Switching from Sky to Virgin
Discussion
We have recently found that we are only getting 16Mb download speed from Sky despite paying for "up to 38Mb"). Sky say its our distance from the green box that is the issue and they cannot do anything about it.
So, as our contract is ending anyway we are thinking of switching to Virgin who can offer 500Mb. I'll never use that speed, but would like to know if it is reliable as I work from home often.
Any horror stories about Virgin or are they OK?
So, as our contract is ending anyway we are thinking of switching to Virgin who can offer 500Mb. I'll never use that speed, but would like to know if it is reliable as I work from home often.
Any horror stories about Virgin or are they OK?
Ive been on Virgin broadband for many years and found it very reliable. If you're not in a congested, or high density area, then your speeds should regularly be above the stated maximum - On a speedtest I get 550Mbps which is excellent.
The only reliability issue I had was a long period of dropouts which were due to a loose connection on the back of the modem (very annoying it was that simple).
The only reliability issue I had was a long period of dropouts which were due to a loose connection on the back of the modem (very annoying it was that simple).
Been with Virgin since we moved about 18 months ago. I work from home 3-4 days a week. I think I’ve suffered one outage of about an hour in 18 months. Speed is also as advertised (well actually slightly above) and very consistent.
However I have heard performance is very area dependent. I’m in Harrogate: try checking with any neighbours who have Virgin for a clear picture
However I have heard performance is very area dependent. I’m in Harrogate: try checking with any neighbours who have Virgin for a clear picture
Been with Virgin since they were Telewest in the 90s. Cable broadband and TV are very reliable - I've had a few outages but nothing earth-shattering. Speeds are great and customer service is fine if you get a UK call centre.
It's probably the same with Sky, but you WILL have to call them up and threaten to leave every 18 months or so as they like to hike the price at contract renewal time (and in between). Once you get to the retentions team they'll make you a heavily discounted offer to stay.
It's probably the same with Sky, but you WILL have to call them up and threaten to leave every 18 months or so as they like to hike the price at contract renewal time (and in between). Once you get to the retentions team they'll make you a heavily discounted offer to stay.
Virgin reliability is very dependent on your location (due to the age of the street cabling, how well it was originally installed, age of the CMTS you're connected to, uplink speed from CMTS to internet etc).
The good thing is if you have any problems, engineer callouts are free, and it's easy enough to get one booked. The Superhubs aren't great, so you may find that you need to install a better WiFi solution, depending on how big your property is.
Also, the Tivo boxes aren't quite as nice to use as the Sky boxes for TV
All that said, in your position I'd probably give it a go... There's no real need to pay for the 500Mb/s service, 100Mb/s should be enough for almost any situation (unless you're doing a lot of uploading, as the upload speed is pretty slow on the 100Mb/s service). I've got 200Mb/s just to get the faster upload tier.
The good thing is if you have any problems, engineer callouts are free, and it's easy enough to get one booked. The Superhubs aren't great, so you may find that you need to install a better WiFi solution, depending on how big your property is.
Also, the Tivo boxes aren't quite as nice to use as the Sky boxes for TV
All that said, in your position I'd probably give it a go... There's no real need to pay for the 500Mb/s service, 100Mb/s should be enough for almost any situation (unless you're doing a lot of uploading, as the upload speed is pretty slow on the 100Mb/s service). I've got 200Mb/s just to get the faster upload tier.
Edited by outnumbered on Tuesday 25th February 17:46
We've had Virgin for almost 7 years and have no complaints. I work from home a lot so use broadband a lot and need it to be reliable. We also have young children so have numerous devices on the go across the house at the same time.
The two minor issues we have had have been sorted inside 2 days both times with no charge.
The two minor issues we have had have been sorted inside 2 days both times with no charge.
jonwm said:
I've had virgin since 2004, can honestly count on 1 hand the outage (longest 2 hours) and always read above stated speed, I'm moving house soon and cant get virgin in the new place which is rather annoying
To add balance to this at this house we’ve had Sky band since 2009 - in all that time not once has there been any issues. I simply cannot recall any time service was down nor can the wife.
Never had virgin so unknown.
However I think what it means is both are utterly reliable
Also, I’ve you’ve got any friends or family on Virgin, get them to send you a referral link. You’ll both get £50 off a future bill.
However, make sure you do it by the book (follow the instructions carefully) as twice I’ve had issues with Virgin not honouring the referral. Once they had simply ‘forgotten’ to do it!
However, make sure you do it by the book (follow the instructions carefully) as twice I’ve had issues with Virgin not honouring the referral. Once they had simply ‘forgotten’ to do it!
Virgin has been reasonably reliable recently however I do get some network glitches from time to time (last one 22/02 for a minute).
However we did have a significant outage a few years ago (MUX in the street went). This took out my Virgin broadband and TV (all down 1 cable). Also my neighbour's TV and BB as well as the same across the road. Unfortunately the call center could not tie up the calls to demonstrate that the fault was impacting multiple properties in the same area despite being able to reference all the call ticket IDs (data protection) and it took over a week to fix (6 days to get an engineer to site so we could show multiple impacts and then a further day to replace the MUX).
Since then I have VM Broadband and Sky TV. Not the cheapest option but smaller impact if one service dies...
However we did have a significant outage a few years ago (MUX in the street went). This took out my Virgin broadband and TV (all down 1 cable). Also my neighbour's TV and BB as well as the same across the road. Unfortunately the call center could not tie up the calls to demonstrate that the fault was impacting multiple properties in the same area despite being able to reference all the call ticket IDs (data protection) and it took over a week to fix (6 days to get an engineer to site so we could show multiple impacts and then a further day to replace the MUX).
Since then I have VM Broadband and Sky TV. Not the cheapest option but smaller impact if one service dies...
outnumbered said:
The good thing is if you have any problems, engineer callouts are free, and it's easy enough to get one booked
As are replacements on any equipment that might fail, if it goes wrong they fix it or replace it. I've been with them for about ten years and they have also upgraded the kit free of charge a few times in that time.Had one problem once where if I played counter strike it was basically unplayable. Guy lagging, jumping all over yet speed test showed full advertised speed. Anyway phoned them up and a day later someone was in my garden replacing the cable. Apparently water was getting in causing packet loss and firing my ping all over the place. Impressed tbh.
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