View Full Version : April the 2nd came and went. BB over subscribed.
Well, it seems Virgin have yet again failed me. My broadband has been faulty for more months than I can remember since Virgin got involved, of that there is no mistaking. After three STB swaps, and now fitted with a new modem I still have a fault.
Three months ago almost, I was told that on April the 2nd there would be a software update to sort out this utilization issue. Yes finally they admitted that it was utilization. Not me needing to reinstall my system, or me doing p2p 24/7 or a damn virus, and so on and so forth. UTILIZATION.
Well, guess what? It's still the damn same as it ever was. Either the update hasn't taken place, or the issue has just not been fixed with the update.
I don't ring TS anymore, it's plain useless. I don't think they ever ever helped me. Oh yeah they made me look a right idiot jumping through hoops for them, but they never fixed a damn thing.
I was more or less promised by the main BB TS guy that this would be sorted, it was bad enough that they made me wait another three more months with a hope that it would be fixed, now I don't know what I'll say to retentions on Monday. I'm already on retention package 5 just to stop me moaning. I certainly can't play my on line games anymore. I have a new one ordered for July 'cos I was hoping that it would all be done and dusted. ARGHHHHHHHHHH.
Well, it seems Virgin have yet again failed me. My broadband has been faulty for more months than I can remember since Virgin got involved, of that there is no mistaking. After three STB swaps, and now fitted with a new modem I still have a fault.
Three months ago almost, I was told that on April the 2nd there would be a software update to sort out this utilization issue. Yes finally they admitted that it was utilization. Not me needing to reinstall my system, or me doing p2p 24/7 or a damn virus, and so on and so forth. UTILIZATION.
Well, guess what? It's still the damn same as it ever was. Either the update hasn't taken place, or the issue has just not been fixed with the update.
I don't ring TS anymore, it's plain useless. I don't think they ever ever helped me. Oh yeah they made me look a right idiot jumping through hoops for them, but they never fixed a damn thing.
I was more or less promised by the main BB TS guy that this would be sorted, it was bad enough that they made me wait another three more months with a hope that it would be fixed, now I don't know what I'll say to retentions on Monday. I'm already on retention package 5 just to stop me moaning. I certainly can't play my on line games anymore. I have a new one ordered for July 'cos I was hoping that it would all be done and dusted. ARGHHHHHHHHHH.
I had to fight and then it still took 5 months .:shocked: Hope you finally get it fixed.
It's been way over 5 months from when it first went bad, and they know it.
joglynne
05-04-2008, 13:01
Just out of interest snazzy you don't happen to be on cpc1-stre3...Baguley do you?
I'm on.
cpc3-stre3-0-0-cust389.bagu.cable.ntl.com
I could seriously see my backside I'm that annoyed with it.
joglynne
05-04-2008, 22:37
I'm not sure what difference the cpc1 and cpc3 parts make but from your tale of woe I suspected we couldn't be far from each other in server terms. LOL?...not.
Axegrinder
05-04-2008, 22:56
cpc is your ubr card ;), stre3 is the actual ubr.
joglynne
05-04-2008, 23:00
Being thick. What is the difference between my ubr card and my ubr?
Welshchris
06-04-2008, 03:20
I had a problem with over subscription from End of November 2007 to 2nd April 2008. What i had to do to get it fixed was to Put in 3 Complaints with the ISPA which can be done on their website, just search via google and u will find it + i wrote a number of letters to their complaints department.
Being thick. What is the difference between my ubr card and my ubr?
I've always relied on the simplistic image of lots of narrow cables from roadside green cabinets connecting to one of a number of UBR cards within a UBR room with several fat cables trailing off towards the distant t'internet in the shape of regional hubs.
This might not be technically correct but, who cares if it helps us understand? You (might) be thick and I'm definitely simple!
:D
Do a traceroute sometime and try to identify all the jumps?
(See Annie's Broadband FAQ (http://a.myby.co.uk/broadband-faq.html#q06) for guidance.)
joglynne
06-04-2008, 12:01
@ ceedee or any one with the patience to answer me. :dunce:
Presumably each card must be able to deal with a specific amount of band width? ( :erm: I'm scaring myself here.:shocked:) So is there a limit of how many users get put on each card, or do virgin just keep adding customers regardless.
Another question. (I bet you're sorry to replied to my earlier post. :D)
.....Taking the stre3 server as a example. What does it take to increase the amount of BB available on the card so that we have a shot a getting somewhere near the BB level we pay for? (forget about STM I'm just asking about normal usage)
Axegrinder
06-04-2008, 13:35
Think as the Ubr card as a row of ethernet ports, like you get on a back of a router, they are on a "card", and each row of ports is a card, cpc1, cpc2 etc. The ubr is just a fancy name for an enormous router ;) hope that helps some what.
