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Virgin Media Broadband

Currently got Bt Broadband paying £46.64 a month, looked on Moneysupermarket and Virgin Media do a M350 fibre and broadband for £37 a month, for 12 months, with download speeds of 362mb.

Just wondered if any lifers were with Virgin Media, and whether it was any good, I’ve been bottling this one for ages, do they need to dig up your driveway to get it to work, forgive my ignorance!
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Comments

  • I’m on 200mb, not really had any problems with it. My cable is run along the wall in my front garden and in the house.
  • I have the M350, usually get about 380 out of it. It's superb. My front garden is pretty small and full of stones so they just ran the cable underneath it so no issue there but some work may be required depending on the house. 
  • Virgin media stinks, but I suspect they all stink equally.
    Forever cutting out even though having a cable is supposed to stop that sort of thing.
    Very poor customer service when you ring up, pathetic rebate scheme.
  • Had Virgin Media for 9 years now. Barely had an issue and if so have called them up and have found them to be pretty helpful. 
  • Had Virgin Media for 9 years now. Barely had an issue and if so have called them up and have found them to be pretty helpful. 
    This - for my 5 years with them.
  • Used them for years without issue. Not the cheapest but great for speed an reliability in my experience. Have 5 kids so get through a lot of data with various connected devices and can't ever recall a buffering problem. Streams fine even in 4k. Was with Sky before that and it couldn't even cope with iPlayer without stuttering.
  • Been with virgin media since they launched fibre as its has been consistently better than any other offering on the market.

    The M350 is critical to my home use and running my photography business, so much so I wouldn't move anywhere without it if I could help it.

    Worth every penny over BT or Sky Fibre Max, although it means we pay a slightly higher premium to have Sky Q in our home.

    Same applies to all providers though, switch the free wifi router to modem only and invest in a proper mesh network like Linksys Velop and you'll have few problems.  If its a critical connection, use ethernet.

  • Never had a problem with VM in 25 years. 
  • Another fan of virginmedia here too
  • Fibre is good and that's the main reason I've stayed with them.

    Be prepared for a shock if you're switching your TV from sky over to them.
    But I'm used to it now so it doesn't really bother me.
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  • Their customer service centre sometimes can take a while to understand that there is a problem with a service, but then if not sorted on phone, pretty much get an engineer out the next day.
  • Been with Virgin for 20 years and three different houses.  They aren't the cheapest but I've always found their internet service to be reliable and pretty much as fast as advertised.  Often have various combinations of netflix, youtube, spotify and online gaming all going at once with no problems.

    The only time it's been out for any length of time was when a car crashed into one of the cable cabinets on the street and they fixed that in a couple of days.

    Their customer service seems to be based in India, which can make for some communication issues, but they get things sorted in the end.
  • edited January 2020
    I have the 350 and it runs at about 370 - 380 - blisteringly fast! My family do a lot of streaming on various devices and I also work at home sometimes and have an office upstairs. 

    No problems with Virgin Media but on the very rare occasions I have had to contact the call centre it’s been pretty awful - along with pretty well every other call centre I have ever used!

    Actually opted for SKY tv however as I like Atlantic - with a bit of haggling and occasionally enquiring about leaving for Virgin and then receiving an offer rate, I’ve kept  the price reasonable

    My footballing / cricket / music / gig & beer 🍺 best mate also has the 350 too and has never had any problems and swears by Virgin - As a fellow Addick he has the impeccable judgment, sophistication and discerning taste we all share, so he can’t be wrong!
  • Wish their service was available in Horsham!
  • edited January 2020
    Thanks all for your help, for those who have got virgin broadband, do you have to use  WiFi boosters around your home to boost the signal, if so what do you use (I’ve got Bt WiFi boosters, I, guessing they wouldn’t be compatible with Bt).
  • I will be getting it in May, as it has recently become available. I was speaking to a customer support person at Sky and asked them if they got free broadband. They admitted to having Virgin media, which I thought said a lot. 
  • Fibre is good and that's the main reason I've stayed with them.

