Virgin 1Gb now available.

loyatemu · 20-08-2020 1:00am #1

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/virgin-makes-gigabit-internet-available-across-its-service-1.4334185

TBH I don't see the point of 1Gb for domestic users, 500Mb should be sufficient for 99.9% of subscribers (I downgraded to 250Mb and didn't notice any difference). But anyway, it's now (or shortly) available to VM subscribers.

ArthurG · 20-08-2020 8:14am

Can’t find any reference to it on their website.

TheQuietBeatle · 20-08-2020 8:17am

If working at home it's definitely useful.

lotas · 20-08-2020 8:21am

also mentioned on Silicon Republic: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/virgin-media-gigabit-broadband

no mention of it on their website yet, and their business class is still listed as limited to 400mb (even though i got upgraded to 500 last week...). Now to figure out when business customers get 1Gb... double upload bandwidth would be very welcome!

JDxtra · 20-08-2020 8:28am

TheQuietBeatle wrote: »

If working at home it's definitely useful.

How? A stable connection of 50 to 100mb is plenty even with kids at home streaming, gaming etc. I've 40+ active devices on my network and even at peak times it's only using 20Mb download.

Gigabit broadband is just a flashy headline.

colm_mcm · 20-08-2020 8:30am

It’s just Mickey waving to show that cable can match fibre speeds by competitors.

Mav11 · 20-08-2020 8:42am

JDxtra wrote: »

How? A stable connection of 50 to 100mb is plenty even with kids at home streaming, gaming etc. I've 40+ active devices on my network and even at peak times it's only using 20Mb download.

Gigabit broadband is just a flashy headline.

Quality and stability is far more important than headline speed.

lotas · 20-08-2020 9:19am

Mav11 wrote: »

Quality and stability is far more important than headline speed.

yea, quality and stability is high priority, but having to upload or download a 20GB VM, having 100Mb/s up and 1Gb/s down, vs having 100Mb/s down 10Mb/s means its going to take at least 10 times longer to download or upload something... And yes, in my line of business moving 20Gb vms around the place is somewhat normal... I agree, its not for everyone, but you also dont have to sign up for it either...

JDxtra · 20-08-2020 9:32am

Yes, you can be pretty sure most consumers will not need to upload 20Gb files too frequently!

But, home users will sign up for this package thinking it will help their home broadband. When in reality, their issues are more likely due to local wifi issues, device issues or capacity issues with their employers systems.

JDxtra · 20-08-2020 9:34am

It's listed on their web site now...

€60 a month / €85 a month after 6 months

https://www.virginmedia.ie/broadband/buy-a-broadband-package/

lotas · 20-08-2020 9:36am

yea, but more and more games are getting larger and larger... not a gamer myself, but heard that Microsoft Flight Simulator downloads 150Gb when it starts up first time, and that Call of Duty (i think) had 80Gb updates...

gibgodsman · 20-08-2020 9:37am

I love all the posts from people who have no idea about how internet works, 1GB is absolutely great for most people, good luck streaming 4K easily with a 100Mb connection.

You want to jump on the game streaming bandwagon with Stadia or Xbox Cloud Gaming? That 250Mb will struggle BAD.

If your using your internet to its fullest, steaming in 4K, downloading games, watching on multiple devices, 1GB is a huge benefit, those suggesting 100Mb on 40+ devices is a good idea, id love to see how bad your kids ping is in anything they play online

irishgeo · 20-08-2020 9:38am

JDxtra wrote: »

Yes, you can be pretty sure most consumers will not need to upload 20Gb files too frequently!

But, home users will sign up for this package thinking it will help their home broadband. When in reality, their issues are more likely due to local wifi issues, device issues or capacity issues with their employers systems.

or the **** modem they supply.

boars · 20-08-2020 9:44am

i have 350mbs,

My only issue with the 350 is that the Suberhub Router is a piece of cheap crap regarding the wifi (it cant handle more than 9/10 wireless devices). I went into the settings and put it into modem mode, connected my own €150 router from amazon and wifi is perfect.

Are they releasing a different router with the 1 gig broadband?

To be honest 350 is more than enough for my needs at this time however, there are only two of us in the house using it- however I will probably upgrade in about 5 years i'd say when baby gets older.

JDxtra · 20-08-2020 9:46am

gibgodsman wrote: »

I love all the posts from people who have no idea about how internet works, 1GB is absolutely great for most people, good luck streaming 4K easily with a 100Mb connection.

You want to jump on the game streaming bandwagon with Stadia or Xbox Cloud Gaming? That 250Mb will struggle BAD.

If your using your internet to its fullest, steaming in 4K, downloading games, watching on multiple devices, 1GB is a huge benefit, those suggesting 100Mb on 40+ devices is a good idea, id love to see how bad your kids ping is in anything they play online

Sorry, but you are mistaken. Netflix 4k uses 15Mb/s. Two Xbox gamers in the house, ping times are 10ms to 15ms (wired) and 15ms to 20ms (wifi). I use a wifi mesh, not the VM device which helps.

