Slow Speeds In Cardiff? [Archive]

John.C

09-05-2007, 21:21

Are there any problems in Cardiff? We have been noticing slow speeds recently. NTLs news server is quite slow and EasyNews is abysmal. They have a traceroute tool to try and find where the problem lies and it belives the problem is not with them. I tried routing myself through there other servers (they have about 7) and all of them gave pretty much the same results.

I'm on the 81.104.169.xxx or CF24 area.

Here are the results of some speed tests I did.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.marsden/newspeedtest.html?1178738241968

Wed, 9 May 2007 19:17:35 UTC

1st 512K took 8031 ms = 63.8 KB/sec, approx 526 Kbps, 0.51 Mbps
2nd 512K took 7281 ms = 70.3 KB/sec, approx 579 Kbps, 0.57 Mbps
3rd 512K took 7594 ms = 67.4 KB/sec, approx 555 Kbps, 0.54 Mbps
4th 512K took 7297 ms = 70.2 KB/sec, approx 578 Kbps, 0.56 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 560 Kbps, 0.55 Mbps

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/

Last Result:
Download Speed: 506 kbps (63.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 447 kbps (55.9 KB/sec transfer rate)

http://speedtest.net (I used the london server since it was the closest.)

http://www.speedtest.net/result/123950995.png

Please can somebody look into this for me. Thank you. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be on the 10 megabit cable broadband service. Almost forget to mention which service.

---------- Post added at 21:21 ---------- Previous post was at 20:28 ----------

I just read the first post of this http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/33611043-merged-20mb-broadband-starting-1st-may.html

I think I'm supposed to be on 20 meg now. I haven't read all the thread yet though.

Sirpingalot

09-05-2007, 21:22

There are problems all over the country at the moment, unfortunately.

John.C

09-05-2007, 21:54

Ah thats alright, well it isn't alright if you know what I mean, but I know it isn't just me experiencing it :)

Thanks for the reply.

gjbxxx

10-05-2007, 17:54

Ah thats alright, well it isn't alright if you know what I mean, but I know it isn't just me experiencing it :)

Thanks for the reply.

I have had the same problem for about 3 months in CF11. (Grangetown). I have 4MB connection and typically get from 150kB to 500kB on various downloads and speedtests. Very early in the morningI get high speeds so it cannot be a fault at my end, even so I have had all my equipment replaced including the cable in the street, but the engineers have told me that the local distribution box cannot handle the traffic since the on demand TV service took off and needs upgrading. The only thing to do is to ring in a fault every time the response is bad in the hope this becomes more expensive than replacing the kit.

Safeman

10-05-2007, 18:55

i think VM will lose loads of virgin customers if this carrys on

---------- Post added at 18:55 ---------- Previous post was at 18:34 ----------

Thu, 10 May 2007 17:55:04 UTC

1st 512K took 10 ms = 51200 KB/sec, approx 421888 Kbps, 412 Mbps
2nd 512K took 10 ms = 51200 KB/sec, approx 421888 Kbps, 412 Mbps
3rd 512K took 10 ms = 51200 KB/sec, approx 421888 Kbps, 412 Mbps
4th 512K took 0 ms = Infinity KB/sec, approx Infinity Kbps, Infinity Mbps

S.O.F.T.

10-05-2007, 19:08

im in barry m8y and it has been slow for about 3 months now take a look
my best ever anyone beat that lol
Thu, 10 May 2007 17:23:10 UTC

1st 512K took 8312 ms = 61.6 KB/sec, approx 508 Kbps, 0.5 Mbps
2nd 512K took 9047 ms = 56.6 KB/sec, approx 466 Kbps, 0.46 Mbps
3rd 512K took 7875 ms = 65 KB/sec, approx 536 Kbps, 0.52 Mbps
4th 512K took 8094 ms = 63.3 KB/sec, approx 522 Kbps, 0.51 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 508 Kbps, 0.5 Mbps
this is every night from 6 till midnight . vm say there is no problem well i see 1

ichiban

10-05-2007, 20:29

Grangetown CF11

Thu, 10 May 2007 19:23:40 GMT

1st 512K took 10266 ms = 49.9 KB/sec, approx 411 Kbps, 0.4 Mbps
2nd 512K took 9890 ms = 51.8 KB/sec, approx 427 Kbps, 0.42 Mbps
3rd 512K took 10063 ms = 50.9 KB/sec, approx 419 Kbps, 0.41 Mbps
4th 512K took 10531 ms = 48.6 KB/sec, approx 400 Kbps, 0.39 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 414 Kbps, 0.41 Mbps

i would hate to see what speeds i be getting without Traffic Shaping

paulmonkeycanary

10-05-2007, 20:36

Im in CF14 gabalfa, my speed is currently 0.4Mbps, so you're not alone. Im on the 10 Mbps service, but last week I was getting up to 14 Mbps somehow!

ecksmen

10-05-2007, 20:41

Thu, 10 May 2007 19:40:30 GMT

1st 512K took 719 ms = 712.1 KB/sec, approx 5868 Kbps, 5.73 Mbps
2nd 512K took 483 ms = 1060 KB/sec, approx 8734 Kbps, 8.53 Mbps
3rd 512K took 533 ms = 960.6 KB/sec, approx 7915 Kbps, 7.73 Mbps
4th 512K took 1237 ms = 413.9 KB/sec, approx 3411 Kbps, 3.33 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 6482 Kbps, 6.33 Mbps

To repeat this test from the source server click here.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/124.png

Not exactly great here in CF11 just a mile from gabalfa...

However, not matter what I try to download, I'm only getting 60Kb/Sec transfer and that's fromt he likes of ATi.com, Microsoft.com - newsgroups would be the best test, but not currently configured on this machine.

ocalld

11-05-2007, 01:17

ecksmen

11-05-2007, 01:27

I've been too busy at work the last couple of days, but I'm off from work tomorrow (current on the night shift in cf23 ;) ) and I plan on formatting my machine (os x in dire need of a rebuild) so I'm going to do some tests through out the day with a clean machine directly connected to the modem.

Pyr8

11-05-2007, 07:10

I live in cf14 and it all seems ok this morning so far, still on 10Meg and will be for a while yet i would think.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/118.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Mick Fisher

11-05-2007, 07:48

gjbxxx

11-05-2007, 08:15

CF23 area
speeds crap like everyone else.

I also get disconnected several times a day if using high up load with torrents, anyone else get this???
If i limit the upload to 10k, will stay up for days, soon as i up the speed, it last for a few hours and then looses connection. This has got worse since i upgraded to 10M.
I've got the Ambit 200 modem, are these ok with 10M ?????

Do you use a router?. Many routers have problems with bittorrent clients due to the large no of tcp connections. When you up your upload speed you will likely increase the inbound connections and the router will gradually come to a crawl.

ecksmen

11-05-2007, 09:12

Fri, 11 May 2007 08:12:18 GMT

1st 512K took 615 ms = 832.5 KB/sec, approx 6860 Kbps, 6.7 Mbps
2nd 512K took 491 ms = 1042.8 KB/sec, approx 8593 Kbps, 8.39 Mbps
3rd 512K took 533 ms = 960.6 KB/sec, approx 7915 Kbps, 7.73 Mbps
4th 512K took 601 ms = 851.9 KB/sec, approx 7020 Kbps, 6.86 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 7597 Kbps, 7.42 Mbps

RS100

11-05-2007, 09:13

Im outside cardiff and getting https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/114.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Alto

11-05-2007, 09:41

In Barry CF63 - have been getting about 0.5 meg early evening rising to about 1.5Meg late evening, and shooting up to 9.5meg at about 10 past midnight. Not impressed.

