24/7 throttling on 2OMB Line

[EcRyder]

Hi all. I have had a 2OMB service in Bromley area since Sept 2008. I have recieved fairly stable speeds of around 2.0MB/s in offpeak times, early morning or after 10pm.

I am a fairly heavy user, downloading from Usenet on a regular basis.

What i have noticed over the last few days is that whenever i start downloading from Usenet, regardless of the time of day or night, after roughly 5 minutes my download speed reduces from near line max to around 500KB/s. Now when i reach my download limit in peak times my line is strottled to 570Kb/s, 25% of its max speed, as defined in their T&C's of which i accept.

As a work around i currently disconnect my Newsgroup program used to download from usenet, change the port it uses, reconnect and i then resume downloading at the max speed again. 5 minutes later my speed is capped @ 500KB/s so I switch to previous port number used & speed increased to max again. This indicates I am not having my line capped, just on that program on that port after a certain time/data amount.

Has anyone else come across similair actions from Virgin? Whether I agree with their throttling policies or not i was aware of them at the time i signed my contract and therefore manage my downloads accordingly. Regardless of this I now seem to be targetted additionally above their stated throttling poilicy.

Any info would be appreciated.

Cheers

[Kymmy]

Although they have STM which is a preset limit thier T&C's (Part B, section 4 paragraph i) also state the following

We reserve the right to monitor and control data volume and/or types of traffic transmitted via the interactive services on your Virgin TV and/or Internet access. In the event that you exceed any usage allowance applicable to your Internet access or your use does not comply with the 'acceptable use policy' which you can read on the Virgin Media website, we reserve the right (at our sole discretion) to reduce, suspend or terminate your Internet access. During any time of reduction or suspension, you will remain liable for the payment of your original level of Internet access charge.

Which (the same as most ISP's) means that if you abuse (in their eyes not yours) the connection then they can restrict it how they'd like to.. STM is their official fixed blanket restriction (so doesnt come under AUP)..although not official it seems as though they are now restricting very high downloaders and/or certain ports in certain areas (probably where UBR's are oversubbed)

Yes would be nice to get an official comment from VM but I don't think that's gonna happen..

[cabsandy]

Hi all. I have had a 2OMB service in Bromley area since Sept 2008. I have recieved fairly stable speeds of around 2.0MB/s in offpeak times, early morning or after 10pm.

I am a fairly heavy user, downloading from Usenet on a regular basis.

What i have noticed over the last few days is that whenever i start downloading from Usenet, regardless of the time of day or night, after roughly 5 minutes my download speed reduces from near line max to around 500KB/s. Now when i reach my download limit in peak times my line is strottled to 570Kb/s, 25% of its max speed, as defined in their T&C's of which i accept.

As a work around i currently disconnect my Newsgroup program used to download from usenet, change the port it uses, reconnect and i then resume downloading at the max speed again. 5 minutes later my speed is capped @ 500KB/s so I switch to previous port number used & speed increased to max again. This indicates I am not having my line capped, just on that program on that port after a certain time/data amount.

Has anyone else come across similair actions from Virgin? Whether I agree with their throttling policies or not i was aware of them at the time i signed my contract and therefore manage my downloads accordingly. Regardless of this I now seem to be targetted additionally above their stated throttling poilicy.

Any info would be appreciated.

Cheers
Are you sure its not your USENET provider who isn't doing something? Does it say unlimited on your T&C's or do they reserve the right to suppress you? Just seems a bit weird that you are being managed at what looks like layer 4 (port numbers).STM works by MAC address which is layer 2.VM may have layer 4 management-I don't know.

[broadbandking]

From people I have spoke to in Virgin high end they dont manage any kind of traffic unless you hit the STM limits.

Who is your USENET provider?

Are you using a wireless router?

What modem are you using?

[EcRyder]

Usenet Provider is Newsdemon. I am subsribed to the Unlimited Plus 20 SSL Encrypted Connections, unlimited monthly usage.

I am using ethernet on a Netgear WGR614V9.

Modem is a VM Model No. E08C013.00 Trade Name Ambit (not sure which, if any of that info, will identify it).

Over the last week prior to the reduced speeds I have been downloading some Bluray rips, 8gb-12Gb each, after 10pm each evening. 15-45GB a night. This is obviously what has triggered the limits but from where?

Thanks for assistance.

