Virgin Media to offer 1Gbps to 15m by end 2021

Virgin Media has pledged to offer internet download speeds of at least 1Gbps to 15 million homes by the end of 2021.
That represents about half of all UK households - and double the fastest speed the company currently advertises.
Virgin's plan still involves the use of copper-based cables.
In most cases, these would still be used to make the so-called "last mile" connections between homes and street cabinets.
The promised speed boost is instead delivered by an upgrade to the Docsis (data over cable interface specification) standard.
The new 3.1 specification theoretically allows downloads of up to 10Gbps over coaxial cables.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49096856

Never mind this as VM still need to sort out their ongoing congestion area with poor speed etc. I can't see everyones will be happy to get full max 1Gbps speed more likely struggle from it.

VM should roll out 100/100 for all of us instead of 100/6.

Well I am not sure about 1Gbps, that's a bit much, we are on 309Mbps down and 51Mbps up with BT, while I think the 309Mbps down is fine, I would love to have some more up, this is due to I do a lot of downloading and uploading of content, so doing this quicker would be nice.

As for VM, I will never be able to get VM due to I live in a conservation area so no cabs allowed.

Saying that though, I have friends not far from me that have VM and they get no way near what they was told on the phone, this is due to congestion in VM's network, and they was told like wait 5 years, now where this wasn't me talking to VM, so I cannot confirm all of it, but I know VM lied to me for over a year.

But if they resolve all their congestion issues and are able to provide that to 15M homes then great.

Paul

In reply to a post by adslmax:

Never mind this as VM still need to sort out their ongoing congestion area with poor speed etc. I can't see everyones will be happy to get full max 1Gbps speed more likely struggle from it.

VM should roll out 100/100 for all of us instead of 100/6.

Agreed, I think more upload would be preferable, or start to be preferable due to more and more content creators start to create content,. so they would require more upstream bandwidth.

Paul

Definately!, offering a higher upload speed as a bonus to business subscribers would at least make one feel like you're getting a bit more than their domestic package pretending to be a business product, for the extra money we pay and get nothing extra in return!

Never mind this as VM still need to sort out their ongoing congestion area with poor speed etc.

I feel the pain of anyone in this position. I've used VM for years, but also suffered congestion in the last-but-one house I lived in. It took 2 years to get sorted, and a lot of pressure --- and then they sorted it and we moved... Initially though they were continuing to sell through the congestion.

The house we moved to, several villages away, then also had congestion building (due to new estates being built and there was already being level congestion issues). I was allowed out of contract, and walked away. Again, initially when I was experiencing the issues, they were still selling as the congestion wasn't enough to be classed as an issue by their own metrics, even though it was causing real world issues for customers.

In both properties, when I had issues, I'd sometimes see less than 1Mbs down.. Absolutely unusable.

I kept an eye on the situation though locally, and there's been a lot of investment by VM locally. It's not Project Lightning, but they have resolved the issues. I got a Business connection back in February, and they would only give me a maximum of 200Mbs due to local infrastructure capacity. It was, however, rock solid.

Since then, investment has continued and completed locally, and I had the line upgraded to 500Mbs once the infrastructure work had been completed. Again, it's been rock solid - absolutely always get 549Mbps down / 36Mbps up on speed tests (including DSLReports, so not just ~Speedtest.net to VM's own servers). Day or night, busy periods or not.

I think VM have also changed their outlook --- they seem to not sell in congested areas anymore, have introduced their minimum speed guarantee of 50% of the headline speed, and need to meet average speeds across their network. Yes 50% is rubbish if you're paying for more -- but it's aa lot better than 1Mbs!

Of course, some areas still have congestion, and those on older contracts don't get the minimum speed guarantee unless they change their package... But I hope that those in those positions do get VM to sort them sooner rather than later, and I hope VM's shift in outlook makes the blight of congestion issues a thing of the past sooner rather than later!

Seldom posting these days

Deployment of 3.1 will help with congestion just as deployment of 3.0 did.

VM have improved congestion management substantially.

Upload speeds will improve a bit but nothing ground-breaking any time soon. Upload in the 40-60Mb range is realistic. As with most other deployments it'll initially be 3.1 on downstream only with 3.0 upstreams still in use. There will, however, be more upstream channels being used, VM have started bonding 5 or 6.

I wouldn't touch VM. They have loads of issues and overpriced too.

In reply to a post by adslmax:

I wouldn't touch VM. They have loads of issues and overpriced too.

No-one obliges you to, fortunately.

I have to admit that I'm actually fairly content with it right now.

https://www.speedtest.net/result/8448721024.png

In reply to a post by adslmax:

I wouldn't touch VM. They have loads of issues and overpriced too.

I had perfectly faultless service from VM (no congestion, always got paid for speeds 24/7) in the circa 10 years I was with them. I do however agree about their pricing.