Throttled?

[kingsbury1]

Hi Guys, New to the forum and I am on the Virgin National 8mb package but wanted to find out if anybody has been experiencing a 'throttled' service (speed down to 10 - 17kb a file) when downloading from legal file sharing sites like Rapidshare or MegaUpload as of yesterday?
I have trawled the internet this Morning to check if Virgin has implemented anything new, and I can only find a post on the Virgin Forum where another user has raised the same problem regarding MegaUpload which coincidently started yesterday as well?
Cheers :confused:

[webcrawler2050]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums. .

As far, as I know, the National Service, is not throttled..

However, there could be a things "we" need to check to assist.

* How are you connected to the VM Kit, WIfi - Wired etc
* Can you go to: start, run, cmd - type, ping www.bbc.co.uk - paste the results
* Whilst in CMD, can you do tracert www.bbc.co.uk - paste the results
* http://www.thinkbroadband.com/download.html Test files, download a large file paste the results

How far, from the exachange are you?
Have you got filters on all lines?
Have you taken the face plate off the master socket and plugged your kit into the test socket?
Are you experiencing any drops or loss of sync?

This little lot should help..

[Ignitionnet]

The National Service is throttled by Allot Omega Series Service Gateway appliances connected to the interconnects between VM and Cable and Wireless. On the BT Wholesale provided side same story though not the Omega SGs.

Perfectly possible the config on them has been changed to add those file sharing sites to the 'excrement' list.

EDIT: See this post (http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Broadband-down-your-phone-line/PC-gaming-problems-on-National-Broadband/td-p/4782) on the community forum where they discuss the outline of the shaping policy on the National service. A number of operators who shape traffic have moved Rapidshare, Megaupload, etc, to their P2P class due to its' high bandwidth utilisation on their networks. See here (http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/quality_broadband/download_servers.shtml) for the list of sites that Plus.net deprioritise.

[kingsbury1]

Hi Webcrawler2050, Thanks for the welcome and for taking the time to reply.
I am connected to VM via a Netgear router but use a wire connection and not wireless.
I have filters on all lines and am not that far away from the exchange etc but what I am experiencing here is not a loss of speed over general internet use as I am experiencing the same usual speeds when browsing and even use a PS3 for online gaming (which hasn't slowed down) but something has definitley happened this week with how Virgin are shaping Rapidshare (and similiar file sharing sites) traffic. I have tested again today and am getting as low as 2-11 kbs on a file download compared to 500 - 800 kbs which I have always had in the past.
It would be interesting to see what speeds other VM users are experiencing when downloading a Rapidshare file as it doesn't appear to be an error I am experiencing.
Thanks again for taking time out to reply

---------- Post added at 19:42 ---------- Previous post was at 19:36 ----------

Hi Broadbandings, Thanks also for taking the trouble to reply.

It does appear that the config has been changed to add these sites to the 'excrement list' as you put it but would this mean for example if I was to move to BT I would experience the same problem as it may not be Virgin's fault?
Thanks

[Chris442]

I posted this link on an previous post also concerning broadband speeds try :

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/,

as you'll see from the other post i stated the results can be fairly accurate, have you tried testing results with modem directly connected to your pc?

and also various machines? if none of the machines are near new you could always ask a friend round that has a newish laptop that might provide a more accurate reading ,

My laptop connected via wireless anywhere in the house gets same result as my desktop pc , around 2.3mb/s download even downloading something same time as desktop. Both machines are fairly new (since last xmas)..

as for rapidshare i rarely use , I use torrents , the speed on that can vary as it depends on seeds.

typical speed of that is around 1.3 mb/s download.

[kingsbury1]

Hey Chris, thanks for taking an interest and posting. I have used this speedtest before and have always found it pretty good and while I am typing this have just tested and my download speed is 3691 kbps which is pretty normal for a Saturday night but as I described in my earlier post it is only when I try and download a Rapidshare file that I am getting a problem.
I have just tried another Rapidshare file and I am getting a speed of just 2.91 kbps, nowhere near normal speeds. I've never used Torrents as always found the likes of Rapidshare pretty quick and I have never had a problem until yesterday. As everything else seems to be working I don't think the problem is 'my' connection and more down to VM changing how they traffic manage these type of sites.
cheers