Tawton9

11-05-2007, 11:00

I live in fairwater and im getting.

Fri, 11 May 2007 09:59:16 UTC

1st 512K took 438 ms = 1169 KB/sec, approx 9633 Kbps, 9.41 Mbps
2nd 512K took 656 ms = 780.5 KB/sec, approx 6431 Kbps, 6.28 Mbps
3rd 512K took 235 ms = 2178.7 KB/sec, approx 17952 Kbps, 17.53 Mbps
4th 512K took 406 ms = 1261.1 KB/sec, approx 10391 Kbps, 10.15 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 11102 Kbps, 10.84 Mbps

DJ_Price

11-05-2007, 13:14

I've never had any problems with speed where I am in cardiff CF3 area. I think my local exchange is the st mellons one, but anyway as I said never any speed problems for me & I have been with ntl/virgin for about 3 years.

IanGuy

11-05-2007, 17:25

CF5 area here, no problems.

On 2mb got this:

Fri, 11 May 2007 16:24:02 UTC

1st 512K took 2194 ms = 233.4 KB/sec, approx 1923 Kbps, 1.88 Mbps
2nd 512K took 2173 ms = 235.6 KB/sec, approx 1941 Kbps, 1.9 Mbps
3rd 512K took 2163 ms = 236.7 KB/sec, approx 1950 Kbps, 1.9 Mbps
4th 512K took 2163 ms = 236.7 KB/sec, approx 1950 Kbps, 1.9 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 1941 Kbps, 1.9 Mbps

So pretty much perfect and as good as ever, hope you guys get sorted soon.

Marloe

11-05-2007, 18:19

This is the first time I have had problems with speed not sure what area I'm in but its Colchester. I ran the test 3 times to make sure. I'm on 20mb

Fri, 11 May 2007 17:14:06 UTC

1st 512K took 4266 ms = 120 KB/sec, approx 989 Kbps, 0.97 Mbps
2nd 512K took 8578 ms = 59.7 KB/sec, approx 492 Kbps, 0.48 Mbps
3rd 512K took 5422 ms = 94.4 KB/sec, approx 778 Kbps, 0.76 Mbps
4th 512K took 6921 ms = 74 KB/sec, approx 610 Kbps, 0.6 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 717 Kbps, 0.7 Mbps

To repeat this test from the source server click here.

Fri, 11 May 2007 17:15:03 UTC

1st 512K took 9187 ms = 55.7 KB/sec, approx 459 Kbps, 0.45 Mbps
2nd 512K took 4516 ms = 113.4 KB/sec, approx 934 Kbps, 0.91 Mbps
3rd 512K took 1828 ms = 280.1 KB/sec, approx 2308 Kbps, 2.25 Mbps
4th 512K took 6266 ms = 81.7 KB/sec, approx 673 Kbps, 0.66 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 1094 Kbps, 1.07 Mbps

To repeat this test from the source server click here.

Fri, 11 May 2007 17:16:15 UTC

1st 512K took 4125 ms = 124.1 KB/sec, approx 1023 Kbps, 1 Mbps
2nd 512K took 3656 ms = 140 KB/sec, approx 1154 Kbps, 1.13 Mbps
3rd 512K took 2109 ms = 242.8 KB/sec, approx 2001 Kbps, 1.95 Mbps
4th 512K took 5110 ms = 100.2 KB/sec, approx 826 Kbps, 0.81 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 1251 Kbps, 1.22 Mbps

To repeat this test from the source server click here.

JamShady

11-05-2007, 18:49

How are you on 20Mb already Marloe?

I'm in Adamsdown these days, and getting these speeds:
08-May
18:15 0.5
09-May
18:00 0.73
18:30 0.72
19:10 0.57
19:40 0.35
20:00 0.24
21:45 0.34
10-May
8:36 9.34
18:04 0.57
19:15 0.48
20:10 0.28
21:30 0.37
11-May
0:20 1.36
1:00 3.77
8:20 9.42
18:15 0.6
18:30 0.34
18:45 0.35
I've started to document them now, this is beyond extracting the urine. The figure on the left is the time (24 hour) and the right is Mbps

Funnily enough, down the road, in Roath (by town) I used to get 10Mb all day every day (until I moved in November last year that is).

Marloe

11-05-2007, 18:59

Colchester got upgraded on the 1st of may. I may need to change my modem i'm still on the 100 one.

Download Failed (1)

ocalld

12-05-2007, 00:32

Do you use a router?. Many routers have problems with bittorrent clients due to the large no of tcp connections. When you up your upload speed you will likely increase the inbound connections and the router will gradually come to a crawl.

yes, with a router, linksys and they have the prob you described, they cache the mac addresses and the cache fills before address time to live expire. i put custom firmware on to get around this, so not the issue. I usually only have to reboot modem, never the router. checked router logs, cache never full, this is def virgin net or modem problem.

cheers

Mr_Burns

13-05-2007, 17:23

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/100.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Slooooooow in Grungetown......(this is on 10 meg)

ichiban

13-05-2007, 17:50

Grangetown....

Sun, 13 May 2007 16:42:38 GMT

1st 512K took 9610 ms = 53.3 KB/sec, approx 439 Kbps, 0.43 Mbps
2nd 512K took 10156 ms = 50.4 KB/sec, approx 415 Kbps, 0.41 Mbps
3rd 512K took 11000 ms = 46.5 KB/sec, approx 383 Kbps, 0.37 Mbps
4th 512K took 10437 ms = 49.1 KB/sec, approx 405 Kbps, 0.4 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 411 Kbps, 0.4 Mbps

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/98.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/99.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Download Failed (1) (http://img12.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=74959_speed_122_1188lo.JPG)

Newsgroup
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/48.jpg

Gypo

13-05-2007, 17:54

ichiban ive started using 25 connections on newsleecher and get a steady 950k/s

ichiban

13-05-2007, 18:10

ichiban ive started using 25 connections on newsleecher and get a steady 950k/s

i'm with usenetserver and can only get 10 connections :o:

RS100

13-05-2007, 19:29

Im in cwmbran running off the cardiff headend and its been slow

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/96.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/97.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Grangetown....

Sun, 13 May 2007 16:42:38 GMT

1st 512K took 9610 ms = 53.3 KB/sec, approx 439 Kbps, 0.43 Mbps
2nd 512K took 10156 ms = 50.4 KB/sec, approx 415 Kbps, 0.41 Mbps
3rd 512K took 11000 ms = 46.5 KB/sec, approx 383 Kbps, 0.37 Mbps
4th 512K took 10437 ms = 49.1 KB/sec, approx 405 Kbps, 0.4 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 411 Kbps, 0.4 Mbps

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/98.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/99.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

http://img12.imagevenue.com/loc1188/th_74959_speed_122_1188lo.JPG (http://img12.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=74959_speed_122_1188lo.JPG)

Newsgroup
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/48.jpg

kraized

13-05-2007, 20:28

Crap speeds here also. CF10 Cardiff area.

