiers for obvious reasons. Trialists will be selected from the residential user pool.

    6. Avatar photo Simon says:

      I have a res service also for my Sky and stuff. Still will be nice to get 500 when it comes out on Business side

  2. Avatar photo Joe says:

    Mark any idea why VM are dragging their heal so much on 3.1. While I can see advantages in a universal rollout they could have converted sections across long ago

    1. Mark-Jackson Mark Jackson says:

      A number of reasons are likely to be involved. The desire to get every corner of their network ready for 3.1 first. The fact that 3.0 can deliver their next big speed boost without immediately needing to jump to 3.1 (cost effective, easier). The focus on Project Lightning eating into resources. The question of consumer demand for Gigabit speeds. The need to get lots of 3.1 routers out into their customers hands (yet to launch) before making 3.1 itself available (ideal but not strictly necessary).

      Ordinary consumers don’t know about the different DOCSIS standards and so for the most part it’s irrelevant from a marketing perspective. All they’ll see is a change in speed.

    2. Avatar photo Joe says:

      All that is true but LG the parent company has launched 3.1 in its cable services elsewhere – the same argument would seem to apply there…

    3. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Liberty have small amounts of 3.1 in Poland and Germany only.

  3. Avatar photo Archie says:

    Gimme, gimme, gimme!

    Need that extra upload for the family PLEX server.

    It’s about bloody time we got some better upload speeds!

    1. Avatar photo SimonR says:

      Yep. Vodafone are rolling out Gigafast in my town at the moment, which I had hoped might kick Virgin up a gear. If not, I’ll be migrating over.

    2. Avatar photo Archie says:

      Nice! Is it synchronous gigabit? If so, I’d get across ASAP!

    3. Avatar photo SimonR says:

      Yes – https://www.vodafone.co.uk/web-shop/broadband/deals/gigafast

      900 up and down. Unfortunately they started on the other side of my town, and contacting them about a schedule didn’t really get me anywhere (which is fair enough). I think they’re layout fibre fairly fast though

  4. Avatar photo Bill says:

    Virgin should offer a coax on demand product :). Or even a fibre version… and provide some real competition to FOD and FFIB.

  5. Avatar photo BlackDwarf says:

    Interesting. I actually received a notification of work on my line due for 13/02/19, with the reason “This planned work is required to complete Layer 3 optical swapout work at Brighton”, not sure if that’s related to perhaps finalising some core network upgrades for such a speed bump. Hopefully those of us on the Voom350 will get a free bump to 500 😀

    1. Avatar photo Simon says:

      I very much doubt that – and the usual arse licking super users will all be selected to trial it – never the normal punter. And yes it does annoy me and make me jealous just a little bit 🙂

    2. Avatar photo Joe says:

      Err ‘normal punters’ are the worst people to test anything.

    3. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Business users aren’t used for trials, residential users only. As far as I know it’ll be a new tier at least initially.

  6. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

    They gonna upgrade their peerage too ? hahahahah bet you they don’t.

    Sell gigabit to everyone.
    Only has backhaul to support 1/16th of the customer base.
    Turns to 5mbit at 6pm.

    1. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Peerage? Don’t think VM can ennoble anyone.

      Upgrading has been ongoing for a while. See average speeds of 350Mb on the website compared to the past.

    2. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

      Peering. Backhaul. All that jazz. VM doesn’t have it. I’ts good you get 350mb but a lot of people don’t. Especially in the evenings. It even made it onto watchdog about their selling capacity they don’t have. I know people will think it’s trolling or whatever but their network is badly managed and a lot of people know it. But then on this forum a lot will come out to defend them. They sell stuff they clearly don’t have.

    3. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Less than 5% don’t get full speeds all the time.

      I’m aware of the issues that left them ending up on Watchdog. They were fixed last year. Do you know what the issues were given you say their network is badly managed?

    4. Avatar photo Joe says:

      (Chuckles) I can think of a few execs who think they should have a peerage but..!

      VM does seem to have improved their bh somewhat but its still not idea.

    5. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

      yes yes i made a typo …

      anyway.. CarlT less than 5% get it ? Really ? I sincerely doubt that.
      I kinda do want to ask, although i’m sure you will say no … but are you a VM employee?
      And does getting it for 5 minutes = getting the speed they pay for ?

