be aware of download speed reductions

[r.worsdell]

virgin media have now started there traffic monitoring!

i fell victim to this 2nite when my 10mb connection was reduced to a wimpy 5mb. this is aparently to allow the people with a lower connection speed the same service as those with higher connection speeds!

i phoned up virgin who gave me 3 months half price internet and £10 credit to my account!
can any one explane whether there should have been a letter informing customers of this NEW change to there services and if so what happend to it!
although i may have got the credit and half price i am still trying to see if there is any way of taking this further, if any one knows how please let me no.
i have tried to keep this post as pleasent as possible even though i am absolutly fuming, so if u have the same veiws or have had the same problem please reply!

thanx.

[dcclanuk]

Originally Posted by r.worsdell

virgin media have now started there traffic monitoring!

i fell victim to this 2nite when my 10mb connection was reduced to a wimpy 5mb. this is aparently to allow the people with a lower connection speed the same service as those with higher connection speeds!

i phoned up virgin who gave me 3 months half price internet and £10 credit to my account!
can any one explane whether there should have been a letter informing customers of this NEW change to there services and if so what happend to it!
although i may have got the credit and half price i am still trying to see if there is any way of taking this further, if any one knows how please let me no.
i have tried to keep this post as pleasent as possible even though i am absolutly fuming, so if u have the same veiws or have had the same problem please reply!

thanx.

This has been started quite a while back... Welcome to VirginMedia!

Also, incase u dont know... calls to TECH SUPPORT FOR BROADBAND [ONLY] from 1st July will be 25p per minute, with a 10p connection charge!

[JASYMORRI]

Those charges for tech support are a silly move by Virgin, even more so for customers who have their phone service

[ReNZoR]

Hey im pretty new to posting here, but I am on 20meg cable (previously NTL area), and I knew about the speed reduction if you went over yoru limit between 4 and midnight, but I have noticed that my speeds during the afternoon/early evening drops considerably almost instantly at 4pm til midnight...

It's as if by magic at 4pm sharp, every day the connection will drop from a decent 16~18meg to around 4~5meg... I have experienced this from various servers I have attempted to download from (NOT torrents, I dont touch torrents) including Giganews using NewsBin Pro, and as if by magic just after midnight speeds go up again... is this normal? I certainly don't download a lot of data very often, and when I do download it's left to download from around 1am

I already know that these are peak times, but, it seems strange how everyone turns their internet on at the same tim bang at 4pm and suddenly for the next 8 hours were capped, or at least appear to be running at 4~5meg :P I don't remember reading about this anywhere, although as I said, I did read that if you go over you limit between the hours of 4pm and midnight you will get capped for 4 hours or so...

I live in Dagenham, Essex and am connected to the Poplar exchange...

anybody else experincing this?

Cheers!

[arcamalpha2004]

Originally Posted by r.worsdell

virgin media have now started there traffic monitoring!

i fell victim to this 2nite when my 10mb connection was reduced to a wimpy 5mb. this is aparently to allow the people with a lower connection speed the same service as those with higher connection speeds!

i phoned up virgin who gave me 3 months half price internet and £10 credit to my account!
can any one explane whether there should have been a letter informing customers of this NEW change to there services and if so what happend to it!
although i may have got the credit and half price i am still trying to see if there is any way of taking this further, if any one knows how please let me no.
i have tried to keep this post as pleasent as possible even though i am absolutly fuming, so if u have the same veiws or have had the same problem please reply!

thanx.

I can see their logic there
To allow people on a lower speed the same service as someone on a higher speed, lets all downgrade !

[matrixjs]

Originally Posted by ReNZoR

Hey im pretty new to posting here, but I am on 20meg cable (previously NTL area), and I knew about the speed reduction if you went over yoru limit between 4 and midnight, but I have noticed that my speeds during the afternoon/early evening drops considerably almost instantly at 4pm til midnight...

It's as if by magic at 4pm sharp, every day the connection will drop from a decent 16~18meg to around 4~5meg... I have experienced this from various servers I have attempted to download from (NOT torrents, I dont touch torrents) including Giganews using NewsBin Pro, and as if by magic just after midnight speeds go up again... is this normal? I certainly don't download a lot of data very often, and when I do download it's left to download from around 1am

I already know that these are peak times, but, it seems strange how everyone turns their internet on at the same tim bang at 4pm and suddenly for the next 8 hours were capped, or at least appear to be running at 4~5meg :P I don't remember reading about this anywhere, although as I said, I did read that if you go over you limit between the hours of 4pm and midnight you will get capped for 4 hours or so...

I live in Dagenham, Essex and am connected to the Poplar exchange...

anybody else experincing this?

Cheers!

