Advice on Package Change from 20Meg to 50Meg

[bym007]

Hi,

I currently have a Virgin package with following:

. 20 Meg Broadband
. M (Basic) Telephone Line
. M (Basic) TV Package with V+ box

I do not use the Virgin telephone. I have a Internet based Vonage telephone line, which I use all the time, since my Vonage line provides free all-day UK as well as European calls, apart from cheaper rates on other Int'l destinations that we call.

I am currently paying £36 for these svcs after some discount on our account.

Since I do not use my Virgin telephone line, and I have a fairly heavy usage for Internet, I was wondering if I could switch to 50Meg BB package and cancel the landline (I am out of minimum term now).

A. Would I be able to get something similar price wise to what I am currently paying ?
B. What I understand is that there is no traffic management on 50Meg connection (yet ). Is this still correct?

Would you folks advice me on this kindly? Regards

 

[Deadringers]

hey mate,

ok so your first question about price...I have no idea! think it will still be cheaper to keep all three as that is the way Virgin do it...but also do remember that there is a £20 activation charge for the 50meg.

the 2nd question:
that is correct! no traffic management what so ever (yet) but of course you pay to have this and the 50 meg is more expensive

take a look here:
Virgin Media Broadband:Traffic management - & Traffic management

if you do not need the 50meg (and i would of thought 20meg would be enough for VOIP) then maybe could save your self a few quid...although it is nice maxing out that 50meg connection

hope that helps.

 

[bym007]

ok so your first question about price...I have no idea! think it will still be cheaper to keep all three as that is the way Virgin do it...but also do remember that there is a £20 activation charge for the 50meg.

Umm, I did not know about the £20 activation charge, so thanks for the heads up!

Think I should call them up and see what they will offer me!

if you do not need the 50meg (and i would of thought 20meg would be enough for VOIP) then maybe could save your self a few quid...although it is nice maxing out that 50meg connection

Its not about VOIP that I am looking to upgrade. I have monitored Vonage, and it uses about 65kbps upstream and downstream during a call. If I have more bandwidth, it will offer even better call quality, but I am satisfied at the moment.

Extra bandwidth would be nice for maxing out with downloads!

 

[bym007]

Just came off the phone with Virgin Media, and apparently to upgrade to 50Meg economically, I will need to retain my telephone line (or else start paying for a TV package, which I dont watch a lot), and pay £8 a month extra.

In addition to this, there is a setup fee of £55, which will be added to my next month's bill.

Have people managed to get any better than this ? Any tips on haggling to try and bring it down?

 

[bym007]

Ok I called them again and spoke to a "more" reasonable bloke, who offered me to get rid of my telephone line, which I did not use anyway, and upgraded my BB to 50Meg.

My bill has been increased by £1 a month and only £20 activation fee added to next month's bill. Overall very happy with the result

Roll on 2nd July (installation date).

----
While I am on it, is there anything you would advise me to get from the installer when he is around ? Or just a quick swap would be enough ? Thought I would ask now itself.

 

[Deadringers]

my guy had a 20m Ethernet cable on him and just gave it to me, could ask if yours has any of those?


also what router are you getting with this?

remember for wireless you will need N on both ends to get the most out of your BB.

 

[bym007]

my guy had a 20m Ethernet cable on him and just gave it to me, could ask if yours has any of those?


also what router are you getting with this?

remember for wireless you will need N on both ends to get the most out of your BB.

I did not check/ask for a wireless router (thinking that it is part of the packet that comes without asking). Should I call them back today/tmrw asking for the 'N router and 'N usb card?

I have a draytek vigor 2910 vg router at present. I understand I will not be able to note a lot of difference using my current B/G band router, but is the provided hardware any good?

 

[shaun43uk]

last year I phoned the upgrades dept and didnt get a lot of help so I called the retentions to cancel, when the guy asked me me why I wanted to cancel I went along the lines of, when I download dvd movies I was fed up with getting traffic managed and my speed capped, I was on BB 20mb and the guy came back with how about we upgrade you to the BB XXL 50mb service with free install, free router and free wireless dongle and all I pay is an extra £5.00 a month.

When I called retentions I didnt really want to cancel, the plan was to get upraded and make them think it was their idea

my contract is now up, Im wondering what I can get out of them this year

 

[Deadringers]

I did not check/ask for a wireless router (thinking that it is part of the packet that comes without asking). Should I call them back today/tmrw asking for the 'N router and 'N usb card?