    Be prepared for a shock if you're switching your TV from sky over to them.
    But I'm used to it now so it doesn't really bother me.
    Why do you say that? I'm about to do it. Seems like vastly better value. 
  • Thanks all for your help, for those who have got virgin broadband, do you have to use  WiFi boosters around your home to boost the signal, if so what do you use (I’ve got Bt WiFi boosters, I, guessing they wouldn’t be compatible with Bt).
    Virgin sent me a powerline kit for free but I've never installed it as the wifi is perfectly fine.  Everything connecting via wifi is probably no more than 20ft-25ft in a straight line from the modem though so it might be needed if your kit is spread all over the house.
  • Couple of points here.....

    1) The vast majority of the Virgin network is HFC (Hybrid Fibre Coaxial) not pure Fibre to the Home.

    2) Biggest difference is on pure FTTH you can get much higher upload speeds etc.

    3) Other key point on HFC compared to FTTH or even the BT VDSL (copper) service is that the available spectrum is shared.

    That means if you have a lot of Virgin customers in your area you may get lower speeds at peak times.

    4) The biggest factor in broadband speeds is your in home set up. Invest in good kit and do some research on how to best set up your in home network and you’ll get a better service.

    At my last job one woman had her router under the fucking stairs and then complained she couldn’t get a WiFi signal in her upstairs bedroom!


  • At my last job one woman had her router under the fucking stairs and then complained she couldn’t get a WiFi signal in her upstairs bedroom!
    On this point, don't you basically have to put it where the phone point is? My router is in a pretty shit place, but I'm not sure what I can do about it. 
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  • Had Virgin Media for 9 years now. Barely had an issue and if so have called them up and have found them to be pretty helpful. 
    Same here plus extremely fast broadband 
  • edited January 2020
    Ok ,phoned up Virgin Media directly, they said rather than the £37 a month on moneysupermarket website they could do £35 a month for 12 months, with £75 credit against my account, rather than a £50 credit on moneysupermarket, have signed up for it.

    I think off the top of my head my telephone line rental with BT is £18.99 a month, which I won’t need to pay with Virgin as the phone line is ‘free’

    If I’m cancelling Bt Broadband ( I think I have to do it myself, unlike when you change gas / electric company where they automatically do it, and also my BT phone line)

    can I just buy BT sport from BT (which I currently get from them) and watch via Sky Q and will Bt try to charge me through the nose for it, as I haven’t got their Broadband and phone line any more.

    Really don’t want to change from Sky Q, as it works really well.
  • edited January 2020
    Ok ,phoned up Virgin Media directly, they said rather than the £37 a month on moneysupermarket website they could do £35 a month for 12 months, with £75 credit against my account, rather than a £50 credit on moneysupermarket, have signed up for it.

    I think off the top of my head my telephone line rental with BT is £18.99 a month, which I won’t need to pay with Virgin as the phone line is ‘free’

    If I’m cancelling Bt Broadband ( I think I have to do it myself, unlike when you change gas / electric company where they automatically do it, and also my BT phone line)

    can I just buy BT sport from BT (which I currently get from them) and watch via Sky Q and will Bt try to charge me through the nose for it, as I haven’t got their Broadband and phone line any more.

    Really don’t want to change from Sky Q, as it works really well.
    Can't answer precisely but I'm using talktalk broadband and had the BT sport service through them but paid directly to BT.  When I switched to a sky q box I just called BT and they switched it over the same day.  BTW I understand that Sky will be able to offer a Sky Sports with BT Sport package soon, so you'd just pay Sky.  So maybe you might not want a long-term contract with BT?  https://www.sky.com/help/articles/get-bt-sport-on-sky
  • Uboat said:
    Fibre is good and that's the main reason I've stayed with them.