You are not alone there I am having exactly the same problem not sure if its at 4pm though as I dont get in from work till 530pm but from then till midnight I am getting 2-6mb then after midnight speeds go up to 18 or 19mb again I just thought it was my connection but im not happy with this I was on 4mb for past 2 years and always had a rock solid 4mb connection no matter what time of day I went on so I will be calling up Virgin after my month of changing is up and going back to the 4mb as im not paying £37 for this rubbish connection....

P.s I am not going over dl limit as I hardly dl stuff just use pc with router for pc and PS3 gaming.

[Rob]

I'd suggest there is some discrepancy between the policy as stated on the Virgin Media website, and the reality as indicated by the above posts.

The way I read it, according to the website, anyone who hasn't downloaded the specified amount AFTER 4:00pm and until 12:00am, should not be traffic shaped (M package = 350MB+, L package = 750MB+, XL = 3GB+). If you are seeing clear evidence you are shaped, as opposed to the network getting slower simply through more users being online at peak periods, you should be complaining to Virgin Media.

[caveman]

Hey im pretty new to posting here, but I am on 20meg cable (previously NTL area), and I knew about the speed reduction if you went over yoru limit between 4 and midnight, but I have noticed that my speeds during the afternoon/early evening drops considerably almost instantly at 4pm til midnight...

It's as if by magic at 4pm sharp, every day the connection will drop from a decent 16~18meg to around 4~5meg... I have experienced this from various servers I have attempted to download from (NOT torrents, I dont touch torrents) including Giganews using NewsBin Pro, and as if by magic just after midnight speeds go up again... is this normal? I certainly don't download a lot of data very often, and when I do download it's left to download from around 1am

I already know that these are peak times, but, it seems strange how everyone turns their internet on at the same tim bang at 4pm and suddenly for the next 8 hours were capped, or at least appear to be running at 4~5meg :P I don't remember reading about this anywhere, although as I said, I did read that if you go over you limit between the hours of 4pm and midnight you will get capped for 4 hours or so...

I live in Dagenham, Essex and am connected to the Poplar exchange...

anybody else experincing this?

Cheers!

Like you I am served by the Poplar exchange, as I live in Romford. You are lucky in that your service reduces only to 5 Meg as me and others in my street go down to 1 - 2 Meg. The time I assume coincides with the kids coming home from school. This pattern is repeated at the weekends as well and I assume will be the case all day when the kids break up for school holidays.
As I write this post, my service is right up there at 20 Meg. Last night it was as low as 600. I don't download music, films or use torrents and newsgroups. Therefor I am not - or shouldn't be - subject to shaping. I assume it is pure congestion.
Like others have mentioned it is not worth the £37 when the offer has expired. I don't like complaining, but I long for the pre-upgrade days when I had a rock solid 4 Meg service from my STB. That was more than adequate, consistent and cheaper.
We shall have to consider alternatives like returning to BT for our lines and subscribing to ASDL with BE BB for example. Trouble is VM will not refund you the £11 line rental as it is included as free in the initial package although you now pay for it.

[Paul]

First thing you need to do is make sure you are still on the correct config for the speed, also since shaping is triggered by people hosing their connection past the allowed usage then you may need to deal with the underlying problem and download within the period that you are allowed maximum access during.
Do you get close to 20Mb at all on your connection? If not then it's an issue with VM and nothing to do with shaping as stated.
If you do, when do you see these speed drop outs? is it in the time periods as stated on the VM Traffic Shaping page? If so then you are being shaped for a reason.

Broadband Size: XL
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: XL package download at least 3GB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight) will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed – their download speed will be set to 5Mb, with their upload speed set to 256Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management policy is applied.

If it is during the 4pm to 12am period then it's traffic shaping and it's part of the Usage Policy of VM that they have recently started to enforce properly and that they have clearly stated the guidelines for. If you want to stop being shaped then you need to look to download your files outside of this 8 hour window.
So the big questions are.....
When are you being shaped and are you doing anything to cause it

[grubbymitts]

Danger! Danger! Thread becoming dangerously like yet another Traffic Shaping thread. Danger! Danger! Run to the hills!

[ntluser]

I wonder if this traffic balancing is a response to the changing numbers online any one time.

Very early in the morning there are few people on line so service should be good.During the day from 9am onwards a lot of people would be at work so the online service would only be used by those not at work and should be reasonable.

Probably after say, 5pm, there would be a pick-up in numbers as more people come home from work and gradually go online.

After midnight this would drop off as workers head off to bed in preparation for the following day except possibly on Friday nights when people are not necessarily going to work the next day.

In the early hours of the morning you would have a few people online possibly using the quiet time on the system for downloading.

This is a simplistic layman's view. I wonder what other factors affect the volume of traffic?

