Virgin offered me a new STB -Good idea?

Tinder Surprise

Hi,

After renegotiating my Virgin media contract I was offered to upgrade my STB f.o.c from my current Cisco HD DVR 865 ---to--- ' HZN Box ' (i'm guessing this is the Horizon box)

would this be a good idea?

I also want to keep my separate Cisco 3925 modem - would this impact on that?


thanks

ellobee

yeah tell them you want to keep your modem, the wifi range on the horizon box is pretty bad, the horizon box overall is terrible but most of their previous boxes were pretty bad aswell so probaly no harm in getting the new box for tv only, I have the horizon box and a seperate modem but I dont even watch their tv anymore as soon as my contract is up I'm ditching the tv, I'm happy with the broadband though.

Tinder Surprise

ellobee wrote: »

yeah tell them you want to keep your modem, the wifi range on the horizon box is pretty bad, the horizon box overall is terrible but most of their previous boxes were pretty bad aswell so probaly no harm in getting the new box for tv only, I have the horizon box and a seperate modem but I dont even watch their tv anymore as soon as my contract is up I'm ditching the tv, I'm happy with the broadband though.

Thanks...might hold off and see if this new 4k box ever reaches our shores.


Yea considered ditching the TV too but they way they've structured their bundles (and the deal i got) it nearly ended up better to keep the TV.
Also i am nearly sure they charge a supplement for only having the broadband.

coylemj

Just be aware that you will lose all the recorded programs on the old box, they cannot be transferred to the new box.

I have the Horizon box for several years, there is nothing wrong with the wi-fi ......

ellobee

Well your speedtest doesn't tell us anything, do a quick search for horizon wifi issues on this forum and see what shows up, pages and pages of people complaining about the wifi on the horizon box.

Del2005

ellobee wrote: »

Well your speedtest doesn't tell us anything, do a quick search for horizon wifi issues on this forum and see what shows up, pages and pages of people complaining about the wifi on the horizon box.

People with issues post lots, people without issues don't. So while there are pages and pages of issues here there are many thousands more who've never had an issue.

ellobee

Del2005 wrote: »

People with issues post lots, people without issues don't. So while there are pages and pages of issues here there are many thousands more who've never had an issue.

Yeah but why take a chance all I'm saying is hang on to your old modem as there have been issues reported with the wifi on the Horizon box.

Tinder Surprise

Thanks lads..

gonna head over to the Virgin media customer care thread and see what my options are.

smelly sock

coylemj wrote: »

Just be aware that you will lose all the recorded programs on the old box, they cannot be transferred to the new box.

I have the Horizon box for several years, there is nothing wrong with the wi-fi ......

You were wired doing that ye scallywag!!

The WiFi on the horizon is muck.

swampy353

Tinder Surprise wrote: »

Thanks...might hold off and see if this new 4k box ever reaches our shores.


Yea considered ditching the TV too but they way they've structured their bundles (and the deal i got) it nearly ended up better to keep the TV.
Also i am nearly sure they charge a supplement for only having the broadband.

Was speaking to an engineer yesterday, he said that vm have decided on a new box but they won't be issuing them until they clear the warehouse of the horizon boxes, you'll be left waiting a long time for the new box

0ph0rce0

I'd stick with the cisco box if i were you.

Thought it was the best box they had re speed wise. User Interface is a bit outdated but still the best box.

If you want to record more than one thing at a time then get the horizon box otherwise keep what you have.


Really slow user interface, constant lag, recordings not recording, wifi drop outs. Not for everyone but i got rid of it altogether, Was a really big letdown after all the hype.

No harm in trying it though and see what you think and you can always change back I'm sure.

Wabbit Ears

The Cisco 3925 is outdated and has limited speed capabilities, its been replaced by the Virgin Media hub which supports 5ghz and has really good range and throughput.

They supply these with all horizon boxes on the 360 package ( horizon maxes out at 240.)

Horizon has On-Demand, Netflix etc and is much much improved software wise over what it first came out with.

we wont be seeing the 4k for good while so There is no point in hanging around for that.

coylemj

coylemj wrote: »

I have the Horizon box for several years, there is nothing wrong with the wi-fi ......

The above was with 5 Ghz Wi-Fi yesterday, this is with 2.4 Ghz today .....



I have never had a problem with the Wi-Fi on the Horizon box. Anyone who says otherwise is talking for himself alone. If there are people on boards whinging about their wi-fi, they are a vocal minority who get to shout down the silent majority.

Mearings

coylemj wrote: »

Just be aware that you will lose all the recorded programs on the old box, they cannot be transferred to the new box.

I got a Horizon stb + a Compal Hub 3 modem but was not asked to return old hardware. So I suppose that I could setup the the previous Cisco stb to watch saved recordings.

flashinthepan

I would be more concerned with why they have lost 5% off their ratings in 1 day
also the ping is a bit on the high side

coylemj

flashinthepan wrote: »

I would be more concerned with why they have lost 5% off their ratings in 1 day

Because the second reading I posted was using a 2.4 Ghz connection which is slower than the first reading which was on a 5 Ghz connection.

flashinthepan wrote: »

also the ping is a bit on the high side

Ping turnaround varies from one minute to the next, would you prefer 9 ms? This is a laptop upstairs, connected via Wi-Fi (5 Ghz) to the Horizon box downstairs...

flashinthepan

nah your alright ill stick with my 6ms for gaming thanks all the same :-)

coylemj

flashinthepan wrote: »

nah your alright ill stick with my 6ms for gaming thanks all the same :-)

Are we comparing like with like?

In the list of 'servers close to you', Ookla (speedtest.net) lists a 'Vodafone IE' server but there is no Virgin Media server so your 6 ms is a ping within the Vodafone network whereas my 9 ms includes the network overhead of going out to an external server.

Bet you can't beat my 9 ms using an external (to Vodafone) server.

flashinthepan

Oh look heres one in galway Airwire and still 6ms

Im done Done with this

In relation to the op's question
if you have already singed up for a new contract can you accept their modem and just keep it as a spare or do you have to actually plug it in and use it is your account tied to the box itself

Tinder Surprise

**UPDATE**

Received the box yesterday and to be honest lads I'm sorry I didn't get it sooner.

Its a nice quick clean interface and the ability to join it to my Home Network and browse my NAS is a very good (unexpected) bonus.
Yes, I've other devices that I can do this with, but the big surprise was the speed and snappiness it scrolled through menus on the NAS and the quick play etc.

note:I'm not using any of its Router functionality but as a STB its fine and I would have no qualms in recommending it.

Gonna get my head into the apps its offers and will reply back at a later date.

steo2k9

I'm not saying everyone should have problems but I've had the horizon box along with a few relatives and the Wi-Fi has always been really bad like it's fast but unreliable and cuts out a lot or just starts going really slow until the box is restarted. I had to get a router just sent out and only use the box as an stb as the op said. It's probably ok for people that will be sitting in the same room as the box but if not it hasn't the best range or reliability in my opinion. I did get a few good speed tests then it would start snailing after a few hours and get like 3mb until i restarted it.

Aquos76

Ive the Virgin Media 3.0 hub this is a speedtest from my phone this morning