    6. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Correct. Less than 5% have visible contention at peak times.

      Answering your question: no.

      I take from your lack of a response that you’re going by the reports on things like VM’s community forum which, of course, will have nothing but people with issues posting.

      So the Watchdog thing was due to issues installing new equipment. Equipment needs power, rack space and cooling. It took VM longer to get this in place and get the new equipment in place than they would’ve wished. Once this was done they were able to get capacity in place and resolve nearly all the issues.

      The outstanding capacity issues are mostly due to the need to rebuild bits of networks.

      The capacity planning methodology isn’t ideal but the whole thing isn’t ‘badly managed’ it’s pretty standard. VM used to sell capacity they didn’t have but are much better about it now – they withdraw 350 from sale in areas where there are capacity issues and if they are severe enough withdraw services from sale entirely.

    7. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

      For anyone who actually wants to see how much peering VM has…

      https://www.peeringdb.com/net/1412

      And then work out how many customers they have (circa ~ 4m)

      https://www.virginmedia.com/corporate/media-centre/press-releases/virgin-media-reports-preliminary-q2-2018-results.html

      Not hard to work out they can’t support anywhere near the number of customers they have. Now of course, networks all sell more than they have. However, VM are known for piling in the customers. Almost everyone on my street has either 100 or 350mbit, I know because the VM man comes knocking on my door every quarter to try to get me to sign up (even though I’m already a business customer) and he tells me that 95% of my street is using it.

      So VM piles in the customers. Gives them all 350mbit. Can’t support it. I get packet loss constantly and they give BS replies like oh it’s an intermittent fault (for going on 2 years) or it’s a temporary issue .. the the actual truth once .. oversubscribed. Not interested in fixing it.. in fact they keep trying to push more customers onto the same nodes.

    8. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

      CarlT regarding my “lack of response” I wasn’t really up for a fight with a VM fan. I’m a customer too. It’s bad in my area. It’s bad in many areas. It’s so bad in so many areas that it made it on to national TV but you think that only 5% have an issue .. again .. 5% but it made it on to national TV. BTW have you got a source for that 5% ?

      The issues are that they push customers into oversubscribed areas. They don’t care to fix them. They have enough money to put equipment in place, they just don’t want to. They’d rather sell you a coaxial cable .. call it fibre .. and promise bandwidth they don’t have.

    9. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Okay.

      VM don’t sell 350Mb in oversubscribed areas. If they are there’s a problem. Constant packet loss for two years seems a pretty strange oversubscription issue and certainly puts a customer well outside their business contract.

      95% of homes within a street using the service doesn’t mean anything for oversubscription.

      Regarding the link:

      There are such things as private peering, which that website doesn’t cover anywhere near comprehensively given VM use private peering across their own metro network extensively, so it doesn’t go near third party sites just them and the peer, and transit, which it doesn’t cover at all. VM also make extensive use of Liberty Global’s transit and peering network, Aorta.

      VM’s network shifts around 15Tb/s of traffic at peak.

      Sorry about your own experience. I’ve no idea why you would stick with such an apparently abysmal services for so long. The other matters on the wider VM network however you have no idea what you’re talking about and with that in mind this conversation isn’t really worthwhile.

      Have a good day.

    10. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

      @CarlT

      >Sorry about your own experience. I’ve no idea why you would stick with such an apparently abysmal services for so long

      Because BT is even worse on my line. Recently had G.Fast installed, and removed 10 days later. And now I pay VM considerably less money than I did before. In fact I was due to quit until they offered compensation and reduced prices due to the issues. But everone in this area has the problem. And also anecdotally, my friend in Byfleet has the same issue and he tells me it’s been that way for over a year.

      >The other matters on the wider VM network however you have no idea what you’re talking about and with that in mind this conversation isn’t really worthwhile. Have a good day.

      And you’re a shill for VM with not a shred of evidence to backup your claims.

      You have a fantastic day too.

    11. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      https://www.virginmedia.com/shop/broadband/speeds.html

      I look forward to hearing about your complaints to Ofcom / ASA if you think VM are lying with these numbers.

      Cheers.

