Virginmedia to double broadband speeds


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I can stomach the less-than-expected download rise, but it's the lack of upload upgrade that is the real kick in the nuts. I have a feeling that the story on ThinkBroadband was pure speculation and other news outlets ran away with it, setting people's expectations in due course and hopes are not going to materialise.

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Well all I can say is bollocks.......

New Virginmedia speeds will be only 70mbps, 150mbps and 200mbps, if this post is correct.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/135438-virgin-media-vivid-200mbps-broadband-will-be-available-to-customers-from-october

 

 

 

Nope, 100mbit, 200mbit and 300mbit. I'm already on 152mbit and got an e-mail confirming all speeds would be "doubled"

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I wonder why they are making this optional, I can't see a reason for this other than the no doubt eventual price hike that will come a few months later thats "completely unrelated" to the new broadband speeds.

I'm happy with my 50Mb so I won't be opting in unless I'm forced.

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I wonder why they are making this optional, I can't see a reason for this other than the no doubt eventual price hike that will come a few months later thats "completely unrelated" to the new broadband speeds.

I'm happy with my 50Mb so I won't be opting in unless I'm forced.

It may be optional to get to the front of the queue for the speed bump, I doubt that it won't be imposed on others in each respective area. They are just trying to feel out where to turn up the dial first. Eventually, you will be forced to either accept the speed increase or drop back to the lower tier speed.

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Urgh, I remember the last previous two times Virgin announced they were giving free speed upgrades. Funnily enough not long after that free upgrade I found my bill being increased both times.

Already happening if you're on BB only. Min e is going up £1.75p/m from November 1st.

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"By choosing to upgrade, even on our the lowest available package you'll will receive broadband speeds at the top end of the range available from providers operating on the BT network."

BT pretty much cant compete with Virgin now unless they start offering fiber to the premises, which to be honest I hope they do.

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Have you been in a tank for the past year and a half? Virgin don't do peak time download traffic management any more. Upload, p2p and usenet -- yes. 

Even Usenet there is an easy way round it. 

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They are. Cheltenham has had Cable for years now, United Artists, then Telewest, then Blueyonder, now Virgin Media, probably over 15 years or so, and most of it is cabled.

They have just started cabling new areas that have since been built. Therefore, money IS being re-invested into cabling newly built estates.

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It may be optional to get to the front of the queue for the speed bump, I doubt that it won't be imposed on others in each respective area. They are just trying to feel out where to turn up the dial first. Eventually, you will be forced to either accept the speed increase or drop back to the lower tier speed.

I'm already on the lowest tier so I won't have anywhere to hide :(

Already happening if you're on BB only. Min e is going up £1.75p/m from November 1st.

I don't recall getting any letters recently but I have a BB and phone package so that might be why, although it's so heavily discounted I can't be far from the hit list.

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I'm already on the lowest tier so I won't have anywhere to hide :(

 

I don't recall getting any letters recently but I have a BB and phone package so that might be why, although it's so heavily discounted I can't be far from the hit list.

Why would you not want the speed boost if you dont have to do anything to get it?

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 Personally I've no need for anything faster than 50mb. I'm the only user and 50mb is more than enough speed. So for my "free" upgrade I'm have the privilege of paying £1.75 per month more.

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No upload increase for the 150 meg tier users.

Pretty disappointing, might drop my package, I would've expect at least up to 15mbit to keep it in line with the other package increases, we do pay more Virgin.

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 Personally I've no need for anything faster than 50mb. I'm the only user and 50mb is more than enough speed. So for my "free" upgrade I'm have the privilege of paying £1.75 per month more.

That's one way to look at it, but things are not getting any cheaper and regular price increases seem to be par for the course for utilities these days. Everyone wants their cut: employees want salary rises, councils want higher fees for permits, equipment sellers want to increase their margin and so on and so forth. I look at the bigger picture: since I signed up for VM years ago to this new price rise, my monthly bill would go up by 20% whereas the download speed will increase by 400%. That is a ratio that favours me quite a bit, not to mention numerous times when I didn't pay the full amount in a given month for various reasons.

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Why would you not want the speed boost if you dont have to do anything to get it?

 

Because I've had their "free" speed increases in the past only to be met with a bill increase a month later. I downgraded from the 152 to 50 earlier in the year and it made no difference to my life. I don't need mega fast internet, I don't really stream anything, I'm not downloading huge files. I game online a bit and that's about it.

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Because I've had their "free" speed increases in the past only to be met with a bill increase a month later. I downgraded from the 152 to 50 earlier in the year and it made no difference to my life. I don't need mega fast internet, I don't really stream anything, I'm not downloading huge files. I game online a bit and that's about it.

But you will still pay the SAME whether you ask for the upgrade or not so it doesn't make sense. Bills always go up so your bill will still go up if stuck on 50 as opposed to 70.

The reason they're asking people to opt in is because some of them may need new hardware.

Edited by SnoopZ
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But you will still pay the SAME whether you ask for the upgrade or not so it doesn't make sense. Bills always go up so your bill will still go up if stuck on 50 as opposed to 70.

The reason they're asking people to opt in is because some of them may need new hardware.

Agreed, chances are that will be the case however I suspect the people who opt in are more likely to get the increase first. In that hope I am expecting that those who get the upgrade last, will also get the increase last.

Bills do go up, doesn't mean I just accept it or be happy with it. Especially when they do it by saying ooh look we're making your broadband faster and its free!!! oh but by the way, that phone line you barely use that we've not done any work on in years, that's more expensive now, honest this has nothing to do with the broadband stuff.

 

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Bills do go up, doesn't mean I just accept it or be happy with it. Especially when they do it by saying ooh look we're making your broadband faster and its free!!! oh but by the way, that phone line you barely use that we've not done any work on in years, that's more expensive now, honest this has nothing to do with the broadband stuff.

 

Their letter does state that, if you are unhappy with the price rise, you may cancel with no penalty. Also, there is no requirement to have line rental for BB-only packages. If you barely use the phone, that may be a good way to offset the price rise.

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Their letter does state that, if you are unhappy with the price rise, you may cancel with no penalty. Also, there is no requirement to have line rental for BB-only packages. If you barely use the phone, that may be a good way to offset the price rise.

I'm on a deal atm that unfortunately says otherwise however if you look at the site now, a new customer can get BB only for £30 or £5 for BB and £16.99 for phone line for 12 months £21.99 and after 12 months its £34.99. I get my BB and phone line for £18.49, amazing what can happen when you throw the towel in and try to cancel.

It was after the last price increase where they told me I can cancel with no penalty that I got down to this price, I did cancel my TV package completely though.

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Well after logging into My Virgin Media i get told this...... I was expecting it before the end of 2015! Bollocks

Look out for it between April 2016 and September 2016.

 

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Hold on tight

Your speed boost is on the way...

 
 

Your speed upgrade will be ready to take your connection from up to 100Mbps to up to 150Mbps. It's all thanks to DOCSIS® 3 - the magic in our cables.

Look out for it between April 2016 and September 2016.

Bit of a change to their original statement, I know you can easily sit in the 10% but I would have thought if you can do 90% in 2 months, the last 10% shouldn't then take anywhere between 4 and 9 months later :s

Thanks to our DOCSIS 3 technology, we will make available and deploy the superior speeds in record time, with 90% of customers being able to upgrade by the end of 2015.

 

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