STM after 9pm

pk1209 · 19-09-2008, 21:48

Hi,

This has probablt been covered many times, but a I couldn't find what I wanted when I searched.

STM is meant to be - from VM site:

"between 4pm and 9pm. In extreme cases, weâ€™ll now also reduce the speed between 10am and 3pm"

Tonight, I paused a download a 2.5gb (on 20mb) at 8:30pm, while it was downloading at full pelt.

I resumed it at 10pm or so. 0.5gb later, I'm on STM. I didn't breach the limit within the 4-9pm timeframe so why is this happening?

I phoned VM tech support, and was told it's probably load on the server, which of course it isn't because my download is glued at 0.5mb. I told this to the chappie who didn't have any answer for it, an repeated it was server load. After a brief laugh, I hung up.

Is this a common thing, are VM lying about their STM hours?

Cheers,

pk

Stabhappy · 19-09-2008, 21:53

Do yourself a favour and post on the virgin media newsgroup virginmedia.support.broadband.cable

Post this and a tech should easily be able to tell that it's an issue that needs to be solved, and you can be sure that it'll get solved quickly.

Note: are you on a shared connection? it's possible that you hit the STM in-hours and didnt know about it until you tried to download.

homealone · 19-09-2008, 22:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by pk1209

Hi,

This has probablt been covered many times, but a I couldn't find what I wanted when I searched.

STM is meant to be - from VM site:

"between 4pm and 9pm. In extreme cases, we’ll now also reduce the speed between 10am and 3pm"

Tonight, I paused a download a 2.5gb (on 20mb) at 8:30pm, while it was downloading at full pelt.

I resumed it at 10pm or so. 0.5gb later, I'm on STM. I didn't breach the limit within the 4-9pm timeframe so why is this happening?

I phoned VM tech support, and was told it's probably load on the server, which of course it isn't because my download is glued at 0.5mb. I told this to the chappie who didn't have any answer for it, an repeated it was server load. After a brief laugh, I hung up.

Is this a common thing, are VM lying about their STM hours?

Cheers,

pk

STM lasts for 5 hours from when it triggers, if you trigger it at 20:59 it will not release until 01:59..

- even though you thought you had 'only' loaded 2.5 GB, the system presumably disagreed & had triggered STM - it is a pain, but scheduling downloads for after 21:00 does currently work, in my experience..

ultimate · 19-09-2008, 23:18

What you received on your hard drive is usually smaller then the actual bytes downloaded, I do not know the technicalities, perhaps someone here can expand on it.

pk1209 · 19-09-2008, 23:21

I understand the the 5 hours STM even at 8:59, but like I say, it was downloading at full pelt when I stopped the DL.

Maybe I was very close and went over edge browsing the web or something.

Might do some more testing on it though.

Jonathan90 · 20-09-2008, 08:54

0.5mb well that oversubscription lol 20mb gets capped to 5Mb

**Kymmy** · 20-09-2008, 09:07

The OP's on 10Mb from his profile so it should have been 2Mb on STM

Always check your upload as that's one of the best indicators for STM instead of ringing up CS/TS.. If the upload is normal then it's over subscription, if the upload is down to STM levels then obviously it's STM

mr,m · 20-09-2008, 09:44

Not wanting to sound really stupid here,but what's stm? I have had similar dramatic slowdowns too.

**Kymmy** · 20-09-2008, 09:58

STM is a dynamic cap put on to your download/upload speeds in response to download/upload limits at different times of the day.

Here's the webiste page about it

pk1209 · 20-09-2008, 11:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonathan90

0.5mb well that oversubscription lol 20mb gets capped to 5Mb

sorry - that's what i meant :|

Think I'll install DU meter and run some tests with it.

**Kymmy** · 20-09-2008, 11:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by pk1209

sorry - that's what i meant :|

Think I'll install DU meter and run some tests with it.

Which package are you on as 5mb is stm levels for XL where your profile states you;re on L (10Mb) which has a 2.5Mb STM limit

20-09-2008, 11:41

thats correct what you said web browsing and utube and stuff like all use bandwidth more than you would think as home said just download after 9pm if downloading on the night

pk1209 · 20-09-2008, 13:49

reply - oopsy again, i'm on 20mb - just never got around to updating the profile.

**Kymmy** · 20-09-2008, 14:09

Mind you looking at your area I would more suspect oversubscription

20-09-2008, 14:42

Just like my area but according to Alex Brown its not oversubscipted just in need of a upgrade