BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Most of these figures have to be questioned to a certain extent as one Sky subsidises a lot of its broadband customers and target the cheap end of the Broadband market secondly BT has always had a long term built in advantage with its copper wire networks as many of its customers have always had a BT phone line and thus are never inclined to change their phone line and thirdly Virgin targets the quality high end of the broadband market and will never get as many new customers as BT and Sky.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Virginmedia subsides its broadband massively as well, 50Mb has a "official" list price of £45 but its subsidised for phone and TV customers to as low as £25.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

But in the end their broadband is far superior to anything the others will ever offer and remember to get better broadband you have to pay a bit more compared to the awful crap that most of the others churn out with their exaggerated pretend speeds and poorer copper wire networks.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

VIRGINMEDIA is a HFC netork, Hybrid,Fibre,Coaxal copper....

So its copper to your home, sometime the length of VM copper is long than someone living near there BT exchange.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Sheesh, not this again.

VM's broadband is not superior to anything, it's only strong point is headline download speeds and it makes too many sacrifices elsewhere to achieve it. VM fails on pretty much every other metric outside of download speeds, and most especially on low-end value.

Hell now there's competitiors that come close to VM for download speeds they don't even have that anymore.

And yes, VM's network is also just as much copper as BT FTTC and marginally less than standard ADSL.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Because BT has vast areas where they are the only ISP available esp. rural areas.

Sky subsidise their broadband heavily to get people to buy their tv service.

---------- Post added at 11:51 ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 ----------

http://shop.virginmedia.com/broadband/up-to-50mb.html

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2011/07/6.png

£35 a month as an entirely stand alone product with no subsidisation.

Not 45.

---------- Post added at 11:53 ---------- Previous post was at 11:51 ----------

Rarely. They tend to have the street cabs laid out so people are no longer then 150 meters away from a cab. And when thats the case they lay even thicker cables to the persons house (such as my case) even the standard RJ6 cables that they lay are multiple times thicker and better shielded then a phone line.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Actually Sky Broadband and Talk have been profitable since this quarter of last year.

---------- Post added at 14:31 ---------- Previous post was at 14:30 ----------

There isn't fibre to every cabinet, in fact there isn't fibre to most of them. VM's network is FTTN, Fibre To The Node.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Virgin broadband is superior to anything else available where i live! as ADSL can offer speeds of only 1.5mb maximum through a BT line,so i have to disagree with you there vms broadband gives me a rock solid near 10mb .;)

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

And that ADSL line would probably be better in every other way aside from download speed. You've not disagreed with anything...

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

By the way how would that be better as i often stream content but would not be able to with 1.5mb as it would keep buffering,even BT admit this.?

You said VM broadband is not superior in your posting clearly that is not the case with me, it is vastly superior to ADSL in my area now stop digging.;)

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

As I was informed by BENMCR the 50Mb is listed at £45 even my bill shows.

Your main services (Provided by Virgin Media Ltd or Virgin Media Payments Ltd) £35.00

XXL 50Mb Broadband
09 August - 08 September £45.00

Broadband XXL Discount
09 August - 08 September -£10.00

So the list price is £45.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Nope, still wrong. Thats just because of the way virgins billing system works, when 50 mb was first introduced it was £45, but its now £35. no discounts. that's just how much it costs now.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Actually it was £52 when first introduced. Somewhere along the line £7 was lopped off the price. There are probably some people still paying £45 for it in fact.

Anyway £35 for new customers now as a standalone product.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

And anyone who is currently paying £45 for stand alone and is out of 12 month contract can ring up and get the £35 rate for 12 months - no quibbles.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Sky certainly offer standalone broadband cheaper as evening and weekend phone calls, line rental and 20mb broadband is £22.50 in comparison to £21 for 10mb broadband on its todd.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Up to 20mb :D...i get 12mb

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

I treat VM 10MB and Sky 20MB as equals.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

I've been through this many times. Latency, jitter, packet loss, stability, upstream ratios, are all factors in which VM are worse. This is based on national average figures, not just you. The world of broadband does not revolve around you.

Streaming isn't the only thing people do on the internet.

Ignorant single-minded folk like you are the reason companies get away with selling this one-horse crap as "ultimate fibre optic broadband" when it's nothing of the sort.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

So we are all Ignorant single minded folk on here are we.:rolleyes:

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Nope just the ones who ignore the evidence and say "It's fine for me, so it's fine for everyone".

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

BT and SKY are really leading the way with reliable, useable ,stable broadband. Also the ADSL services the 2 companys offer can actually handle xboxlive,VoIP,Youtube in HD.


The figures say it all, Sky added 174'000 broadband customers. Who was it this site saying Sky's figures will probably be as bad as Virgnmedias?

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

It was Bllys.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Have you honestly just joined this forum to talk about how amazing your experience with sky was.


