Will plusnet ever go as fast virgin ?

[#1]

Ive just been reading that virgin media are to begin rolling out 200Mbps to customers, altho virgin media is not in my area i was still wondering if or when plusnet might be able to catch up to them ?

Just out of intrest 

[#2]

FTTP is available in some areas with speeds up to 330mbps also BT has just started to roll out G.fast “most homes” told to expect speeds of ‘up to’ 500Mbps (Megabits per second) and there’s also a “premium” option for up to 1000Mbps

[#3]

G fast im assuming is only for FTTP ?

[#4]

Apparently not can be ran through existing FTTC

By now many of you will know roughly how G.fast works, but if not then here’s the usual recap. The technology functions in a roughly similar way to the current ‘up to’ 80Mbps capable hybrid-fibre VDSL2 (FTTC) service that dominates the market (often dubiously marketed as “fibre broadband“), except that it requires significantly more spectrum (G.fast 106MHz+ vs VDSL 17MHz) and thus operates best over a much shorter run of copper cable (ideally less than 350 metres).

In keeping with this G.fast can similarly be installed inside / alongside street cabinets (like FTTC today), but the technology can also be delivered from smaller nodes / distribution points that may be built either underground (manholes) or placed on top of nearby telegraph poles.

The related nodes are fed directly by fibre optic cable and often BT will need to bring this cable even closer to your home than an existing FTTC setup, which helps to support the faster speeds. However these nodes still have to be powered by small nearby power supply units at ground level, which may increase the network complexity and maintenance requirements. The diagram below gives an idea of how this fits together.

Source

[#5]

So its not really going to be that great after all ..... more power is needed at a time when we are all being told to save on usage and customers wont be getting a cheap deal as someone will have to pay for all this extra work/resources

[#6]

As they say Ste , you dont get owt for Nowt these days

[#7]

Thats true .... id be happy with 200 down 100 up, free tv all the channels and free phone unlimited calls for £10 a month ... if plusnet say ihave to sign upto a 24 month contract ill do it right now!!!

[#8]

For that deal, I'd happily sign up for 25 months.

[#9]

bare in mind that Virgin can "advertise" a 200Mbps downstream speed, but what do the majority get in reality?
congestion and throttling (or traffic shaping) is common on the virgin network.

[#10]

I remember being on VirginMedia broadband between about 6 and 8 years back, watch a few youtube vids in a day and the 10Mbps "Unlimited" suddenly became very limited dialup speeds 'til about 6am the next day, whether they still do that today though I don't know cos they never cabled this street (there are CATV Manholes in the area, but the cables skirt around here avoiding potential customers that would like another option for TV and internet access), that and I wouldn't trust them anyway, I don't like paying for unlimited access and get told to stop downloading from the internet...

But that said, who actually needs 200Mbps? Or even the speeds g.fast will offer? Granted as things like 4k become the norm and hard drives (or SSDs, or whatever the next step is) enter the Petabyte range, maybe the bandwidth'll be needed, but, to me honest, unless you're being a torrent node, 200Mbps is pretty much over-the-top for the home user...

[#11]

i got about 20 gaming buddies who game and watch vids and never complain, they say its great

[#12]

I live in York and a company Called City Fibre in partnership with Talk Talk and Sky are offering Ultra Fibre Optic which can deliver 1000Mb speeds and apparently at a cheaper cost than the standard broadband package. Once they have "Upgraded" York they plan to move on to other city's. 

With speeds and pricing like that it is likely that other ISPs will be pushed aside unless they can offer something equivalent, That said I would never in a month of Sundays go with Talk Talk and sky are not much better.

I'm lucky enough to be on FTTH (The same technology that Ultra Fibre Optic uses) but the only packages available through open reach are the same as FTTC. max of 76mb down.

Just as a side note, the BT engineer who installed my fibre told me that Open reach had successfully carried out an internal test where they managed to send 10,000Mb down a FTTH connection