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This week, Virgin Media announced that it would be launching its first broadband tier for online gamers. Essentially, it is the top tier broadband package with 200MB/s download speeds, but with an extra fiver tacked on to the price for 20MB/s upload instead of the usual 12MB/s upload speed.
As you might imagine, this could be useful to streamers or YouTubers who need faster upload speeds to either keep their streams running smooth, or get videos on to the web faster.
The package is officially called the ‘VIVID 200 Gamer', and it comes in at £45.25 per month, so it's certainly not cheap. That price excludes a landline, there is also a £10 activation fee for new customers.
In reality, the extra upload speed would be useful to anyone who needed to push large files onto the web, like photographers or video editors with cloud storage.
KitGuru Says: The whole package doesn't really seem like that great of a deal but if you really need that extra bit of upload speed, then it might be worth the extra money per month. Are any of you guys currently on Virgin Media? Would you consider the ‘boss-mode level' package?
DONT! The quality is horrible. Speeds are amazing, but the actual line quality is awful. Ping hops of +/- 50ms. I would expect 19-22 constant on most games, but getting hops up to in excess of 120ms is stupid, I’ve had engineers and their networking team looking into it and according to their forums, I’m not the only one. They’re over subscribed and need to sort out their infrastructure instead of using 10 year old Junipers to do the work.
As I speak to you now, a server I used to get 19ms on Sky with, I;m now sitting at 35ms with a (give or take) +/- of 70ms
Never had issues gaming, I had an issue with my line being over used so downloading while gaming would mean ridiculous pings but they eventually fixed it and I received a partial refund for every month between calling about the issue and it being fixed. Elsewhere, I’ve never had an issue with Virgin. Although currently even at what is considered a peak time I’m at 15ms ping with EE (OpenReach) and <10 at off-peak. But for much lower download at the same cost. Shame that BT OpenReach won't offer free upgrades like Virgin though, the lines round me seem pretty quiet and I've never been throttled at any time.
Their upload cap is what ruins this, even on my 12Mbps upload line I constantly reach the cap and get throttled.
Seems to me you pay extra for a short upload burst after which you get throttled by 50%.
Go with their business 300mbps (it’s not actually business, anyome can have it) which gives 300mbps down and 20mbps up. I usually get 312mbps down and 18mbps up. Pretty sure it’s the same price.
Price right now is £45.00 non-paper bills … going up £2.99 in novemeber – prices don’t seem right.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From 1st November, your bill will be going up by £2.99 a month
Dear Brigham,
We know when prices go up it’s never welcome news. That’s why we’ve been busy making your Virgin Media experience bigger and better than ever before. Take a look below to see how much more you can enjoy.
its £80 a month but you are right, better contention ratio
“…and it comes in at £45.25 per month, so it’s certainly not cheap.”
Are you f@#king kidding me?! I pay that for my 10MB/s line here in shitty South Africa. Don’t you DARE say that shit isn’t cheap. I will slap a spoiled bitch.
But I get XXL TV + broadband for £90 a month – it can’t be almost all towards broadband surely!
10MB/s or 200MB/s, £45/m is not cheap
they made it clear there is no cap on this package nor the 300Mbps one. i have the 300Mb one myself.
What’s more important to gamers, 20MB/S upload speeds or addressing the ridiculous amount of latency with the super hub 3?
When a wired ping to router takes as long as 60ms at times (never less than 3ms) then online gaming is an absolute joke.
Yo be honest if you were taking this seriously then you wouldn’t be using the superhub as your router. You would only be using it in modem modem and using a separate high end router. I myself use a nighthawk router with ddwrt installed on it
It’s not £80 a month. It’s 12.99 on top of whatever package you already have providing it includes 200mb already
WHAT ??!! 1.6Gbps down / 160Mbps up for ~45 pounds is not cheap?! So what you want – symmetrical 10 Gbps for free ??!!
TWO years ago, Virgin touted this as a FREE upgrade to those customers who were on their 152mb package, after 6mth those customers were informed their upgrade was being pushed back another 6mths, then same again 6mths later. I have recently been informed my FREE upgrade will be ready between April and July 2017. That is THREE years after I was supposed to receive the FREE upgrade, now we are being told we have to pay for it ??
Shouldn’t it be Mbps instead of MB/s. And Virgin are complete joke. Still sorting out half a year long T3 Timeout issue I am having and their SH2 cannot hold download speeds for extended period of time freezing. Had 3 of them swapped within half a year. Their technician came 3 times and all they could do was scratch their heads by repeating: We can’t do anything about it since service is working fine at the moment.
When it works it works great, but just constant disconnects. I don’t play online games anymore since that is a rage fest.
That’s some mighty strange logic there. I don’t think anyone expects it for free. Cheap is a relative term and requires some thought.
The question is, how much extra utility to you derive from this additional cost. It’s a lot to pay per month compared to cheaper services that will give gamers all the bandwidth they need. I am on Virgins bottom tier and have never had an issue with bandwidth. Films stream fine and I’ve had no probs gaming competitively.
It’s a bit like buying a drink for 50p, and then someone offering a slightly bigger drink for £1. No one wants it for free, but the latter is not “cheap” compared to the former. I guess if you are really thirsty you might be prepared to pay the extra money but cost conscious people might think, hmmm, no thanks.
I hope that helps.
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Yes, modem mode is great as long as your online gaming sessions last less than 30 minutes. Otherwise you get the port flapping issues instead.
VM are only ever interested in the big numbers which look good in adverts. Fixing the things which make the service actually perform well is at best an afterthought.
Free upgrades in 2015 so they can charge you later for it in 2016. I guess it’s a clever strategy. and also a huge dick move