OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8171074.stm

Broadband users are not getting the speeds they are paying for, according to the largest survey of its kind ever undertaken by telecoms regulator Ofcom

The report also ranked the average speeds of nine major UK ISPs, with Virgin Media - which primarily operates in urban areas and uses high speed cable networks - coming out on top

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

I think they were going to always be top irrelevent of the 50 meg. Over the next few years though they will not be having it all their own way and my town is gonna be one of the first woohoo ;)

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

my cable broadband has always been perfect! Except for STM! :@

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

Never had mine drop from it's 10Mb even in the evening..

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

Never had to complain, always solid connection. I cope with the STM when I deserve it.
Glad Virgin Media is top, but you know it could be better.. Keep hinting for higher upload ;)

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

Nothing new there.

No other ISP is able to touch VM, as they all use the same network for their final leg.

Their speeds will only improve if they take advantage of the various dark fibre suppliers that are now cabling up certain areas, or if they can hop onto the BT FTTC program.

But even then coverage will be even more sporadic than it is now.

VM will continue to be ahead of the game for some time yet.

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

Due to the nature of Virgi network if they keep the areas upgraded they can keep in front of the competion, as for the DOCSIS 3.0 roll out this is going to help areas been overloaded but not for ever just a short term fix.

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

That's a big "if". Even assuming they do upgrade the network, they seem to have no qualms about getting as many people as possible on it, which would reduce the speeds to pre-upgrade speeds (or below).

As someone once said in their sig on this forum a properly maintained cable network can provide the best broadband. Trouble is, they do need to do that (and VM are actively upgrading the network) and they need to avoid overselling capacity (sadly, there is some evidence that VM are overselling capacity in some areas).

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

Thats something that all ISP's are guilty of not just VM, I was merely suggesting IF they upgrade the capacity in the network then there speeds are going to be top of any leader board.

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

I've always been quite happy with my connection from Virgin, will be upgrading to 50Mb in September when the new price plans come into effect.

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

no complaints from me.;)

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

More amusing BenMcr pointing this out and emphasising the positive VM bits ;)

Not at all surprising VM came out on top given the network advantage, highlights the appauling state of real competition rather than this fantasy competition that Ofcom consider the UK to have with several operators reselling the same thing.

Overall usual nonsense from Ofcom - http://eurotelcoblog.blogspot.com/20...r-trabant.html

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

There's an irony in there somewhere. The past 9 months I've been lucky to get 2Mb from my 20Mb connection and there are others who have had this problem for years due to oversubscription.

Ofcom wouldn't do their job and force VM to supply the service they were contractually obligated to provide, but they seem to have no problem singing their praises.

After 9 months of taking this through CICAS (the Ofcom representative) it is finally fixed for me and I now get the service I pay for but this survey really rubs salt in to the wounds.

VM shouldn't be too quick to pat themselves on the back.

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

I cant pat VM on the back enough!

My service for the last 7 or so years has been flawless!

Well Done VM :)

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

Well i pay for 20 mb but a luckly to get over 10. However, i am using a wireless router which maybe why the speed is significantly lower.

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

Where i used to live i had problems with over subscription which for over a month denied was their problem saying my pc was to blame for poor speeds. They finally admitted to it and took 7 months to get the upgrades on the UBR done.

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

Oh, I am not knocking VM exclusively there. That is a trait of a lot of ISPs..


I do believe, however, that Virgin deserve some criticism for the fact that the average 20 meg user gets just over half what they pay for though. If you bought (say) a car that was capable of 100 mph (assume for the sake of argument that you have enough private land you can drive on, so speed limits do not apply) and some of the time it wouldn't go over 60, you'd be within your rights to take it back and demand a refund/replacement.

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

But again - as other ISPs have been pointing out because of their issues, the survey was done before technical changes.

In Virgin's case this is before they started moving XL customers across to the DOCSIS 3.0 network.

Not defending any speed issues in the past, but the overall speed should increase once that work is complete for all customers (I hope)

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

One of the BBC's analysts said that Virgin was the fastest of the larger companies. And that there were small ISP's who were able to provide faster broadband! I know this is possible for business broadband but who does this in the residential realm?

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

Virgin are currently the fastest broadband supplier (based purely on the speeds advertised) who can provide that service nationally.


There are a couple of companies who can provide faster than 50 meg connections, but these are only launching in individual areas.


The only one I can think of (I forget it's name) is currently installing fibre for it's network in Bournemouth and surrounding areas. I don't think they are anywhere near a full launch, and I don't know what speeds their clients will offer (AFAIK they are a wholesale ISP, so you would need to buy access from a reseller).

Even assuming they don't have trouble installing their network in Bournemouth it will be several years before they can even offer their service in major cities, let alone nationally.

If you are looking for alternate ISPs, a good site to check is http://www.samknows.com

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

Thanks i'll take a look!

Re: OFCOM report: Virgin Media is the fastest ISP in the UK
 

There's a few knocking about who cover very, very small areas. These are not featured on Samknows. Virgin are the quickest ISP with any real availability. BT operate the rest of the infrastructure pretty much and suck in a huge way, what can you say?