While I already have a gigabit network running, there is not enough ports to allow all the computers to connect via gigabit which means some are locked to 100mbit and the rest are on wireless (a mixture of Wireless N and Wireless G speeds). Converting your network to gigabit gives you a boost in speed and the cost is very low these days as you will see. A Quick recap on what I already have – I am on 50mbit / 5mbit Cable Internet via Virgin Media which is connected to a D-Link 615 Router (Supplied by Virgin media as part of the install) which features Wireless N Speed but only 4 ports at 100mbit. I have a 5 Port Netgear gigabit Switch which is a bit dodgy on the 5th port – this means I can only have 4 computers (or NAS Boxes) max that is on Gigabit.
Posts tagged virgin
Virgin Media Upgrade my Upload Speed
Virgin media are currently upgrading everyone Upload speed and preparing the exchange for the new 100mbit. Going by the PDF it says my area is not due till Aug 2011. I just by sheer luck tested my speed and got the speed above. Basically its 50mbit download and 5mbit upload. Of course this also means they will throttle back my torrents and news server downloads.
Virgin Media introduce 100mbit Connection
Although a bit slow of the mark to report about this, Virgin media (my Current ISP) is all set to bring out a new faster service of 100mbit connection to the home. This service will have a 10mbit upload rate and while there is no restriction as such on the service, they will be bringing in a general degrade of speed on upload for Torrents and such. Why will anyone need such a fast connection, fast in fact as most office LAN connection and the upload is faster then most have on ADSL for download.
Virgin Media increase upload speed plus more throttling
UK Broadband supplier Virgin Media are set to increase the upload speed of all its tiers starting now and rolling out area by area. There is no extra cost for this service and on there fastest service (XXL) they are going form 1.5Mbps to 5Mbps, the lower speed tariff 20Mbps (XL) will have their upload changed from 768K to 2Mbps. With the good also comes the bad – not only are they restricting your traffic as before but also slowing down Newsgroup and Torrent Traffic.
50Mbit update and QoS
Its been a full week of my upgrade to the 50mbit and I thought I would write a post just updating people on how it is going and some lessons learnt. The important thing to note I suppose is that jumping around the speedtest sites and getting annoyed when it does not do what it says on the tin only serves to annoy you when in reality it could be the site your testing from that does not have enough bandwidth.
Virgin Broadband 50mbit install
The wait was finally over and Virgin come and fitted today my brand spanking new 50mbit service complete with new modem, new router and even a USB Wireless Adaptor. This post goes over what equipment you get, what levels of speed you should expect to get and how my install went. It is to be noted this is of course UK Based ISP and on a cable connection provided by Virgin, I am sure USA people might get less down load but higher upload – depends on what you are looking for.
50Mbit Broadband
I currently have various services from Virgin and one of them includes Broadband which is provided by cable. They offer a choice of 10Mbit / 512kbit, 20Mbit / 768kbit and finally 50Mbit / 1.5Mbit. On both the 10Mbit and 20Mbit connections, they have bandwidth throttling which comes into place between 9am and 9pm. I liked the idea of upgrading to 50mbit but personally I could not see the need for such a thing.
Virgin Media – Traffic Management
Traffic Management for my Connection (20mbit / 768K) is as follows:
10am-3pm Download 7000MB then restricted to 75% of your connection speed (4mbit/200K)
4pm – 9pm Download 3500MB then restricted to 75%
3pm – 8pm Upload 1400MB then restricted to 75%
The above sounds great (but still very bad) but today made less sense…
Virgin TV – Initial View

As Part of my Upgrade Pack – I picked the Virgin Media ‘M’ TV Deal – this is there lowest TV Package from a choice of three (M, L and XL). I was never a fan of Virgin / NTL TV as there was and always will be problems with this set-up and is in no way a comparison to SKY for example.
Deal with the Devil – Virgin Upgraded
In an effort to save myself some money and get more for less – I called up Virgin (my Cable ISP) and asked what offer they could give me. I worked out I was paying £25 per month for 10mbit and about £15 for the telephone – there had to be a better deal to be had.






