Well, they say old habits die hard. Telewest/Virgin Media have been my broadband ISP for nearly 9 years and every time they upgraded their speeds I’ve always upgraded. I started out on 512Kb, then went to 1Mb, then 2Mb, 4Mb, 10Mb and until recently 20Mb.
I wasn’t planning on upgrading to the new 50Mb service, but somehow I got suckered into it when I called with the intention to downgrade to 10Mb to save money, but ended up upgrading the more expensive 50Mb. My ‘rationale’ was that the 50Mb service isn’t capped, so as a heavy user, it was worth it paying for a good connection 24hrs today, rather than the abysmal speeds I got before when I was supposed to be getting 20Mb.
The installation went well and I’m happily zipping along at over 45Mbps on average 24 hours a day. The problem I am facing is that my bandwidth is outstripping even services like giganews, which can’t maintain a constant speed. Still, it is nice to be able to download at super-fast speeds whenever I need it.
One side benefit which I hadn’t factored in, is my new Netgear 802.11n router from Virgin Media. This has solved an annoying problem in my flat, where I use an old laptop in my bedroom connected wirelessly to my Windows Home Server which contains all my media files. 802.11g just wasn’t fast enough to stream a 1080p Full HD movie. Now with the Virgin Media 802.11n router and the free USB dongle it came with, I’m able to watch any movie in my collection in my bed.
For as long as Virgin Media provide an uncapped 50Mb service then I’ll be happy to pay the premium. But, if they do start capping again then I will downgrade. Hopefully next time I will go through with it, rather than buying more services!