[Fatec]

..although not official it seems as though they are now restricting very high downloaders and/or certain ports in certain areas (probably where UBR's are oversubbed)


:Yes:

[broadbandking]

Usenet Provider is Newsdemon. I am subsribed to the Unlimited Plus 20 SSL Encrypted Connections, unlimited monthly usage.

I am using ethernet on a Netgear WGR614V9.

Modem is a VM Model No. E08C013.00 Trade Name Ambit (not sure which, if any of that info, will identify it).

Over the last week prior to the reduced speeds I have been downloading some Bluray rips, 8gb-12Gb each, after 10pm each evening. 15-45GB a night. This is obviously what has triggered the limits but from where?

Thanks for assistance.

Newsdemon are pants get giganews I always had speed issues with newsdemon

I doubt that Kymmy as the op would get full speed after a reboot most likely a USENET problem or the router/modem cant handle connections

[Peter_]

Usenet Provider is Newsdemon. I am subsribed to the Unlimited Plus 20 SSL Encrypted Connections, unlimited monthly usage.

I am using ethernet on a Netgear WGR614V9.

Modem is a VM Model No. E08C013.00 Trade Name Ambit (not sure which, if any of that info, will identify it).

Over the last week prior to the reduced speeds I have been downloading some Bluray rips, 8gb-12Gb each, after 10pm each evening. 15-45GB a night. This is obviously what has triggered the limits but from where?

Thanks for assistance.
This link to Chetnet will enable you to identify the model http://www.chetnet.co.uk/articles/index.php?page=index_v2&id=91&c=4

[EcRyder]

Model is Virgin Media 256.

The modem/router/newsdemon setup has received stable 2.3MB/s+ speeds over TB's worth of data without any issues. I fail to see that this is a hardware issue however that is not out of the question.

From the feedback to this thread it is also clear this is not common practice by VM which in itself is good to hear.

I would like to test my connection after 10pm tonight on a large data transfer that is not usenet based. Is there anywhere i can download around 5GB at speeds that will max out my 20MB line?

[Peter_]

Model is Virgin Media 256.

The modem/router/newsdemon setup has received stable 2.3MB/s+ speeds over TB's worth of data without any issues. I fail to see that this is a hardware issue however that is not out of the question.

From the feedback to this thread it is also clear this is not common practice by VM which in itself is good to hear.

I would like to test my connection after 10pm tonight on a large data transfer that is not usenet based. Is there anywhere i can download around 5GB at speeds that will max out my 20MB line?
You have the latest Virgin supplied kit so it seems more likely that it is a network issue such as an overloaded uBR that is causing this and you need to call in for some answers.

[broadbandking]

gamefiles.blueyonder.co.uk

That would do it

[EcRyder]

I would first like to establish if the reduced speeds are restricted to my usenet data or across all data transfers. To do this i will need to maintain a fast download for a period of around 8 minutes. That should help me identify the cause of the problem.

[Peter_]

gamefiles.blueyonder.co.uk

That would do it

Give that a try.

-------------------------------------------------------------

If you are a Virgin Media customer then the best speedtest is from the link below.

Have you tried going to this link to check your speeds http://gamefiles.virginmedia.com/ try ds2_englishdemo.exe (http://gamefiles.virginmedia.com/blueyondergames/demos/ds2_englishdemo.exe) as it is a 1.4Gb file.

click on blueyondergames>demos>then click on at least 2 large files around 400/500 mb and save them to your desktop, and then wait a couple of minutes then write down the transfer rates on the files that are running > times them by 8 and you will get a truer download speed.

Remember to stop and delete the files.



i.e : 250Kbps X 8 = 2Mbps, 500Kbps X 8 = 4Mbps, 1250Kbps X 8 = 10Mbps, 2500Kbps X 8 = 20Mbps
-----------------------------------------------------------

[broadbandking]

You have the latest Virgin supplied kit so it seems more likely that it is a network issue such as an overloaded uBR that is causing this and you need to call in for some answers.

Cant be the network as he gets full speed after a port change

[Peter_]

Sounds bandwidth related still could be a network issue

[EcRyder]

Just to clarify. I do get a stable 2.2MB/s my line i capable of, i am under 1km from my exchange so received very little loss over the line.

With newsleecher i have a bandwith monitor running as i am downloading, this is a solid 2.2MB/s, or i set is around 2.0MB/s if i am using firefox at the same time. After approx 5minutes the bandwith monitor will indicate my conenction dropping straight down to 500KB/s and remains there indefiantely.

I then disconnect Newsleecher, change the port from 81 to 80, reconnect and transfer speeds immediately return to 2.2MB/s for a further 5 minutes where the same thing happens.