Maybe someone should let Virgin know what to do and how to fix it. I hope I don't have to put up with yet another three months on top of the last three months plus all the other months I've waited in a vein attempt to get it fixed.
@ ceedee or any one with the patience to answer me. :dunce:
Presumably each card must be able to deal with a specific amount of band width? ( :erm: I'm scaring myself here.:shocked:) So is there a limit of how many users get put on each card, or do virgin just keep adding customers regardless.
Gimme an easy one, whydontcha?
This is way out of my comfort zone -- hopefully a VM techie will notice the thread if we jump up and down a bit...
You're not suggesting that VM might deliberately connect new users to already-overflowing UBRs? :shocked:
I have a hunch that congestion *can* be on both sides of the ubr but is much more likely to be on the upstream side (from ubr -> t'intertubes) where the output from multiple ubr cards is combined onto one of a number of fat pipes. I think I'm right in figuring that is where the load-balancing equipment sits, swapping output from ubr cards to different tubes depending how much bandwidth they have spare.
(Just reading that back, it sounds carp -- hope it makes more sense to you!)
Another question. (I bet you're sorry to replied to my earlier post. :D)
.....Taking the stre3 server as a example. What does it take to increase the amount of BB available on the card so that we have a shot a getting somewhere near the BB level we pay for? (forget about STM I'm just asking about normal usage)
If everyone wanted to use their theoretical maximum bandwidth at the same time, there wouldn't be enough fibre in the country!
But luckily there are only a tiny percentage of users who expect to get the full speed 24/7; the vast majority of VM's customers would probably be content with 512kb/s except for maybe an hour or two each week when they download an album, movie or yet another ubunto iso (natch!).
On an almost complete tangent, I've just been pointed towards a 2004 article about congestion (http://www.liquidzope.com/abc/1n/newsletter200406/analogy) that both explains the issue, erm, fluently and makes a fantastic, hard-hitting conclusion:
This is especially pernicious if we are really sincere about building a BB Britain, because this metric – average usage – is the single most import metric. More important than % coverage and more important that % take up. The ‘vilification’ of heavy users undermines the idea of a BB Britain. Heavy users and heavy use should be encouraged and promoted, not condemned to be the subject of ISP propaganda. The real measure of how advanced a digital society we have built in the UK, compared to the rest of the world is how much higher our average usage is. So let’s stop the propaganda, let’s stop blaming heavy users for disproportionately creating congestion and let’s get on with driving up everyone’s usage and building BB Britain.
Have a read of the article -- if it doesn't make you smile, I want my money back!
:)
joglynne
07-04-2008, 13:37
...https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2008/04/26.gif... I smiled, I promise I really did.
Well I think I understand a bit better now than before. Virgin BB is like lots of toilet bowls and what we really need is a plumber. Hang onhttps://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2009/06/20.gifwasn't there a BB company thinking of running cable through the sewers (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/24/h20_sewer_rollout/),
Thanks for all the time you have spent. You're a gem ceedee. :D
:D
No problem, jo. I enjoy trying to find simple answers.
I really liked the way the guy explained a difficult concept in accessible terms -- must find more of his articles...
OP why dont you contact ofcom
Just been told by TS on the newsgroups that the baguley upgrade has now been postponed AGAIN to the 19th May. Thats the 2nd time its been put back and will mean I have been complaining to VM about the overutilisation on the line for over a year! It won't get done in May i can guarantee it
Just been told by TS on the newsgroups that the baguley upgrade has now been postponed AGAIN to the 19th May. Thats the 2nd time its been put back and will mean I have been complaining to VM about the overutilisation on the line for over a year! It won't get done in May i can guarantee it
You have my sympathies.
I'd suggest you have three options:
1) lie down in a cool, quiet room away from the internet for a month or two,
2) cancel your VM connection tomorrow and take a gamble with an ADSL ISP, or,
3) document the hassles you've been through (your account on the NG would be a great start: intelligible despite your obvious frustration) in a letter to the CEO and offer him a reasonable period (I'd suggest 10 working days, but that's probably unrealistic) to supply the contracted connection. And ask for compensation for your hassles (hard cash, not another barely working service).
The last option might not stir them into action and they may not be capable of correcting the problems but you'll have given the boss the opportunity to learn exactly how his company is performing!
Good luck!
TraxData
13-04-2008, 16:58
Just been told by TS on the newsgroups that the baguley upgrade has now been postponed AGAIN to the 19th May. Thats the 2nd time its been put back and will mean I have been complaining to VM about the overutilisation on the line for over a year! It won't get done in May i can guarantee it
I think you'll find baguley has been over subscribed (i use this term loosely) for over 2 years now...and not one upgrade has ever been pushed for it, so your really wasting your breath.