Sun, 13 May 2007 19:24:05 GMT

1st 512K took 9665 ms = 53 KB/sec, approx 437 Kbps, 0.43 Mbps
2nd 512K took 10311 ms = 49.7 KB/sec, approx 410 Kbps, 0.4 Mbps
3rd 512K took 10618 ms = 48.2 KB/sec, approx 397 Kbps, 0.39 Mbps
4th 512K took 10953 ms = 46.7 KB/sec, approx 385 Kbps, 0.38 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 407 Kbps, 0.4 Mbps

RS100

13-05-2007, 21:07

I might move back to BT broadband as i never had any problems browseing the net like i do with Vrgin Media VM are a joke and since they have taken over EX-NTL things have got worse,

NitroTab

13-05-2007, 23:12

I'm in the CF14 area and I'm on the 4Mb service from VM and up until a day or 2 ago it started getting really poor, instead of getting dl speeds of over 4Mb, im getting dl speeds of about 35-60Kb/s, really is annoying me now.

kraized

14-05-2007, 00:19

Now getting.

Sun, 13 May 2007 23:19:21 GMT

1st 512K took 452 ms = 1132.7 KB/sec, approx 9333 Kbps, 9.11 Mbps
2nd 512K took 663 ms = 772.2 KB/sec, approx 6363 Kbps, 6.21 Mbps
3rd 512K took 1169 ms = 438 KB/sec, approx 3609 Kbps, 3.52 Mbps
4th 512K took 701 ms = 730.4 KB/sec, approx 6018 Kbps, 5.88 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 6331 Kbps, 6.18 Mbps

ecksmen

14-05-2007, 13:30

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/95.png

Seems to be working much better now - but it is during the day, going to keep on testing.

RS100

14-05-2007, 18:16

getting slow speeds again this evening

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/93.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/94.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

paulmonkeycanary

14-05-2007, 20:25

0.609 Mbps here in Gabalfa again. This is really getting on my tits now. :td:

stamp92

14-05-2007, 20:32

i'm in cardiff llandaff CF5

i was on 4mb up until thursday/friday and have been getting less than 2mb speed since then. i thought id change to 10mb on the weekend to see if it made any difference + ive been meaning to try out 10mb for ages and seemed a good excuse but unfortunately m still getting crap speeds of less than 2mb.

this is the worst service ive seen from ntl/virgin media in the 7 years ive been with them. i hope ntl/virgin media fix this problem soon

RS100

14-05-2007, 20:40

Getting worse again tonight https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/91.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

kraized

14-05-2007, 22:55

This is mine. CF10 area.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/90.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

jcardiff

15-05-2007, 00:27

I was heavily overcharged for 4 months and as an apology was given 10meg broadband for 3months yet in the past two months I'm lucky if I get half a meg in CF24, had technicians out who say there is a problem and when I speak to customer services they say its my software until I have to start in safe mode and same thing happens at which point they say they have no idea what is wrong, wasn't until I looked here (on a friends bt line as I currently can't even open pages with my speed) that I found its not just me!

RS100

15-05-2007, 10:02

Yes thats what they always say or they say you need a tech out,

Thats why i have not asked VM faults about it as i know what they will say,

I was heavily overcharged for 4 months and as an apology was given 10meg broadband for 3months yet in the past two months I'm lucky if I get half a meg in CF24, had technicians out who say there is a problem and when I speak to customer services they say its my software until I have to start in safe mode and same thing happens at which point they say they have no idea what is wrong, wasn't until I looked here (on a friends bt line as I currently can't even open pages with my speed) that I found its not just me!

stamp92

15-05-2007, 12:24

any more news on whats causing these slow speeds and when its going to be resolved?

can anyone working for virgin media comment?

JamShady

15-05-2007, 18:10

UBR is oversubscribed (I'm betting it's all the uni students caning the bandwidth). Apparently, Pentwyn (who have their own UBR) are all fine getting 10Mb all day.

ecksmen

15-05-2007, 21:29

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/83.png

Yet from Microsauce I'm able to download at full speed. I'm wondering about the realiabitly of speedtest.net - I don't think it's one to be trusted.

on the BT network I can use speedtest.bt.net or something or other (basically their own speedtest site, which is the only one they trusted) does ntl have any simialr tests? Only I can't help but think I could well be seeing cached downloads and the speedtests could be more real results.

JamShady

15-05-2007, 22:38

Yeah, this one (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.marsden/newspeedtest.html) which is hosted on NTL's own servers and will give you the most accurate results.

Pyr8

15-05-2007, 22:55

yup CF14 this afternoon was crap @ 360k from my 10Meg line, yet thos morning uptil 3pm was fine. just done another test now:
Tue, 15 May 2007 21:54:34 UTC

1st 512K took 4594 ms = 111.5 KB/sec, approx 919 Kbps, 0.9 Mbps
2nd 512K took 4875 ms = 105 KB/sec, approx 865 Kbps, 0.84 Mbps
3rd 512K took 5094 ms = 100.5 KB/sec, approx 828 Kbps, 0.81 Mbps
4th 512K took 4281 ms = 119.6 KB/sec, approx 986 Kbps, 0.96 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 900 Kbps, 0.88 Mbps

To repeat this test from the source server click here

sod this iam also on adsl+2 llu with 16 meg line, so will drop VM this month, sick of all this crap now

kraized

15-05-2007, 23:20

This is mine again in CF10.

Tue, 15 May 2007 22:18:59 GMT

1st 512K took 5008 ms = 102.2 KB/sec, approx 842 Kbps, 0.82 Mbps
2nd 512K took 4479 ms = 114.3 KB/sec, approx 942 Kbps, 0.92 Mbps
3rd 512K took 5337 ms = 95.9 KB/sec, approx 790 Kbps, 0.77 Mbps
4th 512K took 5752 ms = 89 KB/sec, approx 733 Kbps, 0.72 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 827 Kbps, 0.81 Mbps

ecksmen

15-05-2007, 23:22

Yeah, this one (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.marsden/newspeedtest.html) which is hosted on NTL's own servers and will give you the most accurate results.

If its on an NTL server, how can it give me the most accurate results?

I don't care about my connection to ntlworld servers, I don't use them (espically if the proxies are being disabled) I want to test my connection to the rest of the world, outside of the ntlworld infrastructure.

Having a 10Mbps to ntl, but 56Kbps to the rest of the world isn't exaclty my idea of a good connection and judging by my current speeds to appears anything that uses the proxies (all ntl network is fast) but anything outside of that is extremely slow. In fact slow would imply some speed so i retract that statement.

Trying to download a linux distro from a known good source and I'm getting 30Kb/sec on a 10mb line and I know for a fact that server is at no where near its capacity.

grrrr going to be calling tech support in the afternoon when I wake up.

jcardiff

15-05-2007, 23:40

wow according to that test my mbps is 0.21 mbps and thats at this time of the night and thats WITH 10 meg!
wow virgin really do think we're retarded if they think we should accept that, bt are sounding more likely by the minute

JamShady

16-05-2007, 08:39

If its on an NTL server, how can it give me the most accurate results?

I don't care about my connection to ntlworld servers, I don't use them (espically if the proxies are being disabled) I want to test my connection to the rest of the world, outside of the ntlworld infrastructure.
Because all traffic has to pass through them first. If your connection to them is slow, everything else will be slow. You can't use tests from external sites as an accurate speedtest because there are many many other factors. Believe me, I hate Virgin right now, and I'm not looking to defend them in any way (hence I'm showing you how to prove it's their servers which are at fault), but you simply cannot use external sites.

