CABLE vs ADSL - HAVING A LAUGH???

[TUZZY]

Go Here for the 'facts'
I have read so many nightmares from people having VM speed problems at different times of the day....
Go here for a 'Laugh' . . .



http://www.areyouuptospeed.com/two-types.html#why1

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

and your point is?

[tweetypie/8]

Go Here for the 'facts'
I have read so many nightmares from people having VM speed problems at different times of the day....
Go here for a 'Laugh' . . .



http://www.areyouuptospeed.com/two-types.html#why1

where is the joke ? :shrug:

[The_real_dj]

I think his point is that virgins broadband service can be a bit naff from time to time!!
This part i thought was most interesting:

Something called contention also affects the speed. What is contention?

The best way to explain contention is to imagine your connection to the internet is a motorway. Sometimes it's quiet and you can zip along. Sometimes it's packed with other cars and everything grinds to a halt.
Sooner or later your connection to the internet will join other people's, like an 'A road' joining the motorway. Loads of people clogging it up at the same time will slow things down.
With ADSL, your 'A road' joins the motorway from the telephone exchange onwards, so you're either sharing your connection with 19 or 49 other people. That's a lot of sharing going on and that's going to slow you down.
With cable, you still share your connection with other people. Your cable 'A road' still joins the shared motorway, it's just the motorway's so much wider, there's room for everyone. And with cable, if there are any snarl-ups appearing, they can be spotted quickly, and more space gets freed up, keeping everyone moving. This is one of the advantages of owning your own network which most ADSL providers don't - you only have to worry about your own traffic.

Im still wating for more speed to be freed up!

[nicke261192]

I dont see anything wrong with the info on that site...

[TUZZY]

The info on that site is - in reality for many users - BULL!!!
I have always had better speeds on ADSL (Up to 8meg) that VM's 20meg service, every night after 6pm since I had VM installed. ADSL provides a steady 4-5mbps all day 24hrs. However cable is giving me 16-18 in the morning, 5-7 in the afternoon and 1.7 on avaerage at night!!!!! so they are having a laugh with the info they state. Cable has the ups and downs WORST than ADSL in my area. So much for the sales patter of you get 20 meg with VM - it doesnt go up or down. Ha ha ha ha!!!

---------- Post added at 20:37 ---------- Previous post was at 20:35 ----------

I quote:
Your cable 'A road' still joins the shared motorway, it's just the motorway's so much wider, there's room for everyone

Oh yeah!!! Never like that for me and plenty of others on here!!!!

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

For many users but not the majority i presumme.

Have you complained to VM about it? Have you contacted the ASA about false advertising if you can prove its false??

So in the morning and afternoon you get better speeds on ADSL that VM??

Do you really need full speed 24/7??

[TUZZY]

I use my pc after 6pm so theres the problem. 5mbps on BT and 1.7mbps on VM!
Hardly a good service. When I use it.

---------- Post added at 20:43 ---------- Previous post was at 20:42 ----------

Plus the adverts seem to say that you get the 20meg download speed all day long!!! Ha ha ha. Yeah.

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

i repeat

Have you complained to VM about it? Have you contacted the ASA about false advertising if you can prove its false?



---------- Post added at 20:44 ---------- Previous post was at 20:44 ----------


Plus the adverts seem to say that you get the 20meg download speed all day long!!! Ha ha ha. Yeah.


Seem to?? Define "seem"

[TUZZY]

They say when u order VM that its unlike ADSL - you wont get the ups and downs and the service is much better and the speed you ask to subscribe to is the speed you get. FAR FROM IT!! Ive had an engineer round. Yes. Three days after instal. Didnt realise it then but he came at 8am, and it was 16-18mbps so I thought .... OK, its working. Only after several days of testing speed at different times did I realise he should have come at 6pm, but he found no problems, and he wont will he, he works for VM!!!! Hardly gona tell me the service is CRAP! No point telling me the signal is fine. The truth is in the pudding. The pudding after 6pm tastes foul. Nothing like a 20meg service. And Im not the only one. Theres loads of people on here all over the UK with the same problem. Why cant it stay around the same speed it is in the morning, all day! ???????????

[Sirius]

I use my pc after 6pm so theres the problem. 5mbps on BT and 1.7mbps on VM!
Hardly a good service. When I use it.

---------- Post added at 20:43 ---------- Previous post was at 20:42 ----------

Plus the adverts seem to say that you get the 20meg download speed all day long!!! Ha ha ha. Yeah.

so if we go on your explanation this is not possible ?

