Broadband Internet & ISP Recommendations?

Cancelling Virgin was much less hassle than I was expecting. Only on hold for a couple of mins, and despite being asked why I was leaving and whether I wanted to discuss a new deal they were perfectly compliant.

This was exactly my experience too. It was straightforward. Wasn’t on hold too long and when they asked why I said community fibre was available which was cheaper and faster.
They had a token grumble but then put through the cancellation and I just ignored a couple of follow up calls over the next few weeks.

I wonder if the recent slew of negative press coverage about their customer service, with particular reference to cancellation, has paid dividends....

Maybe. But I also never had any problems leaving when swapping between them and BT before, or doing the yearly pretend to leave to get a proper deal retention dance.
My expectation for any 1st line or CS from a telecoms company is so low though. I assume they’re stepping through a script so just play the other part.

Canceled Virgin after many, many years. Was being charged 86 (61 in contract) for 1GB Internet along with their mesh hub, some TV services that we never used, and a home phone which again, we never used.

Moving to Community Fiber tomorrow, based upon friends and family reviews. 25 quid (US keyboard sorry) for 1GB Internet, or another 5gbp on top for any extra routers required. I've got a large fam so we do tend to hammer our bandwidth and will probably need those extra routers!

I've got a large fam so we do tend to hammer our bandwidth and will probably need those extra routers!

Number of routers is determined by how much volume they need to cover.

I noticed the linksys interface has a 'priority' setting for up to three devices, so you may want to take advantage of that and keep quiet about it :)

To add to the anecdota I just made the call emboldened by this thread. One ring, straight through, no hassle.. Even offered a competitive deal at 1st line....

Never mind. Roll on Zen fttp!

Yeah to be clear, I need it more for coverage and volume. My bedroom and my office (directly underneath) are the two dead-spots of the house, given it's part of an extension and building materials seem to be different. In the past I've separated my network to have a dedicated SSID for my 'work' purposes. Will defo use and abuse the priority lol.

Just gave CF a call back and asked if they could give me a few free months to cover the cost of switching. They agreed. That definitely makes the final billing blow easier!

Openreach have just updated from 'Build planned between now and Dec 2026' to 'Build planned between now and Mar-2024'

Anyone here with Onestream?
1 star google reviews (300+) and 3.9 rating on Trustpilot (13k+)

I had a good run.

Saw a Virgin van in the street the other day and came home to have speeds of around 50mbps down over ethernet (from the 350mbps I'm paying £70-something a month for).

Now it's back to the tried and tested 1.02mbps down.

I've signed up for updates from just about everyone from Openreach to gigawhatsit to cityfibre etc. Openreach still promising (by March). We'll see.

Branson is a cunt and Virgin are shit.

Probably asked before but no 5G? The Three monthly contract is £20 plus vat, I get between 250-500 down and 25-50 up.
Even with a poor signal it’s likely to be better than virgin.

Looking at a CF install which includes Linsksys MX5500 as the router, and again as a mesh/repeater system.

We cannot find a seamless route from point of fibre entry to our existing router cupboard which also includes ethernet connections to other rooms, wired UFH system, Sonos amp etc.

Hopefully a noob question, but would this continue to work as normal were we to have the MX5500 router in a new fibre connected cupboard, with MX5500 mesh unit in the current router cupboard with all above connections.

I really hope so or else I’ll be rejoining Plusnet which is far from ideal and more spenny than CF.

I can't find a definitive answer but it looks like you probably can.

If you can't you could plug a.n.other Ethernet bridge (WiFi or Powerline) into the parent node and use that to get to your existing router cupboard. No particular reason to use the stuff CF supply.

Awk well had one of the BT contractors out to fit my fibre, told the guy before he started to not drill from the inside out as he blow the arse out the brick. What did the fuckin clown do, blow the arse out the brick right in front of my house.

Then another engineer comes out and it can be fitted elsewhere.

Now gonna have to cut the brick out and repair it with a brick out the side of the house.

Absolute fuck ip and I’m still no closer to rapid internets.

That will work as far as I'm aware. Major drawback is that your entire network is dependent on the wireless connection between the two nodes. If they're at opposite sides of the same room I guess it's the least worst situation.

Does it make any difference to know that the optical fibre is incredibly thin? Absolutely nothing like virgin's coax or even regular phone cable.

Exactly what a mesh system is for, currently have a Linksys parent router in a bedroom office (with 5G router in pass through mode)and the child node in the lounge connected to tv/ firestick/hifi/smart lighting hub etc.

I’m in a similar position as you in that there isn’t a route to where I want the router when we switch to community fibre so will have a socket fitted in the meter cupboard by front door where the cable will enter and then connect up with my existing parent/child nodes becoming extensions to the Linksys router that comes with community fibre.
Assuming they do not switch manufacturers soon.

You can get brick repair kits to fill the holes and colourmatch.

I posted on here about the horrors of trying to end my dad's Virgin broadband via their awful call centre last month. I had a more positive contact with them today, they'd closed his account (which was in credit) and applied a charge for non return of their router so sent a new bill. I had an email proving it was returned, I wanted a refund but couldn't face their call centre. Used whatsapp and they sorted really quickly and tell me a cheque is in the post.

Zen FTTP connected today, rid of the horrors of virgin.

For the ‘same’ 500mbit connection I am getting about 4x faster down and 4x faster up. Have used my old zen box as a mesh repeater for the third floor. Happy days.

IT'S HERE! IT'S FUCKING HERE! My street has fiber and as soon as I choose an ISP virgin are fucking TOAST

Yes!

Do you want a Zen referral code?

Feels just 2 nice.