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Sacking off Virgin Fibre Broadband for Three's 5G Home Router

Started by Ted-Maul, April 07, 2022, 08:44:23 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Ted-Maul

I've had Virgin fibre-optic broadband for well over a decade and have no complaints but it's soon gonna cost £50 a month for just their basic internet. Three are offering their 5G routers, which aim to have the same speeds as i get with Virgin, for £20 a month.

The thing is, when i go on the Three site and put my postcode in, it only offers me a 4G router even though one of their masts (identical to the one in the video below) has been installed about 200m from my front door and visible from thw window i'd have the router set up. (I'm in a heavily populated citry area).

Should i try and get a 5G router from Three even though they reckon i'm out of coverage and try it anyway? Can you use them to get 4G? (their 4G routers are only £2 a month less and have poor speeds). Does anyone else have one? Are they any good when you';'re in the coverage area?



imitationleather

Can't help but I myself have thought the same and then found the same when I go on their website.

canadagoose

Quote from: Ted-Maul on April 07, 2022, 08:44:23 PMI've had Virgin fibre-optic broadband for well over a decade and have no complaints but it's soon gonna cost £50 a month for just their basic internet. Three are offering their 5G routers, which aim to have the same speeds as i get with Virgin, for £20 a month.

The thing is, when i go on the Three site and put my postcode in, it only offers me a 4G router even though one of their masts (identical to the one in the video below) has been installed about 200m from my front door and visible from thw window i'd have the router set up. (I'm in a heavily populated citry area).

Should i try and get a 5G router from Three even though they reckon i'm out of coverage and try it anyway? Can you use them to get 4G? (their 4G routers are only £2 a month less and have poor speeds). Does anyone else have one? Are they any good when you';'re in the coverage area?


It's worth a go. I'm pretty sure they'll refund you if the reception isn't good enough (you'll have to send your equipment back, of course). Three installed a new mast near me last year and the speeds I've had from it were really impressive - better than our wired broadband (through Shell).

JaDanketies

Aren't you worried it'll activate your COVID vaccine transplant chip?

Dr Rock

If you tell Virgin you're leaving they'll knock at least a tenner off. I just did it.

DJ Bob Hoskins

Quote from: Dr Rock on April 07, 2022, 09:18:24 PMIf you tell Virgin you're leaving they'll knock at least a tenner off. I just did it.

If only Ron had thought of this.

olliebean

I put in my postcode on 3's website and it didn't offer me 5G or 4G. Then I looked at the map on their coverage checker and it thinks I'm in Scotland somewhere with only 3G connectivity, rather than London with definitely 4G and probably 5G. Their postcode database is borked.

<edit> Tried again, this time it showed me the correct location but says: "Unfortunately, mobile internet, calls, or texts aren't available right now." 3G, 4G, and 5G all say "To improve your search result, please try again using your full postcode," which I was already using. And the map shows me a few hundred metres from the nearest 5G. So I guess this is no go, and not very reassuring regarding the reliability of their network either.

My £24/month deal with Virgin runs out next month, and goes up to £44. If they give me £10 off that's still more than I really want to pay. Cancelling and getting my housemate to sign up to get the current £25 new customer deal might be an option.

olliebean

Bugger. Looks like the only network with 5G coverage here is Vodafone, and they charge 60 quid/month, which is out of the question. No plans for fibre here yet, so Virgin is my only bloody option for decent speeds.

Ted-Maul

Yes, when Three started their roll-out here i got a leaflet through the door from them and was going to switch back then but Virgin lowered my payments for a period. But thats coming to an end now, they might offer another reduction but it'll still be more expensive than Three and, to be honest, its too fast for what i'm currently using it for so i wont mind if the 5G doesn't quite match it.

If a mobile phone can get onto the Three 5G network from my house, does that mean the router will be able to?

Quote from: JaDanketies on April 07, 2022, 09:06:41 PMAren't you worried it'll activate your COVID vaccine transplant chip?

The writing's already on the wall around here about that... loads of 5G conspiracy messages in big painted letters on walls which were then blotted out and painted over (in the same paint and handwriting) with very similar vaccine conspiracy stuff. That was all done well before the mast went up and i'm suprised they havent had a go at attacking it or something.

JamesTC

Quote from: Dr Rock on April 07, 2022, 09:18:24 PMIf you tell Virgin you're leaving they'll knock at least a tenner off. I just did it.

I switched to Sky and called to cancel Virgin. They knocked off a fuckload as I was put through to the very last line of retentions. Pain in the arse having to then call Sky and get them to cancel my new installation but worth it for £30 off a month.

Uncle TechTip

I'd be very wary to commit to a wireless service as main internet pipe. If you're a gamer, forget it. Even if not, as far as I know the mobile services will act like an old adsl connection and have contention in the mast, if too many people near you are using it you'll suffer. Surely you can find BT or another fibre provider for no more than 40 a month. Zen still 34.99.

Everyone here has covered most things but;

Try to cancel your Virgin services and you'll be out through retentions and they'll give you money off to carry on. And do this every time your minimum contract ends. Never pay more than you need to for broadband, it's a really competitive market and you really shouldn't be paying any more than £25 a month for 68Mb fttc or 100Mb Virgin.

