ADSL Traffic management

[CrowmanUK]

Has anybody else encountered this problem with their ADSL from VM?
I'm on an up to 8meg connection and get on average 4.5meg download speed which is ok, I can live with that, and I get it consistently during off peak hours, this week i got traffic managed and and between 4pm and midnight my speed has dropped to 50Kbits/sec or 7KB/sec, dial up modem speed in effect and only 1/10th of the minimum set out in their FUP, I've contacted VM using the online support tool, (there was nothing they could do), customer support phoneline who agreed that it was wrong and I should phone tech support, I rang them and they said it was a bug in the traffic management software and there was nothing they could do, not even offer a timescale for a fix or even if there was going to be one.
I contacted VM through email and got a standard copy n paste reply.
I dont mind being traffic managed at peak times if it makes it better for everyone but in their own FUP at http://www.virgin.net/helpme/broadband/faq/basics_traffic.html it says...

"Traffic Management:
For the small number of customers who are in the top 5% of heaviest users, our traffic management solution will temporarily set download speeds to no lower than 512Kbit/s. This limit is applied daily, 4pm until midnight, for 1 week."

I've only been with VM for just over 6 weeks and if they cant get their traffic management software running correctly I want out, with half a meg connection you can surf the net and play games, with a 7k connection you've got no chance, heres the speedtest I did earlier

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2008/04/33.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Anybody else had experience of this, please dont tell me I'm in this boat on my own :(

[CrowmanUK]

This is the results of a speedtest at offpeak times, huge difference

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2008/04/32.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[xspeedyx]

ADSL for you mate

[CrowmanUK]

Just got an email off them asking me to connect with a different username/password and do a speedtest and contact tech support, seems a bit pointless as tech support have already told me its a bug in the software that they know about and cant do anything about but i'll give it a try and if i get no joy its the cancellation for me, I want my setup fee back too, if they said on the site that I'd get dial up speeds if I was traffic managed i'd have avoided them like the plague, BE broadband looks ok so I might look at joining them.

[CrowmanUK]

Heres the results of test 1 at http://speedtester.bt.com/ , not the site VM told me to go but the one they wanted me to check at wouldnt load


11/04/08 7.30pm
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 4000 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 5472 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 50 kbps

This test was not conclusive and further testing is required.

Couldnt connect to do the second test, tried allsorts of combinations for a username

bt_test_user@virgin.net gave a page could not be displayed
so did bt_test_user@adsl.virgin.net so i gave up on the second test, 50Kbps is pretty crappy though in anybodys book.

[the-cable-guy]

you'd be faster on dial up mate.

[CrowmanUK]

Oh joy of joys, just spoke to tech support again and pulled up the FAQ for the fair use policy and the swines have changed it! It now reads

For the small number of customers who are in the top 5% of heaviest users, our traffic management solution will temporarily set download speeds to no lower than 80Kbit/s.

So they've moved the goalposts without telling anybody, thanks a bloody bunch VM!

[Gary L]

Oh joy of joys, just spoke to tech support again and pulled up the FAQ for the fair use policy and the swines have changed it! It now reads

For the small number of customers who are in the top 5% of heaviest users, our traffic management solution will temporarily set download speeds to no lower than 80Kbit/s.

So they've moved the goalposts without telling anybody, thanks a bloody bunch VM!

This is getting ridiculous now. they can't keep taking peoples money and not giving them what they are paying for. they can't keep cheating people by changing the rules and agreements. they are a very untrustworthy company to deal with lately.

[CrowmanUK]

I put in a complaint through the ISPA and got a phone call back from them within 15 minutes saying they'd make it a priority to get the problem resolved, 2 days later (today) I got a call from Virgin Customer Complaints Dept who released me from the 12 month contract and gave me my MAC code, the person I spoke to listened to what I said and was thoroughly professional, if the rest of VM was half as good as they were this forum and the Newsgroups would be seriously quiet.