Multiple streaming devices (security cameras and servers), never a single issue.

Only plus for me switching to 1Gb would be faster upload speeds (100mb versus 24mb currently).

Wanderer78 · 20-08-2020 9:50am

colm_mcm wrote:

Itâ€™s just Mickey waving to show that cable can match fibre speeds by competitors.

I was informed by a virgin tech, that a large proportion of their network is actually fibre, including to the home, this true? Think we re on a 250 line, no need for 1gb, 250 is more than enough

Yggr of Asgard · 20-08-2020 9:54am

Does someone know if this is a different modem to the current hub?

JDxtra · 20-08-2020 9:55am

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

Does someone know if this is a different modem to the current hub?

Yes, it will be a new modem.

loyatemu · 20-08-2020 9:55am

we have customers with 100s of users on 1Gb connections and they never max the connection out, they don't even come close.

I'd be interested to know if anyone manages to download an Xbox or Steam game at > 500Mb/s.

Wanderer78 wrote: »

I was informed by a virgin tech, that a large proportion of their network is actually fibre, including to the home, this true? Think we re on a 250 line, no need for 1gb, 250 is more than enough

it's mostly hybrid fibre/cable (HFC) - fibre to a box somewhere in the area, coax cable into the house. The speed attainable over the coax bit is dependent on the version of DOCSIS running on their equipment and how they decide to dimension the network. VM may also be installing fibre to the home in new estates.

lotas · 20-08-2020 9:56am

Wanderer78 wrote: »

I was informed by a virgin tech, that a large proportion of their network is actually fibre, including to the home, this true?

the core network is Fiber. Depending on the area, the Fiber could end at the top of the road, or could run down the eves of the house and terminate outside your house. but from there on, its copper...

colm_mcm · 20-08-2020 9:57am

Wanderer78 wrote: »

I was informed by a virgin tech, that a large proportion of their network is actually fibre, including to the home, this true? Think we re on a 250 line, no need for 1gb, 250 is more than enough

A huge proportion of their network may be capable of having FTTH but as it stands they have HFC Coax from the node to the customers outlet box.

Maybe they’re retrofitting fibre but it isn’t plug and play for most customers I’d imagine.

Wanderer78 · 20-08-2020 10:00am

lotas wrote:

the core network is Fiber. Depending on the area, the Fiber could end at the top of the road, or could run down the eves of the house and terminate outside your house. but from there on, its copper...

Tech said it was fibre to my house, I'm not convinced though, but shur I ll worry about that in a couple of decades

Alun · 20-08-2020 10:01am

I'm still on the old 240 Mb service and for downloads that suits me fine, no need for anything higher, but a better upload speed would help with cloud backups certainly.

circadian · 20-08-2020 10:01am

loyatemu wrote: »

we have customers with 100s of users on 1Gb connections and they never max the connection out, they don't even come close.

I'd be interested to know if anyone manages to download an Xbox or Steam game at > 500Mb/s.

You'd need to have decent quality hardware to manage those download/write speeds. There's absolutely no chnce an Xbox or Ps4 would come close to utilising even 250 Meg connection. I remember downloading forza on PC and xbox (both wired connections.) and the xbox took hours longer.

I wouldn't be surprised if Steams CDN could handle that as long as there isn't a hight load on their end. The COD downloads are petty quick outside of massive updates when everyone's trying to download at the same time.

irishgeo · 20-08-2020 10:04am

boars wrote: »

i have 350mbs,

My only issue with the 350 is that the Suberhub Router is a piece of cheap crap regarding the wifi (it cant handle more than 9/10 wireless devices). I went into the settings and put it into modem mode, connected my own €150 router from amazon and wifi is perfect.

Are they releasing a different router with the 1 gig broadband?

To be honest 350 is more than enough for my needs at this time however, there are only two of us in the house using it- however I will probably upgrade in about 5 years i'd say when baby gets older.

What router you buy?

boars · 20-08-2020 10:09am

TP Link Archer C4000 (ac4000)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07T7NSSFH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I got it at a discount- currently €157.

Great router- 3 different bands (2x 5g, 1x 2.4g).

2x phones on one of the 5g
everything else on the other 5g
nothing on the 2.4g at the moment.

Much easier port forwarding settings and other custom options. Everything about it is better than the superhub 3.0. Better security, better parental settings, can create guest network. 5 stars, would recommend. took 10 minutes to setup.

Just to add- it doesn't matter how fast your internet speed is or how expensive your home router is- if the devices you are using aren't equipped with a decent internal network card or have bottlenecks at the cpu level you wont get faster internet speeds.