Problems with virgin broadband

[Ricky]

Firstly i'll say hello to everyone and congratulations on what looks like a great forum!

Anyways, i have a bit of a rant to get off my chest! I have been with virgin broadband for almost three years and and they have been the only broadband provider i have ever used. My connection started off as 512kbps which was pretty good, then was upgraded to 1Mbps which was also good. Then for some reason virgin upgraded everyone to 'up to 8Mbps' and things started to go wrong. This is what i currently have, and it is soooooo slow you wouldn't believe it! As i type this, according to the 'computer' icon on the taskbar , i am connected at 3.7 Mbps. However, earlier i ran a broadband speed test and i got - wait for it - 46 Kbps download, and 120 Kbps upload! That is pathetic! It is evident when i am web browsing - pages with pictures take ages to load (even pages of text), videos on youtube start and stop as they are downloading so slow!

My question is, if i change my provider will it be better or is it my phoneline or computer? I have recently reinstalled windows, so i think my computer is ok! Also if i change, what provider do you recommend? I want around 6Gb per month of reliable fast(ish) (faster than the dialup speed i currently have!) broadband. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.

Ricky.

[Admin]

Hi Ricky

Thanks for the positive comments on the forum

You do sound like you are having some speed issues at the moment, what I suggest you do first of all is contact Virgin and see if they can sort it out, I was asked a very similar question recently and I suggested contacting the ISP and it was sorted out in no time.

If you use our broadband speed test and include your postcode it will tell you what the maximum ADSL Max speed to your house should be capable of, it will also tell you if any of the ADSL2+ providers such as Be Broadband and O2 Broadband are available in your area.

If you do decide to look elsewhere then I'd suggest you look into the Be and O2 deals if they are available in your area, and if not Plusnet and Pipex do good deals with caps of just over what you are looking for for around the £15 a month mark.

Hope this helps

I wouldnt recommend pipex because i have exactly the same problem, i have had a poor service since I had been with them and the customer service is terrible. Out of all the companies I have read about Sky seems the better one at the moment