    12. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

      wow thought you didn’t find this convo productive enough to keep shilling.

      posts link

      “Speed achievable by 50% of customers at peak times (8pm-10pm, Monday-Sunday).”

      er … so not quite the 5% you said then …

      ” About our advertised broadband speeds
      From 23rd May 2018, the average speeds you see in our advertising are based on the speeds that 50% of our customers can get at peak times. Our peak times are between 8pm and 10pm, Monday to Sunday, when more people tend to be at home and online.”

      womp womp.

      also if you were the oracle you purport to be, you should know .. speed tests are faked or rather prioritised.

      enough shilling I grow weary.
      ta ta.

    13. Avatar photo Archie says:

      I get 390 meg all the time, irrespective of the hour. But I don’t have their coax where I live. I have their FTTP.

    14. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

      Archie I wish they offered FTTP here. They claimed to me in an online chat that I have the transcript for that they would install a fibre product. I specifically asked them so you would install a fibre line direct to my house so it would be an optical fibre cable not a coaxial cable .. to which VM replied yes correct it would be an optical fibre and not coax. I say sweet.. sign me up .. oh what modem is it .? Superhub. So it’s coax then..

      Im critical of any ISP that doesn’t perform great, but openreach lines here are even worse and my FTTPoD quote was over £8k.

    15. Avatar photo Joe says:

      @TheMatt Junking an isp after 10 days is just ridiculous. If every ISP you try seems to be at fault then….

    16. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

      Joe. I had an 80mbit VDSL line from Vodafone. Worked great. I gave them a good review on this site.

      I then had G.Fast installed based on BT DSLChecker saying I would get up to 180Mbit.
      They installed it, and it came back at 40-50mbits. I complained, they investigated, they said wait 10 days. I waited 10 days. Nothing. I then called back, and said it hasn’t improved and was told flat out (and have it recorded) that I can either

      a) Cancel with no payment required
      b) Keep the service, pay for it , and **MAYBE** it improves

      after they already allegedly tried to fix it.
      Did I say I quit all ISPs after 10 days ? No.

      What would you have done ?

    17. Avatar photo Simon says:

      @Thematt . ” In fact I was due to quit until they offered compensation and reduced prices due to the issues”

      So you want them to give you discounts and aoso put money into the network – are you on cookoo sauce today?

      @Archie – I get that all the time on their coax, it’s not always been this way – only the last year or so like Carl Said – the website only showed 200mbps for years and then one day 350 came.

    18. Avatar photo Joe says:

      Something is very wrong if you get that speed against an estimate of 180. I would certainly have tried all the escalation/fault routes and more than 10 days.

    19. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

      @Simon

      So you want them to give you discounts and aoso put money into the network – are you on cookoo sauce today?

      er no. I told them I wanted to quit. They reduced my £45 a month package to £16 and I decided it would be acceptable to keep it and have a VDSL2 backup line. I didn’t ask for the discount. I asked to quit. Stop putting words in people’s mouths.

    20. Avatar photo Simon says:

      Then you shouldn’t have been so weak and gave in – sounds like you did it to get the discount, otherwise you would have just walked away no matter what they said

      Yes some people are still suffering.

      https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Speed/Every-night-the-internet-slows-down-from-360-to-4-5-mbps/td-p/3910003

      I am glad I am not one of them.

    21. Avatar photo dennis says:

      “And then work out how many customers they have (circa ~ 4m)

      “Not hard to work out they can’t support anywhere near the number of customers they have.”

      Its even less hard to work out you are a bit slow if you think all 4+ million all are using or need to use their full bandwidth at all times of the day and night. They all sit their on their backsides 24/7 downloading at 350Mb do they?

      …..
      With royal appointed peerage no doubt.

      Quite possibly the dumbest individual i have ever read comments from on the internet, and by god that is saying something.

    22. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Okay I have a minute.

      Speedtests are neither faked or prioritised. They are carried out in accordance with Ofcom guidance.

      They flatter due to being multithreaded. This is, however, how they are supposed to be.

      I said 95% get what they pay for at peak. I didn’t say 95% of those on 350, though thanks for pointing out that the median is 362 and mean 349. 350 customers are about 10% of the customer base, over 50% of them get over 350 and everywhere customers on 350 get >200 all the other tiers, the about 90%, are getting full speed.

      Again, sorry for your bad experience, it’s clearly not good enough, but neither is it the normal experience.

    23. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Just as more evidence that you’ve no idea what you’re talking about you wished for VM’s FTTP.

