Virgin will be doubling my speed soon to 60Mb, but other than trying to get the internet on my telly (still failing but persevering), the lappy never goes above 54Mbps so am I governed by what the lappy will handle ? if not I'll downgrade back to 30 and save some money.

Yeah, you won't benefit from 60Mbps if you use Wireless G (54 Mbps).

54Mpbs is also a theoretical maximum, in reality you're probably only getting somewhere around 20Mbps. I used to only get around 16Mbps when my network was wireless G, and that was sat about 5 feet away from the router.

Personally, I'd take the 60Mb and upgrade your home network to wireless N. You can get Wireless N adapters for laptops.

I don't think you can downgrade, i think everyone on either 20 or 30 is being upgraded to 60 for free and they are getting rid of the 30 all together. That is at least how i understood it any way.

Personally, I'd take the 60Mb and upgrade your home network to wireless N. You can get Wireless N adapters for laptops.

The Virgin "super hub" runs as N, so it would only need to be adaptors. It "may" be possible to upgrade the laptop to an internal N adaptor, depending on make/model.

60 would come in handy for TV streaming, in this case "more is more"

Along with the doubling of the download there should be a doubling of upload speed. If you use any of the online backup services or file syncing services (Dropbox et al) it should be less painful. Still don't know why VM only give you upload at 1/10th the download speed - cloud services won't be much use to anyone if you can't get your data to them.

Supposedly VM are starting on our area this month - I won't hold my breath.

you lot should count yourselves lucky; I get ~ 5.6Mb combined

I don't think you can downgrade, i think everyone on either 20 or 30 is being upgraded to 60 for free and they are getting rid of the 30 all together. That is at least how i understood it any way.

According to the website:

The speed upgrades will mean the following changes:

• 10Mb increased to 20Mb
  
• 20Mb and 30Mb increased to 60Mb
  
• 50Mb increased to 100Mb (then 120Mb when service rolls out)
  
• 100Mb increased to 120Mb (when 120Mb service rolls out. Customer will also see a price drop)
  

.......so, theory, you could downgrade to the 10Mb service and get 20Mb in the roll-out. Probably not much of a cost-saver though. Best stay and get the 60Mb.

If it means getting the Superhub it's probably a downgrade, the amount of hassle that thing causes is ridiculous. I have one on 30mb and it's been ok but I have it in modem mode, a couple of people I know have them as main routers and I'm forever telling them to reboot them along with problems with melting them.

As for the speed, well sometimes my ADSL line which runs at 2mb is far more usable, it's certainly more stable.

I'd love the extra speed for the faster uplink rather than the download.

I had the VM 30mbit service and it was very very good. I now have the 60mbit and that's really really sweet! The VM Superhub is just superb, but it did have a problem when it first came out if you used it wirelessly. However, since the long awaited firmware upgrades have been loaded, it's heaven! No problems at all. Mine is on all the time and never has to be rebooted. I get a constant 63.5mbits download speed but upload still hasn't been updated to 6mbits yet. In fact the upload speed had declined slightly to 2.89mbit overall, down from 3.2mbits This is normal, but will be increased to 6mbits in the next week or so for my area. Probably this will mean I get in the region of 6.3mbits. It's all good. My buddy who has 40mbit infinity is only able to get 22mbit down his line. It's restricted by the copper to his house. He's paying much more than me too. Am I happy!!

Forgot to mention that I have been using a laptop with an 'N' adapter in it and even with my Superhub in 'N' mode, it only ever gets to 52-56mbits download speed even when I'm right next to the hub. My main network here at Starfleet Head Quarters uses powerline Devolo network plugs. In my main spannering department I can't have wireless stuff causing havoc with my highly inflamables due to static. I have to say these Devolos are excellent and these deliver my maximum of 63mbits all the time no matter what computer I'm on in the house or spannering dept. Wireless defo drops the speeds.

Edited 13 July, 201213 yr by Estate Man

Can't get Virgin where I live, but I'm more than happy with my 65Mb down 20Mb up Fibre internet with Sky.

