BT or Virgin?

[fireman999]

I have been with BT now for many years and I would like to get a faster connection as my current one gives me  59 Mbps down and 16.8 Mbps up. I had hoped that BT would be going to full fibre but I am told that as Virgin already have their communications in our road it is unlikely that BT will be installing theirs in the near future - so it would appear that I have very little alternative but to go with Virgin.

**Edited**

[Keith_Beddoe]

@fireman999 

Sorry, its not permitted on this forum to discuss other providers.

https://community.bt.com/t5/Announcements-Guides-Community/BT-Community-User-Guidelines/td-p/1375043

Try asking on one of the many public forums, like thinkbroadband.

[rbz5416]

New Ofcom report show Virgin as the most complained about ISP.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2024/latest-telecoms-and-pay-tv-complaints-revealed

All but three times worse than BT & more than double the industry average.

[36ULW]

Don’t know why people assume because one Network Provider covers an area it means others won’t.

Most of the places where I live are covered by two FTTP Network Providers, Openreach and CityFibre, another FTTP Service Provider who own their own Network as well as VM, who mostly have CO-AX.

So most people have 4 to chose from if they wanted. 

[Weerab1983]

I get 500mb full fibre from BT and about 6 months ago Virgin came to my street. So I would take what you have been told with a pinch of salt. 

Virgin go underground where as BT go overground in my location.

They would both be competing for your custom. 

[Colin_London]

We have Virgin in our town. Didn’t stop Openreach installing FTTP everywhere. Openreaches network here is much better than Virgins which is literally falling to pieces and highly unreliable.

[fireman999]

It is very difficult to get any details from Openreach about their plans and you do get more information from their engineers who have told me that the area is virtually completed for full fibre but OR will only say they have "no plans". I did have one interesting conversation with OR engineers who told me that the installations favour "well to do areas" and I think that this may be the case as other more affluent areas close by have been done. Thanks for your comments.

[fireman999]

Thanks for your comments and that is the situation here and I am waiting for a pre installation inspection from Virgin as some of the installations that I have seen are not really underground as they just leave the cable on top of the garden.

[fireman999]

We really only have Virgin for full fibre and I think that some of the other providers are canvassing the area for potential customers as I have spoken to one company who appeared quite keen but told me that there was difficulty getting their own cables into the ducts. This is a pity as it is very close, they have their own network and customers are very happy with them. Thanks for your comments.

[Anonymous]

@fireman999 Virgin Media is the only Ultrafast provider where I live and after enjoying their "services", I prefer to trundle along on a 60 Mbps copper connection.

Personally, I would rather move than use VM, their network is a mess, their customer service doesn't seem to understand the meaning of either word, and in 5 years time when the majority of their current areas are covered by alt-nets and Openreach FTTH, I actually think they will be in serious trouble.

Do you really need an Ultrafast connection that much right now?

We have 4 in the house and can stream 4K all day, enjoy gaming, web browsing, Zoom calls, stream music etc. on our FTTC from BT without issue.