Try shopping around to see what else you can get in terms of broadband. Not only will this give you alternatives should Virgin not be able to satisfactorily cut your bill, it'll give you better bartering power when talking to their retentions people. Use the tool here: https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/ but don't put in your current provider, just so you can get an idea what new Virgin customers are paying and demand to be put onto the same tariff.

Mobile broadband is an option but as has been mentioned, the connection can be flaky if too many people connect, if there's interference, or even in certain weather. It should really be a last resort option once you've exhausted the wired options.

olliebean

I suspect Virgin will try to leverage the fact that they're currently my only option for faster broadband. May have to get used to being OK with ADSL speeds again, if only to convincingly argue the point with Virgin customer retention.

Sebastian Cobb

Do you need port forwarding for incoming connections or have systems at work that use IP allow-lists?

I have a couple of colleagues at work who are on mobile broadband (due to no VDSL options) and theirs are behind NAT so this causes issues, one of them has to spin up a VPN to a machine in AWS to get a known IP and ingress.

It might not be something you need, and some providers might offer static IP's but it's something to be aware of.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: olliebean on April 08, 2022, 10:08:13 AMI suspect Virgin will try to leverage the fact that they're currently my only option for faster broadband. May have to get used to being OK with ADSL speeds again, if only to convincingly argue the point with Virgin customer retention.

Vodafone ADSL is usually really cheap as they include line rental and tend to have big cashback offers, find how much they offer (it's probably about £22) and tell Virgin you can get it for that.

Dr Rock

Quote from: olliebean on April 08, 2022, 10:08:13 AMI suspect Virgin will try to leverage the fact that they're currently my only option for faster broadband. May have to get used to being OK with ADSL speeds again, if only to convincingly argue the point with Virgin customer retention.

Say you simply can't afford it, pandemic has ruined your business or summit.

olliebean

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on April 08, 2022, 10:35:29 AMVodafone ADSL is usually really cheap as they include line rental and tend to have big cashback offers, find how much they offer (it's probably about £22) and tell Virgin you can get it for that.

Plusnet, who I was with before, is £19/month plus a £65 reward card if I get it via Money Saving Expert. Although I think they're one of the ones with the policy of raising the price by 3.9% above inflation every year, which is likely to be quite a large hike next year. Might not be relevant as I guess the price would go up and I'd be looking to switch after 12 months anyway. (I wish there was a provider that would just offer a reasonable standard price to new and old customers, rather than having to go through the hassle of haggling and/or switching to get a new discount every time the contract ends and the price shoots up.)

I get decent ADSL speeds here (close to the maximum), but my housemate does a lot of livestreaming and ADSL is rubbish for that.

Sebastian Cobb

I wasn't actually suggesting you switch, I was suggesting you have a firm price in your head of a good deal and use it to pressure VM into giving you a better deal.

I actually need to do the same, but get rid of the TV at the same time because I don't use it, I'm also paying for BT Sports despite hating sport because it was basically free in the introductory period.

canadagoose

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on April 08, 2022, 10:35:29 AMVodafone ADSL is usually really cheap as they include line rental and tend to have big cashback offers, find how much they offer (it's probably about £22) and tell Virgin you can get it for that.
If you've got CityFibre in your street then you can get great speeds through Vodafone. Sadly we can't get it in our building due to the stupid NIMBY owners' association, but if you can, it's worth considering.

@olliebean is your building fairly new by any chance? If you use a nearby postcode it might work properly. Also there's CellMapper which is an excellent resource to find actual signal strength data in any location that's been recorded.

Sebastian Cobb

^ I don't think I do... Hyperoptic seem to be the people flyering in Glasgow.

There's roads being dug up for cable at the moment but I dunno if that's related.

Tbh I'm only on 100mbit virgin - they definitely offer 500, possibly 1gb* up, but I rarely saturate my pipe so why bother paying more?

* this is a joke BTW - you get a gb down but 50mb up. Obviously a marketing ploy. Upstream is important, especially with things like zoom and file sync, a better level of symmetry would benefit people these days. The vdsl ratio is tight but fair given what little there is to play with.

canadagoose

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on April 09, 2022, 08:55:53 PM^ I don't think I do... Hyperoptic seem to be the people flyering in Glasgow.

There's roads being dug up for cable at the moment but I dunno if that's related.

Tbh I'm only on 100mbit virgin - they definitely offer 500, possibly 1gb* up, but I rarely saturate my pipe so why bother paying more?

* this is a joke BTW - you get a gb down but 50mb up. Obviously a marketing ploy. Upstream is important, especially with things like zoom and file sync, a better level of symmetry would benefit people these days. The vdsl ratio is tight but fair given what little there is to play with.
Yeah, that makes sense. I'm on 150Mb down G.fast with Shell, through a normal phone line, seeing as Virgin isn't available in this building, and neither is Hyperoptic. This building is the pits. 150Mb does us fine, though.

olliebean

Quote from: canadagoose on April 09, 2022, 08:47:16 PMIf you've got CityFibre in your street then you can get great speeds through Vodafone. Sadly we can't get it in our building due to the stupid NIMBY owners' association, but if you can, it's worth considering.

