CityFibre vs Virgin Media: The Battle of the Networks
Cable vs. Full Fibre: Why the technology difference matters for speed and reliability.
The Old King vs The Challenger
For 20 years, Virgin Media was the speed king. Their coaxial cable network offered speeds Openreach couldn’t dream of. But technology moves on. CityFibre’s Full Fibre network exposes the age of Virgin’s cable infrastructure.
Technology: Glass vs Copper Coax
Virgin Media uses DOCSIS technology over Hybrid Fibre Coax. It’s fast, but it’s not pure fibre to the home.
CityFibre uses FTTP (XGS-PON). It is pure glass all the way.
The Upload Gap
This is the biggest difference. Virgin’s network is heavily asymmetrical. On a 1000Mbps Virgin plan, you typically get ~100Mbps upload (10:1 ratio).
On CityFibre, a 900Mbps plan is often 900Mbps upload (1:1 ratio). For backups, gaming, and working from home, CityFibre is 9x faster.
Latency and Jitter
DOCSIS technology inherently has higher latency and “jitter” (spikes in lag) than Full Fibre. CityFibre offers a cleaner, lower-ping connection, which is noticeable in competitive gaming.
Choice
Virgin is a closed shop. You buy from Virgin, you get Virgin support, you get the Virgin Hub router. If they raise prices, you have to leave the network.
CityFibre is Open Access. You can choose from dozens of ISPs (Vodafone, Zen, TalkTalk, etc.). If one annoys you, you can switch provider without changing the line. Power to the consumer.