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/11/40.png

[TUZZY]

Theres loads of people on here all over the UK with the same problem. Why cant it stay around the same speed it is in the morning, all day! ??????????? FOR EVERYONE!!

[Sirius]

Theres loads of people on here all over the UK with the same problem. Why cant it stay around the same speed it is in the morning, all day! ??????????? FOR EVERYONE!!

And here was me thinking there was no Full Moon today :rofl::rofl:

[TUZZY]

But more interesting is the fact my BT BROADBAND ADSL service gives me faster downloading speeds, up to 3x faster than the VM fastest speed package. So when I use my pc after 6pm, I can download a file three times quicker with ADSL!!! And BT broadband is £15+ cheaper a month. VM's promise to me was i'd get around 20meg!! See my point.!!!

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

So your saying that if someone works for a company they are not going to tell you if there are issues. Wrong because that would be misleading and therefore unlawful.

You keep saying there are "loads" of people who have the same problem. 1 you dont quantify, 2 you dont know if its the same issue 3 you dont know how many people are happy with the service.

If this is really a big issue for you i suggest you insist that VM book an engineer visit when you know the problem will be there

---------- Post added at 21:04 ---------- Previous post was at 21:02 ----------

See my point.!!!

Ive seen your point from the start however, the way you communicate the point, is not going to get it resolved quickly

[TUZZY]

A thought..... I cant wait for VM's 50meg service - It may compete with my BT Up to 8meg service next year ;-)

---------- Post added at 21:09 ---------- Previous post was at 21:04 ----------

I had the engineer round 3 days after instal. No problems with my line. So he cant help. So whos gonna tell me... Yes, my service is terrible after 6pm and yes we can send an engineer round AGAIN! and yes he will come and tell me the same story. I dont care if my line is fine or if my signal is fine like the engineer told me. Im only interested in it working to its full speed. It doesnt do that EVER. 16-18meg in the morning up to 10am. Is that a good service. No. My signal is fine. Must be the internet. Yeah must be. Crap. ADSL doesnt suffer the problems CABLE has after 6pm here!!!! Just a crap service which I wont be keeping for much longer at this rate. So the engineer coming round didnt solve the problem. He told me himself it was probably contention. But contention should not be an issue on CABLE as with ADSL, and he could explain why my ADSL gave better speeds. Great engineer eh????

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

A
I had the engineer round 3 days after instal. No problems with my line. So he cant help. So whos gonna tell me... Yes, my service is terrible after 6pm and yes we can send an engineer round AGAIN! and yes he will come and tell me the same story. I dont care if my line is fine or if my signal is fine like the engineer told me. Im only interested in it working to its full speed. It doesnt do that EVER. 16-18meg in the morning up to 10am. Is that a good service. No. My signal is fine. Must be the internet. Yeah must be. Crap. ADSL doesnt suffer the problems CABLE has after 6pm here!!!! Just a crap service which I wont be keeping for much longer at this rate. So the engineer coming round didnt solve the problem. He told me himself it was probably contention. But contention should not be an issue on CABLE as with ADSL, and he could explain why my ADSL gave better speeds. Great engineer eh????

Exactly my point, you spout crap and dont listen to advice, why bother posting if your not going to listen. I give up:rolleyes:

[TUZZY]

What advice did I not listen to?

---------- Post added at 21:16 ---------- Previous post was at 21:14 ----------

If im getting less than 2 meg o a 20meg service and an engineer said the line is fine - then its the service. I should get 1.7meg on an up to 2 meg service not an up to 20meg service. How can 1.7meg download speed be possible on a 20meg connection. I may aswell opt for the 4meg service and get 1.7meg for that price. £29 a month for 1.7meg. Who am I not listeneing to. The engineer said nothing worth listening to. He didnt have a clue.

---------- Post added at 21:18 ---------- Previous post was at 21:16 ----------

Which brings me to the earlier point of mine.
WHY DOESNT EVERYONE GET THE SPEED THEY PAY FOR AFTER 6pm IN PARTICULARLY???

[JohnHorb]

Have you tried posting - politely - on the support newsgroup - virginmedia.support.broadband.cable?

[TUZZY]

oh! Im getting less than 1 meg now!!!! Must be america online taking over the hard shoulder!!! This motorway thats supposedly so wide has got very narrow. BTW: BT ADSL getting 4.5mbps..... Nice one adsl, you never let me down x x

[soup dragon]

why do you need top speed 24/7? how many legitimate files do you need to download between 16:00 & 00:00?
why are these forums full of people moaning because they can't download the latest cam or screener at more than 1.7 meg? guys you are not acting within the law why moan about it? be thankful you are getting it at all. i can remember playing counterstrike on a 56k modem ffs - lighten up! i know the ads say upto 20 meg but if everyone wants to use the network between 18:00 and 23:00 then so be it. schedule your downloads to after midnight when you will get your top speeds or wait until the film/game is released on retail and buy it!!!