Think of it this way. If you want to test how good the Royal Mail are, you'd post a letter internally to this country, right? You can't post a letter from Timbuktoo and blame the delay on it getting here to Royal Mail, there would be many other factors that would contribute before it got into Royal Mail's hands. It's the same with internet traffic. You can only blame Virgin for traffic once it reaches their network, and that's what speedtests on their own servers prove, that once the traffic is within their network they just can't get it to you.

rockabillybass

16-05-2007, 11:04

You can only blame Virgin for traffic once it reaches their network, and that's what speedtests on their own servers prove, that once the traffic is within their network they just can't get it to you.

Virgin has to buy bandwidth to connect it's network to the rest of the Internet. If this is insufficient it would cause a problem, I'd have thought. I'm not saying it's the case here. Just thought it was worth mentioning.

I haven't posted here for years. just saw the thread about Cardiff. I'm in Newport West. I've had no problems with the speed or stability of my 4 meg connection for a long time. I think I get routed through Cardiff.

One thing I noticed though - the results from that speedtest.net site are always very slow. If I use Robin Walker's it is about right. I can easily max out my speed at sites like microsoft. So I wouldn't trust it.

ecksmen

16-05-2007, 12:31

Because all traffic has to pass through them first. If your connection to them is slow, everything else will be slow. You can't use tests from external sites as an accurate speedtest because there are many many other factors. Believe me, I hate Virgin right now, and I'm not looking to defend them in any way (hence I'm showing you how to prove it's their servers which are at fault), but you simply cannot use external sites.

Think of it this way. If you want to test how good the Royal Mail are, you'd post a letter internally to this country, right? You can't post a letter from Timbuktoo and blame the delay on it getting here to Royal Mail, there would be many other factors that would contribute before it got into Royal Mail's hands. It's the same with internet traffic. You can only blame Virgin for traffic once it reaches their network, and that's what speedtests on their own servers prove, that once the traffic is within their network they just can't get it to you.

I don't hink you quite understand the situation and your analogy proves your lack of understanding. I don't denie I have a 10Mbps connection between my router and all of NTLs infrastructure - that's a given. If I take anything off an NTL server, I am not being routed over the internet I'm remaining on NTL copper / fabrics and the only thing that will slow that down is contention on the ntl network, which it'll more than happily handle the current speeds.

The problem I want to highlight is with the VM backbone which connects the VM network to the internet and the rest of the world, which can only be tested by proving that bandwidth from external sites which have sufficent bandwidth is lacking. For instance - Microsoft have bandwidth to spare, yet currently I am only able to download a roughly 600kbps speeds. That's not a fault of Microsoft, they are sending the files much faster than VM can handle.

I can also prove it's an ntl issue as I have access to a dsl line (8mbps) which is happily downloading from microsoft at full speed. No caching or transparent proxies.

I am not paying for a VM WAN, I'm paying for an internet connection. Whether or not my current issue is proxy related, or not I'm yet to find out. But testing alone on NTL servers is not the way to test.

---------- Post added at 12:31 ---------- Previous post was at 12:27 ----------

Virgin has to buy bandwidth to connect it's network to the rest of the Internet. If this is insufficient it would cause a problem, I'd have thought. I'm not saying it's the case here. Just thought it was worth mentioning.

I haven't posted here for years. just saw the thread about Cardiff. I'm in Newport West. I've had no problems with the speed or stability of my 4 meg connection for a long time. I think I get routed through Cardiff.

One thing I noticed though - the results from that speedtest.net site are always very slow. If I use Robin Walker's it is about right. I can easily max out my speed at sites like microsoft. So I wouldn't trust it.

Can you be certain that the file transfers from microsoft are not being cached in the ntl proxy and infact you're still on NTL network and not actually anywhere near a microsoft box.

The only real acid test would be ftp or newsgroup access.

rockabillybass

16-05-2007, 13:05

Can you be certain that the file transfers from microsoft are not being cached in the ntl proxy and infact you're still on NTL network and not actually anywhere near a microsoft box.

The only real acid test would be ftp or newsgroup access.

Good point. No I'm not sure.. ;)

JamShady

16-05-2007, 13:17

I don't hink you quite understand the situation and your analogy proves your lack of understanding. I don't denie I have a 10Mbps connection between my router and all of NTLs infrastructure - that's a given. If I take anything off an NTL server, I am not being routed over the internet I'm remaining on NTL copper / fabrics and the only thing that will slow that down is contention on the ntl network, which it'll more than happily handle the current speeds.
Actually, I think you've gotten it wrong and this just proves your lack of understanding.

I too have a 10Mb connection. But can you explain to me then, why I am getting speeds of 0.3Mb (yes, 0.3Mb) during the evening via speedtests hosted on NTL's own servers? There are no other companies with equipment in the way, so the blame clearly lies with them.

The problem I want to highlight is with the VM backbone which connects the VM network to the internet and the rest of the world, which can only be tested by proving that bandwidth from external sites which have sufficent bandwidth is lacking. For instance - Microsoft have bandwidth to spare, yet currently I am only able to download a roughly 600kbps speeds. That's not a fault of Microsoft, they are sending the files much faster than VM can handle.
Not completely true. The VM backbone is plenty good, and this is proven by many people able to get the full 10Mb and 20Mb. I used to get the full 10Mb all day every day from a mile down the road before I moved. The problem is, once the data hits Virgin's own servers now, Virgin don't have the capacity to deliver it to the customer which is why the speedtest on their own server is so important. And it proves that that bit is the slow bit.

I can also prove it's an ntl issue as I have access to a dsl line (8mbps) which is happily downloading from microsoft at full speed. No caching or transparent proxies.
Yes, but you can't prove whether it's the VM backbone to the internet at fault, or their connection to you. With the speedtest I posted, you can prove it's the connection to you at fault.

I am not paying for a VM WAN, I'm paying for an internet connection. Whether or not my current issue is proxy related, or not I'm yet to find out. But testing alone on NTL servers is not the way to test.
No-one said anything about proxies, so I've no doubt you don't have a firm understanding of what's going on here.

RS100

16-05-2007, 17:06

Starting to drop again between 3pm and 1am speeds seem to get really low

Wed, 16 May 2007 16:02:56 UTC

1st 512K took 875 ms = 585.1 KB/sec, approx 4821 Kbps, 4.71 Mbps
2nd 512K took 641 ms = 798.8 KB/sec, approx 6582 Kbps, 6.43 Mbps
3rd 512K took 984 ms = 520.3 KB/sec, approx 4287 Kbps, 4.19 Mbps
4th 512K took 1203 ms = 425.6 KB/sec, approx 3507 Kbps, 3.42 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 4799 Kbps, 4.69 Mbps

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/78.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/79.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

ecksmen

16-05-2007, 17:30

Actually, I think you've gotten it wrong and this just proves your lack of understanding.

I too have a 10Mb connection. But can you explain to me then, why I am getting speeds of 0.3Mb (yes, 0.3Mb) during the evening via speedtests hosted on NTL's own servers? There are no other companies with equipment in the way, so the blame clearly lies with them.

When have I ever, and please quote me talked about your connectivity problems? No, it hasn't happend. Don't get my connection issues confused with your own. Either way, if I test on NTL / VM servers my connection is ok - if I try anything off anywhere else it's not working properly. So testing soley on NTL equipment is not the be all and end all of connectivity troublshooting you seem think so highly of. There are other factors at play which I can only guess at. Whether that be proxy, backbone or faulty cabling - it's not for me to decide. If I go to NTL and say I can download from them at 10Mbps - they are not going to see a problem now are they?