If it was so great then why did you leave them and come to virgin. :dozey:

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

So long as they're aware of it of course. That's why the price is still £45 though, same as most other grandfathered prices, can make a few £ from people who don't realise prices have been dropped.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Thank you for being so rude are you always calling people ignorant on forums or were you just having a bad hair day indeed the world of broadband does not revolve around me! but i can only give you my expierience of vms broadband v what other products are available to me others may tell a different story ,:D;)

I am the customer and seeing as i am paying the bill and BT cannot offer me the speeds i want then i am staisfied and am certainly not ignorant,although its true to say i am not really technically minded enough to go into packet loss,jitter ect, ect, but certainly i find it very stable thanks pal.:mad:

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Thank you for being so ignorant and single minded :) I'm not always calling people ignorant, only when they are ignorant.

I don't really care what bill you're paying. In case you don't get the idea already, I don't care about your experience at all. Your experience has no bearing on everyone elses. We already have precise national statistics to go on that give a meaningful picture of everyone's experiences and what any person is likely to get. Given that you don't seem to understand any basic performance metrics outside of "OMG MY DOWNLOAD SPEED IS FASTER" your experience is completely subjective and is utterly meaningless.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Thank you and a good day to you,well seeing as i am a customer and am satisfied with vms broadband without arguing with you all day thats what matters most to me.

And given the fact with 1.5 mb i would have trouble streaming content which is my thing thats all i am worried about really, wether that makes me any more ignorant then a rude poster (like yourself ) is a moot point,latency,or ping does not really come into it now if i was a gamer it might well do.:)

---------- Post added at 12:50 ---------- Previous post was at 12:49 ----------

Sorry i am trying to Russ although its tough going.:)

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Half the reason why i left virgin broadband...it wasn't doing my gaming any good.

But if your a heavy downloader, i can see the attraction...I'm fairly light user

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

I agree there have been lots of reports about gaming problems so i can see your point of view on that.

Not really a heavy downloader but i do stream content such as you tube a lot,and also stream programmes over the net and VM BB is fine for that,but even if i was a gamer the 1.5 mb BB i could get over a ADSL line might not work very well i think BT are due to roll out infinity in my area next year hopefully then i might have more choice colin.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

My boss would almost kill for the service we get from VM. There again he is 3 miles from the nearest exchange and has no choice but BT (or any service which uses a BT line). Streaming being the major problem (a one hour program took over 4 hours in the middle of the night).

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

I'm posting this off my 3G phone as suprise suprise the networks down again in my area thats the third time in the last 6 weeks , throw in the contention which was fixed a week or two back. VM fibre optic has been great but as of late its been a nightmare , hopefully the fixtime I've been given is tonight so we'll see. The future could be a stable 8-10mb line with Sky or another isp if this continues.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Not having much luck muppetman,i can honestly say mine has never gone down in the three and a half years i have had it,which is just as well considering the alternatives i could switch too,but as i have said already infinity is due in my area in the future to give me a real choice for the first time.:)

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

To be honest mine was ok , but the last month or two have been awful , my 30mb has had F grading from pingtest.com and dialup slow at some points , I'm not technically minded when it comes to BB networks however something has vastly deteriorated .

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Could the prblem be the wireless router? i wonder i am on 10mb so still have a modem,but correct me if i am wrong has there not been a problem with the wireless routers.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

I must admit since using the superhub its been fine , and the last two faults I've had were contention which the fix date resolved and today which I was told the network was down in my area and should be fixed later tonight.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Not ideal muppetman but hopefully bytonight you wil be up and running again,virgin are usually ok at fixing network problems when they say they will in my expierience, lets hope thats the case here.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Yeah thanks for that mate , it's been fixed an all seems fine again.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

Saw a Bt infinity yesterday night claiming Unbeatable speeds?

Since when did Infinity offer up to 100mbit download speeds?

My definition of unbeatable speeds is they have the fastest broadband available in the UK..

I'm interested to know what their definition is.

BSKYB are not leading anything in my mind! £17 for 3Mbit and 0.5mbit when throttled is an absolute con!

Sky connect is by far one of the country's worst broadband packages and worst value for money offering terrible speeds and crappy that your lucky to get a signal from half a foot away. It's near impossible to even browse after 5pm so its almost part time broadband.

I cannot comment on their other packages as I wouldn't take another risk. with them.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

BT Infinity may well offer the best speeds in some areas where there is no direct competition from cable, so the marketing is technically correct.

Also, The Sky product may be bad in your area but thats not the same everywhere else. I can pull 20Mbps quite easily on my ADSL2+ connection.

Also... Sky Connect - No arguments there! ;)

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

The ad isn't referring to download speed, it mentions sharing photos and videos at unbeatable speeds so is referring to its upload speed.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

VM's throttling is worse than Sky.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

i never listen to these figures i remember a few years ago BT getting pulled up on an ad they produced with figures on how many new customers they had gained in a certain ammount of time. The reason they were pulled up was they had lost more people in that same ammount of time than they had actually gained.

Re: BT and BSkyB lead broadband battle
 

I thought BT Infinity was only available in areas where there was direct competition from cable?