[Efour]

Originally Posted by ReNZoR

Hey im pretty new to posting here, but I am on 20meg cable (previously NTL area), and I knew about the speed reduction if you went over yoru limit between 4 and midnight, but I have noticed that my speeds during the afternoon/early evening drops considerably almost instantly at 4pm til midnight...

It's as if by magic at 4pm sharp, every day the connection will drop from a decent 16~18meg to around 4~5meg... I have experienced this from various servers I have attempted to download from (NOT torrents, I dont touch torrents) including Giganews using NewsBin Pro, and as if by magic just after midnight speeds go up again... is this normal? I certainly don't download a lot of data very often, and when I do download it's left to download from around 1am

I already know that these are peak times, but, it seems strange how everyone turns their internet on at the same tim bang at 4pm and suddenly for the next 8 hours were capped, or at least appear to be running at 4~5meg :P I don't remember reading about this anywhere, although as I said, I did read that if you go over you limit between the hours of 4pm and midnight you will get capped for 4 hours or so...

I live in Dagenham, Essex and am connected to the Poplar exchange...

anybody else experincing this?

Cheers!

Im over in Romford and its exactly the same. the POPL server. What you described it exactly the same here.

I spoke to them about it and they basically told me that POPL was so oversubscribed they had called it a Blackspot on their network, I asked when it was going to see upgraded equipment, they couldn't tell me.

Im paying 15 quid a mnth till its fixed. I might as well be on 2mbit in the evenings.

Originally Posted by dcclanuk

Also, incase u dont know... calls to TECH SUPPORT FOR BROADBAND [ONLY] from 1st July will be 25p per minute, with a 10p connection charge!

Call faults instead, it is free. Refuse to pay for tech support - insist that it is a fault.

---------- Post added at 08:49 ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 ----------

Originally Posted by Rob

I'd suggest there is some discrepancy between the policy as stated on the Virgin Media website, and the reality as indicated by the above posts.

That's right. Basically, in oversubscribed areas they just drop everyone down to 5m from 4pm to midnight, regardless of how much they downloaded. On the other hand, people in undersubscribed areas may never have their connection retarded at all.

[Juan90]

Originally Posted by ReNZoR

It's as if by magic at 4pm sharp, every day the connection will drop from a decent 16~18meg to around 4~5meg... I have experienced this from various servers I have attempted to download from (NOT torrents, I dont touch torrents) including Giganews using NewsBin Pro, and as if by magic just after midnight speeds go up again... is this normal? I certainly don't download a lot of data very often, and when I do download it's left to download from around 1am

I already know that these are peak times, but, it seems strange how everyone turns their internet on at the same tim bang at 4pm and suddenly for the next 8 hours were capped, or at least appear to be running at 4~5meg :P I don't remember reading about this anywhere, although as I said, I did read that if you go over you limit between the hours of 4pm and midnight you will get capped for 4 hours or so...

I live in Dagenham, Essex and am connected to the Poplar exchange...

anybody else experincing this?

Cheers!

I'm on a 4MB connection and since the introduction of the 20mb upgrades and traffic shaping this happens most nights - right on time 20 minutes ago my game on the internet became unplayable and will remain so for 5 or 6 hours unless I am lucky. Would'nt mind but that is all I use my connection for so unless things change fairly quickly I will have to fork out for a BT line to my property and change to ADSL.

I didn't bother with tech support, as I found out last year just how good they are....

[PowerUser]

I got hit as well last night for the 1st time. I have a Netmonitor to show me how much I download and I couldn't believe my eyes, just 1.7mb over the 3Gb and my connection dropped to 560kb/s from 1198Kb/s.

It does make me . NTL never felt this was necessary, and how right they were. First of all I have to pay a bigger electricity bill to keep my pc on longer. ok that's a cheap shot but true.

I'm the ONLY Virgin Broadband customer in a 230 House area "FACT" according to the engineer who came around last month. So who's service could I possibly affect Downloading!!. Why traffic shape me!..

So then, Assuming you Want to download 3.5Gb for argument sake, You pay £37 Per month for 1 hour MAX of Unlimited Service. Soon 20Mb will Appear, 30Mins MAX Unlimited Service. 50Mbit 7-9 Mins of Full 50Mbit!!!!!

The only thing keeping me with XL package is the 4pm til 12am, If this becomes 24Hr, Then it's 4mb Service for me, I'll Give it til Sept. Then I'll leave for Sky, If nothing improves. I would rather do that then let this rotten sinking boat company have my hard earned cash.

Originally Posted by r.worsdell

i fell victim to this 2nite when my 10mb connection was reduced to a wimpy 5mb. this is aparently to allow the people with a lower connection speed the same service as those with higher connection speeds!

How can they say that! when they also traffic shape the lower services to an even slower speed!!!!.