Switching internet providers

[G1z1]

Can someone help me. I don’t know much about what speeds you need for internet. I’m looking to switch providers and there is 4 of us in the house two rooms usually have netflix or some streaming app on and my son plays video games online. What speed should I be getting minimum? Currently with virgin but there internet has been pretty poor the past two years and night it will randomly buffer just watching YouTube or Netflix but my speeds are 100 and switching provider it’s looking like 50 is best I can get. Is 50 enough if it’s working ?

 

[rulefan]

Can someone help me. I don’t know much about what speeds you need for internet. I’m looking to switch providers and there is 4 of us in the house two rooms usually have netflix or some streaming app on and my son plays video games online. What speed should I be getting minimum? Currently with virgin but there internet has been pretty poor the past two years and night it will randomly buffer just watching YouTube or Netflix but my speeds are 100 and switching provider it’s looking like 50 is best I can get. Is 50 enough if it’s working ?

I get 37ish. 1 TV and 1 PC streaming most evenings. Not noticed any issues.

 

[clubchamp98]

Can someone help me. I don’t know much about what speeds you need for internet. I’m looking to switch providers and there is 4 of us in the house two rooms usually have netflix or some streaming app on and my son plays video games online. What speed should I be getting minimum? Currently with virgin but there internet has been pretty poor the past two years and night it will randomly buffer just watching YouTube or Netflix but my speeds are 100 and switching provider it’s looking like 50 is best I can get. Is 50 enough if it’s working ?

I agree Virgin has been crap.
Ours just goes off randomly.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Can someone help me. I don’t know much about what speeds you need for internet. I’m looking to switch providers and there is 4 of us in the house two rooms usually have netflix or some streaming app on and my son plays video games online. What speed should I be getting minimum? Currently with virgin but there internet has been pretty poor the past two years and night it will randomly buffer just watching YouTube or Netflix but my speeds are 100 and switching provider it’s looking like 50 is best I can get. Is 50 enough if it’s working ?

Why not have a chat with Virgin,specifially the poor performance and your thinking of leaving. Once you get past the call centre preset answers person things can be sorted
I have gone from 100 meg to 300 meg with Virgin, and dont see any buffering or issues at all

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Go to virgin and see if they can update the router, also they can run line tests and see a history of your dropouts.

Shame they are not proactive in using this info

 

[VVega]

Virgin is great when it works but the customer service is abysmal.

Left them for a basic BT FTTC running at about 35Mbs - sufficient for the family with multiple devices streaming a lot, including 4K content - over 1TB down in some months.

The only time I wish there was a faster connect is when there is a 100GB update to a game

 

[CliveW]

We moved house last month and never gave it much thought as the seller claimed he got 30 Mbps download through 4G. Having been in the house it appears that we are in a black spot for internet and mobiles. On a good day I can get 3-4 Mbps during the day and up to 8 Mbps at night. We are currently waiting for a landline from BT but that was ordered in January and so far the proposed connection date is 4th April but I'm not holding my breath. We have also looked at satellite broadband but because of nearby trees there is no line of sight to the transmitter. Currently I am with O2 having tried 3G and EE without success. I guess I might have to wait until 2024 when Princess Nicola has promised every house in Scotland will have superfast broadband.

 

[greenone]

We moved house last month and never gave it much thought as the seller claimed he got 30 Mbps download through 4G. Having been in the house it appears that we are in a black spot for internet and mobiles. On a good day I can get 3-4 Mbps during the day and up to 8 Mbps at night. We are currently waiting for a landline from BT but that was ordered in January and so far the proposed connection date is 4th April but I'm not holding my breath. We have also looked at satellite broadband but because of nearby trees there is no line of sight to the transmitter. Currently I am with O2 having tried 3G and EE without success. I guess I might have to wait until 2024 when Princess Nicola has promised every house in Scotland will have superfast broadband.

There is a 5k grant for rural broadband installation costs, just waiting for a installation date for ours. Stuck on 2meg ATM.

 

[Robster59]

Standard routers are usually pretty rubbish in my opinion. If you are trying to run everything off the one router, that may be the issue. I had similar trouble with both the TalkTalk and Sky OEM routers.
I've now put a TP-Link Mesh system in and get solid WiFi through the house. And in our area, the maximum I can get with Sky at the router is 35MPBS.

 

[CliveW]

There is a 5k grant for rural broadband installation costs, just waiting for a installation date for ours. Stuck on 2meg ATM.

The £5k grant is only available if there is no proposed roll out date for broadband in your particular area. Unfortunately we have a proposed date of 2024. Whether or not that happens we'll need to wait and see.

 

[Ethan]

If you are doing the usual email, internet, Netflix, some Zoom or Teams, then mid-30s down is plenty. A stable 35 is better than a sometimes 100, sometimes 14.4k modem speed. I am on a basic FTTC package with Zen Internet, getting about 25 down (due to distance from the exchange and the curious routing between me and it) using a Netgear Orbi Mesh system and it is pretty reliable. Zen provide a good quality router (I had mine before joining them) as part of their deal.

 

[Neilds]

We moved house last month and never gave it much thought as the seller claimed he got 30 Mbps download through 4G. Having been in the house it appears that we are in a black spot for internet and mobiles. On a good day I can get 3-4 Mbps during the day and up to 8 Mbps at night. We are currently waiting for a landline from BT but that was ordered in January and so far the proposed connection date is 4th April but I'm not holding my breath. We have also looked at satellite broadband but because of nearby trees there is no line of sight to the transmitter. Currently I am with O2 having tried 3G and EE without success. I guess I might have to wait until 2024 when Princess Nicola has promised every house in Scotland will have superfast broadband.

Just be grateful you have electricity up there

Although with the current prices..............................

 

[clubchamp98]

Standard routers are usually pretty rubbish in my opinion. If you are trying to run everything off the one router, that may be the issue. I had similar trouble with both the TalkTalk and Sky OEM routers.
I've now put a TP-Link Mesh system in and get solid WiFi through the house. And in our area, the maximum I can get with Sky at the router is 35MPBS.

Ok I am quite bad with tech but how does a mesh system work and how would I get one.

 

[Ethan]

Ok I am quite bad with tech but how does a mesh system work and how would I get one.

They come as a set with a router and one or more satellites. You set up the router as usual, often with an app, and place the satellite somewhere else in your house in range of the router's Wifi signal. The clever pixies in the devices do the meshing part, but the idea is basically to provide good high speed service across the area covered. You can buy them on Amazon or in the usual High St retailers, and some are pretty affordable.

 

[jim8flog]

Is that Virgin cable or via a socket.

very hard to compare a cable service against a telephone line socket.

There are other providers coming on line with hyper fast broadband just make sure which you are comparing.

 

[Robster59]

Ok I am quite bad with tech but how does a mesh system work and how would I get one.

This link might help.
https://www.tp-link.com/uk/mesh-wifi/
They are easy to buy and, as Ethan says, you can get them from online or high street retailers.
A good place to look for good deals on them is here:
https://www.hotukdeals.com/tag/whole-home-mesh-wifi-system