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Classic-Rando
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Stadia and Virgin in the UK

Have Google and Stadia Devs though about the possibility of some kind of Virgin package?

Those of us in the UK are faced with 2 choices, get Virgin broadband, or suffer poor speeds, the only other contender that even comes close to Virgin and its 500 mbs speeds are Sky (I think on BT at 120, but they're still largely unavailable outside of London) with the top speed in most areas set at 60 mbs (actual speeds vary, but are usually sub 50).

A Virgin / Stadia bundle would I'm sure be a good seller, and get the brand out to the less technically minded, this would also stop any complaints from those trying to stream 4k TV, Spotify, 2 kids on games consoles etc from a more lag prone experience through lack of bandwidth. 

I think the 2 would be a great fit. 

1 Kudo
7 Replies
Matt1
Founder
Founder

I have BT rural Aberdeenshire and I’m on 250mbs. Can upgrade to 1gb now if I want, but doesn’t seem worth the extra money since everything I need works perfectly already! Sure Virgin and Sky are good, but they don’t service my area!!

Stadia did already have a free Premier package with BT at the start of the year....was a founder so didn’t impact me but for a month or two you got the whole kit for free if you signed up to super fast broadband package...

1 Kudo
Classic-Rando
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

That's odd, when I checked for a decent ISP in my area (commuter distance from London) the only service over 60 mbs available to me was Virgin, I spoke to several people all over the country, and they all had the same problem, and are all with Virgin, It seems very odd that rural areas that Virgin don't service get faster speeds from BT than are available close to London? 

0 Kudos
Classic-Rando
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

After a quick search of ISPs, I found this, 

While plenty of broadband providers promise fast internet - Virgin Media offer the fastest broadband in the UK, reaching speeds up to 516Mb.

BT, Plusnet, Sky and TalkTalk all offer fast broadband of around 60-70Mb to over 96% of the UK. But BT's full fibre, which can provide speeds of over 100Mb, is currently only available to about 7.35% of properties. Meanwhile, Virgin Media's network brings its brand of ultrafast to over 50% of the country.

 

I'd be very interested in the BT package you're on that offers a 1gig connection. 

0 Kudos
Matt1
Founder
Founder

It’s the BT Halo 2 package. I have fibre to the home so the fibre cable terminates under my stairs. Like I said, personally I just have the 250mb package as I don’t see the point in faster right now, but it’s available and I live in the middle of a field in rural Aberdeenshire with only 1 other house anywhere near me!

Worth rechecking the details you found as my understanding from open reach when they installed out fibre around 18 months ago was that BT has exclusive access to the cables for the first couple of years of any install....then Virgin , Sky etc. Get the line opened up to them to offer competing services - at least that’s what I was told and currently BT remains my only option on my line for Fibre.

 

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2 Kudos
Classic-Rando
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

49 mb upload speed, I'm going to look into this further, the info I got was from a comparison site, obviously outdated, or biased towards Virgin. 

1 Kudo
Matt1
Founder
Founder

Worth a look. What I can say for the 250mb package is a consistently get >200mbps download and >49mbps upload...so Stadia runs like a dream!

1 Kudo
SammyC
Founder
Founder

It's worth baring in mind that Virgin is fibre to the home, the majority of BTs offerings are just fibre to the cabinet, meaning the last leg of the journey is in contended, old copper, so what you get quoted isn't necessarily what you'll get, depending on how close you are to the cabinet. I know people on "superfast broadband" with BT that get speeds barely better than decent ADSL because of this. If you have neighbours you can speak to maybe chat with them before making the swap.

Unfortunately the only way I can get decent speeds is through Virgin as the top end of my road is on its own little cab which BT won't upgrade as it isn't commercially viable. I won't grumble though, 200mb and Stadia is smooooooth.

BT have always rolled out there latest and greatest to rural areas, unsure if why, testing maybe, ease of doing it possibly. My parents live near lands end and had infinity way before most places.

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