      It uses the same DOCSIS network as the other services. It runs on the same backhaul and interconnect capacity that you think runs to a little over 400Gb. It skips the coaxial run between node and home but uses RFoG. It’s easier to add capacity to and has better signal quality but given how badly VM’s network is apparently run it’s just as liable to congest

    24. Mark-Jackson Mark Jackson says:

      @TheMatt. Please leave personal insults / abuse out of these comments.

    25. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

      @Mark. Ok But also, read the rest of the thread eh instead of just having a pop at me. I’ve been insulted on multiple occasions in this thread including the one just above yours.

      Guess i’ll refrain from posting in future… to many VM fanbois who don’t like criticism of their lovely network.

    26. Mark-Jackson Mark Jackson says:

      @TheMatt. There is a distinct difference between debating points via strong disagreement and calling other posters childish names. Admittedly calling Carl a “shill for VM”, repeatedly, is slightly amusing since he has been heavily critical of VM on many occasions.

    27. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

      [admin note: you were warned.. don’t troll]

    28. Avatar photo Mike says:

      I believe CarlT works as a hardware tester for Virgin Media for which he is paid 🙂

    29. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      You believe wrong and I have absolutely no idea where such an insinuation would come from.

      My employer would not approve of my working for someone else as a hardware QA engineer and I really doubt that VM would compensate me for the loss of the day job.

      If you prefer: that is baseless nonsense and I have absolutely no idea where such assertions could come from beyond a rather imaginative mind. I have no relationship with Virgin Media beyond as a customer.

    30. Avatar photo Ian Aitken says:

      CarIT, you said Virgin media dont sell 350mb in over subscribed areas,

      well i bought 350 mpbs and they admitted it was an oversubscribed area.

      Why are you saying they don’t when they do?

      Well they did ny this was a few years ago, but still i had a terrible experience with them, lies deceit and terrible speeds. And now it seems like your being deceitful too…

      Im now with Now Tv and i recieve 80/20 pretty much all the time so much better

  7. Avatar photo GNewton says:

    I wouldn’t call a 35 Mbps upload a business product. Does VM really think that businesses have nothing to do with modern day cloud services? Or that they won’t want to host their own services?

    1. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

      What’s worse is they give official replies / explanations that their network was designed for cable TV and thus has more download bandwidth than up and they can’t give more etc etc… yet pop over to Germany or USA and you get DOCSIS with 30/50 and even 100Mbit up.. and VM are busy reducing it. Recently re-signed because I was going to quit and was offered a considerably cheaper deal but now my upload is 7mbit. 7. I get more on my phone.

    2. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      I’d be interested in seeing all the US cable companies offering 50 or even 100Mb upstream.

      Given the maximum available capacity on a US cable system is 108Mb to the entire area selling 100Mb would be an achievement.

      Not sure how VM are going to reduce the upstream capacity in Germany or the USA. Liberty go up to 50Mb or 60Mb in Europe, Vodafone have been trying to sell 100Mb in Germany but in trials the performance has been poor.

      VM can’t push the network as hard as other territories as Ofcom and the ASA climb all over them if the network doesn’t deliver median speeds as sold.

      7Mb upstream is Voom 1, the lowest business tier. If upstream is such an issue there’s Voom 2 and Voom 3.

    3. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      One day, Mr Newton, you may actually post something positive about something. Anything.

      It’s not great but it’s a cheap broadband service. There are DIA options a plenty for businesses. That there’s a gap in between is annoying however businesses, including my own, can and do find ways to bridge them.

    4. Avatar photo Matthew says:

      @CarlT

      Infairness Comcast has basically completely there DCOIS 3.1 rollout so I am sure they can offer about 100mb Upload if they wanted as they are already working on full DUPLEX Cable far ahead of Virgin on that front.

    5. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Comcast have 3.1 on downstream only, Matthew. Upstream is still 3.0 SC-QAMs.

    6. Avatar photo dennis says:

      But Comcast have better “peerage” with a free trial to stream the top 100 Royal wedding tunes also. Its much better.
      😉

  8. Avatar photo Phil says:

    I don’t need 500/35 on VM. I am happy stay with FTTC 80/20.

    1. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Good. Saves you signing up then disconnecting the second the speeds aren’t 100%. Everyone’s a winner.