I have a draytek vigor 2910 vg router at present. I understand I will not be able to note a lot of difference using my current B/G band router, but is the provided hardware any good?

yes the provided hardware is good as long as you set it up correctly. just make sure you use that little program called inSSIDer (i believe this is the right spelling)
and all should be well!

 

[bym007]

yes the provided hardware is good as long as you set it up correctly. just make sure you use that little program called inSSIDer (i believe this is the right spelling)
and all should be well!

I have had a look at inSSIDer and FWIW, it is a neat little utility. Could you kindly tell me what are the model #s of the provided 'N router and USB card so I can look up their specs.

 

[Deadringers]

I have had a look at inSSIDer and FWIW, it is a neat little utility. Could you kindly tell me what are the model #s of the provided 'N router and USB card so I can look up their specs.

the D-link one is the 615-D2 model

and they sometimes provide a netgear one...which i am unsure of the name but is a good wireless N router.

 

[bym007]

the D-link one is the 615-D2 model

and they sometimes provide a netgear one...which i am unsure of the name but is a good wireless N router.

So which one is better of the two or are they both similar ? How about the USB card ?

 

[Deadringers]

personally i would say the netgear router is the better one. just feels better made and the Dlink is a small light box with not much to it.

 

[bym007]

Right, the engineer came and gone, and all I am left with is the 50Meg

First impressions, very fast!
Second impressions, the D-Link router I was provided looks cheapo! but the cable modem looks beautiful.

However, I plugged my old router back in, and over ethernet, I still cant reach more than 25Meg, which is a shame, and as soon as I connect directly via cable modem or via ethernet on the new D-Link, it goes back up!

So, I need to make up my mind about the router. My old router is a Draytek Vigor 2910VG, which is a recent business grade product, but I am not sure, why it is not providing me better speeds over ethernet.

Wireless n dongle is sat there at the moment untouched!

 

[bym007]

So the speed test results:

And ping test shamefully!

 

[bym007]

Latest Speedtest done a few minutes back!

I am using the Virgin VGN300 (sp?) cable modem connected to my Buffalo WHR-G125 with a Tomato ver1.28 custom firmware.

 

[Deadringers]

wow very nice mate, most i have ever got is 50 something meg...although was over wireless

 

[Deadringers]

Right, the engineer came and gone, and all I am left with is the 50Meg

First impressions, very fast!
Second impressions, the D-Link router I was provided looks cheapo! but the cable modem looks beautiful.

Yes I have to agree with you there, the router is not the best looking thing in the world however the modem is beautiful...in a way!

 

[bym007]

Yes I have to agree with you there, the router is not the best looking thing in the world however the modem is beautiful...in a way!

Yeah the modem is beautiful, even my other half likes it!

I have gone back to my old-ish Buffalo WHR-G125, which has a good throughput and excellent feature set and super stable, and plus, it looks less cheapo!

Might keep the D-Link (now with DD-WRT ffirmware) in its box as a spare!

 

[harrisuk]

I am in the same boat with Virgin, 20 meg bb, m phone (which I dont use) and basic tv.

I pay £33 a month. They wont remove the phone as they say it would end up costing me more.

I was looking at going to 50mb BB, XL TV, M phone (as they wont remove or not economical) and the full sky sports package.

The best they will do is £83.49 a month with a free router + £69 for the V+ box - spoke to 4 operators no negotiation., leave go to sky whatever.

This is basically the online price without the new customer discount (£50 for 2 months = £100) and possible cashback (£65) - so no existing customer discount.

I would say XXL BB for £36 a month is a bargain !

Only thing I am thinking now alot of people seem to be saying they get alot of drop out in online games and stability issues with 50 meg have to reset the router all the time. Is this the case ? If so I will just stick with the 20meg

 

[Deadringers]

the virgin modem never has had to be re-set for me mate so its all good there!

the only thing is my netgear router that virgin supplied me with.

it has to be restarted about once every 2-4 days which is annoying.

but getting a new one soon so should be sweet

 

[bym007]

the virgin modem never has had to be re-set for me mate so its all good there!

the only thing is my netgear router that virgin supplied me with.

it has to be restarted about once every 2-4 days which is annoying.

but getting a new one soon so should be sweet

You could try updating it with a DD-WRT firmware, and I have read that it solves most of the issues, and defintiely brings some extra options to the table.

Worth a try in my humble opinion, before you get a new router.

 

[Deadringers]

thanks mate

il give it a try!