04-12-2016, 12:38 PM
My technical instincts suggest that the Virgin method of coax cable to the home is the one most likely to give consistent performance when aiming for 100Mbit/s or more download speed. The upload speed of 10Mbit/sec is also now respectable: originally, it was virtually unusable at a few hundred kbit/s. With those speeds, cloud storage of photos, movies etc has become viable.
The BT approach of using existing twisted pairs for high data rates has always struck me (to paraphrase Samuel Johnson) as like a dog walking on its hind legs - it doesn't work particularly well, but one is surprised that it works at all. On the other hand, the costly upmarket alternative of fibre to the home offered by BT does seem overkill to me. Why not just use coax like Virgin?
The attached speed test result is typical of what we get here with Virgin in Cambridge- over 160Mbps download and over 12Mbps upload.
The Virgin network infrastructure here in Cambridge is itself something of a vintage classic today, dating back to Cambridge Cable TV in 1988, which then became NTL and today Virgin. I recall the rough and ready but very speedy way that the cables were laid - by BT standards very flaky - using lots of flimsy looking American kit. I did once make the mistake of digging my front garden and cut off Internet, TV and both phone lines when I accidentally severed the Virgin cable lying just a few inches under the soil!
So I wouldn't be surprised if any disappointing Virgin results are connected with local infrastructure issues - particularly damp ingress etc. But I'm generally satisfied, despite the frustration of Virgin's somewhat impenetrable offshore service centre on the odd occasion that there's a problem.
Martin
The BT approach of using existing twisted pairs for high data rates has always struck me (to paraphrase Samuel Johnson) as like a dog walking on its hind legs - it doesn't work particularly well, but one is surprised that it works at all. On the other hand, the costly upmarket alternative of fibre to the home offered by BT does seem overkill to me. Why not just use coax like Virgin?
The attached speed test result is typical of what we get here with Virgin in Cambridge- over 160Mbps download and over 12Mbps upload.
The Virgin network infrastructure here in Cambridge is itself something of a vintage classic today, dating back to Cambridge Cable TV in 1988, which then became NTL and today Virgin. I recall the rough and ready but very speedy way that the cables were laid - by BT standards very flaky - using lots of flimsy looking American kit. I did once make the mistake of digging my front garden and cut off Internet, TV and both phone lines when I accidentally severed the Virgin cable lying just a few inches under the soil!
So I wouldn't be surprised if any disappointing Virgin results are connected with local infrastructure issues - particularly damp ingress etc. But I'm generally satisfied, despite the frustration of Virgin's somewhat impenetrable offshore service centre on the odd occasion that there's a problem.
Martin
BVWS Member
