Is Virgin Broadband throttling?
cff...@gmail.com
getting a broadband provider, so I defaulted for Telewest cable
+broadbad 3 years ago (now Virgin).
It was all and well until Virgin took over. I'm seeing they're capping
my connection to 512K (I got the 8MB level) on Saturday nights for
example. I've also noticed very varying speeds during the week
depending on the time of day (not surprisingly, peak hours == less
bandwidth).
So I have 2 questions: 1) is Virgin really as crap as they appear to
be? 2) What are my alternatives (I'm happy to spend upwards of 50quids
on monthly fees)? Of course this time I'm going to do some research,
but since so many of you really seem to be experts at this, I thought
I'd get some advice first!
Thanks in advance!
old man
<cff...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1192300642.1...@z24g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
Woody
At the moment I'm uploading a 80mb file to Twango, downloading a 800mb avi
file and this Speed test site
http://www.tenmeg.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/speedtest.htm shows my connection
running at 6492 kbps.
So what leads you to suspect that it is VirginMedia causing your problems?
XPHome SP2, Netgear DG834G, ADSLMax in South Wales.
If you are using a Netgear 834 series router I would suggest trying this:-
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=virgin_adsl&Number=3048216&page=4&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=
--
Woody
Remove NOSPAM to reply.
Mark McIntyre
cff...@gmail.com wrote:
>It was all and well until Virgin took over.
They didn't - ntl bought the Virgin name.
>I'm seeing they're capping
>my connection to 512K (I got the 8MB level) on Saturday nights for
>example.
if you're on ADSL, they're limiting you to a certain amount per month.
There's no daily capping.
>I've also noticed very varying speeds during the week
>depending on the time of day (not surprisingly, peak hours == less
>bandwidth).
Local congestion either in your exchange or in your local area.
--
Mark McIntyre
Eeyore
cff...@gmail.com wrote:
> Hi there, I'm in IT but for some reason didn't do my homework when
> getting a broadband provider, so I defaulted for Telewest cable
> +broadbad 3 years ago (now Virgin).
>
> It was all and well until Virgin took over. I'm seeing they're capping
> my connection to 512K (I got the 8MB level) on Saturday nights for
> example. I've also noticed very varying speeds during the week
> depending on the time of day (not surprisingly, peak hours == less
> bandwidth).
>
> So I have 2 questions: 1) is Virgin really as crap as they appear to
> be?
Yes.
> 2) What are my alternatives (I'm happy to spend upwards of 50quids
> on monthly fees)? Of course this time I'm going to do some research,
> but since so many of you really seem to be experts at this, I thought
> I'd get some advice first!
You need a decent reliable (typically not one appealing to the low end consumer
market) ISP. They do exist I use Idnet for example. What's your monthly
download requirement in GB ?
Graham
Eeyore
old man wrote:
> I'm currently showing 7.18Mbps
NTL/Virgin shows huge local/regional variations in service.
Graham
Eeyore
Mark McIntyre wrote:
> cff...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> >It was all and well until Virgin took over.
>
> They didn't - ntl bought the Virgin name.
>
> >I'm seeing they're capping
> >my connection to 512K (I got the 8MB level) on Saturday nights for
> >example.
>
> if you're on ADSL, they're limiting you to a certain amount per month.
Where did that little nugget of info come from ? Your bottom ?
Graahm
Full of Sh!te
"Eeyore" <rabbitsfriend...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:471183F4...@hotmail.com...
> You need a decent reliable (typically not one appealing to the low end
> consumer
> market) ISP. They do exist I use Idnet for example. What's your monthly
> download requirement in GB ?
>
> Graham
>
And some suggestions from a "Non-Biased" consumer...
Idnet are apparently good but how long is it before eeyore etc be crying
about the service when restrictions are applied (Donkey and Carott)..
Eeyore
"Full of Sh!te" wrote:
> "Eeyore" <rabbitsfriend...@hotmail.com> wrote
>
> > You need a decent reliable (typically not one appealing to the low end
> > consumer market) ISP. They do exist I use Idnet for example. What's your
> monthly
> > download requirement in GB ?
