30mb Fibre deal. Should I join?

Hi. Im currently on a Talk Talk up to 16mb unlimited broadband and phone deal, getting between 5 and 6mb. I was thinking of joining Virgin with the deal they have at the mo for 30mb fibre but I see that, unlike Talk Talk, Virgin have traffic shaping.
So, my question to you guys that already have Virgin fibre is..... is it worth joining? I have no idea how the traffic shaping really effects usage and if I would notice it from a 30mb line when Im used to 5-6mb anyway. Im online all day with occasional on-demand tv or movie download, nothing serious. How reliable is the signal? Im getting fed up with lights blinking on my router and having to wait for the signal to come back, hence looking to migrate. I was also thinking of recommending this deal to my son how has just moved into his first place and is looking for a broadband connection for his intensive xbox Halo online gaming.
Any advice welcomed. Thanks

I get 33Mb on my 30Mb line at all times, if the STM kicks in it slows you by 10% which means I'm still getting 30Mb

In reply to a post by BuckleZ:

I get 33Mb on my 30Mb line at all times, if the STM kicks in it slows you by 10% which means I'm still getting 30Mb

Nice! Thanks for that. Looks good.

If your area isn't affect by high utilisation, don't bother to join because they taking so long to fixed it, could be 3, 6 or 9 months! http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Up-to-30Mb-Speed...

Edited by adslmax (Wed 12-Feb-14 22:27:23)

I think adsl meant if the area is affected by high utilisation do not join

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

I think adsl meant if the area is affected by high utilisation do not join

how would I find out? Cheers

Best method is to talk to friends who use Virgin Media in the few streets around you, otherwise generally a lottery, and just like shares, current or past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

All that said, unless you are an avid gamer, the latency issues that congestion causes and reduced throughput even on the 30 Mbps product should still beat a 5 Mbps ADSL service.

I am quite lucky that in Belfast I see no congestion issues.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share/efda67ef1d5...

The connection is almost always used for streaming media.

Edited by BuckleZ (Thu 13-Feb-14 12:37:52)

VM offer a 28 day money back guarantee. Their service is very hit-or-miss, down to the street cabinet level, your neighbour could get good service and you terrible service. So try it, that's the only way to know for sure how good it is in your area for your home. Make sure you do some speed tests in the evening 6 - 9pm and try streaming some HD videos off YouTube. If you get any issues at all then run-away quick because it could indicate that your area is already or is heading for over-utilisation and it takes VM years to fix that.

In reply to a post by Daemon66:

VM offer a 28 day money back guarantee. Their service is very hit-or-miss, down to the street cabinet level, your neighbour could get good service and you terrible service. So try it, that's the only way to know for sure how good it is in your area for your home. Make sure you do some speed tests in the evening 6 - 9pm and try streaming some HD videos off YouTube. If you get any issues at all then run-away quick because it could indicate that your area is already or is heading for over-utilisation and it takes VM years to fix that.

Thanks! Good point. For less than £12 a month I think I will give it a go, follow your advice on speed tests and see what happens.
Cheers

Cheers everyone. I am going to give it a go, monitor the speeds and, if necessary, take advantage of the 28 day satisfaction guarantee.

I thought it was 7 day? Not 28. Make sure u check T&C before join.

In reply to a post by adslmax:

I thought it was 7 day? Not 28. Make sure u check T&C before join.

Thanks for bringing that up. Ive had a look at their website which states:

Money back guarantee: Available to new customers and existing customers taking a new service. Call us within 28 days of activation for a refund of your first month�s rental charges and any installation charge. You will only be charged for transactions (calls, purchases, service upgrades) occurring after activation. Statutory rights are not affected.

Strange odd. When I upgrade from 30Mb to 120Mb they told me it will be 7 working day to cancel if things go wrong or unhappy with the service. I am sure I seen somewhere on T&C out there but I can't find it now.

Edited by adslmax (Fri 14-Feb-14 13:20:00)

Difference maybe between existing customer and a new customer

I think on a whole you'll find most people are satisfied with their VM connection but they do suffer with congestion issues in specific areas. These can be as specific as the street behind you is fine but yours isn't. If you do take it and find you're not getting close to the advertised speeds at peak times then do make full use of the 28 days and leave. Do not accept fix dates or engineer visits (unless that visit is to correct power levels and occurs before your 28 days are up, because if nothing changes you'll still want out!)

This isn't intended to put you off VM, I have been a customer of them on and off (moved to area where it wasn't available and then onto somewhere it was) and each time the service has been relatively solid.

Cheers. Actually Im now staying with Talk Talk. I rang them up to cancel but we negotiated a better deal. In order for me to get Virgin at £11.66 a month, which is my main reason for switching, it involved getting £76 from a cashback website, which is never 100% guaranteed but Talk Talk offered me 38mb plus a call package for just 9p more than virgin all on a 12 month contract which the dont normally offer. I dont know anything about their fibre service but it seemed less hassle.
Thanks for all the comments and advice.

They're fibre service is pretty decent and now you've said fibre is available in your area I would have said sod virgin and go talk talk fibre just for simplicity! Good move

Cheers. Indeed, I thought it was the simplest move. Time will tell! Already had some grief. After a good 20 minutes negotiating the deal I get an email 10 mins later saying my order had been cancelled. Took another 20 minutes and a call back to reorder the package. TT claimed a system update for the error but I guess if I hadn't called they would not have done anything. Hope its hic-up free from now on.

@ matty_hunt - U are better off with TalkTalk Fibre 80/20. Get your order in. Much better than virgin media.

As long as they manage to send a BT engineer and the right one at that then it should be.