[Phoebus]

I'm having the same problem as CrowmanUK, with my ADSL usage throttled back to 76Kbits/s during peak hours. As I work during the day, at most I am online from 6pm to midnight during the week; despite this, I download sufficient data in this time to have been subject to VM's traffic management for the past month. When I complained - via their eSupport - I was informed that it was possible to breach their FUP even whilst throttled.

As 76Kbits/s equates to 34.2MBytes/hr, in other words if you download <280MB per day at peak times, ie. a 30 min programme from the BBC's iPlayer site, you will be subjected to traffic management. In practical terms, this is hardly "unlimited" broadband unless you are a nightworker, retired or unemployed!!

[SBD]

YOU are not alone join the club..:rolleyes:

[CrowmanUK]

I'd question how they measure your bandwidth usage too, I got managed last week and i'm managed again this week, total bandwidth used last week was 5gig total, I'd say 80% of that was downloaded before 2pm and the rest was just web browsing, if you're going to be traffic managed for a whole week they should at least send you an email detailing what bandwidth you used during peak periods so you can check it against your own bandwidth monitors. One guy at tech support even told me to reset the router before peak time kicked in so the router didnt report any false figures, how insane is that? Either they are measuring it properly or they arent, which one is it?

[CrowmanUK]

I got connected with BE on the unlimited connection yesterday and what an improvement it is, all my in game lag problems have gone away and this is the result of my speedtest

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2008/04/6.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Woooohoooo

[Richy99]

thats still an awful high ping time

[CrowmanUK]

It is crap to that particular server but ping times in games are fine and there is no lag, worst affected was "sword of the new world" where there was about 3 or 4 seconds of lag in between moving and catching up to where I was and as for first person shooters, well lets just say it wasnt worth bothering.

[smeagoly1]

In the same boat now, had the upto 8Meg package for 8 weeks plus.

At first briliant, then after the ten day testing period it's been downhill faster than by kids gocart. I'd rather have hot pokers in my eyes than use the service now.
I never expected to get 8meg, but would settle for steady lowish ping and no disconections! Not having a reboot 4 times an hour in peak times.
Not been able to game for over 5 weeks now! Downloads stuck at 70kbs or a lot lower and a max of 140kbs in the middle of the morning. Lowest Ping i ever recorded was 137ms. Average 200 plus. In the ten day period it averaged 47ms, roughly constantly. Max download rate i ever got was 1.9meg from the gamefiles site, at 03:00 in the morning.

Line antenuation forced at between 2000 kbs and 2400kbs, "BT Line" yet it's been set at 7000kbs on friday april 11th at 20:00, for an hour then back down to 2200kbs. This is what I can't understand, It has been at the high end...once. So should be able to stay there or thereabouts.
This during periods of no downloading for a week or so!

So someone is having a laugh bigtime.

Might just have to go down the road of the OP and see if there is a way of getting out of a contract that doesn't even come close now to doing what I pay for.

[ceedee]

I got connected with BE on the unlimited connection yesterday and what an improvement it is, all my in game lag problems have gone away and this is the result of my speedtest

Woooohoooo

Very pleased that you 'got away' successfully.

[CrowmanUK]

Cheers Ceedee, only been a day so far but it puts me in mind of Blueyonder in the good old days, internet that works... ahhh happy days

[Bigpoppa]

ive been in this boat since feb......ive been hitting walls for months now, trying to get them to disconnect me.

i have followed your route and complained to the ISPA.....see what happens :)

[frogstamper]

Oh joy of joys, just spoke to tech support again and pulled up the FAQ for the fair use policy and the swines have changed it! It now reads

For the small number of customers who are in the top 5% of heaviest users, our traffic management solution will temporarily set download speeds to no lower than 80Kbit/s.

So they've moved the goalposts without telling anybody, thanks a bloody bunch VM!

How on earth can any ISP justify these dark ages speeds in this day an age, thats less than a tenth of a MB, its totally ridiculous, add to that its for an entire week, who would want VMs adsl service of "unlimited downloads":td::td::td:

[CrowmanUK]

The only thing I can think is they really down want any adsl customers.