Virgin Media Cable

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Hi Folks,

Since my last post in here, I have got an 8Mbit ADSL MAX package up on the line and that's about the best I can get thanks to the ongoing issues with LNPOP exchange.

Line sync is 8Mbit, 31 att and 17 snr (downstream). I rarely see speeds above 200KB/s and peak times this drops to around 17KB/s.

Most of the LLU providers including Be have no spare capacity at the exchange so this has forced me to look at Virgin Media. It turns out I can receive their 20Mbit package.

Now is this over some form of ADSL/Phoneline or is it via a separate cable? Bear in mind the last time I had cable was back in the early 90's :o so I am not too clued up about how it differs from "normal" ADSL.
 
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Its Fibre to the Green cab, then Coax to the house/modem. I am on the 20meg package and get it 24/7 but if you are in an over subscribed area that might not be the case...

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Most of the LLU providers including Be have no spare capacity at the exchange so this has forced me to look at Virgin Media. It turns out I can receive their 20Mbit package.
Which 20Mbit package, they have two? One is cable broadband, i.e. DOCSIS (via a coax cable), the other is ADSL2+ (via phone line) in non-cable areas and on exchanges unbundled by C&W.
 
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If you are in a VM cabled area then you can get 10, 20 or 50Mb internet.
As Ryan111 stated, this is fibre to the cab in your street / close to your street and co-ax to the house. This doesn't require a BT line at all.

If you are not in a cabled area then you will be offered their "national" service which is an ADSL variant via a BT phone line and speed is dependant on the distance from the exchange.


Easiest way to tell is the message you get from the VM website.

If you get "You're not in a fibre optic area, but can still get our brilliant broadband down your phone line" then this means you'll get the national ADSL service.

If you get "Cable Services
Great News! Because you're in a fibre optic cable area, you can get all this.

•Up to 50Mb broadband
•Over 165 digital TV channels (including Sky channels)
•Great value home phone packages"

this is a cabled area and you get get 10, 20 or 50Mb internet.

As you said it offered 20Mb suggests it's likely to be the national ADSL service.
 
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You can get a perfectly good ADSL Max line if you allow adequate budget - people expect too much for too little; BT Wholesale is expensive.

However, if you're willing to spend just a little bit more - you can get a very consistent service - what is your budget?
 
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Thank you all for the responses.

Ryan111, I would be chuffed with speeds like that. At my previous address, I had a 24/2.5 sync with Be :p

Daegan, how would I be able to differentiate between the two delivery methods? When I enter my postcode in the online checker on VM's website, it says I am in a non-fibre area. The best package I can have is the Broadband XL and it says my speeds will be between 8.0-9.0. I always figured with cable, you always received the stated sync speed?

PistolPete, ah in which case, it seems I will be on their ADSL product :(

swbroadband, I am currently paying £49.95 a month with Eclipse for their top business package. I am willing to spend upto £75 a month.
 
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wij

wij

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...I am willing to spend upto £75 a month.

Then you have loads of options.

AAISP, Goscomb, Zen, hSo (may only sell to you as a business though) and plenty of other decent business orientated providers should be able to provide a good service over 20/21CN for you.

Most of them are suffering at the moment because of BT's backhaul struggling under the load from the World Cup though.

Edit:

Infact for that sort of money you could do 2x 21CN lines from AAISP, have them bonded properly (i.e. see aggregate throughput from both lines) and with a decent amount of monthly usage on top.
 
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Hi wij, cheers for the suggestions.

AAISP - Far to expensive for the amount of data we chomped through last month. (87GB peak) The majority of this traffic is VPN and SFTP. I have sent a e-mail regarding bonding. Currently only have 1 BT line installed though.

Goscomb - Their 8Mbps Business Unlimited seems like a attractive option. I am a bit hesitant to stick with ADSL MAX given the clear capacity issues.

Zen - Top package is capped at 100GB monthly download.

hSo - Requested call back.

I have requested info from easynet, gconnect and a few others.

I also spoke to a chap from eclipse who seems to know what he is talking about. BT have apparently set a 21CN date for LNPOP. 23rd August is the date being thrown around. How much of a difference will it make when the exchange is upgraded?
 

wij

wij

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Hi wij, cheers for the suggestions.
AAISP - Far to expensive for the amount of data we chomped through last month. (87GB peak) The majority of this traffic is VPN and SFTP. I have sent a e-mail regarding bonding. Currently only have 1 BT line installed though.

