Help Me Escape Virgin

Hey All

Im hoping someone here can help me. After many happy (ish) years with Virgin.Net and then a steadily decreasing service since the birth of VM and finally having recieved the most condecending e-mail announcing that I would get 80k till Sunday as I dared to actually use my connection whilst I rebuilt my PC and had my PS3 replaced, I have decided to leave VM.

However as you can see from my exchange details, little is available.

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/EABRI

I need to be able to download large legal files, you know demo's, trailers and stuff without penalty at any time of the day I see fit. Gaming is a must!

Phorm ISP's not acceptable either

Who would you suggest given our limited options?

I do have Sky TV via Sat.

When Im not being chastised by VM for daring to use my connection, I actually get a full 8mb.

Thanks all.

Jedi

You can't get Sky/Be/O2 LLU.

Have a look at O2 Access, it may be your best bet.

Could you estimate your normal monthly usage? Perhaps NewNet?

I dont have exact usage figures, but I'd like to be ableto download demos and trailers as I seefit and utilise the BBC iplayer which simply doesnt work at VM.

I have no idea how much bandwith online gaming for a few hours a month uses!

I just want to "use" my connection as it were at full spped when I want.

A bit like hot water on demand!

Does that make sense?

Thanks for the reply

Jedi

O2 Access is definitely the best bet at the moment.

Am nervous of O2 as on the official O2 forums lotsa people having severe peak hours issues?

Does this tally with others expereinces here?

Ta

Jedi

There isn't any reasonable alternative ISP unless you can bound your monthly usage. O2 used to have a get out of jail free card within the first 30-50 days, perhaps they still have.

OK I will look into that.

Does anyone know the contention ratio?

I know that Pipex are offering £17 at 20:1 on a business tarrif, but | guess you are all gonna scare me off that one.

I feel stuck.

Thanks for everything

Jedi

I thought contention ratios were deprecated. Have a look at the Pipex forum. If you really feel stuck look at a decent ISP such as NewNet and sign up for a month or so to get a proper idea of your regular downloads. I still think O2 is the way to go though.

There are no such things as fixed contention ratios on BT Wholesale products such as ADSL Max. Any ISP advertising them is either out of date or referring to ratios internal to their own servers/interfaces. If internal, then that might explain a lot as I would think (subject to contradiction) that they would be applied after the traffic through the BT (higher?) contention reaches the ISP and at peak times you would therefore need to multiply them together.

The high volume of complaints about slow-downs and latency issues on O2 LLU and O2 Access ceased on 19 December if you care to look in more detail. That was around the time O2/Be said they would be upgrading several parts of the network. I have seen one problem since - today! - and as yet no cause has been found, but it seems likely it is an individual issue such as a faulty connection at the exchange or line problem.

The money-back guarantee on O2 has been confirmed today to remain at 30 days. You can also at the moment (subject to clearing your cookies and such) get £70 cash-back by signing up through Quidco. If it is your first transaction through them in the year they deduct £5 of that for themselves.

Yep,

I'm going further back in the forums and seeing the O2 troubles clear up.

One last final question (I promise!)

Virgin have the land line phone bundled in with the adsl. Do you know of any easy out options to get back with BT or another provider thats pain and stress and hopefully cash free?

Cheers for everything, I really aprreciate the advice, it's a minefield out there and I dont wanna jump from the frying pan...

Many, many thanks again, this sites a great resource.

Jedi

I don't know if the Virgin deal is what is called SMPF where the phone line is still with BT Wholesale but you pay rental and calls to Virgin, or FPMF where your phone line actually gets connected into a Virgin phone system. (That's Shared or Full Metallic Path facility).

Examples of the first are Plusnet and Madasfish. Examples of the second are TalkTalk and at least some of the Tiscali connections.

If it is the second type you need to get a Return to Donor actioned to get it back to BT Retail - I think you do that through BT. If it is the first it would depend on whether or not Virgin would let you have another ISP sharing the line - I doubt it. I must admit I'm a little out of my depth on this one.

Your line at the moment will be connected to a Virgin DSLAM, whatever the position regarding the phone service. With O2 Access it will be connected to a BT Wholesale DSLAM. (When you are on broadband your line is connected to the broadband equipment and the phone aspect of it is then connected from the DSLAM to the phone service supplier. Whether BT Wholesale let other phone suppliers connect to their DSLAM I don't know).

I suggest if no-one with more knowledge than me comes in with answers to this bit fairly soon that you open a thread in general Broadband Chatter on just this question. Or to save time, do that now and then post a link to it as a reply to this post asking anyone here to reply there on this subject - so all the answers are together and people don't waste their time in one thread telling you what someone else has already said in the other . There is nothing more annoying.