[TUZZY]

SoupDragon, if you are promised a speed and you pay top wack for the premium service, why does it work in the morning, then slower in the afternoon then as slow as 1 meg at night when CABLE is promised not to suffer the ups and downs of ADSL, and why is ADSL constant all day and CABLE is Up and Down and costs twice as much and why is cable marketed as being 'you get what you pay for' and get told by VM that its not like ADSL where you only have a 'up to' speed. I dont d.load much at all its just that WHY DOES IT NOT GIVE ME A STEADY SPEED AROUND THE 20meg MARK ALL DAY when Im paying for it??? Its like having a 2 litre engine in the morning running like a 50cc scooter engine at night. Nobody would stand for it.

---------- Post added at 21:35 ---------- Previous post was at 21:29 ----------

Looks like Im not the only one.....

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/33621917-20mb-hell.html

[soup dragon]

what do you need it for that is the question? you can browse web pages on 512k no problem, you can stream youtube clips on 1meg - i know i used to do it, you can play online games at 512k again it was what was the norm a few years ago. so again the question is why do you need that speed 24/7? i know you are paying 'top whack' but why? there is no real need it is just a waste of you hard earned money surely. also if you have an adsl connection as well as a cable one and the adsl is better why dont you cancel the cable and start moaning on an adsl forum instead of this one?

[TUZZY]

Soup Dragon is obviously happy

---------- Post added at 21:44 ---------- Previous post was at 21:41 ----------

But he cant comprehend that unless Im downloading illegal files or full HD DVD films which are also illegal to download then I should stick with a slow speed. Progress is not in his vocabulary. Anyway, Soup Monster/Dragon you are off the topic. You dont understand. But im happy your happy on 512k with your itunes membership. Your happy so why comment ;-)

[soup dragon]

i have no problems with my internet connection at the moment. i am aware that everything is finite, therefore if everyone wants to use something at the same time then there will be problems. the internet backbone in this country is woeful, we may be on fibre optics but it only goes so far and then you are on copper again. as long as i can browse and play counterstrike in the evening then fine, i schedule all my downloads and uploads for 00:00 to 16:00 if everyone did the same then the internet would be a happier place!!!!! i only pay for 4meg which i get constant between those times, in the evening i get less but enough to do what i want. c'est la vie.

fyi i wouldn't touch itunes with your pc let alone mine!

[jonifen]

I quote:
Your cable 'A road' still joins the shared motorway, it's just the motorway's so much wider, there's room for everyone

Yes... which brings me to my last experience of a long motorway drive... it took me 5hrs to get home from Birmingham. The traffic was stopped dead on the M6 for a few hours... and that was at a point with 4 lanes! So yeah... nice idea to compare cable broadband to the UK motorway system :rolleyes:

[TUZZY]

To be polite.... I thought VM would be an upgrade to ADSL. I thought, sorry, hoped that VM were telling me the truth. I expected therefore a better speed than ADSL, not slower. I wished for it to be stable and constant and after paying £29 a month expected to be happy. But No. It was only a wish. VM has let me down on many fronts. If I was a milkman id be happy at 4am maybe with top speed. But its not good for me. Shame. ADSL still wins hands down. And i thought copper cable could not possibly beat Fibre/Coax as with VM.s service. I have been proven wrong.

[Retrovertigo]

And so we have the same boring old arguments again. "My VM suits my purposes just fine, so can anyone not happy please shut up". Or the tired "no one can legitimately use 20meg all day so you must be doing something illegal". VM know people do illegal stuff which is why they offer 20meg. Otherwise why bother? It's pointless if all people do is watch the odd video on youtube and download sometiny mp3 files.

They do it to grab heavy users by advertising a faster speed, and then provide nothing of the kind when your average person is at home. And I don't know about anyone else, but I don't like leaving my P.C switched on when I'm not home in the daytime thanks very much.

But hey, the "I'm alright jacks" are happy with throwing money away so screw everyone else.

If I am at home during the day I get full speed. But in an evening it drops to half that and stays there. All that tells me is that they can't sustain even half what they advertise when their customers use the service of an evening. No doubt there are some lucky folk living in quiet areas where everything is fine and dandy.

