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News Virgin's broadband claims "misleading"

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Guest-16, 10 Apr 2009.

  1. cyrilthefish

    cyrilthefish What's a Dremel?

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    consistent on most ISPs unfortunately.

    Since day one of me getting broadband, i've seen the upload rate go from 2:1 (512/256 of original UK ADSL) to my current virgin connection of a quite shocking ratio of ~26:1 (20480/768)*

    I mourn the death of usable upload :waah:

    *That said, i've never fully understood virgin's throttling, it spends a fair amount of time, seemingly at random, stuck at 10240/768 for no apparent reason.

    5120/192 when you get throttled (yes, the already pathetically low upload gets throttled 75% as well, just to add insult to injury)
     
    Last edited: 12 Apr 2009
  2. feathers

    feathers Minimodder

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    You mourn the death of usable upload? So why aren't you signing up with o2 then? They give 1300mb/s (130kb) upload even on their smallest (8mb) connection. Since I changed to o2, I am now able to seed big downloads very fast.
     
  3. cyrilthefish

    cyrilthefish What's a Dremel?

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    i may well do when i move out.

    Our telephone line here can't maintain a stable ADSL connection above 2-3mb unfortunately :grr:
     
  4. itazura

    itazura PAWAA GURABU DAISUKI, YABAI DESU YO

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    like others, i've not really had a problem with them. download speed is very good, customer service has been decent when i've had to use it (although thankfully, that's not been very often) and generally the throttling doesn't seem to happen very often and when it does, it's only for a couple of hours. i assume i live near(ish) the exchange.

    i would also agree with others in saying that the upload speed is the only bad point. i'm on 10mb and the upload speed i get is pitiful. i don't think i've ever seen it break 60kb/sec.

    still, everything about virgin is better than what i was on before -- bt. what a nightmare :(
     
  5. naokaji

    naokaji whatever

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    I can't believe some people actually defend virgin....

    They have one of the worst throttling policies of all isps, after 3GB they cut you off (not literally, but with pings of 4000 and more its like being cut off).

    Worst thing though is that they send your connection down the gutter for the slightest form of p2p usage, which you can't always prevent as some games use it to transfer data between server and client or for updates.

    The 75% reduction in speed advertised as the throttled speed with virgin is complete bs btw, the reality is below:
    [​IMG]
    compared to what I get normally:
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: 13 Apr 2009
  6. leexgx

    leexgx CPC hang out zone (i Fix pcs i do )

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    its 1.4gb on the 10mb service and 3gb on the 20mb service (or 15 mins at Full download speed) between 4pm and 10pm time reset is 5hrs after throttling has kicked in
    upload is 700mb and 1.2gb between 3pm and 8pm (i guess 1 hr, i have not worked upload out as i do not use p2p for downloads)

    morning limtier is 10am to 3am 2400MB and 6000MB (x2 the Evening) and no upload monitor download only kicks it in
    http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/internet/traffic.html

    if your going to be doing alot of downloading all the time jsut make sure you start it at 4pm so the limter comes off at after 9PM

    ------

    still its Not an monthy download CAP if i was to live with CAP or day throttleing, i go with what Virgin are doing as long as its not lowering to much
    on 10mb service it is way to much the cap for it all the wa down to 2.5mb
    20mb is ok as i find it hard for most users to need more then 600KB/s (5mb) constantly you can allso download over 100-200gb an day with the limiter in place,
    alot of BT providers only have 15gb/50gb montly caps, there are alot as well that have no cap but an hidden p2p throttle in place (tiscali is one) that lowers all traffic of that type to 10KB or less
    allso the avg for most ADSL users is around 4mb (where i am its 1mb so nock from SKY saying i can only get 15mb with virgin (even if that was true and its not) when infact any one in wa41 post code where i am can only get 1-4mb broadband on an bt line)

    thay realy do need to fix the 50 mb service thought as i still haveing 1-3mb speed problems that only last for 5-10 mins every so offen (only when Maxing the download out for 10 mins or up to 1 hr it can some times take for it to kick in the 5-10 min slow down but its random an tad)
     
    Last edited: 13 Apr 2009
  7. itazura

    itazura PAWAA GURABU DAISUKI, YABAI DESU YO

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    well, to be honest -- why would i badmouth something i've had no problems with? that's probably the case with everyone who's had nothing bad to say in this thread...

    (although, after making my post the other day it's died on me for an hour two nights on the trot. a sign perhaps? :D)
     
  8. naokaji

    naokaji whatever

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    No problems with it? does that mean you never stream any media over the internet? (easiest way to go over cap) does that mean you live alone (making it somewhat easier to stay below the cap), you never try to upload anything? you don't use digital distribution systems like steam?
     
  9. itazura

    itazura PAWAA GURABU DAISUKI, YABAI DESU YO

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    yes, i do. i live with other people, all of us using it over a network (although only my girlfriend uses it with any regularity aside from me) and i use steam. i also use xbox live and psn a lot, although i'm not sure how much that would affect it -- no major problems.

    i don't see why that's so hard to believe.
     
  10. leexgx

    leexgx CPC hang out zone (i Fix pcs i do )

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    http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/internet/trafficTrial_Preston.html
    Version A sucks very badly as thay have added 2hrs and halfed the download amount And the cut off is 1AM that whould suck
    Version B is far better in the week day as cut off is at 11PM (where as before it could be up to 2am befor ethe 5hrs ran out)

    week end has 2.5x the week day limit but its from 11am - 9pm witch still sucks an little but still alot for one day nothing stoping you from still downloading

    any one who downloads alot is likey to be on the 20mb should be ok, its the 10mb users who are more likey to complane and i have to agree 2mb sucks
     
  11. [USRF]Obiwan

    [USRF]Obiwan What's a Dremel?

