Virgin Media Homeworks + 300Mbps, what is this??

So I was just browsing Virgin Media's bundle page just seeing how much it would cost altogether since Virgin Media were finally expanding into Poplar, East London (they started cabling our block of flats today) and I when I went down into the extras, I saw this Virgin Media 300Mbps service available as an extra.
Virgin Media Homeworks + Up to 300Mbps.
I was a bit confused since I thought the max down speed they offered was 200Mbps, so what is this then?? Do they actually offer 300Mbps, if so why is it hidden in the extras?

Edited by deleted (Wed 16-Mar-16 18:50:58)

Virgin Media is offering a 300 Mbps to SME users and HomeWorks as a name suggests that category

We saw 300 Mbps being tested last year

In reply to a post by Mahir007:

I was a bit confused since I thought the max down speed they offered was 200Mbps, so what is this then?? Do they actually offer 300Mbps, if so why is it hidden in the extras?

Someone messed up; this shouldn't be there yet as it's not been officially launched. Oops!

This is the product especially for people who work from home.

It bridges the gap between the standard residential services and the 300Mb business service.

If only it came with a static IP, and an increase in upload/removal of upload traffic management!!

In reply to a post by nemeth782:

If only it came with a static IP, and an increase in upload/removal of upload traffic management!!

Did you call in and ask what it comes with?

Just called up and added it to my account. 3 months minimum contract on the website, however told on the phone it's just a 30 day contract. £9.99, 300mbps with 1 static IP.

Order failed with outsourced call centre. Spoke to Swansea, order replaced and corrected, however you need to have a Superhub 3.0, which costs an additional one off charge of £9.99.

Edited by Bryer (Thu 17-Mar-16 14:26:37)

Just a little update to this for you guys. Service dropped yesterday afternoon while I was at work. Got home to do some more testing as the wife said that web pages were loading with minimal loading (we've always had to wait for things to resolve).

Latency has dropped by around 3ms getting a solid 8-9ms at all times, with what appears to be a more reliable speed, throughout the peak time in my area (currently on 200 as no SH3 yet for the extra channels). Was getting between 160-175 at peak times, now getting a solid 182-200 during the peak window of 6pm to midnight.

It would appear that my frequencies have been changed slightly from before the Homeworks add-on, so if you're a gamer this could be a worthwhile add-on.

Do you have a BQM monitoring that?

Those kind of quality changes might make VM a viable choice for work purposes, as an alternative to our 80/20 FTTC line. Absolute speed, I'm less worried about, but reliable consistent behaviour I am.

So depending on what you are doing and to where depends on your ping.

Speedtests to all Virgin Media servers at Speedtest.net show a 3ms ping drop.

The BQM's are showing a smaller decrease in ping. Down from 21ms to 19ms.

F8lure BQM

TB BQM

While these may not appear to show any difference, I can assure you the connection feels a lot better than it did at the start of the week. I'll update more tomorrow one I get the Superhub 3.0 and the 300mb speeds opearting, as I'm currently missing channels.

Edited by Bryer (Fri 18-Mar-16 14:17:12)

I just tried to order it - when I login to my account it gives me the option to upgrade, but when I phoned to order it, I was told it is not available

Go through to Customer services and order it from there. Offshore sales team had it removed for messing orders up.

Spoke with someone else.

homeworks is £9.99 a month - that does not include the 300Mbps broadband,

homeworks+ is £13.99 a month - that does include the 300Mbps broadband - minimum 3 months

It has (hopefully) been added to my account

Have you got the speed increase or are you waiting for the SH3?

Email I had stated £9.99 with speed increase.

Edited by Bryer (Fri 18-Mar-16 17:48:21)

I've already got the sh3

Speed increase is scheduled for tomorrow

In reply to a post by jjpearce:

I've already got the sh3

Speed increase is scheduled for tomorrow

How are you finding the SH3?

So just popped the Superhub 3.0 into my network. First of all, much better piece of kit than the Netgear. Feels a lot better made, big of weight to it, only detractor is the damn thing is white.

UI is much better than previous versions. A lot more user friendly when needing to find things, and is clearly designed to help people get the most of it.

Now just to get the speed upgrade to 300mb sorted.

Whats the upload & you got a speed test result?

Speed has just been increased, waiting for the superhub to resync and I'll see what we've got.

OK so downstream has synced at 330Mb, with hte upstream showing a sync at 21Mb. Just removing my standalone routers QoS filters before speedtests.

Edited by Bryer (Sat 19-Mar-16 12:26:38)

Seem to be issues with the downstream, as previously was hitting 200Mb, so going to do a reboot in a bit to flush it out, but the upload seems to be a lot faster.

