Any good for businesses?

We need something faster than ADSL 2+ and BT don't have and won't have fibre in our street for some time. The exchange is fibre enabled, but apparently there are problems upgrading the cabinet that serves us.

It seems the only options are:
1) additional ADSL 2+ lines
2) Virgin - they have told me the street is cabled and I can get 50Mbs

Could some kind soul answer the following for me:

1) What is their reliability like? The only people I know with Virgin have their residential service and complain bitterly about reliability and trying to get customer service afterwards.

2) They claim no traffic shaping, Mon-Fri, 8am to 6pm. But we also work Saturdays and sometimes evenings/nights. What is the service likely to be like during these times? The main usage is web browsing and VOIP.

3) Can you only get Virgin media through Virgin, or can you go via other providers?

4) The building is part residential. Ignoring for the moment any breach of T+Cs, is there any advantage is signing up for a residential service rather than the business service?

Should I be asking anything else? The cost is not really important, though I am concerned about signing up for 2 years if they can significantly jack the rate up during that time or significantly change the service provision. I would keep the existing service as a backup.

Thanks in advance.

1) Reliability? Variable. It depends where you are and what problems arise (surprise!). Beware that businesses are given a Super Hub 1 which CANNOT be put into modem mode, and that wireless from the Super Hub 1 is poor (I under-exaggerate).

2) Traffic Shaping - I would say that even if it exists for businesses you are unlikely to be affected if all you do is browsing and VOIP.

3) Virgin Media broadband is Virgin Media. Full stop.

4) If you're a business you can't be a consumer. Business users pay more and get a (somewhat) better customer/engineering service.

Note that you will get a maximum of 50 Mbps down, and 3 Mbps (or perhaps 5 in some rare circumstances) up. The up-speed may be a problem (but not with what you're doing), however it tends to be fairly close to what's promised.

I think your contract will be for 18 months, during which time the monthly cost will probably/possibly increase somewhat. Price rises tend to be annual and/or random!

Think where you will want them to install the Super Hub, and/or be prepared for the cost of Wireless Access Point(s). Any need for these depends on the size, number of floors, etc, which you occupy.

A final point - you can order more than 1 broadband line! (If you want higher throughput.)

Edited by John_Gray (Thu 15-May-14 14:41:59)

Thanks John for the comprehensive reply.

I think the wireless on the hub won't be an issue. I already have a D-Link switch with 4 access points connected. At the moment I have an ADSL2+ Thomson modem router plugged into D-Link, so my plan would be to connect the Virgin service in its place and use the existing infrastructure. In the event of Virgin going down, I'd reconnect the old service.

Think I'll go ahead!

The only thing to consider here is Virgin Media Business doesn't support modem mode on their superhub. They do on their residential service.

This is correct. All you get it better phone support... which isn't really better it's just different.

I'm guessing I don't need modem mode? I currently have a Thomson TG585 ADSL2+ modem router connected to a D-Link DES-1100-16 and 4 Access Points. Apart from opening a couple of ports, I use the Thomson in pretty much its default state. I was planning to connect the Superhub in its place.

You may or may not need modem mode!

The point we're making is that with business firmware in the Super Hub 1 you do not have the OPTION of modem mode!

Post deleted by brandscill

Sounds like in replacing your existing setup you won't need modem mode so you will be fine