---------- Post added at 20:44 ---------- Previous post was at 20:13 ----------

Just found a post on the Virgin help and suport Forum which is related to my issue and it looks like it may well be Virgin who have restricted bandwith to Rapidshare and related sites;

Re: Very slow speeds just on megaupload[ Edited ] Options
Bookmark this Message

03/10/09, 11:15 AM - last edited on 03/10/09, 11:16 AM

Hey buddy, I use rapidshare and am experiencing the same problems. I emailed rapidshare and they said that the problem was not on their end and mabey my isp was restricting bandwidth to certain sites. Interesting (yet frustrating). Think i'm gonna get in contact wth virgin.

[webcrawler2050]

And these please:

* Can you go to: start, run, cmd - type, ping www.bbc.co.uk - paste the results
* Whilst in CMD, can you do tracert www.bbc.co.uk - paste the results

[kingsbury1]

Here you go Webcrawler2050...cheers

Pinging www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.251.195] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 212.58.251.195: bytes=32 time=88ms TTL=119
Reply from 212.58.251.195: bytes=32 time=105ms TTL=119
Reply from 212.58.251.195: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=119
Reply from 212.58.251.195: bytes=32 time=74ms TTL=119

Ping statistics for 212.58.251.195:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 63ms, Maximum = 105ms, Average = 82ms


Tracing route to www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.251.195]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms www.routerlogin.com [xxx.xxx.x.x]
2 61 ms 60 ms 58 ms leed-bam-1.network.virginmedia.net [194.145.148.
68]
3 60 ms 80 ms 93 ms leed-core-1a-ge-112-0.network.virginmedia.net [8
0.0.241.69]
4 62 ms 59 ms 65 ms lee-bb-a-as9-0.network.virginmedia.net [213.105.
175.65]
5 69 ms 75 ms 64 ms nth-bb-b-as2-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.253.1
85.101]
6 78 ms 81 ms 64 ms tele-ic-1-as0-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.253.
184.2]
7 75 ms 68 ms 63 ms pos6-1.rt0.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.239.237]
8 67 ms 72 ms 97 ms 212.58.238.129
9 78 ms 78 ms 79 ms 212.58.239.58
10 101 ms 79 ms 82 ms www-vip.telhc.bbc.co.uk [212.58.251.195]

Trace complete.

[webcrawler2050]

Can you trace route to RapidShare?

And ping rapidshare - are you plugged into the test socket? Are you on an extension, i'd be interested to see some further diagnostics on your line.

[kingsbury1]

Hi, results below. I am plugged into the main socket via a router and telephone extension lead...cheers

tracert www.rapidshare.com

Tracing route to rapidshare.com [195.122.131.11]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms www.routerlogin.com [xxx.xxx.x.x]
2 54 ms 54 ms 54 ms leed-bam-1.network.virginmedia.net [194.145.148.
68]
3 78 ms 67 ms 65 ms leed-core-1a-ge-112-0.network.virginmedia.net [8
0.0.241.69]
4 77 ms 89 ms 88 ms lee-bb-a-as9-0.network.virginmedia.net [213.105.
175.65]
5 85 ms 75 ms 76 ms bre-bb-b-as2-0.network.virginmedia.net [213.105.
175.26]
6 54 ms 71 ms 69 ms 195.50.91.129
7 90 ms 76 ms 78 ms ae-32-54.ebr2.London2.Level3.net [4.68.117.126]

8 53 ms 52 ms 56 ms ae-43-43.ebr1.London1.Level3.net [4.69.141.197]

9 81 ms 80 ms 81 ms ae-43-43.ebr1.London1.Level3.net [4.69.141.197]

10 89 ms 80 ms 78 ms ae-100-100.ebr2.London1.Level3.net [4.69.141.166
]
11 92 ms 93 ms 96 ms ae-1-100.ebr1.Amsterdam1.Level3.net [4.69.141.16
9]
12 75 ms 73 ms 78 ms ae-1-100.ebr1.Amsterdam1.Level3.net [4.69.141.16
9]
13 92 ms 89 ms 126 ms ae-2-2.ebr2.Dusseldorf1.Level3.net [4.69.133.90]

14 95 ms 65 ms 74 ms ae-1-100.ebr1.Dusseldorf1.Level3.net [4.69.141.1
49]
15 81 ms 76 ms 112 ms ae-92-92.csw4.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.140.30
]
16 85 ms 65 ms 82 ms ae-92-92.csw4.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.140.30
]
17 63 ms 71 ms 68 ms rapidshare.com [195.122.131.11]

Trace complete.