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    Yeah! The little * remarks. Those are on every printed Ad. and they always contradict whats being told in the Ad or is very misleading of whats been said. so ASA has a lot of work to do...
     
  12. naokaji

    naokaji whatever

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    It is not hard for me, but impossible.

    Assuming 3 people in a household, that makes 1GB daily allowed.

    So, lets say you buy the orange box on steam each once and only download it once that would be 25 days of throttling.

    With only 10 "full size" games and about 25 old or for other reason tiny ones I am sitting on a 120GB!!! steam folder that is enough to trigger the throttling on 120 days..... or one third of the year.

    Or, watch approx 1 hour of video online, booom..... half your limit gone.

    So no, I can not agree with you that there is no problem and as you can see in one of my earlier posts, the 75% reduction is a complete lie, 4k pings make the internet completly useless.
     
  13. itazura

    itazura PAWAA GURABU DAISUKI, YABAI DESU YO

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    for what i use it for, it's more than adequate.

    anyway, a post littered with words like "assume" and "let's say" telling me how things should be, or my own experiences. which should i believe? it's not like i'm forcing anyone to agree with what i said, or telling people "THIS IS HOW IT IS FOR EVERYONE" or whatever. i'm just retelling my own experiences: i download, i stream, i online game -- i've had no major problems, my only gripe is the pitiful upload. i can't see why this has to be shot down when it's nothing but what *i've* experienced over the past six months. i wouldn't expect everyone to have the same experience, i just wanted to mention my own.

    if you're this displeased with virgin, i hope to god you changed provider :D
     
  14. leexgx

    leexgx CPC hang out zone (i Fix pcs i do )

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    what are you talking about realy are you talking about virgin or an bt provider there (or your ubr is over subcribed where are you at unlikey as your getting full download speed and upload), virgin do not do any thing els apart from only drop upload and download 75% for 5hrs from when you start it, packets are not loss in doing so all that happens is your upload and download speed drops (2/10/20mb users)
    if your useing p2p apps that are Flooding your connection thay can make big pings set to low number like 10KB
    make sure the BT DNA client is not installed on any pc as its is hidden service or any p2p apps that start with any pc in the house {limewire go into the options and turn off auto start})
    you need to cap p2p apps max 1 or 2 pcs (1 @ 10KB on 10mb bb) or not use them at all

    if your on 50mb broadband there are problems with the service at this time, that have been going on to long now need to nag them tomoro
     
    Last edited: 14 Apr 2009
  15. leexgx

    leexgx CPC hang out zone (i Fix pcs i do )

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    had to post second due to user error

    you are uploading (prb p2p) with an ping of 4 seconds and 0.01 upload you need to exit all p2p apps and cap them to 10KB if your going to use them in the day time and keep it to 1 pc @ 10KB/s (with 20mb you can get away with 2 pcs at 10KB/s)

    allso Upload cap is 700MB (about 30 mins at max upload to start cap) download cap is 2.4gb (15 mins max download cap) on 10mb that you are on you should realy think to move to 20mb so you still got upload left if you wish to still use p2p and have speed (goto www.samknows.com and tell me what speed BT will give you its most likey not going to be more then 4mb)

    only WoW i know of and xfire that use p2p to download game patch's (with wow your better getting it direct download from an mirror wow takes days to update if you not backed up the patches) Xfire just turn it off or set it to an low amount
     
    Last edited: 14 Apr 2009
  16. naokaji

    naokaji whatever

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    You said you don't live alone, meaning the max you can use is 1,5GB with 2 people, with 3 people its 1GB, with 4 people...
    You get the idea.
    Such small limits are simply not suitable for the ever growing file sizes and the shift to online distribution of software and media.

    Of course I would love to change isp, but its not my decision to make, so for as long as I don't earn enough to afford living on my own (which will never happen) I am stuck with a isp someone else chose.

    1: I don't have any P2P Software installed on my PC. (can't vouch for the other people in the house though)
    2: Not just P2P traffic comes with 4k pings... it is everything, when throttled google takes between 1 and 3 minutes to load (depending if someone else is trying to get on some website as well or not).
     
  17. leexgx

    leexgx CPC hang out zone (i Fix pcs i do )

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    the ping of 4k is due to p2p 1 or 2 apps running on some of the pcs (likley limewire or torrents) as your upload is 0.01 should be 0.10 or 0.09, if 1 or more computer uploads and is Not caped in the program or 2 run p2p apps it will mess your connection up be it Virgin or an ADSL line and if more then 3-4 are useing that one line

    www.samknows.com and tell me what you get on ADSL speed wise

    (look at the router you see its quite active if p2p is runnning), you need to tell the others to stop useing p2p before 9PM start them after 9pm so your out side of the TCO

    if your shareing the connection with others you need co-op from every one els, this is an problem with the amount of users on your connection + the thottler

    http://www.thinkbroadband.com/tbbmeter.html
    install that onto your PC and reg it, instal that onto each other pc and put your reg info on there as well make sure you set the alarms to L broadband and turn off the day/week/month alarm (you have to press save on every tickbox) (there test site is low speed so no point in doing tests from there)
     
    Last edited: 16 Apr 2009
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