JamShady

16-05-2007, 18:09

When have I ever, and please quote me talked about your connectivity problems? No, it hasn't happend.
I never said you did, I'm just asking you to qualify your earlier statement of I don't denie I have a 10Mbps connection between my router and all of NTLs infrastructure - that's a given. If I take anything off an NTL server, I am not being routed over the internet I'm remaining on NTL copper / fabrics and the only thing that will slow that down is contention on the ntl network, which it'll more than happily handle the current speeds.
You can't prove that statement. The fact of the matter is, the network cannot handle the current speeds quite happily.

Either way, if I test on NTL / VM servers my connection is ok - if I try anything off anywhere else it's not working properly.
So you're saying that, if you run a speedtest from NTL's own servers, you get the full 10Mb (or as close to as possible), but from 3rd party sites you get slow speeds? Could be a number of factors.

So testing soley on NTL equipment is not the be all and end all of connectivity troublshooting you seem think so highly of.
Err, yes it is. Your original question (which is the one I responded to, which you didn't understand) was on the BT network I can use speedtest.bt.net or something or other (basically their own speedtest site, which is the only one they trusted) does ntl have any simialr tests?
The one that I gave you is it! The ntl techs will point you to this one (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/speedtest.html) but it's essentially the exact same thing.

There are other factors at play which I can only guess at. Whether that be proxy, backbone or faulty cabling - it's not for me to decide. If I go to NTL and say I can download from them at 10Mbps - they are not going to see a problem now are they?
No, but if they say other customers can download full whack, what are you going to say then?

To be completely honest, I'm actually skeptical that you are getting the full 10Mb. I reckon you're getting poor speeds like the rest of us (which is why you entered this thread in the first place) and are now slowly trying to change the meaning of your original question to somehow save face.

larkyboy

16-05-2007, 22:24

Just to add my penny-worth - after reading this thread yesterday I found that my speed was erratic too! Contacted VM who said that I was only getting 2MB (I wish) and not the 10mb due because I am on the Ã‚Â£85 VIP package. I am having a credit of Ã‚Â£43 to my next bill as I have not been getting the 10mb from day one!!! So a big thanks to this thread and contributors.;)
I live in Roath CF24 area and even though VM have now supposed to have put my speed up to 10mb yesterday, I am still registering low speeds. 2 mins ago it was 286.1kps via Broadband Genie and 565kps via Simple test.:Yikes:
Engineering coming tommorrow between 4-8pm to test modem etc. Will keep you informed.:rolleyes:

EdwardTobia

16-05-2007, 23:33

Im in CF3, Llanrumney area.

I have had no problems with my speed, been testing quite a lot and been getting 9mbit+ this is with the new Virgin Media 255 Modem which was recently fitted.

I wonder if they are finally upgrading us cardiffians to 20meg!

JamShady

17-05-2007, 00:42

I don't think thats the case. I believe there is a thread around here doing the rounds pointing to a schedule, and it didn't have a date for Cardiff on it. But you never know.

jcardiff

17-05-2007, 13:03

cardiff WAS scheduled for may on that list but has disapeared from it, a technician who came around yesterday said a few parts of cardiff have 20meg already but the rest of cardiff has been put back indefinately

Pueblo

17-05-2007, 13:33

I live in the CF24 area and have been getting poor speeds for months now.

Once in a while it will improve for a week but then slows right back down again the next week.

I've had numerous conversations with CS and TS and only once have they said "there are too many people in your area" which was about 2 months ago, their latest excuse to me is that they have run tests with and without my computer plugged into the modem and it works fine without so I must have spyware installed.

Considering I have a fresh install of vista and have tried 2 different network cards with 4 different leads, I dont think it is my computer at fault.

I am only on the 2mbit service but have been getting download speeds from websites of between 9KB/s and 30KB/s and trying to play multiplayer games or speak over the internet results in massive packet loss and soaring pings / voice breaking up.

Anyone else in CF24 experiencing similar problems, or is anyone from there area experiencing no problems at all? At the moment I'm considering upgrading to 4mb just to see if it will improve anything since everytime I talk to an engineer they tell me sorry, there is nothing they can do for me and they are very sorry for my problems.

jcardiff

17-05-2007, 14:34

hey Pueblo, am in cf24 here and I generally only get half a meg and on rare occasions I get 3 meg and I'm supposedly on 10 meg service

John.C

17-05-2007, 15:02

It is clear that they have problems in some areas of Cardiff, from people that have replied to this thread in different areas and on different tiers. The service seems to be not as bad at certain times of the day from what I can tell. If Cardiff is over loaded it would be nice if they could at least update the service status page to reflect this.

http://www.ntl-isp.ntl.com/ServiceStatus/

I don't know how they're going to manage to rollout 20Mb if they can't handle the current tiers :p

jcardiff

17-05-2007, 15:14

I get 3 meg between 7am and 10 am (3hours at the most) other then that 0.2 - 1meg is the norm, we have three pcs in this house and cant get pages open on two of them at same time, wouldnt matter if it wasnt for the fact that there is one student who needs to use internet continuosly and I am trying to run a business which means I have to use other people computers

so thats 3 hours of 3meg connection on 10 meg line otherwise roughly half a meg, not only this but they won't give me any money back!
ntl werent perfect but this lot need putting down, violently preferably

Richy99

17-05-2007, 16:12

downloaded about a gig last night in CF14 and didnt have any slow downs on the 2meg service

Pueblo

17-05-2007, 18:05

Back home from work now so ran a few tests to see what it was like (its actually running pretty fast at the moment, but I doubt it will last the whole night, it'll be getting slower throughout the evening)

Thu, 17 May 2007 16:46:29 UTC

1st 512K took 7453 ms = 68.7 KB/sec, approx 566 Kbps, 0.55 Mbps
2nd 512K took 6859 ms = 74.6 KB/sec, approx 615 Kbps, 0.6 Mbps
3rd 512K took 6969 ms = 73.5 KB/sec, approx 606 Kbps, 0.59 Mbps
4th 512K took 3390 ms = 151 KB/sec, approx 1244 Kbps, 1.21 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 758 Kbps, 0.74 Mbps

On 2Mbit thats under the halfway point :(

Downstream Channel Id : 40
Downstream Frequency : 402750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : -5.7 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 40.5 dB

If I'm reading the stickies right my downstreak receive is higher than it should be but not enough to cause problems? and downstream SNR of 40.5 is well above the minimum, though the sticky gives no max value for it.

Upstream Channel ID : 3
Upstream Frequency : 34000000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 45.0 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2

Transmit power is between 28dB and 53dB and looks ok.

All in all the levels seem to be fine if I'm reading them right yet during peak times my connection suffers :confused:

I'm not sure if it means anything to anyone, but every single traceroute I do turns out the same:

Tracing route to www.virginmedia.co.uk [212.250.162.12]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1

2 * * * Request timed out.

3 * * * Request timed out.

4 * * * Request timed out.

5 * * * Request timed out.

6 * * * Request timed out.

7 * * * Request timed out.

8 29 ms 78 ms 67 ms www.virginmedia.com [212.250.162.12]

Trace complete.