But for poor sods like me, where VM have seemingly signed up every student in the area on the promise of super fast speeds, they don't provide. anything close. And in my book, less than half doesn't equal "up to". There should be a cut-off point where it is unacceptable.

[TUZZY]

Exactly ! ;)

[soup dragon]

sorry but i cant see your argument, i am not throwing my money away i am happy with 4meg, you seem to be throwing your money away! i can d/l as much 'illegal stuff' as i like between the hours of 00:00 and 16:00, i know that due to the amount of traffic during 'peak' time that it is not worth trying so i don't. the trouble with the majority of people today is they want something for nothing or everything for as little as possible. if everyone was a bit more responsible and didn't cane the bandwidth during peak time then how much happier would you all be. at the end of the day most people have the choice, adsl or cable. if you think the adsl route is the better one then change. i have had both and believe me when i say cable is by far the better option for me. when i was on adsl having constant disconnects and max speeds of 1meg i didnt post on an adsl forum bitching about it i changed to cable.

[TUZZY]

As you say in your post above. It is true that CABLE suffers contention just like ADSL - only in my case worst than ADSL. Its just that people told me and VM when I ordered that thats was not the case and i'd get the speed I pay for. Not so. At least with BT they were honest and said it would be 'up to 8meg', - VM told me, No. It WILL BE 20meg. How dishonest is that. Or is that untrained. Richard sort your staff out and sort your cable service out. :-) Its SH*T!

---------- Post added at 23:25 ---------- Previous post was at 23:23 ----------

I buy a car. It does 0-60 in 6 seconds. In daylight. At night it does 0-60 in 23 seconds. He he he. Id say VM is pretty well described in this way.

---------- Post added at 23:28 ---------- Previous post was at 23:25 ----------

It doesnt mean Im gonna speed during the day so U should stop me at night as theres more people on the road. Get a grip VM. I want what you said you offered. What i do with the speed is irrelevant. I just paid £28 a month to have it under the bonnet when I want it. To take it away from me when I should have the choice and still have to pay top whack is ridiculous.

[Berealwith]

Sorry to jump in but.....Soup Dragon i bought 20mb so i could have 4mb just like you.....i hear you thinking "What are you an idiot", well just to help you out of your one track mind and join the rest of us who can think of others, i bought 20mb not just to download, but to share it with the rest of the household i have a bloody expensive router which has port throttling on. so the kids (i have 4) can all get on the internet and be like you with 4mb and me with the last 4mb, is that too much to ask for !!!! or You expect me to pay for 5 cable lines, I dont think so....i hope i have helpped you see another point to why people buy 20mb

[Biggus]

I have had the *ahem* "top-tier" BB package ever since 1st getting cable which was 6.5yrs ago. I've had more issues this year than all the others put together.

Back in July I was getting <400kbs most of the time between 4pm-midnight regardless of anything else, VM staff saw fit that my connection was working fine, and seemed adamant that I was only on 10Mb despite my modem config etc. and my download speeds outside those hours saying otherwise.

Now it's happening again, and I have an engineer coming between 4-7pm today (Mon 5th Nov), to try and fix it. I somehow doubt he will, and then tell me it's working fine. I'm considering moving to the business service, as this is unbelievably crap ATM, but why the hell should I have to?

To all these people saying they can quite happily manage on 512Kb, 1Mb, 4Mb etc. connections, well good for you, but I'm not even getting within 2% of what I'm paying for, do you really find that acceptable?

Most of my "free" online time is spent playing World of Warcraft, and when you have latency in excess of 800ms because the game can't communicate fast enough with the server whenever certain items are "moused over", it's not worth playing, so cheers VM for ruining my "funtime" as well.

These are a few examples from earlier, with nothing else using the connection...

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 18:23:26 GMT

Test 1: 1024K took 26134 ms = 39.2 KB/sec, approx 323 Kbps, 0.32 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 18256 ms = 56.1 KB/sec, approx 462 Kbps, 0.45 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 30689 ms = 33.4 KB/sec, approx 275 Kbps, 0.27 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 59130 ms = 34.6 KB/sec, approx 285 Kbps, 0.28 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 336 Kbps, 0.33 Mbps

Just to show it's consistently crap, another 15 mins later after full reboot of modem, router & PC
Sun, 04 Nov 2007 18:38:12 GMT

Test 1: 1024K took 27404 ms = 37.4 KB/sec, approx 308 Kbps, 0.3 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 32932 ms = 31.1 KB/sec, approx 256 Kbps, 0.25 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 33085 ms = 31 KB/sec, approx 255 Kbps, 0.25 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 50013 ms = 40.9 KB/sec, approx 337 Kbps, 0.33 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 289 Kbps, 0.28 Mbps

