So many VM horror stories, do I go near them?!

I am about to move to a new property. I currently have two FTTC lines at about 47mbit each, and either load balance or bond them.

The new property has a forecast speed between 67-80mbit on FTTC, so with the same setup, I would see a speed boost.

But, I could get rid of the hassle I have now with two lines, and have Virgin Media at 200mbit.

I can get a 12 month discount through work, making this package £17.99+£17.99 line rental for 12 months.

But how can I know if I'll just have awful issues with over utilisation before I start? If the service is awful, will I be able to terminate and go back to FTTC?

Thanks in advance!

if VM still do the 30 day refund policy then its worth a punt, if its a over utilised area then cancel within the 30 days.

Personally I will only consider VM now if xDSL estimate is below 30mbit.

I have been with Cable since the 90's and have had cable broadband since it was introduced.

On the whole the service has been excellent. the last six months have been awful with a crippled connection in the evening and at weekends.

On another forum a VM Staffer has told me that VM Business sales check capacity first and will only sell what they can reasonably deliver. VM retail (Domestic) on the other hand refused to adopt this approach and reserve the right to sell any package to anyone in any area without checking if it is technically possible.


If you believe VM it will be fixed by summer in my area at least, trouble is the dates keep slipping and they refuse to be open and honest about their engineering and investment programmes.

I've just left them due to high utilisation. Granted, they let me leave the contract early and free of charge.

It depends where you live, I had 100Mbps, but on an evening it was going below 2Mbps at times. Netlfix would never go above 480p on an evening even when I was getting a download above 10Mbps on a speedtest.

most resilient would be one fttc, and virgin

Unless you know someone in the same postcode then the only way to know is to try it and if it isn't good cancel within the 30-day money back period.
It only takes one or two freeloaders in a small area to ruin VM's performance in that area and it will take them quite some time to fix it, 6-12 months going on what I've seen in their forums. However, issues are very localised.

This is what I'd do.
Go with one FTTC VDSL line and one Virgin.

If service on one is rubbish in first 30 days cancel it.
If service on both is acceptable, you've got redundancy if either Virgin or FTTC falls over.

If resilience is the issue take one of each.

If resilience isn't the issue a single FTTC line at that good sync is probably the best bet to minimise grief while keeping reasonable performance.

depends where you are; virgin's issues are very regional.

if you want static IP then VDSL is the only option. If you game online then a slower speed but lower latency from VDSL may be better.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

depends where you are; virgin's issues are very regional.

if you want static IP then VDSL is the only option. If you game online then a slower speed but lower latency from VDSL may be better.

Virgin Media Business will provide static IP on their business cable products.