In reply to a post by nemeth782:

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!

I would go with the FTTC - it may be slower (the headline speed of VM is a joke, as come evening my line runs around 3 Mbps and cannot stream on what is supposed to be Vivid 200!), however in my past experience before I moved to a new home I never had any of the issues I'm having with VM. I would sell my soul to have FTTC. The moment my cab gets done, VM can do one!

I always thought that was much more expensive? Static IP is useful for home users, not only businesses. (and many businesses don't need it).

Can you find someone living near your new property who has Virgin Broadband, and ask them what their speeds are like?

I have "70 Mbps" download speed, and it runs at 73.4 Mbps, all day, every day.

FTTC is far better reliable than hammer cable of horror!

In reply to a post by hedgie:

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.

That due to Virgin business connections having a SLA meaning they're obliged to provide a certain level of service... domestic users however don't have that hence the cheaper price

I would say if your service with 2 lines is fine now then carry on with those... you'll get better upload speed from just one FTTC line that with a 200Meg connecting from VM... also more stability to connection and lot lesser a chance of congestion related issues,

However as pointed out you could take Virgin for a test drive and any issues (that exist now) should appear immediately, I tried out Virgin for 28 day test after years of congestion issues previous to see if anything had improved... it had but then moved home where Virgin not available...

I'm also assuming that if you place your move home with your FTTC lines that you should have the time to get Virgin in and tested before they are completed and if Virgin suits then cancel the FTTC lines.... you could also drop a FTTC line and have Virgin with a backup VDSL service if things go to pot...

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

In reply to a post by hedgie:

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.

That due to Virgin business connections having a SLA meaning they're obliged to provide a certain level of service... domestic users however don't have that hence the cheaper price

The SLA is on fix time, not performance.

As others have posted, take one of each.

If you need a static IP I wouldn't even consider Virgin Media. I've got a range of customers on the 50mbit "Business" service in diverse areas with static IP's and every single connection has constant issues. The thinkbroadband graph's I've collected make for interesting viewing.

They supply a modified "Superhub" with a business firmware on to support the L2TP tunnel on which the Business platform and static IP is provided. Due to this you have no choice but to use that rather than replace it with something fit for purpose. It just can't handle what it's doing and needs rebooting 2-3 times a day. Their support is utter [censored], if it's the business hub issue they just don't care. I'm on the "Beta" trial for a new firmware but it's took them literally 2 years to figure this out which just simply isn't good enough.

My advice is if you're getting quotes of 70Mbit+ on FTTC go down that route and be glad in the fact you'll have a better solution over all (not just raw throughput) than anything Virgin can offer.

was mulling over the possibility of virign, but there are a few people in my area who download constantly and have had a few dcma notices, but think they are masking their ip

so whilst I might save some money, I might have slow internet