Bristol VM complaints...

[Jack2k7]

Hey CF (first post, etc).

Was searching around google for complaints on VM and it led me here..

Sitrep so far:

I was a 4MB Telewest user (Internet and phone services only).

Since the 14th of Feb, my service has been degrading over time, and to be quite honest, since December last year, the service has hardly been what I've had in the past.

Today, I loaded up my trusty command prompt, and entered "ping -t bbc.co.uk". Shock horrer as I find that I'm losing packet left right and center (1 packet out of every 5 isn't finding it's way). Not only that, but my ping is jumping around from 50 to 90.

I can deal with a constant 40-50 ping at high-peak times, but anything above that for long periods of time, and consistant for several days is a joke - not only that, but the packet loss percentage is a joke.

I decided to go to speedtest, see if it was just bbc's web server, or perhaps something else.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/02/72.png
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/02/73.png

Pretty abysmal for 4MB, isn't it (second test was done 30 minutes after the first)? Not only that, but I tried several other servers too (Ireland and NL server), and it only got worse, with ping times of 80+.

I'm at my wits end here, as I've phoned Telewest in the past when this sort of thing happens, and all they keep saying is "You're UBR is quite heavily loaded, and we can do nothing about it". After a few weeks, it usualy goes away for 6 months, and then re-apears.

I have no idea what to do. I keep my machine in tip-top condition, doesn't even have any spyware, virii or the like, hell, it doesn't even have any P2P software on this one, and the one that does is currently unplugged from the network and turned off.

I poked about here and tried to find some results for general VM issues, and anything in Bristol in particular (to no avail unfortunately). Has anyone got a tactic of complaining that gets results in general? I know the old "I want to be moved to another line", but that only lasts for a while.

Thanks for any help in advance.

[Jack2k7]

I spent two hours on the phone last night (the kind bloke on the end of the phone called me back as to not keep me on hold for a large period of time). It seems that Bristol had reached its capacity limit, and they've bumped up a complaint to the manager and networking team to upgrade the UBR down here so it can cope with the amount of traffic.

It took me a while of persuading the guy on the end of the phone that it was a fault on their end, and told them that I shouldn't have to call up for them to upgrade their capacity (they should of noticed it well before I called up).

If any of you are noticing speeds dropping at peak times, I suggest you give them a call and see if there's network congestion in your area, and keep asking them to fix the problem by upgrading.

Took me two hours, but I got my way.