>
> And some suggestions from a "Non-Biased" consumer...
>
> Idnet are apparently good but how long is it before eeyore etc be crying
> about the service when restrictions are applied (Donkey and Carott)..
Part of whole raison d'etre of the likes of ISPs like Idnet and Zen is they
provide enough capacity that they have no need to throttle anyone.
They cost a couple of quid a month more to get that level of service.
Also, as they are ISPs that rely heavily on high end commercial customers they
*need* to ensure adequate bandwidth. You don't want to lose the likes of Hewlett
Packard or government departments as customers.
"We guarantee no contention across our network which is presented in London,
Paris and Amsterdam. We achieve this by not oversubscribing our services and
ensuring that bandwidth investment exceeds customer demand."
http://www.idnet.net/about/
What does YOUR ISP say about it's capacity ?
And what do you get for a speed test result here ?
http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/
Here's mine ..
http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/results.php?t=1192354472&v=2518779
Graham
Bob Eager
<rabbitsfriend...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> And what do you get for a speed test result here ?
> http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/
Not even going to try. What a load of crap. You need *Flash* to do a
speed test?
--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]
Carl Waring
> getting a broadband provider, so I defaulted for Telewest cable
> +broadbad 3 years ago (now Virgin).
>
> It was all and well until Virgin took over. I'm seeing they're capping
> my connection to 512K (I got the 8MB level) on Saturday nights for
> example. I've also noticed very varying speeds during the week
> depending on the time of day (not surprisingly, peak hours == less
> bandwidth).
Ahh. So you're on the old Virgin.net system and NOT the cable-broadband
then, as you mentioned in the first paragraph.
You'll need to read this then:
http://www.virgin.net/allyours/faqs/traffic_faqs.html
--
Carl Waring
DigiGuide:
Full: http://getdigiguide.com/?p=1&r=1495
Freeview (free): http://getdigiguide.com/?p=4&r=1495
Web-based: http://getdigiguide.com/?p=3&r=1495
George Weston
That's a good tester and shows non-techies like me that my modem's reported
connection speed bears little relation to actual down and up speeds.
Just tested my connection - my modem shows I'm connected at 3.0 Meg.
Actual results:
Down - 1452 (181.5 KB/sec)
Up - 383 (47.9 KB/sec)
Good upload result but the download speed is way below what the layman might
expect from the reported connection speed.
George
o p @secret.com Gonz
> getting a broadband provider, so I defaulted for Telewest cable
> +broadbad 3 years ago (now Virgin).
>
> It was all and well until Virgin took over. I'm seeing they're capping
> my connection to 512K (I got the 8MB level) on Saturday nights for
> example. I've also noticed very varying speeds during the week
> depending on the time of day (not surprisingly, peak hours == less
> bandwidth).
>
> So I have 2 questions: 1) is Virgin really as crap as they appear to
> be?
Yes.
They have oversold their product, and are now referred to as "pack em'
in and cap em' hard"
> 2) What are my alternatives (I'm happy to spend upwards of 50quids
> on monthly fees)? Of course this time I'm going to do some research,
> but since so many of you really seem to be experts at this, I thought
> I'd get some advice first!
o p @secret.com Gonz
"Mark McIntyre" <markmc...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:mpj2h3l3dinms3i11...@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 11:37:22 -0700, in uk.telecom.broadband ,
> cff...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>>It was all and well until Virgin took over.
>
> They didn't - ntl bought the Virgin name.
>
>>I'm seeing they're capping
>>my connection to 512K (I got the 8MB level) on Saturday nights for
>>example.
>
> if you're on ADSL, they're limiting you to a certain amount per month.
> There's no daily capping.
LOL
o p @secret.com Gonz
"Full of Sh!te" <fullofSh!t...@leftthebuilding.com> wrote in message
news:sblQi.77201$yN2....@newsfe7-gui.ntli.net...
>
> "Eeyore" <rabbitsfriend...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:471183F4...@hotmail.com...
>
>> You need a decent reliable (typically not one appealing to the low
>> end consumer
>> market) ISP. They do exist I use Idnet for example. What's your
>> monthly
>> download requirement in GB ?