No matter how many hops I go through, they all timeout except for the first to my router and the last to the website :Yikes:

ichiban

17-05-2007, 18:44

right now i'm getiing

1.5 meg from speedtests

5meg from usenetserver Newsgroup

but 10 megs from the virgin newsgroup :dozey:

Richy99

17-05-2007, 19:18

Thu, 17 May 2007 18:20:35 GMT

1st 512K took 2333 ms = 219.5 KB/sec, approx 1809 Kbps, 1.77 Mbps
2nd 512K took 2334 ms = 219.4 KB/sec, approx 1808 Kbps, 1.77 Mbps
3rd 512K took 2433 ms = 210.4 KB/sec, approx 1734 Kbps, 1.69 Mbps
4th 512K took 2193 ms = 233.5 KB/sec, approx 1924 Kbps, 1.88 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 1819 Kbps, 1.78 Mbps

Tracing route to www.virginmedia.co.uk [212.250.162.12]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.2.1
2 9 ms 6 ms 7 ms 10.43.224.1
3 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms cdif-t2cam1-a-v124.inet.ntl.com [62.254.255.177]

4 7 ms 8 ms 7 ms cdif-t2core-a-ge-wan91.inet.ntl.com [195.182.178
.41]
5 14 ms 17 ms 22 ms bir-bb-a-so-220-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.45]

6 20 ms 14 ms 44 ms win-bb-b-so-110-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.142]

7 16 ms 14 ms 14 ms win-dc-b-v900.inet.ntl.com [62.253.188.166]
8 17 ms 18 ms 17 ms www.virginmedia.com [212.250.162.12]

Trace complete.

this is in CF14

if every single trace route you do hjas that something is seriously wrong

To repeat this test from the source server click here (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.marsden/newspeedtest.html?1179426045781).

Pyr8

17-05-2007, 19:31

iam in CF14 llanishen
speeds been fine all day uptill 30 mins ago they droped off to less than 2 meg now and getting slower every half hour. will run some test again now and post um up

---------- Post added at 19:31 ---------- Previous post was at 19:27 ----------

Thu, 17 May 2007 18:29:46 UTC

1st 512K took 2360 ms = 216.9 KB/sec, approx 1787 Kbps, 1.75 Mbps
2nd 512K took 2812 ms = 182.1 KB/sec, approx 1501 Kbps, 1.47 Mbps
3rd 512K took 3109 ms = 164.7 KB/sec, approx 1357 Kbps, 1.33 Mbps
4th 512K took 2750 ms = 186.2 KB/sec, approx 1534 Kbps, 1.5 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 1545 Kbps, 1.51 Mbps

larkyboy

17-05-2007, 20:57

OK - the engineer has been. Explained that due to upgrade to 20mb due in the CF24 area they are having problems. He explained that the prblems in St Mellons and Whitchurch areas had been sorted out but not the CF24 are yet. Went on about hubs and UBRs?? which lost me sorry! Was a decent chap though who seemed to know his job! He added that CF24 was a high-congestion area - lots of students and lots of people downloading movies etc. He reckoned that I have to be patient until the 20mb upgrade takes effect and when it does everything should return to normal for CF24 area. He checked my signal levels and said he identified a problem - I was only getting
-4 whatever that meant and he went outside to boost my signal (not from my box outside - somewhere else!) He came back and said he had managed to bring it up to 1 and that I should also notice better picture quality from my V+ BOX which I have to admit I was not quite happy with since install two months ago. Anyway the picture quality did improve - as for my speed?? -now reached the lower depths of 262.4kps:mad:

Pyr8

17-05-2007, 22:56

Well the problems still the same in the Llanishen area and that is usiong the Whitchurch ubr as far as i know. Same old bs from um day in day out

Tawton9

18-05-2007, 23:51

What a **** take...Why is cardiff always bloody last...Upgrade page has been updated and most of the list has a date but cardiff still doesnt have one..Swansea is complete :rolleyes: Swansea of all places! :mad:

Huwge

19-05-2007, 09:42

CF14 here. During the week I was struggling to get 1 meg. Today (at 9.00am on a Saturday) I get 10meg.

Seems to fluctuate alot. Most slowdown I get is in the evening.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/65.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Herbal

19-05-2007, 15:31

Just thought I'd sign up and post that my area CF24 (Cathays) seems to have had it's congestion fixed.

After months of 4pm-12pm (weekdays, weekend was pretty crappy all day) crawling at 0.4-0.5mbps it now seems to be fixed.

DirectX redist from Microsoft averaged around 420Kbps

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/62.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sat, 19 May 2007 14:28:10 UTC

1st 512K took 1156 ms = 442.9 KB/sec, approx 3649 Kbps, 3.56 Mbps
2nd 512K took 1109 ms = 461.7 KB/sec, approx 3804 Kbps, 3.71 Mbps
3rd 512K took 1078 ms = 475 KB/sec, approx 3914 Kbps, 3.82 Mbps
4th 512K took 1094 ms = 468 KB/sec, approx 3856 Kbps, 3.77 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 3806 Kbps, 3.72 Mbps
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sat, 19 May 2007 14:28:59 UTC

1st 512K took 1390 ms = 368.3 KB/sec, approx 3035 Kbps, 2.96 Mbps
2nd 512K took 829 ms = 617.6 KB/sec, approx 5089 Kbps, 4.97 Mbps
3rd 512K took 1093 ms = 468.4 KB/sec, approx 3860 Kbps, 3.77 Mbps
4th 512K took 1078 ms = 475 KB/sec, approx 3914 Kbps, 3.82 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 3975 Kbps, 3.88 Mbps
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Best of all my latency to UK servers has improved. Back to a solid 15ms the Quake 3 F8 clanserver which is pretty sweet.

Netspeed seems to have went a bit mad.....

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/63.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Pyr8

19-05-2007, 15:49

engineers having lots of wasted callouts from cf14 area, nothing they can do. Its the main network problem in the cab, but getting VM to do something about it is another problem in itself.lol way to many users on the cab is what a engineer i know told me this morning. 14 calls in 1 week

jcardiff

19-05-2007, 15:56

herbal, still getting less then 1meg here in cf24, no idea how you're managing that much, tried 4 different speed tests and best i get is 889 kbps on a 10 meg connection, two months now and 3 engineers been sent round and only thing thats happened is my speed has slowly decreased

Pyr8

19-05-2007, 16:13

getting a good steady 9.6 Meg today so far, but give it 1 hour or so it will drop off to 1.5meg again. Same as it does every night

Herbal

19-05-2007, 21:18

Guess I spoke too soon. Been out from 5pm till 9pm and had turned the computers off.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sat, 19 May 2007 20:14:43 UTC

1st 512K took 3531 ms = 145 KB/sec, approx 1195 Kbps, 1.17 Mbps
2nd 512K took 3172 ms = 161.4 KB/sec, approx 1330 Kbps, 1.3 Mbps
3rd 512K took 2750 ms = 186.2 KB/sec, approx 1534 Kbps, 1.5 Mbps
4th 512K took 3125 ms = 163.8 KB/sec, approx 1350 Kbps, 1.32 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 1352 Kbps, 1.32 Mbps

To repeat this test from the source server click here (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.marsden/newspeedtest.html?1179605696937).
-----------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/61.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

I'm really wondering if it's purely a congestion problem or rather VM are a bunch of muppets and this traffic management they're implementing is screwing with things as well due to the fact that between the hours that they are going to employ this technology everything get's FUBAR'd.

At least my latency hasn't been completely screwed with...just good enough to play some Quake 3.

Herbal

20-05-2007, 00:55

Things back to normal since 11:00pm

Herbal

22-05-2007, 19:35

Friday night great, all day Saturday was great too.

Sunday and Monday aweful. Today (Tuesday) can barely get webpages to load let alone attempt to download anything.