    2. Avatar photo Simon says:

      I don’t need it either but I would have it – not sure I would use it much but paying the extra will help with the otherall money going in.

      Hell if I can find a way to bond my lines I would be able to get about 105 up over the 3.

    3. Avatar photo Jim Weir says:

      @Simon

      There are lots of OTT bonding solutions that work and the best deliver 90-95% efficiency of the aggregate throughput.

      Some only work on matched services, others will work with any connection type and speed. Some are tied to a single ISP and others are agnostic in terms of the upstream supplier.

      If you want to create more symmetrical connectivity with multi-line redundancy, bonding is ideal and better value than some private circuits / DIA.

    4. Avatar photo Simon says:

      Hi Jim,

      I have DIA 50/50 and also a res cable line and backup FTTC (all with Virgin) – I can’t afford to loose connection. All together they would be 105 with this upcoming speed lift and I could chunk my mobile in too if I could find a way that tends to be 30-40.

      The quicker I can get my videos uploaded, they faster I will sell

    5. Avatar photo Simon says:

      Sorry I meant Biz cable line – the vroom 3+ with mobile sim from Virgin Mobile. It’s my FTTC which is a res line

    6. Avatar photo Jim Weir says:

      Simon

      Inbox me on the forums here and I can pass you some details if you are interested – I’ve worked with a number of bonding solutions (and developed some of them in a past life)

      There are lots of options in your case either straight 2 or 3 leg bonding or same IP failover ( DIA failover to Voom3 bonded to 4G upload, all with a single public IP) – although I would recommend at least one of your links is with another ISP as that isolates you from any issues in the VM core network.

    7. Avatar photo CBA says:

      You had a residential cable line ‘for Sky and stuff’ you were hoping to be selected to trial on earlier today, and the one time you’ve shared a speed test with your two Virgin Media Business services one of them was Plusnet VDSL.

      No idea why lying to strangers on the Internet is so appealing.

    8. Avatar photo Simon says:

      Says someone who hasen’t even got the cahonas to put a real name. what a shower of cowardly snozzel you are….

      I’ve never posted my two virgin business connections, until last week I never had 2 connections. I have a Virgin FTTC service which yes, I run SkyQ off so Netflix is included in that – non business so shouldn’t be used on a business line.

      I’ve never send any speed tests bonded, if I could do that would I have even mentioned it!? I’ve got a HIltron router and a Draytek sat on my desk – and under it I have a Cisco 1921 which is the dedicated kit.

      I had no idea Business customer’s didn’t get selected for trials – so that’s fine I accepted that. I also said it would be nice to get 500 on the business side when it comes out.

      As to why someone would lie to the fact they have a monthly bill of £332 is beyond me, But I do and I haven’t lied at all.

      And thanks Jim, I will do later!

    9. Mark-Jackson Mark Jackson says:

      @Simon. Please leave personal insults / abuse out of comments.

    10. Avatar photo Simon says:

      Well can you tell cba as well? Or do you have favourite abusive posters? Or is it a fav regular, in disguise?

      Ta

    11. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

      have to agree even though i’m not loved here … there’s some very selective moderation going on. Seems CarlT can say whatever he likes for example…

      I think i’ll head over to thinkbb, enjoy the echo chamber.

    12. Mark-Jackson Mark Jackson says:

      @TheMatt. I did not moderate any of your comments (no changes were made), I merely gave a standard warning about turning disagreements into abuse. If you feel as if this is somehow unfair then feel free to leave and never return. If you choose to turn this into trolling then that is also against the rules.

    13. Avatar photo CBA says:

      Mmhm.

      https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/05/virgin-media-business-launch-350mbps-fibre-3-and-32gb-mobile-bundle.html#comment-190578

      ‘I have 2 VM business lines and I bond them together so I get this’

      https://www.dslreports.com/speedtest/33892651

      Run status warning
      Proxy detected: Some or all of your speedtest was handled by another IP address: 80.229.9.82

      inetnum: 80.229.0.0 – 80.229.63.255
      netname: PLUSNET-DIAL-ADSL

      Must be another Simon impersonating you.

    14. Avatar photo CBA says:

      There’s no residential Virgin FTTC service btw. Never has been. Business, offnet, only.

