2G : 2Gbps now officially available in HFC areas

[newapollo]

Ref https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/vir...he-first-time/ and https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.ph...x-network.html

Virgin Media O2 has expanded its Gig2 broadband service to 18 UK locations, making 2Gbps download speeds available over its hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) network for the first time. (This new tier is due to expand to the majority of its network in 2027)

Related upgrades to the company’s old cable network have so far already taken place for around 3 million UK homes, and with Virgin Media’s Gig2 services also available in full fibre areas, this means more than 10 million households can get access to the provider’s fastest broadband today (at least in terms of download performance).

Unlike XGS-PON networks, symmetrical speeds are not available on the DOCSIS network. The 2Gbps package via HFC (DOCSIS) only offers 100Mbps upload speeds.

Volt broadband speed boost benefits do not apply to Gig2.

Locations with 2Gbps capability include Newcastle, Bournemouth, Lancaster, Peterborough, Ipswich, Bath, Southend-on-Sea, York, Blackburn, Cambridge, Harrogate, Chelmsford, Manchester, Oxford, Preston and Portsmouth.

Gig2 services are available from £49.99 per month, increasing to £53.99 per month from April 2027 and £57.99 per month from April 2028.

[gunner45]

VM has 16.2m premises passed by its networks, which used to comprise 14.3m HFC and 1.9m FTTP (all RFoG). Then VM began to overbuild the whole HFC with fibre for XGS-PON in around March 2022 with an end-date of 2028. But by the end of 2025 a large number (10.5m) of HFC remained with only 5.7m FTTP (a mixture of XGS-PON and RFoG), and I don't see how that deadline of 2028 can possibly be met. And to make it worse, it was only around March 2025 that VM began to migrate its HFC customers to its own XGS-PON.

So, with the migration badly delayed it made even more sense to introduce the upgrade of 2Gbps on HFC as competitors are circling, especially as it's being done cheaply with no engineering required.

[Jimmy-J]

Gig2 services are available from £49.99 per month, increasing to £53.99 per month from April 2027 and £57.99 per month from April 2028.

NOTE: The 2Gbps package via HFC only offers 100Mbps upload speeds.

There's many other providers offering better than that for a lot cheaper. Mind you, it's finding one that's available in your area, that can be a bit of a problem.

[jem]

Originally Posted by Jimmy-J

There's many other providers offering better than that for a lot cheaper. Mind you, it's finding one that's available in your area, that can be a bit of a problem.

Indeed, it’s not so much as who offers the highest speed, it’s more a case of 'are they in your area'? I could get Community Fibre, which is offering a 5Gb/s symmetric connection for £49 per month, rising to £55 in April 2028. One caveat though, it’s a CGNAT connection but, I believe, you can get a (dynamic) public IP for an additional £4.

They supply a WiFi 7 router, but of course, you won’t get anywhere near that speed over WiFi. It does have two 10 Gbit/s ethernet ports, which is fine, as long as you have a device with 10Gig ports on it, which few people do. So this is 2.5 times faster, is symmetric, for slightly less money.

And this is all very good, but, unless they service your area, completely irrelevant.

[Pierre]

The up down ratio isn’t good though. 2G down 100Mb up.

No great for gamers.

[Jaymoss]

Originally Posted by Pierre

The up down ratio isn’t good though. 2G down 100Mb up.

No great for gamers.

how many gamers you got living there needing more than 100 meg upload?

I used to run Medal of honor spearhead servers on a fraction of that

[Carth]

MoH Spearhead, still miss the online fun I had in that . . and smiling now remembering the grenade trick with doors

[jem]

Originally Posted by Jaymoss

how many gamers you got living there needing more than 100 meg upload?

I used to run Medal of honor spearhead servers on a fraction of that

Contrary to what many believe (and the ISP advertising would suggest), raw upload and download speed are not that important (within reason) for gaming. What is important is latency, and the two are only vaguely connected.

Historically, gaming in VM’s HFC areas was generally regarded as ‘problematic’, in the now defunct VM Community forum, you would find, many, many posts from gamers complaining that although they pay for the highest speed, they lag in games, lose and sometimes just get ejected. It was high latency.

And this was not helped by the underlying technology used in HFC connections. Without going into details it was massively geared to download rather than upload, latency was a bit of an afterthought, it really depended on where you were and just how many customers there were in that area.

And I still maintain that the only real justification to have a 2 Gbit connection is so you can brag about having a 2 Gbit connection.

I have 1800 Mbps up, 1800 Mbps down, can I brag

Obviously its not with VM, and I certainly dont need it (my router and network are all only 1Gbps connections).
It was simply the same price at the time as 900/900 so I took it on the basis that one day I may upgrade the router, switch and network card in my PC to be 2.5Gbps.

The point being that like me, I'd imagine that not only do most people not need it, they dont even have the equipment to make use of it.

[jem]

Originally Posted by Paul

I have 1800 Mbps up, 1800 Mbps down, can I brag

Obviously its not with VM, and I certainly dont need it (my router and network are all only 1Gbps connections).
It was simply the same price at the time as 900/900 so I took it on the basis that one day I may upgrade the router, switch and network card in my PC to be 2.5Gbps.

The point being that like me, I'd imagine that not only do most people not need it, they dont even have the equipment to make use of it.

Yep you brag away mate!

Well if it’s the same price as 900/900, then why not? Nothing to lose.

But you make a good point, it’s all very well to have a theoretical internet speed of xyz, but if you don’t have the equipment or infrastructure to make use of it, then why?