Pinging rapidshare.com [195.122.131.13] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 195.122.131.13: bytes=32 time=89ms TTL=50
Reply from 195.122.131.13: bytes=32 time=87ms TTL=50
Reply from 195.122.131.13: bytes=32 time=87ms TTL=50
Reply from 195.122.131.13: bytes=32 time=96ms TTL=50

Ping statistics for 195.122.131.13:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 87ms, Maximum = 96ms, Average = 89ms

[webcrawler2050]

Ping is roughly about the same - How long is the extension lead?

Have you taken the faceplate off the master socket and plugged your netgear into the test socket, behind the face plate.

I would, if possible, take extension lead of out of the equasion, plug the router, direct into the test socket, use ethernet and then once you've done that try this:

ping rapidshare.com -n 20 and paste the results

[Ignitionnet]

kingsbury, please just try a test download from a known good source such as ftp.virginmedia.com and then try a RapidShare / MegaUpload download.

Much less stressful than messing around with your line and will prove it out. If speeds are equally bad to both it's your line, if not it's either the route to RapidShare or application level throttling.

Also is it slow 24x7?

[webcrawler2050]

Well, his ping was practically the same, when he pinged BBC - 82 MS - Where AS RS was 87 MS - I'd be interested to know, how long the phone extensionsis, as, you know Broadbandings, this could be an issue.. If you can try http://gamefiles.virginmedia.com and click "blueyonder games"

[Ignitionnet]

It could but given this post is only complaining about speeds to RapidShare and MegaUpload, not general performance issues. It's confirmable simply by downloading from a known good site hence my suggestion before moving the router around.

[kingsbury1]

Extension lead is about 3 metres long. I haven't taken the faceplate off the socket (will have to try this tomorrow) but have removed extension lead and connected router direct to socket and connected via ethernet and ping results are below:

ping www.rapidshare.com -n 20
Pinging rapidshare.com [195.122.131.13] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 195.122.131.13: bytes=32 time=89ms TTL=50
Reply from 195.122.131.13: bytes=32 time=87ms TTL=50
Reply from 195.122.131.13: bytes=32 time=87ms TTL=50
Reply from 195.122.131.13: bytes=32 time=96ms TTL=50

Ping statistics for 195.122.131.13:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 87ms, Maximum = 96ms, Average = 89ms

[webcrawler2050]

Extension lead is about 3 metres long. I haven't taken the faceplate off the socket (will have to try this tomorrow) but have removed extension lead and connected router direct to socket and connected via ethernet and ping results are below:

ping www.rapidshare.com -n 20
Pinging rapidshare.com [195.122.131.13] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 195.122.131.13: bytes=32 time=89ms TTL=50
Reply from 195.122.131.13: bytes=32 time=87ms TTL=50
Reply from 195.122.131.13: bytes=32 time=87ms TTL=50
Reply from 195.122.131.13: bytes=32 time=96ms TTL=50

Ping statistics for 195.122.131.13:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 87ms, Maximum = 96ms, Average = 89ms

Makes no difference, really.. none at all...

Next option, is possibly Open Reach Engineer. Or speak to Tech support again

[kingsbury1]

Have just downloaded a 33 mb file from the Blueyonder games as advised and total download time was 1m 22s with a average speed of 414.46kbs so things seem fine with 'normal downloads'.
The issue with Rapidshare dies appear to be 24x 7 as I have tried yesterday morning and this afternoon/Evening with no change in the speed I am getting.
Thanks again for your time Guys.

ps Rapidshare download is averaging at about 12kbs and I performed straight after the Blueyonder file.

[webcrawler2050]

Have just downloaded a 33 mb file from the Blueyonder games as advised and total download time was 1m 22s with a average speed of 414.46kbs so things seem fine with 'normal downloads'.
The issue with Rapidshare dies appear to be 24x 7 as I have tried yesterday morning and this afternoon/Evening with no change in the speed I am getting.
Thanks again for your time Guys.

