Virgin availability in my area
 

Hi guys

Please move this thread if it has been created in the wrong section, though I thought that this section would be most appropriate.

Firstly I will explain my situation:

I have recently moved house. I was in a Virgin cable 'catchment' area so to speak. At my new address I am not. At the moment I am forced to use ADSL services from another provider. The speeds are awful, though it is no fault of the ISP. The maximum speed I can get is 1.5mbps, but I find that the connection runs at around 0.1mbps or less. Needless to say it has completely changed the way I use my computer, coming from a rock solid 10mbps cable connection!

I decided to do some checks...

I found that at my old address, I was connected to the exchange SSHWK (Hardwicke, Gloucestershire) which provides approximately 7300 end points. I was approximately 1.6km from the exchange.

At my new address, I am connected to the exchange SSGLR (Gloucester, Gloucestershire) which provides approximately 40000 end points. I am approximately 4.3km from the exchange.

The thing is, I am still 1.6km from the SSHWK exchange at my new address, but on the 'other side' so to speak. (Update: I am 1.7km from my old address)

I guess my question is this: who or what decides which exchange an area will be provided to, and do residents in my area have the choice or the power to change this? FYI: I am in a new development of houses (approx. 4 years old) with around 100 new properties being built on the other side of the estate, so it's not like I am in a very rural area. In this day and age you would expect that an area like this has great Internet connectivity. All other services in our area are spot on! Haha.

Sorry if this sounded like a bitch or whine, as it is not meant to come across that way. I just want to know why things are the way they are and if there is any way to change it.

Many thanks in advance.

Aaron.

Update: all distances quoted are as the crow flies.

Re: Virgin availability in my area
 

What exhange you are connected to depends on the layout of the wiring buried in the streets. Phone and cable wires will eminate from an exchange in an increasing maze of branches and twigs from a few trunks. There are then separate cables that link between each exchange.

Ultimately which exchange your property connects to will have been determined in years gone by by the network planners who had regard to echange capacities, local constraints for ducting routes (perhaps there were rivers, rail lins, main roads), local authority and postal boundaries, and even for cable companies the geographical franchise areas they were awarded.

Re: Virgin availability in my area
 

I guess that's pretty much the answer I was expecting.

Considering the major geographical constraints the providers are up against, it sounds like there is very little one person can do to change anything.

Never mind :)

Re: Virgin availability in my area
 

You could take a look here :

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/62...be-we-can.html

Re: Virgin availability in my area
 

Thank you vmfriend.