Tawton9

23-05-2007, 08:59

:( My modem done a automatic restart this morning..Theres me getting my hopes up thinking it was the 20mb.

Herbal

23-05-2007, 09:59

Will have to check my modem and see if it restarted auto too.

Hoping things will get better by the end of the week. Looking at planned maintenance (http://www.ntl-isp.ntl.com/ServiceStatus/ServiceDetails.aspx?FaultID=624) it would seem there's a bunch of network updates affecting Cardiff and other areas around it. Judging from this and last weeks planned maintenance it would seem VM are slowly working through Cardiff

jcardiff

23-05-2007, 11:07

ecksmen

23-05-2007, 12:56

spoke to a supervisor at teeside yesterday and he said due to considerable problems with ubrs (whatever they are) cardiff will not be sorted until the end of june at the earliest and he was far from convinced about that

Well, if that's the case and it's confirmed from a supervisor I'll be expecting a refund then considering my connection is on par with a 512Kbps service and yet I'm paying for 10Mbps.

jcardiff

23-05-2007, 13:20

they won't admit it easily I will warn you, the only reason I got anywhere was I told customer services that seeing as i'm supposed to get 10meg and recieve around half a meg (before anymore virgin staff posing as a normal person say I should be glad, because they are upgrading the service this started before the upgrade deteriated the service) they either make me an acceptable offer or disconnect me this week, the offer I got was a free months internet!!!!!!!!. I said disconnect me and lo and behold I get a call back from a supervisor about 30 seconds later who admitted the problems in cardiff were much worse then expected and it should be sorted in the next few months towards the end of june maybe, so still not even a guarantee there, this after the engineer I saw this week said he thought they were trafficing parts of cardiff as they cant guarantee connections otherwise because the ubrs ( still not sure what they are) are so over subscribed.
funnily enough they are still advertising deals for the students in the area.
I would go bt but they cant guarantee me 1 meg either, its 1 meg depending on the traffic.

Rik

23-05-2007, 15:49

My mate Chris in Cardiff has just been upgraded to 20MB so the sloow speeds may be down to his leeching :D

Tawton9

23-05-2007, 18:32

My mate Chris in Cardiff has just been upgraded to 20MB so the sloow speeds may be down to his leeching :D

Ask him what part of cardiff he lives mate...I live in fairwater and no upgrade for me. :(

ecksmen

23-05-2007, 20:11

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/05/58.png
This is really starting to annoy me now!

John.C

23-05-2007, 21:12

Mr_Burns

24-05-2007, 07:56

My mate Chris in Cardiff has just been upgraded to 20MB so the sloow speeds may be down to his leeching :D

The 20meg upgrade hasn't been rolled out in Cardiff yet?

Mick Fisher

24-05-2007, 08:03

What annoyed me more than this, is I just read that Virgin Media are giving new customers cheaper service than the old ones. I am really annoyed, this is absolutely disgusting. We've been with NTL for years, we got the 2 cable digital boxes, NTL phone line and the high speed cable broadband. We're paying a lot of money a month and this is how they turn around and thank us. They basically are saying up yours, we care about new customers more than old ones. While us mugs are paying Ã‚Â£37 a month, new customers will be paying Ã‚Â£29 per month. When my parents find out they're not going to be happy either. I'm going to try persuade them to switch ISPs.
I have to agree that VM have always given me the impression that they care nothing for there existing customer base. I don't think loyalty counts for anything these days. Before going to all the bother of leaving give retentions a call, tell them how unhappy you are and that you intend to cancel your services. You never know, maybe they will make you an offer to stay that you can't refuse.
Good luck.

Richy99

24-05-2007, 19:19

no problems here with speed o nthe 2meg serive in cf14 constant 1.8-1.9meg from the newsgroups

djleekee

25-05-2007, 20:19

Ive been browsing for the last week or so on a 4MB connection and every webpage bombs out and gives me the Internet Explorer cannot display this page webpage.

Trying to retrieve email is also tiresome.

Here are my speed results
Fri, 25 May 2007 19:13:09 UTC

1st 512K took 30 ms = 17066.7 KB/sec, approx 140630 Kbps, 137.33 Mbps
2nd 512K took 30 ms = 17066.7 KB/sec, approx 140630 Kbps, 137.33 Mbps
3rd 512K took 40 ms = 12800 KB/sec, approx 105472 Kbps, 103 Mbps
4th 512K took 30 ms = 17066.7 KB/sec, approx 140630 Kbps, 137.33 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 131841 Kbps, 128.75 Mbps

These results appear to be rather fast - this page was probably in the browser cache.

Fri, 25 May 2007 19:13:51 UTC

1st 512K took 1312 ms = 390.2 KB/sec, approx 3215 Kbps, 3.14 Mbps
2nd 512K took 1502 ms = 340.9 KB/sec, approx 2809 Kbps, 2.74 Mbps
3rd 512K took 3576 ms = 143.2 KB/sec, approx 1180 Kbps, 1.15 Mbps
4th 512K took 1291 ms = 396.6 KB/sec, approx 3268 Kbps, 3.19 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 2618 Kbps, 2.56 Mbps

These results dont really show how sluggish performance is and how annoying it is not being able to browse. It has taken me the best part of 30 minutes to get here, log in and post this answer (if its works...)

Lee

---------- Post added at 20:19 ---------- Previous post was at 20:15 ----------

Hmm just tried editing that post but, alas, no chance with this level of service.

Lets hope its easier just to post the latest speed test results.

Fri, 25 May 2007 19:15:29 UTC

1st 512K took 5218 ms = 98.1 KB/sec, approx 808 Kbps, 0.79 Mbps
2nd 512K took 5608 ms = 91.3 KB/sec, approx 752 Kbps, 0.73 Mbps
3rd 512K took 4837 ms = 105.9 KB/sec, approx 873 Kbps, 0.85 Mbps
4th 512K took 1322 ms = 387.3 KB/sec, approx 3191 Kbps, 3.12 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 1406 Kbps, 1.37 Mbps

It seems that the speeds obtained vary so much that one minute things can seem ok only to grind to an annoying halt!

Surely we can get some money back for poor level of service?

Lee

RS100

27-05-2007, 10:59

Had enuf for Virgin Media broadband since the switch from NTL to virgin my service has gone down hill.

I spoke to a network tech who works on the cardiff network and confirmed most slow speed are due to VM not having enuf capacity to any thing outside there own network thats why if you speed test any thing outside vm its always slow,

I have had BT BB in the past and just signed up for BT BB again and when i use to be with them i alway use to get higher speeds than VM from servers outside all over the uk and the world,

Its just a shame VM do not look after there network it seems to me they are just running it to the ground,

S.O.F.T.

27-05-2007, 18:57

Sun, 27 May 2007 17:31:01 UTC
1st 512K took 8484 ms = 60.3 KB/sec, approx 497 Kbps, 0.49 Mbps
2nd 512K took 8188 ms = 62.5 KB/sec, approx 515 Kbps, 0.5 Mbps
3rd 512K took 8562 ms = 59.8 KB/sec, approx 493 Kbps, 0.48 Mbps
4th 512K took 9172 ms = 55.8 KB/sec, approx 460 Kbps, 0.45 Mbps
Overall Average Speed = approx 491 Kbps, 0.48 Mb

think i`ll do the same this is very poor r.i.p vm

jcardiff

27-05-2007, 21:20

pushing quarter of a meg this week, by the time we get the update (july now according to customer service when forced to give an answer) it will be about 10kbps, still it only takes 5 or 6 attempts to open a page (around 4 minutes).
t'internet was faster in the days i had my 286.
of course according to some people I should be grateful for this, so thanks virgin!