    15. Avatar photo Simon says:

      So we are both called SImon, and that’s all you need to get it wrong is it Carl? Is Matthew and TheMatt the same person? go and pick on them.

      And you don’t have a clue about your last comment – VM used to do an off net FTTC which anyone could have, at one point it was opened up to anyone. I suggest you go and re check your facts with your buddys in the VM camp.

      Idiot

    16. Avatar photo CBA says:

      VM have never sold residential FTTC.

      The project was cancelled when they were bought by Liberty Global due to plans for Project Lightning.

    17. Avatar photo CBA says:

      Addressing your comment directly you just said they had an off-net product and claim they are selling it to residential customers that are on-net.

      This seems unlikely.

    18. Avatar photo CBA says:

      This said if I’m wrong I am sure you can provide an archived web page where they advertise this open to everyone FTTC.

    19. Avatar photo dennis says:

      Oh god another that needs censoring. Who cares where he gets his internet or the speed he has.

      That is also some serious petty (or worse mental) behaviour to search or bookmark something said 7 odd Months ago and bring it up in a multi post laden response designed to do nothing more than antagonise/troll the person. Get a Life FFS!

    20. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Que?

  9. Avatar photo ozz says:

    They need a new hub already, hub3 is usless for gaming

    1. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Later this year. Hub 3 seems okay for most now thanks to the Intel software fixes.

  10. Avatar photo Bob says:

    I would be happy if I could have a stable broadband, constantly Sky drops out. When using THEIR system it always says ” everything is fine ” yet using 2 different sources there certainly is a problem. Speed would be great but there’s no point if my WiFi drops out or cannot be accessed in every room in the house

    1. Avatar photo New_Londoner says:

      @Bob
      But is the unreliable WiFi Sky’s problem or yours? Have you looked at a mesh network to augment the Sky router or are you just waiting for Sky to do something?

    2. Avatar photo davidj says:

      How Wifi performs will in most cases have nothing to do with the ISP.

  11. Avatar photo FullFibre says:

    35Mbps upload – Pathetic. On a business line – laughable.

    VM FTTP outside my door but I guess I’ll wait for the newly installed G.Fast pod to go live instead.

    1. Avatar photo Simon says:

      But for what they charge it’s fine

    2. Avatar photo FullFibre says:

      I’d agree if there were fastrer packages available, but there aren’t so it’s pathetic and laughable – especially on their full fibre sections of the network.

    3. Avatar photo davidj says:

      Virgins Fibre services if you have them available provides more than 35Mb Upload. You can have anything upto 5Gbps both download and Upload. Not that you will likely be able to afford it.

      The speeds quoted in this news item are for the low end business product called “VOOM”.

      If you have Virgin Fibre right outside your door and had run a postcode check on their business website you should know what actual speeds you can get.

      Alternatively you can always ring 0808 271 6245 for high end business provision.

      An equivalent 300Mb download product to your G.Fast but with also with 300Mb upload is available for a few hundred a month (which before the outrage if you know anything is actually reasonable for a top end business product).

    4. Avatar photo robert says:

      A davidj

      I would like to know who that came from? I have 50/50 which is £239 a month, or £199+VAT and so I would be interested. When I called no one knew what I was on about.

      Thanks

    5. Avatar photo robert says:

      Scrub that – found it and £420 a month is a good price for 300/300 and less than I expected. Worth the upgrade. £320 for 100/100 so £100 more for 200mbps more each way a month

    6. Avatar photo davidj says:

      You are welcome, glad you found it. Guess that just goes to show some that claim faster uploads than 35Mb not being available just dunno what they are talking about 😉

  12. Avatar photo Paul says:

    500Mbps down and a 35Mbps upload lol yeah sure Virgin Media, look at Hyperoptic 1Gbps down and 1Gbps up. LOL

    1. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      Sadly availability of Hyperoptic is incredibly limited outside of apartment blocks. There are a bunch of great services with relatively little availability.

      Cutting up pavements costs VM 600-700GBP per home, Hyperoptic’s FTTB a quarter of that.

    2. Avatar photo dennis says:

      Be sure to let us know when 50%+ of the country can get that.

  13. Avatar photo Christopher Woodhead says:

    Why does it seam that virgin are moving forward but BT FTTP still only offers 300Mbps when we know it can do so much more.