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:04:45 GMT

Test 1: 1024K took 35195 ms = 29.1 KB/sec, approx 240 Kbps, 0.23 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 19592 ms = 52.3 KB/sec, approx 431 Kbps, 0.42 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 54947 ms = 18.6 KB/sec, approx 153 Kbps, 0.15 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 58607 ms = 34.9 KB/sec, approx 288 Kbps, 0.28 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 278 Kbps, 0.27 Mbps

These are "peak" times of the day, it's pretty damn obvious these times are when most of the population is doing what they want to do after school/work etc. just as it used to be watching TV. What would it be like if the TV was supposed to work at 25FPS all the time, but at peak times could only manage 2-3FPS ? Who would bother to watch at all?

---------- Post added at 04:05 ---------- Previous post was at 03:48 ----------

Just thought I'd add these little gems, and I'd say that the Sale of Goods & Services Act would apply here in my case at least...

I've also always had a gripe that all these BB suppliers can get away with using the term "unlimited" when there are restrictions attached. Unlimited in any dictionary will be something like "without restriction, unconditional" etc. such as is here (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=unlimited)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gsphoto/images/VM_reliable.jpg


http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gsphoto/images/VM_reliable2.jpg

[swapshop1]

For the first time ever I have been hit with a slow down, for a week I've been getting about 3Mb at various times of the day. I don't download 24/7 so cannot state if speeds do rise, however when I WANT to use my connection it has always been slow. I'm paying for 20Mb and I expect a decent service.

If it wasn't for traffic shaping then I would give them the benefit of a few weeks/a month but because I often get shaped to 4/5Mb then I'm far less tollerant to this current slow down.

---------- Post added at 09:03 ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 ----------

With the network fit to burst, the latency has rocketed, which is the worst thing. Web browsing is unresponsive with high ping times, web pages fill so slowly it's getting almost dial-up painful, gaming - forget it.

[soup dragon]

@ berealwith

you make a valid point that i admit i hadn't thought of so apologies to you.


however, this forum seems to be filled with 'i can't get the speeds i want' & 'vm are crap' threads. every day i log on wanting to be informed, amused and entertained by my fellow internet users, but all i get is whines and moans. if people have problems/queries with their service surely the thing to do is take it up with the provider, if that fails switch providers. i know posting on here can help relieve frustration but it does get a bit boring with constant 'it was much better on adsl' statements.

i will refrain from reading and replying to these threads from now on and let you all continue.:D

[dave6x]

They do it to grab heavy users by advertising a faster speed, and then provide nothing of the kind when your average person is at home. And I don't know about anyone else, but I don't like leaving my P.C switched on when I'm not home in the daytime thanks very much.
.I don't think they do it to "grab heavy users" they demonstrate that they don't really want them by applying STM to the "top 5%" of downloaders!

I believe what VM are doing is hoping to seduce the people who think faster is better, those who have to have the latest of everything although they don't have a clue what to do with it, even if they only use the internet for email and to check the BBC News and weather! That is probably what over 90% of subscribers are doing and haven't a clue what speed thay are getting or what they really need!

[TUZZY]

Thats like saying the majority of new sign-ups to VM are by people who dont know wot they want. Was U one of those in the beginning?. Dont make such a widespread statement regarding VMs customers who you dont even know.
I actually knew what I wanted and thats why I chose VM - only now I realise it cant keep up as good a connection and download speed as my BT ADSL line. Im on VMs 20meg service and its nowhere near that after 6pm - in fact my ADSL is 3x faster after 6pm!!!!
So id like to think in future that VM would actually tell the truth in their advertising and that U do and will get the full speed they promise....

[dave6x]

Thats like saying the majority of new sign-ups to VM are by people who dont know wot they want. Was U one of those in the beginning?. Dont make such a widespread statement regarding VMs customers who you dont even know. I was expressing my opinion based on chats and discussions with fairly average BB users I know. I knew precisely what I needed and still do, but many out there do not. The fact that you and I join a forum like this either means we have a problem we are trying to solve or have an interest in finding out more. You will notice that CF membership is significantly less than the number of Cable subscribers!

[Toilet-Duck]

I think virginmedia is getting worse for me at least, I only use to get bad speeds at peak times usually after 6pm but now I'm getting it during the day, web pages take forever and my pings have increased dramatically.