This morning this continued for around 45 minutes until my download had completed.

These actions indicate that either VM is throttling my line, unlikely from above comments or NewsDemon are throttling my speeds from their servers at a port level.

Due to the fact that the reduced speeds happen after five minutes, or maybe a set data amount, to identify which of the above is true i need to have a continual download for a period of over 5 minutes to see if my speed drops again. Unfortunately these 2 large files will both complete before the 5minute period.

[Peter_]

This link is to just large gamefiles of over 1Gb in size so try 2/3 of these.


http://gamefiles.virginmedia.com/blu...demos/?C=S;O=D (http://gamefiles.virginmedia.com/blueyondergames/demos/?C=S;O=D)

[EcRyder]

Great, Will test tonight and post results.

Many thanks.

[cabsandy]

Usenet Provider is Newsdemon. I am subsribed to the Unlimited Plus 20 SSL Encrypted Connections, unlimited monthly usage.

I am using ethernet on a Netgear WGR614V9.

Modem is a VM Model No. E08C013.00 Trade Name Ambit (not sure which, if any of that info, will identify it).

Over the last week prior to the reduced speeds I have been downloading some Bluray rips, 8gb-12Gb each, after 10pm each evening. 15-45GB a night. This is obviously what has triggered the limits but from where?

Thanks for assistance.
lol-I cant say for certain but with that sort of stuff, I bet they have a "special" sin bin for you :td:
I mean, if some £10,000 a year CSR just produced a spreadsheet with the Top 10 downloaders , you'd be in that list!! You wouldn't need any DPI kit!
That's your problem m8 :D

[EcRyder]

As interesting as your reply is it provides nothing factual to this thread. It does not help establish the source of the reduced speeds. If this thread does indeed go to prove that VM do infact have special procedures for certain cases then I am sure the members of this community would like to be made aware of that.

Anyway. I downloaded the 1.8GB file via firefox using default port 80. Speeds received varied from 600KB/s to 1.8MB/s for roughly 22 mins, consistant with the time of day.

Usenet also used to download data using port 80. After the 5 minutes speeds again reduced to 500KB/s. Switched to port 563 and speeds reduced after exactly 5 minutes.

So, it is either Newsdemon capping speed after 5 minutes of activity or VM capping speed on certain types of data, not the port.

Is it possible that VM could identify the data type and restrict that? The usenet server is encrypted by the way.

[Stabhappy]

Set up several servers in your newsreader, 1 per connection, all with different ports. 500kb/s per port... ;)

[EcRyder]

Now thats the kind of feedback i like :P

[Stabhappy]

Now thats the kind of feedback i like :P

Let me know if it works. It definitely sounds like artificial throttling of usenet data, though.

[EcRyder]

Throttling by who though? VM or Newsdemon?

I contacted Newsdemon and their support suggested i use the US server rather than the EU one. On initial tests I did not receive any speed restrictions but will monitor further and revert back.

Many thanks for all your feedback.

[Stabhappy]

Considering I've seen a very similar symptom from another user on several NG providers, I'm thinking Virgin. But the several ports should at least stop you needing any restarts.

[cabsandy]

As interesting as your reply is it provides nothing factual to this thread. It does not help establish the source of the reduced speeds. If this thread does indeed go to prove that VM do infact have special procedures for certain cases then I am sure the members of this community would like to be made aware of that.

Anyway. I downloaded the 1.8GB file via firefox using default port 80. Speeds received varied from 600KB/s to 1.8MB/s for roughly 22 mins, consistant with the time of day.

Usenet also used to download data using port 80. After the 5 minutes speeds again reduced to 500KB/s. Switched to port 563 and speeds reduced after exactly 5 minutes.

So, it is either Newsdemon capping speed after 5 minutes of activity or VM capping speed on certain types of data, not the port.

Is it possible that VM could identify the data type and restrict that? The usenet server is encrypted by the way.

Fair comment :D

The thing I would look at is the 5 minute interval-which suggests to me *something* is polling something every 5 minutes and your being eyeballed every time.Your IP address, although dynamic, will be the same.Your MAC address of your modem will be the same.So there's a few levels they could catch you on. Even with SSL, it sounds like your being "done" at layer 2/3.They dont really care what it is your doing, it's the amount that's being done! :p:
Painful as it may seem, the amount your are downloading will bring you to the fore with any system and the T &C's mentioned before means they can do what they like, without specifically informing you or giving you due notice of that action.