20mb cable is not working at 20mb :(

[izaldinali]

Hi there, just got Virgin cable installed yesterday, tried surfing it from about after 5pm until 3am in the morning, and speed seemed to be closer to around 6-10mb, without it ever really staying constant. Tried it in the morning before work, and was getting 20mb speeds, tried it again when I got home, and it's back to the 6-10mb speeds!

Now I'm trying to understand if it's a problem with the area I'm in, or the fat that my neighbour and I are using the same box (which is on my house not theirs) or if it's just a time thing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I don't really want to call the technical support unless 100% necessary!

Thanks

[ze0n]

Traffic shaping I'm guessing.

[chickendippers]

Residential internet is shared between all the people in your local area, so between 4 and 9pm it will be slower when everyone is using it.

[izaldinali]

It was still at the same speed at about 3am though...is that normal?

[Jonnymeg]

How do you know what your speed is?

[izaldinali]

Using speedtests from Zen internet files, and downloading stuff via usenets. At 7:30 this morning it was downloading at 2.46mb/s off of Zen...now it's like 600~900kbps.

Here's the link if you need it

http://fuller.zen.co.uk/test/

[chickendippers]

A lot of people schedule their downloads to start after the STM policy ends at 9pm, so that's probably why it's busy late at night.

[izaldinali]

So you think they just traffic manage my entire area all the time, except in the early morning? Why am I paying for a 20mb connection then if I'm hardly ever gonna get 20mb :(

[chickendippers]

No, I'm speculating that other people are using the shared bandwidth at the same time as you. Same as ADSL.

[izaldinali]

What're the odds of calling up Technical Support sorting anything out? It seems fruitless though, considering I get fullspeed in the early morning...everything points to shared bandwidth, or the fact that my neighbour and I are on the same box. :\

[system11]

What're the odds of calling up Technical Support sorting anything out? It seems fruitless though, considering I get fullspeed in the early morning...everything points to shared bandwidth, or the fact that my neighbour and I are on the same box. :\

No point phoning them - all ISPs oversell their capacity and VM is no exception. Mines been like that for months and I'm told we're getting an upgrade in the area 'hopefully in the future'. So they /hope/ to provide me with the service I pay for, at those times when it isn't being capped anyway ;)

To be honest I wish they'd abolish the max package and have 10mb as the top speed sold. Unpopular to say, but there's a very, very tiny number of people who legitimately need 20mb. Trouble is a lot of people (like me) sign up for that one as the VM downstream/upstream ratio is a joke, and it's the only way to get reasonable upstream.

[izaldinali]

Hm, I've heard a lot of stories about people haggling with Virgin over the price of their contracts...think I can give them a ring and use the constant throttling and lack of actual 20mb speeds to get a reduced bill?

[jungleguy]

Hm, I've heard a lot of stories about people haggling with Virgin over the price of their contracts...think I can give them a ring and use the constant throttling and lack of actual 20mb speeds to get a reduced bill?

no chance, the 20mg is listed as upto 20 and there is a fair usage policy.

On the other hand if you got 4mb bb, and were expecting your speed to be upgraded to 10mg by end of Feb, and your still on 4mb, I think you'd have a case, but thats another story.

[Jonnymeg]

no chance, the 20mg is listed as upto 20 and there is a fair usage policy.

On the other hand if you got 4mb bb, and were expecting your speed to be upgraded to 10mg by end of Feb, and your still on 4mb, I think you'd have a case, but thats another story.

But surely, even with 'up to', you should expect more than the next lowest package?
If he constantly got greater than 10 but less then 20 i would agree but not in this case.