Edited 13 July, 201213 yr by g_tee

BUT-will it be a free upgrade, with no catches. Last one( when I was with Virgin on 2MB), there was some reason for a price increase, and the upgrade was not automatic, it had to be asked for =another 12month contract . Then the problems started . Went slow- signal levels too low. ( reason = more customers in street). Went slow some time later, -signal too high ( new cabinet in street) . Only way I got a permanant fix was to miss out agent India and e mail Tech support . When I ditched it I'd had a two month period of slow/slow/quick ,quick/very slow, with no response from Virgin .

Thanks all, I don't really want to spend money on new bits as I'm perfectly with the lappy as it is, trying to save a bit if I can, but if I go back down to 30 it's £4 cheaper....I could buy myself a cheepo Asda's mouse every month with that !

Upgrade is automatic, mine went up to 100 mb a few weeks ago and no superhub. Would assume any people with older kit might need upgrades/engineer visits.

Upgrade is automatic, mine went up to 100 mb a few weeks ago and no superhub. Would assume any people with older kit might need upgrades/engineer visits.

Is the old kit capable of those speeds?

I have one of the old modems and a separate netgear router, i am due to be upgraded this month i think. I certainly don't want to have to sign up for another 18 month contract to get it.

On the Virgin help forum every second help query seems to start with "Mr Branson, your not so super hub", it doesn't inspire confidence if I have to have one

For £4, nah keep it.

Moooooore Speeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed

Is the old kit capable of those speeds?

I have one of the old modems and a separate netgear router, i am due to be upgraded this month i think. I certainly don't want to have to sign up for another 18 month contract to get it.

I have had mine approximately 2 years I think, with my own router(not the virgin crud). This one...

Copes with 100 mb fine. I have not signed up for anything, just upgraded itself overnight.

On the Virgin help forum every second help query seems to start with "Mr Branson, your not so super hub", it doesn't inspire confidence if I have to have one

Yeah but then again everyone who has no problems doesn't go posting so you are not really seeing the true picture.

Ah.. i have one of these ones;

On the Virgin help forum every second help query seems to start with "Mr Branson, your not so super hub", it doesn't inspire confidence if I have to have one

I have had mine approximately 2 years I think, with my own router(not the virgin crud).

Yeah but then again everyone who has no problems doesn't go posting so you are not really seeing the true picture.

Good point, I hadn't thought of that

My Virgin cable modem expired a couple of months back and as they no longer do them I've had to have a Super Hub, then about a month ago my service got upgraded with the instruction that it needed a Supoer Hub to work.

As I already have a wireless router that is configured to work with my computers, I'm using the hub in modem mode.

Ah.. i have one of these ones;

I have one of those and a Linksys router. Was told by an NTL technician (at the time) that the modem in theory was only good for 50mb. I'm happy with being upgraded to 20mb tbh and by the sounds of it I really don't want that super hub

The superhub in modem mode is just a modem, so shouldn't have any issues and wouldn't need to change your router/settings(much). Just configure the superhub.

My Virgin cable modem expired a couple of months back and as they no longer do them I've had to have a Super Hub, then about a month ago my service got upgraded with the instruction that it needed a Supoer Hub to work.

As I already have a wireless router that is configured to work with my computers, I'm using the hub in modem mode.

If you decided to use your Super Hub instead of your own gear, you'd be ok. I don't know anyone that has a problem with it now since the firmware upgrades. The problems really only affected the wireless side of things intially when it was released. But VM did have a lengthy period of testing to make sure it was ok before releasing the updates for it so it sort of coloured the water a bit for the Super Hub. But really, it's fine now and matches and betters most of the hubs out there. It's fully featured and works well in any mode.

Is the old kit capable of those speeds?

I have one of the old modems and a separate netgear router, i am due to be upgraded this month i think. I certainly don't want to have to sign up for another 18 month contract to get it.

In short the Ambit 255/256 modems can't go above about 38mbits at the very best on a docsys network as mostly run by VM. The standard Netgear wirless router can't go above 24mbits either. So you would need new gear. The Super Hub is now superb...trust me on that. You will get a new Super Hub 'free' before your upgrade. It just does away with the old separate modem and router. It's great and looks nice too. There is no new contract to sign either.

Edited 13 July, 201213 yr by Estate Man