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:48:01 GMT

Test 1: 1024K took 9537 ms = 107.4 KB/sec, approx 885 Kbps, 0.86 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 6520 ms = 157.1 KB/sec, approx 1295 Kbps, 1.26 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 12004 ms = 85.3 KB/sec, approx 703 Kbps, 0.69 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 20111 ms = 101.8 KB/sec, approx 839 Kbps, 0.82 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 931 Kbps, 0.91 Mbps


To repeat this test from the source server click here (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.marsden/newspeedtest.html?1194263330008).

This is on the XL 20MB Package a joke, Ive reported faults and all the engineer does is check the signal and change the modem, which has been done 6 times now.

[KillswitchEdge]

Tuzzy, I agree with you in theory because if you pay for a 20Mb connection, you SHOULD get it 24/7 regardless of whoever else is on in your local area.

The thing I disagree with, however, is how you're throwing Cable under the bus in favour of ADSL, using the argument that because 20Mb Cable sucks, all other Cable must suck too.

I graduated from Leeds Met. University last year, and for my final year I had NTL/VM's 10Mb connection, which worked flawlessly day and night. My download speeds never dropped below 1100 Kb/s, and the same can be said now of the 4Mb and 2Mb connections VM currently offer: Rock solid.

20Mb may suck, because VM clearly have a lot of work to do to their exchanges and whatever else is at fault, but don't treat Cable internet with disdain just because one provider has one service that doesn't work as well as your ADSL connection (which I might add, 5Mbps service on a supposed 8Mbps line is hardly cause for celebration).

Once VM upgrade 4Mb to 10Mb (and provided they use the same technology as the old 10Mb connections, rather than whatever tech they're using for the 20Mb lines which is clearly currently not working), the 10Mb connection will pee all over BT's 8Mb ADSL service from a great height.

[TraxData]

Tuzzy, I agree with you in theory because if you pay for a 20Mb connection, you SHOULD get it 24/7 regardless of whoever else is on in your local area.

The thing I disagree with, however, is how you're throwing Cable under the bus in favour of ADSL, using the argument that because 20Mb Cable sucks, all other Cable must suck too.

I graduated from Leeds Met. University last year, and for my final year I had NTL/VM's 10Mb connection, which worked flawlessly day and night. My download speeds never dropped below 1100 Kb/s, and the same can be said now of the 4Mb and 2Mb connections VM currently offer: Rock solid.

20Mb may suck, because VM clearly have a lot of work to do to their exchanges and whatever else is at fault, but don't treat Cable internet with disdain just because one provider has one service that doesn't work as well as your ADSL connection (which I might add, 5Mbps service on a supposed 8Mbps line is hardly cause for celebration).

Once VM upgrade 4Mb to 10Mb (and provided they use the same technology as the old 10Mb connections, rather than whatever tech they're using for the 20Mb lines which is clearly currently not working), the 10Mb connection will pee all over BT's 8Mb ADSL service from a great height.

1) VM dont use exchange, they use UBRs

2)Im not sure how you've worked that one out, if you hadnt noticed, VM is only upgrading ubrs now to cope with the 20mbit, and the network is STILL suffering despite the upgrades.

They cant afford to upgrade the network enough to support even more high speed users as well, thus it will affect everyone, again just as 20mbit is doing, the amount of people getting problems now is waaaay higher than when it was 10mbit, at its current state the network simply cannot handle 20mbit users and its pretty obvious it was only rolled out so they could keep up with the competition and look good to shareholders.

Now they are upgrading 4 to 10mbit the network is only gonna get worse.

[domo247]

To the Oringal Poster.

Balls do you get a drop as big 16Mb (18Mb to about 1.7Mb you claim) from 6 in the morning to 18:00.

Also if your ADSL was all you needed why change.

If Cable is unreliable I expect there to be a lot of fluctuation in speeds but you are claiming you get certain speeds at certain points in the day – with a crap unreliable service the speed you got would always be changing and you could not predict or collate into 3 speeds for 3 different times of the day.

Also, since you do get 18Mb at certain times, your slow speed is obviously to-do with what others do in your area. So what you are also saying is that LOTS OF PEOPLE in your area have definite, constant day-to-day usage habits.

