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jaycee · 03-07-2008, 06:55

As I keep saying, ADSL is a rotten hack. Unshielded untwisted copper pair (aluminium in some cases!) was not designed to carry high frequency, high bandwidth signals. It's a miracle it works at all. So at least BT/ADSL ISP's have some justifiable reason for the Up To speeds. It is still not right that they do not make this clear in advertising though!

Virgin however, have NO EXCUSE. The HFC/Fiber network *was* designed for high bandwidth. Virgin's problem is lack of capacity at UBR's and GSR's due to lack of investment in the network. Rather than invest this money, Virgin have figured out that they can put "Up to" and add usage caps, because this is what ADSL is doing and there is no other alternative. What's most annoying is that unlike BT, who have to invest in 21CN, completely new tech, Virgin do not as the existing fiber and HFC network is capable of plenty of bandwidth! They don't even have to upgrade to DOCSIS 3.0 yet as 1.1 is capable of running all exisitng services except for the proposed 50Mbit one.

Be dont have usage limits in place, but I can't help feel they will have to add them at some point as their customer base grows - it will either be that or increase the price, which would make people leave. Unfortunately, transit costs money per gigabyte.

03-07-2008, 06:55	#30
jaycee Inactive Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 304	Re: Virgin rapped on broadband speeds As I keep saying, ADSL is a rotten hack. Unshielded untwisted copper pair (aluminium in some cases!) was not designed to carry high frequency, high bandwidth signals. It's a miracle it works at all. So at least BT/ADSL ISP's have some justifiable reason for the Up To speeds. It is still not right that they do not make this clear in advertising though! Virgin however, have NO EXCUSE. The HFC/Fiber network was designed for high bandwidth. Virgin's problem is lack of capacity at UBR's and GSR's due to lack of investment in the network. Rather than invest this money, Virgin have figured out that they can put "Up to" and add usage caps, because this is what ADSL is doing and there is no other alternative. What's most annoying is that unlike BT, who have to invest in 21CN, completely new tech, Virgin do not as the existing fiber and HFC network is capable of plenty of bandwidth! They don't even have to upgrade to DOCSIS 3.0 yet as 1.1 is capable of running all exisitng services except for the proposed 50Mbit one. Be dont have usage limits in place, but I can't help feel they will have to add them at some point as their customer base grows - it will either be that or increase the price, which would make people leave. Unfortunately, transit costs money per gigabyte.