Explain STM to me please.

snazzy · 09-05-2008, 15:47

Can someone explain STM to me please. I see the times and how much you can download, but I don't see what you get dropped to once you go over.

I am downloading the client for Conan on line as I got a beta key from them. The game comes in at just over 13gb. It's taken about 50 hours to download on my already mostly underused but still crippled service.

If I'm downloading at 485kbs which is the fastest I've seen this 4mb connection reach what should it or could it drop to but still continue to work. Or does it not work and you can't download anything else. I'm a bit confused.

How does this STM effect online games?

My BB connection is quite badly broken and has been since not too long after Virgin came one the scene. I know a lot of you harp on about how it was mostly just a name change thing, but it's funny how my BB worked flawlessly before they became involved and they seem incapable of fixing what they are calling a utilisation issue. Damn it if it didn't take them eight months just to admit that it was their fault and not mine.

Jelly · 09-05-2008, 15:50

If you're on a 4MB connection, you'll be limited to 1MB download and 128kb if you download more than 800MB or upload more than 125MB between 4PM and 9PM.

snazzy · 09-05-2008, 16:04

So that would kill World of warcraft then? I'm sure playing an online game would shift more that 1mb of data in five hours.

This seems totally screwed up. So if I download a gig of data they then throttle me for 5 hours making it impossible to do anything other than email and view pages, is that what you are saying ?

darthlinux · 09-05-2008, 16:06

1mb speed is still quick enough to play online

techyguy4 · 09-05-2008, 16:07

Size 2 meg: download 300MB
upload: 150 MB
D/L speed: 1Mb
Upload: 128kbps

Size 4 meg: Download 800MB
Upload: 325 MB
D/L speed: 1Mb
Upload: 128kbps

Size 20meg: Download 3GB
Upload: 1250 MB
D/L speed: 5Mb
Upload : 192kbps

These are the upload and download limits for all the three packages.If you exceed this limit, then the speed will be reduced to the mentioned upload and download speed.
e.g. if you are on 2meg connection, then the download speed would be reduced to 1 meg. and the upload speed would be 128kbps.

dev · 09-05-2008, 16:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by snazzy

So that would kill World of warcraft then? I'm sure playing an online game would shift more that 1mb of data in five hours.

This seems totally screwed up. So if I download a gig of data they then throttle me for 5 hours making it impossible to do anything other than email and view pages, is that what you are saying ?

not 1mb of data, 1mb in terms of speed so your 4mb connection becomes a 1mb connection for 5 hours, playing games will be fine at that speed

snazzy · 09-05-2008, 16:10

Okay, that's fine. Now if only I could get them to fix it I'd be more than happy with a mighty 1mb connection. LOL.

**Kymmy** · 09-05-2008, 16:11

1Mb is the speed it dropps dwn to AFTER you download 800MB of data, still OK for playing WoW though the upload will also drop to 128Kb which might be pushed via WoW.

13Gb should be doable overnight on a 4Mb connection and if you start it at 9pm you shouldn;t get STM'd unless you;re in one of the new trial areas. Also the 485Kbps (bits) is probably 485KBps (bytes) which is about right for a 4Mbps service.

foreverwar · 09-05-2008, 16:12

Guys, can I just point out (in case there is any confusion), there appears to be a mixing of bits and Bytes in your posts (8 bits to the Byte)

L Broadband = 4Mb(its)/s, or 500KB(ytes)/s (snazzy, I am not sure if you meant 485KB/s or 485Kb/s -if you mean 485 KiloBytes/second, that is about right for 4Mb).

snazzy · 09-05-2008, 16:19

Yeah, I never noticed the bits and bytes, doh! The reason for all the questions is that my broadband is still knackered and Virgin seem unable to fix it, that's why it took over 50 hours to down load 13gb of data left over night twice and still hadn't done it, but there are other issues with the connection. It's just over subscribbed and Virgin just keep giving me new dates each time one passes and it's not fixed.

**Graham M** · 09-05-2008, 17:58

Wow can be played reasonably with Voice Turned Off on a dialup connection.

G UK · 09-05-2008, 20:55

May I ask how your connection is broken?

Sorry if you'e posted it elsewhere but I must have missed the thread.

snazzy · 09-05-2008, 21:12

It's broken in as much as at peak times, for example about 20 mins after 10 million kids get home from school, my BB speed drops to such a slow speed that most nights there's little use going on the net or down loading.

Virgin admitted it's a utilisation issue, but it took about a year for them to admit it. Also I have jumped through hoops with their inane tech support to get it sorted but it's still not fixed. They give me date after date for it to be done, but it's never sorted and they just give me a new date.

I never call tech support anymore 'cos there is nothing they can say that will get it fixed. They know exactly what it is. They either can't be bothered or are incapable to doing it. Going back to BT is too expansive and I really don't want to. I have all my services with Virgin.

One day I'll get up and totally see my backside with it. That's the day I just say. " Virgin, you are taking the proverbial. Come and get this crap outta my house."

Wild Oscar · 09-05-2008, 21:41

Why is going back to BT too expensive?

If your BT socket is still live (still got a dial tone) all you need is a BT line rental .. you could get other services to suit what you need after that .. that's what I'd do I think.

gothicdraconian · 09-05-2008, 22:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeph

Wow can be played reasonably with Voice Turned Off on a dialup connection.

Yes, it uses no more than 1-2 KB/s in each direction. I think the most i ever used during a WoW session was 40MB downloaded.