Thinking of moving to Virgin!

I am currently an O2 customer and a very satisfied one. Bit miffed that they have been bought out. I am casting around looking for a replacement ISP. Ideally I would like a Non phone line setup and to that end Virgin cable looks to be the way to go. I don't watch TV and never use a Land line phone.
I have been reading the comments on this forum and get the general feeling of negative feedback from the members.
Am I correct in saying that Virgins unlimited is not what I call unlimited ala O2 ( I am on a Legacy plan which is absolutely totally unlimited )?
I guess what I really want to know is should I steer clear of Virgin?
I would appreciate any feedback.
cheers,
Eddie.

Assuming we are talking about the domestic offering here. Whereas previously you would have a cable modem and a router, which could have been a self supply, I guess you would now be provided with a combination unit which makes a self supply expensive and technically demanded to setup.

No fixed IP is available nor does the Virgin router have DDNS within so remote connection to your system very much depends on the IP address remaining pretty constant over time which is often the case.

It may not be too much of an issue for you but up speeds are very low compared to FTTC connections. You might as well have the telephone service as the additional sum payable is very small and gives you free calls to the help desk which would otherwise be expensive. It also means people calling you can generally do so for free. Using the phone for outgoing calls can be pretty expensive if not on a call package,

Usually if Virgin say you will get a particular down speed then you will, providing there is no user congestion in your area. All in all I would say it is a good choice to have a Virgin service provided it is cable connection. IMHO if you are seeking an internet connection greater than 30Mbps then it will be cheaper than the equivalent FTTC offering. You also have the added advantage of being able to subscribe to cable TV if your wallet is thick enough.

I guess those that depreciate the Virgin service have never been a subscriber and are just saying what they have is better.

Have a look here for some of the issues you'll possibly get with VM.

I actually have quite a good VM connection in terms of speed, latency and jitter compared to most of those who typically complain. However VM are not known for having good inter-connects to the rest of the internet and I still have issues streaming content from YouTube even with a 120Mb connection.

Thank you for the reply and tips.
Re youtube, I came across this a while back it just might help.

http://techglimpse.com/index.php/speed-youtube-video...

My O2 throughput is about 13,400kbps and I was considering the 30meg package from VM.
I have checked the local area for Virgin and it would appear that there would be little congestion.( He said hopefully!)

Thankyou for your reply.
cheers, Eddie

You won't get kicked off the network or put on a "bad boys pipe" no matter how much you download so to that extent it is unlimited. You will get short(ish) term volume dependent throttling - http://my.virginmedia.com/traffic-management/traffic... NNTP and P2P will be subject to shaping during peak times although I've heard that it isn't overly difficult to evade that (possibly as simply as using encryption with NNTP).

Where there can be a problem is if you aren't the only person intent on downloading the internet in your locality. Cable supports high headline speeds but the local pipes serving a fe hundred customers are skinny indeed at 8x50Mbps down max and 2x18Mbps up max - as you can see that won't really support too many people seeding torrents 24x7 and just a coupe doing that wil cause considerable local congestion.

VM's peering isn't too hot either and there are constant complaints about buffering on youtube.

Gaming - the jitter can be horrible.

Your call - if you don't like it you can quit without penalty during the first 28 (or maybe 30) days but beware that they will try to delay you past that deadline if you try to bail out.

If you take up virgin do it without the phone line, I had it since 2008 (after a gap of 15-20yrs I think) I asked for a new number but they said it was impossible and gave me ex directory. I had nothing but cold calls and all the calls the previous subscriber to that number must have had. Eventually when BT offered to reinstall for free I got Plusnet and used to have 2 broadband connections. Plusnet was 10Gig package I got it when Virgin went off for nearly 3 weeks. Never had problem with Plusnet but my Virgin would sometimes just go off for 5 or 10 mins.

The only benefit from virgin phone line is if you have TV/phone/broadband with them, otherwise just get the Broadband.

Ok, Thanks.