Yep, on BT it can sting - might be worth asking about Be via them though as they deal with Be wholesale, not retail and may still have capacity.

Goscomb - Their 8Mbps Business Unlimited seems like a attractive option. I am a bit hesitant to stick with ADSL MAX given the clear capacity issues.

Capacity issues are certainly part of BT's networks, I use Goscomb for a lot of services and their own network certainly isn't contended at all. 24/7 UK phone support too with decent techs.

Zen - Top package is capped at 100GB monthly download.

http://www.zen.co.uk/Broadband/ML_Business/medium-large-business-broadband.aspx

Though IMHO Zen are not as good as they used to be, and better alternatives out there for the same / less now.

hSo - Requested call back.

They mostly deal with fibre circuits, but do sell ADSL services. Pricing I last had was circa £60/month for a unlimited MAX/21CN line depending on what was available at the exchange. Delivered over BT's backhaul though, but again like Goscomb I doubt they have any capacity issues. Decent 24/7 support on the phone too is nice.

I have requested info from easynet, gconnect and a few others.

I also spoke to a chap from eclipse who seems to know what he is talking about. BT have apparently set a 21CN date for LNPOP. 23rd August is the date being thrown around. How much of a difference will it make when the exchange is upgraded?

Should get better as you're then onto 21CN backhaul, though if you look around you can see what the muppetball has done to the level of service across that. :)

Every one of my clients who is connected via BT backhaul has seen massive packet loss and throughput drops during the matches - one FTTC circuit which is normally circa 40mbit/10mbit dropped to <1Mbit downstream! MAX/20CN actually seemed to survive a lot better.

All my clients connected via Be Wholesale circuits have seen modest drops in throughput and virtually no packet loss.

Seeing as I use one ISP to provide all these its clear where the bottleneck lies and who hasn't got enough capacity on their network (I suppose it could be the links between BT<->My ISP but they are the sort of people that would openly admit they ****ed up and fix it straight away if that were the case). :)
 
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Hi wij,

I tried the Be route, 100GB Peak and 300GB off peak comes to £77 which isn't too bad.

Regarding Goscomb, I was under the impression that all ADSL MAX products used BT's network and LLU = own provider?

Cheers for the link to Zen, must have missed that page. £79 for 1TB is plenty. Seems to be a LLU package so sent them a e-mail regarding capacity as every other LLU provider enabled at LNPOP has outright said there is no capacity for any new LLU connections. The likes of xilo and vivaciti actually have a waiting list.

I appreciate your advice mate. Going from 2x Be lines syncing at 24/2.5 to this since December has been a right let down :(
 

wij

wij

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Hi wij,

I tried the Be route, 100GB Peak and 300GB off peak comes to £77 which isn't too bad.

Regarding Goscomb, I was under the impression that all ADSL MAX products used BT's network and LLU = own provider?

Cheers for the link to Zen, must have missed that page. £79 for 1TB is plenty. Seems to be a LLU package so sent them a e-mail regarding capacity as every other LLU provider enabled at LNPOP has outright said there is no capacity for any new LLU connections. The likes of xilo and vivaciti actually have a waiting list.

I appreciate your advice mate. Going from 2x Be lines syncing at 24/2.5 to this since December has been a right let down :(

If its not LLU then yes it is over BT's backhaul network, though once it has handed off to the ISP you have their network to think about, the likes of those providers mentioned above generally ensure they have lots of capacity and headroom, the likes of cheap nasty ISPs (take O2's access product for example) generally do not. Bandwidth over BT's Wholesale network is fairly expensive, that is why decent providers ensure they have enough but their costs are higher.

LLU the Kit at the exchange and the backhaul are owned by the provider, so for instance in the case of Be you generally get a much higher level of service as they have significantly more capacity across their own network.

The distinction on the £79 (+VAT btw) package that Zen offer between it being "unlimited" or "1000Gb" is whether or not you are connecting via 21CN, i.e. on ADSLMax it is "unlimited" and via 21CN "1000Gb" - neither are LLU and both go across BTW's infrastructure.

Zen typically are good, though my recent experiences with them, and in particular their levels of CS have been sub standard (and I am a customer who has around 500 circuits from them on a temporary basis over the Summer).
 
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Hi wij,

Thanks for all the advice. Think I will have to rule Zen out, I had a feeling it would be excluding VAT but even at £75 it was pushing it.

Having said that, you get what you pay for so if I don't get any good news from the others I have enquired at, I'll most likely end up switching to Zen.
 
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