[TUZZY]

Well... its true.
9am (nearly always around 16-18meg)
12 Noon Lucky to get 10meg
2-3pm Lucky to get 5meg
After 6pm.... 1-2 Meg
and thats constant almost everyday since October 16th when I joined.
So if I can get 4-5 meg all day on ADSL. Somethings wrong with the cable service if it cant keep up with ADSL after 6pm when I want to use it, especially as its promised to be much faster and reliable than ADSL.
In my experience it is not. Sadly Cable has not come of age for me.
I was happy with 5meg but thought CABLE with VM would be an upgrade, a step up in progress like we all did from dial up to 512k and then 1,2,8meg.
But if a 20meg service provides me with an average of 1.7meg after 6pm and ADSL 4-5meg, then Cable is not a good option for me and for many others on this forum who report poor speeds, some lower than 1meg a times. What I dont get is why its not constantly just a bit faster than my ADSL - then it wouldnt be so bad, but 1.7meg d/load speed is very poor, especially when you get the sales pitch that VM is unlike adsl 'THE SPEED YOU PAY FOR IS THE SPEED YOU GET, ITS NOT AN UP TO SPEED LIKE ADSL!!!
I say Boll***s


:td:.

[Chrysalis]

I dont see anything wrong with the info on that site...

1 - there description of the cabling used is a bit of a dummies guide.

2 - They claim adsl is either shared with 19 or 49 other people this is no longer accurate BT wholesale removed contention ratios of their products, not only that even if the contention ratio stayed the shared bandwidth pools are larger than whats quoted.

With cable, you still share your connection with other people. Your cable 'A road' still joins the shared motorway, it's just the motorway's so much wider, there's room for everyone. And with cable, if there are any snarl-ups appearing, they can be spotted quickly, and more space gets freed up, keeping everyone moving. This is one of the advantages of owning your own network which most ADSL providers don't - you only have to worry about your own traffic.

3 - The above is simply false VM clearly have capacity problems hence the need to throttle people, I would question if a ubr downloaded channel (under 40mbit) is bigger then a 155mbit BT virtual pipe. Or a sky gigabit exchange backhaul.

[lostandconfused]

snip
especially when you get the sales pitch that VM is unlike adsl 'THE SPEED YOU PAY FOR IS THE SPEED YOU GET, ITS NOT AN UP TO SPEED LIKE ADSL!!!
I say Boll***s
:td:.

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/websales/service.do?id=2

it does say an up to service.

[Biggus]

Yeah it may well do that, but it also states
Broadband Size: XL - up to 20Mb

It's here! Our fastest broadband ever for XL customers!

Our flagship XL broadband service is now up to a supersonic 20Mb. Even though the existing 10Mb service was already four times faster than other industry players, we've decided to step on the gas and double the speed. We've even increased our upload speed to 768Kb!



What does this mean for customers?

To give you an idea of the new speeds, our Broadband Size: XL customers will be able to download an MP3 track in 2 seconds, a full album in less than 30 seconds, or an episode of their favourite TV show in just two and a half minutes.
The faster upload speed of 768Kb means that customers will be able to send emails or upload photos even faster than before

I've highlighted the above in red to show their (VM) claims, which for a lot of people are just not possible, therefore it's not true and is misleading. There's no way you could download a TV show in under 2.5 minutes when the download speed is less than 1Mb, and they make no mention of the fact that the speeds can & do drop way below their intended 20Mb.

[TUZZY]

Exactly!!!
;)

[arkwright23]

Someone I know has bought a laptop and wants broadband, but doesnt live in a cabled area. I note that Virgin has an ADSL broadband product for those unfortunate people. Does anyone know what the service is like compared to other broadband providers?

Sorry if this post is in the wrong place; wasn't sure whether it should be here or in the "other isps" forum.

[Mick Fisher]

Someone I know has bought a laptop and wants broadband, but doesnt live in a cabled area. I note that Virgin has an ADSL broadband product for those unfortunate people. Does anyone know what the service is like compared to other broadband providers?

Sorry if this post is in the wrong place; wasn't sure whether it should be here or in the "other isps" forum.
From what I read it is similar to VM's cable product, over contended and under resourced in every conceivable way. I would steer well clear if I was you.

[PaulH225]

Yeah it may well do that, but it also states


I've highlighted the above in red to show their (VM) claims, which for a lot of people are just not possible, therefore it's not true and is misleading. There's no way you could download a TV show in under 2.5 minutes when the download speed is less than 1Mb, and they make no mention of the fact that the speeds can & do drop way below their intended 20Mb.

The part you missed was they are using the overused get out clause of "UP TO 20Mb". So like any of the xDSL ISPs they don't have to (and in reality they can't) guarantee you will always get the maximum advertised speeds.