TBB Speedtest

Looks like Virgin has it's own ECI vs Huawei issues going on. 300Mb isn't compatible with their Motorola based street cabs according to the tech support guys I've been speaking with this afternoon.

Speeds won't go above 190Mb on the 300Mb and the BQM is showing the connection shot to sheep.

Ouch

Oh dear that doesn't sound good.
I ordered mine this morning and due for the upgrade Tuesday. I don't work from home but the family may benefit from the upgrade. I've no idea what is in the cabinet though.
Do the tech guys think they can fix your issue by changing the Motorola equipment, or us it a case of just going back to 200Mbps?

In reply to a post by colesy10:

Oh dear that doesn't sound good.
I ordered mine this morning and due for the upgrade Tuesday. I don't work from home but the family may benefit from the upgrade. I've no idea what is in the cabinet though.
Do the tech guys think they can fix your issue by changing the Motorola equipment, or us it a case of just going back to 200Mbps?

Well I've just got off the phone with the network team, trying to resolve. Appears that in my area, the 300Mbps is enabled and working fine. Had tech booked for Monday to come and take a look. Speeds slowly raising now, so we're back to 200Mbps or there abouts.

It could be a network backend issue though, but more trouble shooting is needed after the tech visit.

looks like is no mistake given these guys have ordered succesfully is the usual VM rolling out as soon it is off the drawing board.

My upgrade happened this morning. Speedtest shows just over 300Mps down and 20Mps up.

One of the major differences between the sh2ac and the sh3 is the sh3 has 16 downstream vs the 8 downstreams of the 2ac. This is most likely why you need the sh3.

I use my sh3 in modem mode with my own router. Was previously on 200Mbps and to be honest in my area I normally get speeds near or at the maximums provided by cm for my service.

In reply to a post by jjpearce:

My upgrade happened this morning. Speedtest shows just over 300Mps down and 20Mps up.

One of the major differences between the sh2ac and the sh3 is the sh3 has 16 downstream vs the 8 downstreams of the 2ac. This is most likely why you need the sh3.

I use my sh3 in modem mode with my own router. Was previously on 200Mbps and to be honest in my area I normally get speeds near or at the maximums provided by cm for my service.

Glad to hear the issues are isolated. My connection won't lock on for 16, just getting 12 which is a bit odd. Seen a decrease in speeds but its a lot more stable.

Can you grab a screen grab of your 192.168.100.1 Router Status > Downstream page so that I can show the tech's that are coming on Monday that it's missing 4 channels please. Thanks.

Line has drastically calmed down overnight. The BQM is skittitish still but that's more to do with the bugs in the superhub 3 firmware. Line currently providing 250Mb down with 21Mb up. Feels a lot smoother than a residential line too.

In reply to a post by Bryer:

Looks like Virgin has it's own ECI vs Huawei issues going on. 300Mb isn't compatible with their Motorola based street cabs according to the tech support guys I've been speaking with this afternoon.

Speeds won't go above 190Mb on the 300Mb and the BQM is showing the connection shot to sheep.

The stuff about street cabinets is pap. What's in there doesn't matter. The Motorola stuff is in buildings, not cabinets.

Last I heard you shouldn't have that tier if you're connected to Motorola equipment. You should only be provisioned on 300Mb if you're connected to Arris equipment.

Your Superhub 3 should show 16 downstream channels locked. If it shows 12 you're connected to Motorola equipment and either they've changed their policy or screwed up.

EDIT: Okay, so from what I was just told customer services 'fixing' the orders actually seems to mean provisioning the service where it's not supposed to be provisioned. Offshore had the order rejected for a good reason: it's not available to areas running on the Motorola equipment except for a very few exceptions.

This wouldn't surprise. Customer services guys seem to regard restrictions, whether they be on what service can be provisioned or pricing, yours is also messed up there, as something to work around rather than something they're supposed to pay attention to.

Edited by deleted (Sun 20-Mar-16 13:53:50)

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

In reply to a post by Bryer:

Looks like Virgin has it's own ECI vs Huawei issues going on. 300Mb isn't compatible with their Motorola based street cabs according to the tech support guys I've been speaking with this afternoon.

Speeds won't go above 190Mb on the 300Mb and the BQM is showing the connection shot to sheep.

The stuff about street cabinets is pap. What's in there doesn't matter. The Motorola stuff is in buildings, not cabinets.

Last I heard you shouldn't have that tier if you're connected to Motorola equipment. You should only be provisioned on 300Mb if you're connected to Arris equipment.

Your Superhub 3 should show 16 downstream channels locked. If it shows 12 you're connected to Motorola equipment and either they've changed their policy or screwed up.

