ElfNet.org

For anyone wanting to move to cable, I’ve found a Virgin Media Availibility Map here

Having grown up in the age of limited and no connectivity, I’ve always felt I’ve appreciated the Internet and the connections that feed it more than most people.   I’ve see the transition from dialup to ISDN, then to ADSL and now I finally have a cable connection.

I’ve always been led to think of Cable as cheap and nasty service although having now finally used it for myself, has my opinion changed?  For the past two months I’ve been using Virgin Media’s 50Mb Cable service.

So far I’ve been very impressed with most things.  The pricing is very competitive and not having to pay BT for line rental for a phone line that isn’t actually used it a huge bonus.  Leading BT’s poor old copper behind has meant I’ve been able to go from a weak 8Mb connection to 50Mb speeds.  Having fibre optic feeding my world has given me hugely improved latency, this has made gaming and browsing a much better experience.

All in all I’d certainly recommend Virgin Media. Although things can slow down slightly at peak times the lack of any download limits (XXL package) has been great and not having a Fair Usage Policy to worry about has made downloading loads of fun.

Pros:

• Very fast download speeds
• Low latency
• Competitively priced
• No Limits (XXL package)

Cons:

• Hardware supplied isn’t great
• Noticeable slow downs at peak times
• Dynamic IP

eth0 downloads speeds (I’ve since got much higher than this)

For anyone wanting to move to cable, I’ve found a Virgin Media Availibility Map here