    1. Avatar photo New_Londoner says:

      I’m pretty sure that faster broadband speeds are available (mainly targeted at business customers), up to 1Gbps depending on the ISP if I remember correctly.

    2. Avatar photo davidj says:

      I assume that is BT Net Leased line and not the infinity range. If not TBB may like to hear which ISPs now offer Infinity at 1Gbps for their listing as currently it only has the upto 300Mb ranges listed for Openreach based providers.

    3. Avatar photo New_Londoner says:

      @DavidJ
      Broadband not Infinity. I’m pretty sure that Openreach has offerings that support download speeds faster than 300Mbps – no doubt someone on here with access to the password protected part of the Openreach site will check.

    4. Avatar photo New_Londoner says:

      ^^^^
      Broadband not Infinity (I wasn’t specifically referring to a BT retail product) and not leased lines.

    5. Avatar photo davidj says:

      I Would still be interested in what providers are offering BT/Openreach based broadband which is NOT leased line running at 1Gbps. As i am sure TBB would be.

      BT business itself has an Infinity FTTC range (Upto 76Mb) and a Ultrafast range (Upto 314Mbps) but that is it. The next product up is as i mentioned is the BTnet leased line range. Would be very surprised if other Business ISPs had an Openreach FTTP product faster that the 300 odd Mb.

  14. Avatar photo TonyJ says:

    The way this is written makes it appear VMB doesn’t currently offer 500mbps at all which isn’t the case as I got 500mbps (synchronous) installed a few months ago. OK, it’s FTTP, but as I say the article reads as if this doesn’t exist in any way at all which plainly isn’t correct.
    I was actually given the option of 1gbps I think, and certainly it is a “1gbps carrier” that my 500 is on.

    1. Mark-Jackson Mark Jackson says:

      I don’t see how you get that at all. In the very first paragraph I’ve clearly referenced this as being for their “VOOM Fibre” range of broadband products and stated that these are “small biz focused”. In the second para I further defined this as being a package that will come alongside or replace their existing 350Mbps tier.

      We are not talking about larger leased line or corporate style connections, we are specifically talking about the VOOM Fibre range of products (currently at 350Mbps). I shouldn’t have to explain every package or connection type that’s available as we assume that our readers have enough intelligence to figure that out for themselves.

    2. Avatar photo davidj says:

      “we assume that our readers have enough intelligence”

      You have more faith than i do after reading through and answering just a couple.

    3. Avatar photo Archie says:

      Please explain how you acquired this package and the cost. Thank you!

  15. Avatar photo Louis says:

    I’m on Voom 3 (350mb/20mb) and I’ve never managed to get the full 350mb. Most users on business voom complain about issues with speed claiming that when they use the business connection with static IP’s using a GRE tunnel, they can only achieve a maximum of 200mb down. If they then change to dynamic (non GRE) and similar to residential, they get 360mb on the same connection.
    I’ve had about 270mb using GRE but never hit 350mb down. I constantly hit 20mb up so I think we may see 500mb (with results being the same as now eg 200mb down etc) but the upload increasing to a consistent 35mb.
    Would I pay extra for the increase in bandwidth? eg a download speed that varies considerably and never gets to the levels claimed but a consistent 35mb upload speed?
    Probably not as 20mb is good enough for me now.
    Pr

    1. Avatar photo Archie says:

      I’m sorry to hear that. I wonder whether this is related to their older infrastructure.

      They cabled my area about 18 months ago with FTTH RFoG and I’ve gone from their initial top available tier of 200 (received 222) to their 350 (received 390) and I’ve never had a slowdown. Everyday it puts out st the highest speed.

  16. Avatar photo Mark Wolson says:

    I’ve been on their 200mb package and it’s more than fast enough. And I post as someone who loves tech, games online, has a number of connected devices across my property, and downloads A LOT of large files.

    tbh, I could manage quite adequately on 150mb or even 100mb…a few more minutes to get my torrent would be a pretty first world problem.

  17. Avatar photo Archie says:

    To confirm, I spoke to someone at Virgin who let it slip this was happening, although they did not have a start date.

    Rumour confirmed.

  18. Avatar photo Jason says:

    I’m on the vip contract with 350mp hope when they make it 500 I will be changed to that and not charged more.

Comments are closed

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