Is the UBR for Baguley any where near Oldham. Read the following on, Network maintenance in the following areas is planned to improve the capacity of our network;(which incudes Oldham).
http://status-cable.virginmedia.com/vmstatus/maintenanceissue.do;jsessionid=999199D8137240E86BD BF928E9531930.jsps304p:28009?ticket=140408
icestar2
13-04-2008, 21:32
I'm cpc4 Baguley And am having all the same problems since the re-brand. I feel your pain.
To be honest, all the people who are known to have this issue should get free or very very reduced BB costs. I know when I call them again next week I'm gonna be megga pi55ed. Too many promises and not enough action.
---------- Post added at 16:03 ---------- Previous post was at 16:00 ----------
Just remembered. I was also told that it was no problem as it was only a software update. If that was true, why the hell didn't they do it right away?
icestar2
14-04-2008, 16:31
Have you tried the newsgroups ? I have just tried them and they are great. Fast reply's and they tested alot of stuff and we have a engineer booked for tomorrow morning. Very good tech support on there news groups.
I don't need anymore engineers, boxes, calls, system configuration changes and what ever. It's all down to this utilisation problem that Virgin seem unwilling or unable to sort out. I have been dealing with this same problem since a few weeks after Virgin took over.
icestar2
14-04-2008, 17:16
I don't need anymore engineers, boxes, calls, system configuration changes and what ever. It's all down to this utilisation problem that Virgin seem unwilling or unable to sort out. I have been dealing with this same problem since a few weeks after Virgin took over.
Fair enough was only a surgestion. I to have had no end of problems since the REBRAND. I only hope tomorrow at least sorts some out.
Have you tried the newsgroups ? I have just tried them and they are great. Fast reply's and they tested alot of stuff and we have a engineer booked for tomorrow morning. Very good tech support on there news groups.
While it's great that you felt you received a good service from the newsgroup, I have to warn you that -- just like Snazzy and countless others -- if the root of the problem is that your UBR is oversubscribed (as has been the case with Baguley UBRs before), it's very unlikely that tech visits or replacement modems will improve the connection for long.
Sorry if that sounds pessimistic -- I hope I'm proved completely wrong and it's different for you and the tech fixes you a super-fast connection for ever more!
;)
Post back here tomorrow to let us know how it went?
icestar2
14-04-2008, 23:28
While it's great that you felt you received a good service from the newsgroup, I have to warn you that -- just like Snazzy and countless others -- if the root of the problem is that your UBR is oversubscribed (as has been the case with Baguley UBRs before), it's very unlikely that tech visits or replacement modems will improve the connection for long.
Sorry if that sounds pessimistic -- I hope I'm proved completely wrong and it's different for you and the tech fixes you a super-fast connection for ever more!
;)
Post back here tomorrow to let us know how it went?
No thats fair and I am only hoping my problems can be fixed tomorrow. Even if 1 of the 2 is fixed that progress right ? lol.
Had excellant service on the newsgroups but that does not mean my problems will be fixed I am just trying to remain optomistic. Will post back tomorrow and let you know how I got on.
icestar2
15-04-2008, 10:49
Well had the engineer today and well . . . . .My setop box has been replaced and this has fixed all my problems with the channels so thats good. Also here is the speed am getting on 20mb now -
Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:52:42 UTC
Test 1: 1024K took 500 ms = 2048 KB/sec, approx 16876 Kbps, 16.48 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 421 ms = 2432.3 KB/sec, approx 20042 Kbps, 19.57 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 641 ms = 1597.5 KB/sec, approx 13163 Kbps, 12.85 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 1016 ms = 2015.7 KB/sec, approx 16609 Kbps, 16.22 Mbps
Overall Average Speed = approx 16673 Kbps, 16.28 Mbps
But the speed normally drops around 2pm so will check then to see if theres an improvment. at the moment am happy though. Very friendly Engineer who was polite and very helpful.
joglynne
15-04-2008, 12:43
Glad some of your problems seem to have been resolved icestar2. Although some members react negatively to an engineer being booked, a visit can sometimes be worthwhile.:)
The plus side is that you now know your equipment is OK and any drops in BB performance are definitely down to the supply and not the hardware at your end. This must give some weight to any claim for a reduction in charges, or refunds if you wish to push for any compensation as a result of the contention issues on our server.
:woot:
Excellent news! I hope everything stays working for you.
icestar2
15-04-2008, 15:12
Yep seems that my problems are all gone for now at least. Current speeds on BB are fair enough for me and channels all work perfectly. Hats off to VM this time round :)
Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:14:22 UTC
Test 1: 1024K took 484 ms = 2115.7 KB/sec, approx 17433 Kbps, 17.02 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 485 ms = 2111.3 KB/sec, approx 17397 Kbps, 16.99 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 468 ms = 2188 KB/sec, approx 18029 Kbps, 17.61 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 1188 ms = 1723.9 KB/sec, approx 14205 Kbps, 13.87 Mbps
Overall Average Speed = approx 16766 Kbps, 16.37 Mbps
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