Will pick this up with them in the morning Getting 250Mb with 12 channels.

In reply to a post by Bryer:

Will pick this up with them in the morning Getting 250Mb with 12 channels.

With very few exceptions this shouldn't be available on 12 channels.

Unsure if you're in one of those exceptional areas they have messed up. Be interesting to see how your performance changes.

What upstream channel types do you have? Are they 16QAM or 64QAM and how many of them are there Sir?

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

In reply to a post by Bryer:

Will pick this up with them in the morning Getting 250Mb with 12 channels.

With very few exceptions this shouldn't be available on 12 channels.

Unsure if you're in one of those exceptional areas they have messed up. Be interesting to see how your performance changes.

What upstream channel types do you have? Are they 16QAM or 64QAM and how many of them are there Sir?

2 x 16QAM - Solid upload at 20Mb

Downstream bonded channels
Channel Frequency(Hz) Power (dBmV) SNR(dB) Modulation Channel ID
1 298750000 1.4 37.3 256 qam 13
2 322750000 0.7 37.3 256 qam 16
3 314750000 0.7 37.3 256 qam 15
4 306750000 0.7 37.3 256 qam 14
5 290750000 1 37.3 256 qam 12
6 282750000 0.7 37.6 256 qam 11
7 274750000 0.4 37.6 256 qam 10
8 266750000 0.7 37.6 256 qam 9
9 258750000 0.5 37.3 256 qam 8
10 250750000 1.2 37.3 256 qam 7
11 242750000 1.5 37.3 256 qam 6
12 234750000 1.7 37.3 256 qam 5
13 226750000 1.9 37.6 256 qam 4
14 218750000 2 37.3 256 qam 3
15 210750000 2.2 37.3 256 qam 2
16 202750000 2.5 37.6 256 qam 1

Sorry just a question.

Is the Homeworks+ Connect with a Traffic Management or not for the Upload?

Recently get shafted by VM with Vivid 200.

Was live streaming, awful after 1 hour boom 65% speed reduction, and their speeds are slow enough.

Well I've spoken to Virgin Media and they're unsure if there is, but if it goes on the same sort of scale a 50% reduction on 20mbps is fine.

However when calling it wasn't simply an option of adding a £15 a month "Bolt on" or bundle.

They wanted to charge me near £65 a month. They also said any current discounts I'm getting (£7 a month) won't be applied either.

So I wondered, is that accurate for other people here on it?

I don't' know why they can't just sell an upload speed bolt-on.

"In my 10 years of working at Virgin Media I've never had anyone complain about the upload speed or traffic management of it". -Obviously someone who doesn't answer the phone often, as the ratio for up and down is diabolical for VM. And their tech supports over 100 up so it's not like that is slowing them down.

Spoke to business and they only advertise 15mbps up, but have said in my area I can get 20up, wanted as much as homeline for the 200 service and wouldn't give me any discounts at all.

In reply to a post by itsadam:

Sorry just a question.

Is the Homeworks+ Connect with a Traffic Management or not for the Upload?

Nope. No management of any kind.

In reply to a post by itsadam:

Nope. No management of any kind.

Anything more on the price? Was it just £15 on top or did you have to pay £60 ish?

Thanks

It's the price of the existing bundle with the 200Mb in it plus another 13.99 a month.

Seems people are losing their 'loyalty' discounts with this, too, so for some the price increase will be higher.

Well I pay £28.50 per month for Vivid 200, broadband only.

Basically doubling the cost for 100mbit down I don't want and 8mbit up is abit of a joke.

I really hope TalkTalk and Sky sort their [censored] out in York fast.

VM is sat charging whatever it wants, because they know they are the fastest, and they hide behind high download speeds and quite frankly pathetic upload traffic management so people don't truly see what they're getting.

I think I'll just stay as I am, and resent the hell out of VM.

In reply to a post by itsadam:

Well I pay £28.50 per month for Vivid 200, broadband only.

Basically doubling the cost for 100mbit down I don't want and 8mbit up is abit of a joke.

Standalone Homeworks + 300Mbps is £57.24.

It is supposed to be a 'home worker' tier, so somewhere between business and standard residential.

Not uncommon for the highest tier from an operator to be considerably more expensive.

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

In reply to a post by itsadam:

Well I pay £28.50 per month for Vivid 200, broadband only.

Basically doubling the cost for 100mbit down I don't want and 8mbit up is abit of a joke.

Standalone Homeworks + 300Mbps is £57.24.

It is supposed to be a 'home worker' tier, so somewhere between business and standard residential.

Not uncommon for the highest tier from an operator to be considerably more expensive.

Except its cheaper than the Business 200mbps and has a better advertised upload speed