PING is still high but that could be due to throttling..

Stupid thing, to think of, do you have spare filters? What about downloading http://download.thinkbroadband.com/200MB.zip Seeing the results would be interesting..

[Ignitionnet]

The ping isn't high that's due to interleave on the line, it can go that high.

There's nothing wrong with his line, or nothing that's causing these issues, as he mentions things are fine with 'normal downloads'.

kingsbury are you a premium member of these sites or do you use the free downloads?

[webcrawler2050]

Like I said, PING is "slightly" high 89MS is slightly higer than the normal. I've just downloaded a test file from RS and got 600K - so something isnt right.

[kingsbury1]

Have got a couple of spare filters somewhere...can't lay my hands on them tonight though...will need to search tomorrow.
Have downloaded the 200mb zip and it took 7m 19s with an average speed of 465.22 kbs which is what I would normally expect...cheers

---------- Post added at 23:20 ---------- Previous post was at 23:18 ----------

I am a premium member of Rapidshare only...never really use MegaUpload but mentioned them as I found a post on the Virgin Forum where they had the same issue I have but with this site...cheers

[Ignitionnet]

Have got a couple of spare filters somewhere...can't lay my hands on them tonight though...will need to search tomorrow.
Have downloaded the 200mb zip and it took 7m 19s with an average speed of 465.22 kbs which is what I would normally expect...cheers

Just consult with Virgin on the matter, this issue clearly isn't with your wiring. Home wiring tends not to decide it doesn't want to work for Rapidshare but will happily work for Think Broadband. :)

[webcrawler2050]

Yup - so then, it's an issue with either throttling specific to RS or some wierd issues with the Rapidshare system - however, the RS servers are in Germany, so it could be slight latency, which explains the slightly higher ping. I wouldn't worrie about the filters..

[Ignitionnet]

Yup - so then, it's an issue with either throttling specific to RS or some wierd issues with the Rapidshare system - however, the RS servers are in Germany, so it could be slight latency, which explains the slightly higher ping. I wouldn't worrie about the filters..

It's nothing to do with latency the difference between 70 and 90ms is negligible for purposes of downloading. It's almost certainly VM's throttling gone psychotic.

[webcrawler2050]

It's nothing to do with latency the difference between 70 and 90ms is negligible for purposes of downloading. It's almost certainly VM's throttling gone psychotic.

Like I said, i'm only trying to go through everything, that the TS Agent, may go through, simple things.

[Ignitionnet]

Or we could just go straight to the crux of the matter and minimise the amount of time the guy uses by not improperly troubleshooting and speculating.

[webcrawler2050]

Well, it saves the dappy agent doing it

[kingsbury1]

Okay Guys, Really appreciate your help and time today.

I'll take it up with Virgin and see what they have to say.

Thanks again both, catch you later.

[Ignitionnet]

Okay Guys, Really appreciate your help and time today.

I'll take it up with Virgin and see what they have to say.

Thanks again both, catch you later.

Good man, good luck with that.

Can I suggest a post to http://community.virginmedia.com though, telco tech support will be painful and will likely put you through a right rigmarole *ahem*

[webcrawler2050]

Okay Guys, Really appreciate your help and time today.

I'll take it up with Virgin and see what they have to say.

Thanks again both, catch you later.

Good luck with Tech Support

[Davman]

I've been having the same problems downloading from Rapidshare I normally get 400kps but now its down to between 4 and 5kps which is taking the micky big style, needless to say I've giving virgin notice.

After a search I've decided on Tiscali Pro - Up to 24Mb ADSL2+ business grade broadband, which is only a bit more than I was paying them jokers at virgin, while my line can only take 5mb max, they dont throttle this type of account, and theres Prioritised traffic with a 20:1 contention ratio.

As for Rapidshare, Im a member of many Rapidshare forums and other people without virgin dont seem to have any problems at all.

I've been with this company even before blueyonder and it just seems to have got worse, my best advice would be to vote with your feet, :mad:

[GloriousGoat]

I am in the same boat as you all. Mine started about 3 days ago.

Getting a good 500kbps maybe even around 800 in the morning. Now down to a basic 50kbps. I don't see why I should pay Virgin nearly £20 a month when they are restricting my connection, with no prior to letting me know.

I have been a customer with Virgin for many years.. Seems its time to change.