I do wonder how they can say that "It carries information as light which is very efficient and means loads of stuff can travel vast distances down it and arrive in good shape." I mean, sure, it does as far as the cabinet in the street, but then it turns into electrical signals down a copper cable just like DSL. In fact, it's the same as DSL in that respect - Fibre to the cabinet/exchange and then copper to the home - only with cable the distance is shorter, much like FTTK/FTTC and VDSL/<insert super fast new short range DSL technology here>.

People seem to never question that bit though.

[TUZZY]

Why dont they use Fibre Optic into the home?

[PaulH225]

Why dont they use Fibre Optic into the home?

More expensive I guess.. You have to have all the electronics that's in each cabinet/node in/at each home. Verizon started doing it in the US with FiOS. But here the coax is already there so it's easier/cheaper just to use that rather than running fibre.

[Biggus]

The part you missed was they are using the overused get out clause of "UP TO 20Mb". So like any of the xDSL ISPs they don't have to (and in reality they can't) guarantee you will always get the maximum advertised speeds.

I do wonder how they can say that "It carries information as light which is very efficient and means loads of stuff can travel vast distances down it and arrive in good shape." I mean, sure, it does as far as the cabinet in the street, but then it turns into electrical signals down a copper cable just like DSL. In fact, it's the same as DSL in that respect - Fibre to the cabinet/exchange and then copper to the home - only with cable the distance is shorter, much like FTTK/FTTC and VDSL/<insert super fast new short range DSL technology here>.

People seem to never question that bit though.

The cabinet is less than 20m from my house, but as far as I mentioned about the service, if any company advertises that you can do do certain things, but in reality you can't because they aren't providing you with enough resources to do it, they are breaking both the Trade Description and Sale of Goods & Services Acts because you're not getting what they advertise and therefore it's not "fit for purpose".

[inspector clueso]

I note that Virgin has an ADSL broadband product for those unfortunate people. Does anyone know what the service is like compared to other broadband providers?


My advice, AVOID, I have it, it sucks. High latency, very slow speeds during "peak hours". I always see speed drops from 7meg to dial-up speeds every evening and at weekends.

Honest opinion: Don't even consider it, I'm trying to find a way out of the contract to migrate.

I'll say it again! DON'T EVEN CONSIDER VIRGIN ADSL! If you do, then your a fool.

[CrossyX]

My advice, AVOID, I have it, it sucks. High latency, very slow speeds during "peak hours". I always see speed drops from 7meg to dial-up speeds every evening and at weekends.

Honest opinion: Don't even consider it, I'm trying to find a way out of the contract to migrate.

I'll say it again! DON'T EVEN CONSIDER VIRGIN ADSL! If you do, then your a fool.


I had a friend who had it an the could not get over 80kps after months of trying to get out of his contract they basically admitted it was there fault and they could not resolve the issue..

[j52c]

My advice, AVOID, I have it, it sucks. High latency, very slow speeds during "peak hours". I always see speed drops from 7meg to dial-up speeds every evening and at weekends.

Honest opinion: Don't even consider it, I'm trying to find a way out of the contract to migrate.

I'll say it again! DON'T EVEN CONSIDER VIRGIN ADSL! If you do, then your a fool.

Too true.

For the past 12 days it has even dropped after 11:00am.
Test last night at 6:20pm from http://www.speedtester.bt.com/
---------------
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 2500 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 3104 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 185 kbps
This test was not conclusive and further testing is required.
Please wait whilst you are redirected to undertake a second test.
You now have two choices-
If you wish to carry out further tests and you are competent to make changes to your ADSL system configuration, then please click on 'Continue' button.
If not, please close the window using 'Exit' button and contact your ISP for further assistance with these results.
---------------

[discoade]

i cant understand all this!

i have 4 meg. its 3970kbs in the morning and 3970kbs in the evening!

Whats all this speed variation talk about!? i feel left out!:angel:

[Cableminow]

I think people on virgin's adsl service might at least get to see some improvements new judging by this news.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/cgi-bin/news/viewnews.cgi?id=EEAuVAAAAkAHpdfWNg

Not sure I buy all of VMs explanation though.

[ultimate]

i cant understand all this!

i have 4 meg. its 3970kbs in the morning and 3970kbs in the evening!

Whats all this speed variation talk about!? i feel left out!:angel:

Count your blessings! Someone up there is looking after you !!

Mine was OK like yours until 4 weeks ago.

---------- Post added at 14:13 ---------- Previous post was at 14:06 ----------

I think people on virgin's adsl service might at least get to see some improvements new judging by this news.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/cgi-bin/news/viewnews.cgi?id=EEAuVAAAAkAHpdfWNg

Not sure I buy all of VMs explanation though.

I hope they are going to say some thing about cable BB being slow.