Rik

27-05-2007, 21:31

Ask him what part of cardiff he lives mate...I live in fairwater and no upgrade for me. :(

Sorry I got it wrong ;)

He is in Swansea not Cardiff.

Richy99

28-05-2007, 17:31

Mon, 28 May 2007 16:29:31 UTC

1st 512K took 5387 ms = 95 KB/sec, approx 783 Kbps, 0.76 Mbps
2nd 512K took 5659 ms = 90.5 KB/sec, approx 746 Kbps, 0.73 Mbps
3rd 512K took 5167 ms = 99.1 KB/sec, approx 817 Kbps, 0.8 Mbps
4th 512K took 6009 ms = 85.2 KB/sec, approx 702 Kbps, 0.69 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 762 Kbps, 0.75 Mbps

where as when i start up newsgroups to download it shows a constant 1.6meg+, i think people rely too much on these speed tests tbh

S.O.F.T.

28-05-2007, 18:23

Mon, 28 May 2007 17:18:10 UTC

1st 512K took 7422 ms = 69 KB/sec, approx 569 Kbps, 0.56 Mbps
2nd 512K took 8437 ms = 60.7 KB/sec, approx 500 Kbps, 0.49 Mbps
3rd 512K took 8141 ms = 62.9 KB/sec, approx 518 Kbps, 0.51 Mbps
4th 512K took 8781 ms = 58.3 KB/sec, approx 480 Kbps, 0.47 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 517 Kbps, 0.51 Mbps

tbh m8 i think your wrong i connect to newsgroup and download and it dose exactly what it says on the tin 0.15mbps

myriauk

29-05-2007, 18:24

I'm not even in the Cardiff area im in the TF7 area (telford, shropshire) and my speeds are exactly the same, starts out at about 5am as 9.5-10mb now it's 0.75ish

Richy99

29-05-2007, 23:11

Tawton9

02-06-2007, 12:48

Any news on Cardiff? Because I heard the "Where's my upgrade" page is like 2 days late? Cant be bothered rebooting my modem all the time!

jcardiff

02-06-2007, 15:11

Any news on Cardiff?according to some of the "virgin media are wonderful and we should be glad they take our money even if you do get half a meg on a good day" brigade in here the whole country will be done by the end of june but the last I had confirmed was july -ish although someone else here was told by customer services aug-sept.

so could be anything really between next week and september, personally I get the feeling virgin have no idea as the last tech I spoke to said cardiff was postponed because of numerous ubr problems

apparently some of the AMs have been looking into the oversubscription situation in the area due to being inundated with people coming in asking who to complain to

nate

02-06-2007, 15:34

Problem doesn't seem to exist here, I'm on the Cardiff South (Portmanmoor Road) UBR. Contact 10mb, all day every day...

jcardiff

02-06-2007, 15:58

Problem doesn't seem to exist here, I'm on the Cardiff South (Portmanmoor Road) UBR. Contact 10mb, all day every day...

yeah cardiff is patchy, mainly due to some areas being extremely densely student packed, also some parts of cardiff were allegedly done before they ran into problems although I'm not sure whether this is true or not as last tech denied it.
manage about quarter to half a meg on my ten meg connection and its about ten weeks now its been going on.
yet virgin are still sending flyers round even though they cannot get anything like reasonable speeds

Richy99

02-06-2007, 17:29

i moved from cf14 (whitchurch ubr) where i was on 10meg and due to the old cmx modem used to hit 7.6meg all the time no matter what time of day

now i have moved to cf23 and am only on a 2meg connection but never see slow downs at any time of the day

ichiban

02-06-2007, 17:52

i've not had any speed issues (CF11) these last couple of days, getting close to 10 meg speeds even in the evenings :)

jcardiff

02-06-2007, 18:04

maybe its just cf24 and some of central cardiff then

Pyr8

02-06-2007, 18:17

whitchurch ubr iam on that one and it sux big time, got so sick of it iam off on wednesday to adsl2 again seeing as i still got it setup here. its fine till around 4pm then it hits top wack of 3 meg down to 1/4 meg. what a waste of time

ecksmen

03-06-2007, 07:37

i've not had any speed issues (CF11) these last couple of days, getting close to 10 meg speeds even in the evenings :)

CF11 and my speeds are much more stable the last few days compared to the previous month, but it's still not quite 100%.

Richy99

13-06-2007, 10:40

i upgraded to 10meg a few nights ago and constantly see 8.5meg+ in CF23

S.O.F.T.

15-06-2007, 17:25

any of you getting better speed now cos i am cf62

Richy99

16-06-2007, 09:57

im getting a consistant 8.5-9meg from giganews and have been for the past week since i upgraded to 10meg

EdwardTobia

16-06-2007, 10:49

Im located in CF3 (Llanrumney Area) and i have been noticing slow speeds lately on my 10mbit connection.

I have also noticed that when a link is clicked the connection do not want to process that link first time, you have to click it atleast twice to get the link to open a connection and display the page.

This can not be my system as i have only just re-formatted and the problem still occurs.

jcardiff

16-06-2007, 10:51

two days before I get disconnected my ten meg connection pushes up from the quarter of a meg i've had for the last three months now to about 4 meg - wow

Pyr8

16-06-2007, 12:16

two days before I get disconnected my ten meg connection pushes up from the quarter of a meg i've had for the last three months now to about 4 meg - wow

lol
i still got 20 days to go.but still not gonna pay 37 notes for 4 meg. got me adsl2 back in now and geting a good solid 17.5 meg for 24.99

Mr_Burns

18-06-2007, 21:09

It looks like it's all gone wrong again. 380kbps max download tonight!

nordic

18-06-2007, 21:24

Having very slow speeds here as well. Upgraded to 10mb a few weeks back - worst decision I made. Have this till sept, if speed does dont improve then virgin will owe me money.
6/18/2007 8:00 PM GMT373 kb/s399 kb/s57 msLondon6/18/2007 8:01 PM GMT389 kb/s332 kb/s172 msDublin6/18/2007 8:01 PM GMT392 kb/s216 kb/s178 msTorshavn6/18/2007 8:02 PM GMT425 kb/s268 kb/s112 msOslo6/18/2007 8:03 PM GMT268 kb/s449 kb/s88 msLisbon6/18/2007 8:10 PM GMT421 kb/s442 kb/s112 msDublin6/18/2007 8:11 PM GMT1257 kb/s476 kb/s103 msParis

Well done Virgin for yet another poor speed day

ichiban

18-06-2007, 21:29

speed has been fine these last few weeks for me, but kinda erratic today.

jcardiff

18-06-2007, 21:57

Having very slow speeds here as well. Upgraded to 10mb a few weeks back - worst decision I made. Have this till sept, if speed does dont improve then virgin will owe me money.
Well done Virgin for yet another poor speed day
you can't always tell by speed tests, the best way I find is by doing speed checks and more importantly downloading files from sites like microsoft to see what speeds you are getting (sometimes try downloading simaltaneously from 2 sites at same time)
gives you a far better indication.
however in cf24 its still going at bout half a meg although I did get all the way up to 4meg on my 10meg connection a few days ago ( I was so excited at not having to wait for pages to open I nearly wet myself)

funnily enough i'm supposed to be disconnected now by virgin :erm: but thats okay BT doesn't get installed till weds