After calling up the tech support for virgin, they say there has been no 'throttling' on any Virgin accounts.

GG.

[kingsbury1]

Haven't got around to raising with VM but from reading the posts above I'm not going to bother...looks like same old VM not admitting to something which quite obviously is happening.:mad:
I'm in agreement with you both, it is time to change but who to seeing as I can only get ADSL?
Davman, Thanks for the heads up on Tiscali and am very tempted with this package but have read quite a few horror posts ref Tiscali....but I suppose every ISP has them anyway!
Just one question in that do you both use a download/accelerator manager of any kind? I use Orbit and have just tried internet download manager and am getting the same results but when I try a normal 'Windows' download I am getting a 150 -200 kbs max download which is really strange?
The test files I used yesterday were both with Orbit so it cannot be just the download mgr causing this as speed on other files were okay, but it seems to be contributing in some way?:confused:

[GloriousGoat]

I have never used any accelerators, that does seem strange though.

I just don't understand why Virgin never seem to let anyone know anything and just seem to act.

And with ref with Tiscali I used them years ago, and the service was average, but at least they are more honest with their customers.

The problem which V have caused is that people do use Rapidshare / Megaupload any many others for legit reasons, like photos and family video. I cant seem to understand what gives Virgin the power of god.

GG.

[kingsbury1]

Totally agree with you Glorious Goat, and it is annoying when VM treat their customers as fools by not making them aware of changes to the service they pay good money for.
What is infuriating though is the insistence that there has been no change in service as you were told in your call to tech support.
If this is indeed 'individual site throttling' then of course I know that VM will not want to advertise this in a huge way but by denying it's existence is appaling.
Anyway, nobody is forcing me/us to use them so as alreaday said, time to move on to another provider and hope this type of policy is not adopted by other ISP's across the UK:(

[webcrawler2050]

BE* Are fantastic on ADSL

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2009/10/75.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

http://www.pingtest.net/result/138208.png (http://www.pingtest.net)

[GloriousGoat]

Yeah i do hear that BE offer a very good broadband service, I will be checking all this tomorrow.

Whilst also phoning VM to see if they start admitting about 'throttling' or they are going to experience one very UNHAPPY customer ;)

I some how believe they might start loosing quite a few customers!

GG

[webcrawler2050]

Yeah i do hear that BE offer a very good broadband service, I will be checking all this tomorrow.

Whilst also phoning VM to see if they start admitting about 'throttling' or they are going to experience one very UNHAPPY customer ;)

I some how believe they might start loosing quite a few customers!

GG

Well, to be honest - you will never get an from the tech support as they are sometimes kept out of the loop for this kinda stuff. However, they may give you a straight answer. However, it apears there is some shaping and or throttling going on around the RS site.

[GloriousGoat]

Thought this would be quite interesting to post.

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/internet/traffic.html

All about how they kinda base it.

GG.

[Ignitionnet]

That's for the cable network. For those using DSL it's far stingier :)

[GloriousGoat]

Just got off the phone, 30 mins with VM, well all I can say is what a waste of time!!

Unhelpful, slow.. Don't solve any of your questions. They are sending me out a FREE rj11 cable, so if you want one of them, get calling, might just cover the first 10 mins of that phone call.

They say if they try all options then they will get further analysts to check your problem, but they will not do that till all other options have been tried!

Cheers VM.

GG.

[webcrawler2050]

Just got off the phone, 30 mins with VM, well all I can say is what a waste of time!!

Unhelpful, slow.. Don't solve any of your questions. They are sending me out a FREE rj11 cable, so if you want one of them, get calling, might just cover the first 10 mins of that phone call.

They say if they try all options then they will get further analysts to check your problem, but they will not do that till all other options have been tried!

Cheers VM.

GG.

What? Why? So are they saying, the RJ11 cable is at fault? Or did you get some dappy 'tech' that generally has no clue and that was on his script.

For goodness - sake - save, yourself, the hassle and stress and move.

[GloriousGoat]

They said they have to take it stage by stage, but the rj11 cable could be the problem! I actually laughed, I am trained in Cisco Networking, and that would have literally nothing to do with it.

But they supposedly have to go through each step until they can take things further!

I think I will just leave, seems way too much hassle.

GG.