Quote from: CityFibreThanks for your interest, we haven't planned your area at the moment.

Quote from: canadagoose on April 09, 2022, 08:47:16 PM@olliebean is your building fairly new by any chance? If you use a nearby postcode it might work properly. Also there's CellMapper which is an excellent resource to find actual signal strength data in any location that's been recorded.

Nope, nearly 100 years old. And that map shows nothing near me for 5G, but it seems very spotty wherever you look. Not enough data recorded for 5G signals to be useful, by the looks of it.

JamesTC

Quote from: canadagoose on April 09, 2022, 09:06:05 PMYeah, that makes sense. I'm on 150Mb down G.fast with Shell, through a normal phone line, seeing as Virgin isn't available in this building, and neither is Hyperoptic. This building is the pits. 150Mb does us fine, though.

You can get broadband from Shell? That's like getting petrol from Pizza Hut or colostomy bags from Car Phone Warehouse. What a weird world we live in.

itsfredtitmus

dont worry lad they'll always come back to you even if you don't want it they'll always be there for you to enjoy id just accept it

Ted-Maul

***BORING BROADBAND UPDATE***

Just got off the phone with Virgin... fucking hell... 15 minutes on hold only for the line to go dead....then 73 minutes which included talking to various retentions people and nearly an hour of being on hold again only for the line to just cut off, AGAIN.... then another 27 minutes arguing about why I would choose another company's 51meg connection for £24/month over Virgins 50meg for £25/month (BECAUSE ITS CHEAPER AND FASTER FFS).

Anyway, i didn't even want their 50 meg connection, it only came up because i told them that high speeds weren't as important to me now as the overall cost. The lowest they offered to stay on 100meg was £29 per month so i've cancelled... mainly because they've just spent 2 hours dicking me about.

Thanks for all the info in this thread... i'm gonna give the 4G/5G a miss and go with Talk Talk £23.50 per month for (they reckon) 67meg. It's FTTC but you get £80 Tesco vourcher or some shit which will come in handy. I've been with Virgin for over 15 years and DO appreciate their product and I don't take access to fibre for granted but fuck'em, Daddy needs to pay the gas bill.

Make sure your Virgin marketing preferences are set to receive texts/emails/calls, etc, because there's a fairly good chance they will be in touch within the next 30 days with a better offer to get you to carry on.

I got a great deal off Sky last month after cancelling the telly. Bill was due to go up from £42 to £75. Got on the phone, they said the best they could do was £61. Offered to meet them halfway (new customers are paying £52), they still said no, so I told them to cancel it.

Three days later, I get an email, offering to continue for £38. £4 less than I was paying before and £14 less than new customers are paying. It pays to stand your ground.

Also, time on hold when calling to cancel: 48 minutes.
Time on hold when calling to accept new offer: 1 minute 42 seconds.

Weird that.

Dr Rock

Just saw my Virgin bill, bye bye Virgin.

Shell (boo!) reckon they can do broadband only for £21.99 then £32.88 after 18 months for 30mb. Even cheaper (£17.99) if I go for 10mb, how shit is 10mb?

But Virgin wouldn't make a deal and said if I broke my contract they'd take me to court, which they are welcome to do. My question is, are Shell (or any other providers) going to want to see that I'm all paid up with Virgin before they connect me up, or couldn't they give a monkeys?

Joe Qunt

Vodafone (despite my nightmare getting it installed) do very decent broadband for very decent prices. Mine's £15 a month for 24 months at 72mbps. Fair in my eyes.

Ted-Maul

Quote from: Huxleys Babkins on April 26, 2022, 03:52:26 PMMake sure your Virgin marketing preferences are set to receive texts/emails/calls, etc, because there's a fairly good chance they will be in touch within the next 30 days with a better offer to get you to carry on.

Thanks for this, I just changed my preferences but it says it might take 28 days to take effect so i wont hold my breath. Still good information though.

Quote from: Dr Rock on April 26, 2022, 04:21:45 PMShell (boo!) reckon they can do broadband only for £21.99 then £32.88 after 18 months for 30mb. Even cheaper (£17.99) if I go for 10mb, how shit is 10mb?

Apparently 4G averages between 20-30mb so you'd be worse off than doing it on a mobile phone. A lot of us will probably have lived with dial-up modem speeds in the past but i'm not sure what the lowest tolerable speed would be on todays web.

I got moved to Shell (boo!) for my energy when my previous supplier went to the wall and their website says if you are an energy customer then you qualify for better broadband deals. So i had a look and it's just the same offer that any new customer gets. So i discounted them for being dishonest.

Malcy

Quote from: Joe Qunt on April 26, 2022, 04:30:20 PMVodafone (despite my nightmare getting it installed) do very decent broadband for very decent prices. Mine's £15 a month for 24 months at 72mbps. Fair in my eyes.

Crikey, I've just been checking mine. £32.28 or something for around 30mbps. Tried to contact them through webchat but nightmare so going to ring and get it brought down.