>>
>> Graham
>>
>
> And some suggestions from a "Non-Biased" consumer...
I'm not biased towards Idnet, and I can recommend them too.
o p @secret.com Gonz
>
> What does YOUR ISP say about it's capacity ?
His ISP says we don't have any capacity issues, sign here...
:o)
Eeyore
Bob Eager wrote:
> Eeyore wrote:
>
> > And what do you get for a speed test result here ?
> > http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/
>
> Not even going to try. What a load of crap. You need *Flash* to do a
> speed test?
What has that got to do with the result ?
Sounds to me like you're looking for a whiny excuse not to run it.
Graham
Bob Eager
Don't really need to - I have a good speed (7Mb/s or so). But I was
curious to see what was different about this one.
It irritates me that people can complicate what is essentially a simple
thing. Yes, I don't have Flash on this machine, and I can't be bothered
to use the JVM to switch to the rarely used alternative.
7
Its now 25kbytes per second at 6pm on my 10Mbit line.
I have to wait till 3am to get anywhere near 750kbytes per second.
Virginmedia$ are spending 400 million pounds per annum to service
their debts and about 10% of that to provide a skeletal service and also
charge 1 pound a minute on support calls despite you paying already for your
broadband. They are bankrupt.
Its all OFFCON's fault.
They allowed for this to happen after taking bribes.
The process of eliminating their crap is already under way.
A few more days, and it will be very very very basic service
and if that sucks, its bye bye.
I really miss the good old days of Cable London and their techie
engineers. Very helpful. And its sad to be reduced to
having their cables ripped
out of the ground with such anger and fury.
Mark McIntyre
<rabbitsfriend...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>Mark McIntyre wrote:
>
>>
>> if you're on ADSL, they're limiting you to a certain amount per month.
>
>Where did that little nugget of info come from ?
From their AUP for hte ADSL service, which I'll leave it as an
exercise for you to find. Its a little more complicated than a hard
limit (heck this is VM so no surprises...) but thats what it amounts
to.
>Your bottom ?
Childish jerk.
--
Mark McIntyre
Abo
> Here's mine ..
> http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/results.php?t=1192354472&v=2518779
Mine:
http://www.dslzoneuk.net/speedtest/speedtest.php?id=708080
On sky. I'm about 550m from the exchange as the crow flies. The way the
streets run around here I wouldn't like to guess how much wire there is
though.
--
Abo
jdr....@virgin.net
> Eeyore wrote:
> > Here's mine ..
> >http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/results.php?t=1192354472&v=2518779
>
On 14 Oct, 21:34, Abo <n...@spam.thanks> wrote:
> Eeyore wrote:
> > Here's mine ..
> >http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/results.php?t=1192354472&v=2518779
I'm currently on around 500 Kbps on the tester above, on my *up to 8
Mbps* service..
I've (we've, the kids and I) only downloaded around 4GB on the last
four days...that's not quite Virgin's stated henus behaviour of "as
much a 2GB during peak times"
So why am I being thottled ? How does that work ?
Usual service resumes after midnight and in the mornings, ie around 6
Mbps.
Yeah yeah, I know, I'm still with them...you should see that nasty e-
mail I got when I asked if I could downgrade my account to dial up in
order to retain my e-mail address and those for all the family..
..apparently I can't.....should have done this before requesting my
MAC code I guess..ho hum..
Just now moving isn't an option, they've got me by the short and
curlies somewhat..
Still you never know, ............' things can only get better ' ;-)
(blinkered fool).....
Jim.
jdr....@virgin.net
> > Here's mine ..
> >http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/results.php?t=1192354472&v=2518779
Mike J
Same with my mate. Just moving him to BE. Most ISPs stopped allowing you
to 'downgrade' years ago - for obvious reasons.
You should consider getting yourself a domain and a reasonable host like
Fastnet for about £5/month. I've just done it. They also include
anti-spam for this amount with quite a good allowance.
However they don't have an smtp server (stops them being used as a spam
source) but you can always send via the ISP you choose.
It's a pain changing e-mails to important places but then, once it's
done, you can move around providers as necessary.