    Be prepared for a shock if you're switching your TV from sky over to them.
    But I'm used to it now so it doesn't really bother me.
    Why do you say that? I'm about to do it. Seems like vastly better value. 
    The TiVo box was not a patch on the sky box. And that was before sky Q.

    It works ok I've certainly never really had any tech issues. It's just a bit clunky.
  • Uboat said:


    At my last job one woman had her router under the fucking stairs and then complained she couldn’t get a WiFi signal in her upstairs bedroom!
    On this point, don't you basically have to put it where the phone point is? My router is in a pretty shit place, but I'm not sure what I can do about it. 
    No - you can move it.

    Easiest way is to run an extension from your phone socket to where you want the router to be placed.

    You don't need a pro installer to do that, you just need to run and secure it against the skirting board or whatever.

    Alternatively, you can set up a powerline network (using the existing electrical cables) pretty easily from where your current router is placed.

    However, that may not always work - it depends how your electrical cables have been distributed around the house.

    The other option is to set up a WiFi extension network from where your current router is located but if it's in a bad place to begin with then that's not a great starting point.
  • HexHex
    edited January 2020
    If you are talking about a Virgin installation then the engineer will locate it where you want it, within reason.
  • Uboat said:


    At my last job one woman had her router under the fucking stairs and then complained she couldn’t get a WiFi signal in her upstairs bedroom!
    On this point, don't you basically have to put it where the phone point is? My router is in a pretty shit place, but I'm not sure what I can do about it. 
    No - you can move it.

    Easiest way is to run an extension from your phone socket to where you want the router to be placed.

    You don't need a pro installer to do that, you just need to run and secure it against the skirting board or whatever.

    Alternatively, you can set up a powerline network (using the existing electrical cables) pretty easily from where your current router is placed.

    However, that may not always work - it depends how your electrical cables have been distributed around the house.

    The other option is to set up a WiFi extension network from where your current router is located but if it's in a bad place to begin with then that's not a great starting point.
    Cheers
  • Uboat said:
    Fibre is good and that's the main reason I've stayed with them.

    Be prepared for a shock if you're switching your TV from sky over to them.
    But I'm used to it now so it doesn't really bother me.
    Why do you say that? I'm about to do it. Seems like vastly better value. 
    The TiVo box was not a patch on the sky box. And that was before sky Q.

    It works ok I've certainly never really had any tech issues. It's just a bit clunky.
    I think it's a new box now. The reviews seem to suggest that it's pretty good but that sky is a bit more slick and user friendly. 
  • Ok ,phoned up Virgin Media directly, they said rather than the £37 a month on moneysupermarket website they could do £35 a month for 12 months, with £75 credit against my account, rather than a £50 credit on moneysupermarket, have signed up for it.

    I think off the top of my head my telephone line rental with BT is £18.99 a month, which I won’t need to pay with Virgin as the phone line is ‘free’

    If I’m cancelling Bt Broadband ( I think I have to do it myself, unlike when you change gas / electric company where they automatically do it, and also my BT phone line)

    can I just buy BT sport from BT (which I currently get from them) and watch via Sky Q and will Bt try to charge me through the nose for it, as I haven’t got their Broadband and phone line any more.

    Really don’t want to change from Sky Q, as it works really well.
    BT will want £25/month for you to watch through sky, which is why I don't have it. When I switch to virgin it will be included in the bundle. 
  • Uboat said:
    Uboat said:
    Fibre is good and that's the main reason I've stayed with them.

    Be prepared for a shock if you're switching your TV from sky over to them.
    But I'm used to it now so it doesn't really bother me.
    Why do you say that? I'm about to do it. Seems like vastly better value. 
    The TiVo box was not a patch on the sky box. And that was before sky Q.

    It works ok I've certainly never really had any tech issues. It's just a bit clunky.
    I think it's a new box now. The reviews seem to suggest that it's pretty good but that sky is a bit more slick and user friendly. 
    It will be a (Tivo) V6.  Personally I find the V6 a bit more slick and user friendly - it's what you are used to in the end.

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