traffic management complaint

darkm · 29-12-2007, 20:57

folks,

Just phoned VM tech support team. Spent 10 mins talking to some dude who really wasn't very helpfully. Between 4-9 I downloaded one file that was 700meg. Currenlt my speed is being capped off at 1 meg when it should be on 4megs. As I understand the traffic management usage, I was allowed 800 meg before any traffic management would be applied.

The tech guy said TM is done automaticaly by there servers and its beyond there control. He said your service would resume to normal after 12am tonight which is not right given the fact that I followed the guidelines. Hel my computer was even turned off after I downloaded one file. SO what is going on?

The only thing the tech guy coud do is arrange a callback from his manager which will probably not happen tonight. He said he couldn't put his manager on the phone because its a premium line, which quite frankly is pure rubbish.

Do VM make up their own rules as they go along? any suggestions folks because this is clearly not right.

lsproc · 29-12-2007, 21:03

The technology at the uBR is set to manage after a certain amount of data goes either u/s or d/s. So as soon as the uBR senses 800MB going down, it will shape.

Now onto your problem. What happened here is incredibly strange. In theory - ItShouldNotHappen, but of course, its IT, it WILL go wrong. I suspect its a glitch in the system.

My advice to you is just to ignore it, unless it happens repetetivly, in which case contact them again.

Edit: just incase your wondering - I do NOT work for Virgin, I just have a good memory from other stuff I read here

dev · 29-12-2007, 21:11

how large was the file exactly?
did you only download that file and do *zero* browsing/emailing?

utt · 29-12-2007, 21:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkm

The only thing the tech guy coud do is arrange a callback from his manager which will probably not happen tonight. He said he couldn't put his manager on the phone because its a premium line, which quite frankly is pure rubbish.

Do VM make up their own rules as they go along? any suggestions folks because this is clearly not right.

Nope we don't make up the rules, the tech is very correct, he cannot transfer you to a manager whilst on a premium rate line.

brundles · 29-12-2007, 21:41

Something else worth considering is how the file is downloaded. FTP is pretty economical with bandwidth, but bittorrent will usually use up more download bandwidth than the file size. Newsgroups will always download more than the file size (even if you don't get par files) because of the MIME encoding.

29-12-2007, 22:28

To be honest I think the limits are quite flexible. Some people seem to get shaped before hitting the published limit, if their area is oversubscribed.

slowcoach · 29-12-2007, 22:33

Plus upload is now counted in the total and each packet downloaded has to have an ACK uploaded to verify the content.
Also, if you got STM'd at 9PM you will be put on 1Mb for 5 hours so your normal speed will not resume until 2AM.

deed02392 · 29-12-2007, 22:33

By what method did you download the file? Even via HTTP the overhead transfer data is quite high. When downloading at 20Mbps in Portsmouth (which is what I get

), the upload speed is around 80KB/s, just acknowledging packets. I'm not sure whether or not 100MB would be uploaded at 500KB/s download via HTTP, but I'm sure if you were using a torrent client you would almost certainly have uploaded that much during the downloading.

The computer that registered your bandwidth won't have just 'made a mistake'.

darkm · 30-12-2007, 00:32

The file I was downloading was 700 meg via bit torrent, I had also limited my upload as well. The only file i would have been sharing was the file i was downloading. File downladed approx half an hour and to be honest i checked my work email once but didnt read any emails. After that my pc was left to download the file. Uploading was set at 25kb max upload so do the maths.

And the fact that they cant put there manager on the phone bugs me. I've worked in many call centres before and this has never been the case. I have also worked for ups NTL for the Rep of Ireland and this was not the case. What it probably is that managers are very reluctant to speak to customers, they expect their advisors to deal with the call and also advisors are very reluctant to pass the call on because they themselves dont have much confidence in their managers to deal with the call. They lack the knowledge, it's all about performance management. And I was paying for the call so he could have put his line manager on. And im pretty sure there are many folks here who have to their managers whilst on line.

deed02392 · 30-12-2007, 02:05

The maths shows 43MB's in the time you were downloading if uploading at full sped. Add another 57MB/s for finding the torrent, downloading the torrent, and all the acknowledgment packets that were undoubtably sent to all the different peers you were downloading it from, in the form of approximately 256KB packets, I think that it is VERY likely you went over the 800MB mark, and that if the only think you have to complain about is that fact that you were capped, then you are in the wrong.

Of course, feel free to complain about the STM, but there's no way you were managed from 700MB's onwards.

lostandconfused · 30-12-2007, 11:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkm

And the fact that they cant put there manager on the phone bugs me. I've worked in many call centres before and this has never been the case. I have also worked for ups NTL for the Rep of Ireland and this was not the case. What it probably is that managers are very reluctant to speak to customers, they expect their advisors to deal with the call and also advisors are very reluctant to pass the call on because they themselves dont have much confidence in their managers to deal with the call. They lack the knowledge, it's all about performance management. And I was paying for the call so he could have put his line manager on. And im pretty sure there are many folks here who have to their managers whilst on line.

Its not that they cant transfer you to a manager, its that they are not allowed. It is an ofcom regulation. that you cant be put on hold whilst on a premim rate number.

You cant transfer someone without putting them on hold first.

The only other solution would be for the manager to come and sit at the agents desk while they deal with the escalation, which again isnt really practical as then the agent cant take calls while his manager is talking to you, and it also means that you are paying for a call, which may take a while as escalations do.

Customer service, and faults will transfer you if you request it, its just TSB that wont.

r00t · 30-12-2007, 11:54

Even if you did speak to a manager they would not be able to help you, they have no tech knowledge. And in your case a manager or anyone else would not be able to remove the STM for you.

So now we all know, demanding/ speaking to a manager will do you no good. The managers are there to manage people.

johhn · 30-12-2007, 21:25

I wouldnt trust any statistic numbers shown on those torrent software, get a du meter, v3.5 is fine enough, very easy to find some ''free'' one to download, you can totally trust it.

the-cable-guy · 31-12-2007, 00:51

the law states that if you ask to speak to a manager they have to let you, iv had VM say no to me aswel but by law they shouldnt.

dev · 31-12-2007, 00:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

the law states that if you ask to speak to a manager they have to let you, iv had VM say no to me aswel but by law they shouldnt.

what law exactly?