The alternative is to sign up to a new dia-up account with someone
(Virgin - he he) and just use that for e-mails. All you have to do is
dial in every couple of months to keep it 'alive'
Mike
Eeyore
Mike J wrote:
> jdr....@virgin.net wrote:
> > Abo <n...@spam.thanks> wrote:
> >>Eeyore wrote:
> >>
> >>>Here's mine ..
> >>>http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/results.php?t=1192354472&v=2518779
> >
> > I'm currently on around 500 Kbps on the tester above, on my *up to 8
> > Mbps* service..
> >
> > I've (we've, the kids and I) only downloaded around 4GB on the last
> > four days...that's not quite Virgin's stated henus behaviour of "as
> > much a 2GB during peak times"
> >
> > So why am I being thottled ? How does that work ?
> >
> > Usual service resumes after midnight and in the mornings, ie around 6
> > Mbps.
> >
> > Yeah yeah, I know, I'm still with them...you should see that nasty e-
> > mail I got when I asked if I could downgrade my account to dial up in
> > order to retain my e-mail address and those for all the family..
> >
> > ..apparently I can't.....should have done this before requesting my
> > MAC code I guess..ho hum..
> >
> > Just now moving isn't an option, they've got me by the short and
> > curlies somewhat..
Why don't you junk the ntlworld email addresses ? They're not worth being a
hostage to fortune.
> > Still you never know, ............' things can only get better ' ;-)
> > (blinkered fool).....
>
> Same with my mate. Just moving him to BE. Most ISPs stopped allowing you
> to 'downgrade' years ago - for obvious reasons.
Plusnet happily downgraded me to 'free' PAYG dial-up when I left their broadband
service. My email with them still works just fine although of course I now use
my new ISP's outgoing mail server to deliver any mail I send from it.
Graham
jdr....@virgin.net
>Fastnet for about £5/month.
Had one for years with Freenetname(Brightview?)Madasafish?)BT?)
£2 a month now though, so not quite freenetname anymore...
The pain is I've actually got to go round iTunes, schools, doctors,
work et all and change them all...which is what I'm currently doing.
Jim.
Tim Clark
"Bob Eager" <rd...@spamcop.net> writes:
> On Sun, 14 Oct 2007 14:04:59 UTC, Eeyore
> <rabbitsfriend...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Bob Eager wrote:
>>
>> > Eeyore wrote:
>> >
>> > > And what do you get for a speed test result here ?
>> > > http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/
>> >
>> > Not even going to try. What a load of crap. You need *Flash* to do a
>> > speed test?
>>
>> What has that got to do with the result ?
>>
>> Sounds to me like you're looking for a whiny excuse not to run it.
>
> Don't really need to - I have a good speed (7Mb/s or so). But I was
> curious to see what was different about this one.
>
> It irritates me that people can complicate what is essentially a simple
> thing. Yes, I don't have Flash on this machine, and I can't be bothered
> to use the JVM to switch to the rarely used alternative.
I agree with you Bob, use of Flash by a website immediately raises my
suspicion that it's being used to mask the fact that the site has
nothing sensible to say. However, I decided to take a look and was
pleasantly surprised by http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/
Quite a tasteful (if that's not an insult) use of Flash,
spoilt only by a confusion of incorrect suffixes (mb and KB) in places.
--
Tim Clark
Mike J
Tim Clark wrote:
>>
>>It irritates me that people can complicate what is essentially a simple
>>thing. Yes, I don't have Flash on this machine, and I can't be bothered
>>to use the JVM to switch to the rarely used alternative.
>
>
> I agree with you Bob, use of Flash by a website immediately raises my
> suspicion that it's being used to mask the fact that the site has
> nothing sensible to say. However, I decided to take a look and was
> pleasantly surprised by http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/
> Quite a tasteful (if that's not an insult) use of Flash,
> spoilt only by a confusion of incorrect suffixes (mb and KB) in places.
>
I'm probablty tempting fate here, suggesting the use of IE, but IE7Pro
(works with IE6 as well) enables flash blocking and ad blocking by page.
You can set it to only accept flash from those pages you trust/want.
Free download from here:- http://www.ie7pro.com/
Mike