Virgin Media Broadband - Wigan Area...

[Dave S2K]

Does anyone else have this problem? Every weekday at 7pm on the dot, my download speeds will not exceed 60 kb/s, any time before this and there is no problem. I was just wondering before I call them after 3 weeks of ignored emails.

Cheers.
Dave.

 

[f0xy]

call the fault line, we had problems and every time we called we got put through to an engineer they re-funded the call completely...

 

[Dave S2K]

call the fault line, we had problems and every time we called we got put through to an engineer they re-funded the call completely...

Cheers Were your problems of a similar nature?

 

[f0xy]

my modem kept dropping the line for the internet, ended up being a problem with the modem they had gave us....all sorted free of charge and calls refunded

 

[Munson]

Yeah TBH I have nothing but praise to heap on this service. I know people have problems with all services at times, but I can honestly say that in the last 3 or 4 years, I have not had to contact NTL/Virgin at all. My service just works and is always rapid. Zero downtime that I'm aware of.

 

[rustybolt]

im with Virgin,

its because its cable and most people log on at that time, the bandwidth is shared on a cable connection unlike ADSL.

 

[Munson]

I'm sure it isn't quite that simple Russ is it? Contention ratios come into play on ADSL and cable don't they? I could be wrong but AFAIK both can be affected by heavy traffic. On a plus note, I don't think cable is affected by distance (although again I may be wrong) so none of this 'up to' 8mb. My connection seems to vary between 12mb and 18mb. Pretty quick TBH. That's my expereince anyway

 

[rustybolt]

ADSL is affected by distance from the exchange.

Cable uses shared bandwidth and at the most popular times its used - ie: 7pm it will slow down the transfer rate as more people log on.

Ive been using Bit Torrent and witnessed this so ive done research before on the net as to why, its to do with the fact its cable and how it uses the bandwidth.

From a site ive just found:

DSL vs Cable - Real-World Speed

In practice, cable's speed advantage over DSL is much less than the theoretical numbers suggest. Why?

• Cable modem services can slow down significantly if many people in your neighborhood access the Internet simultaenously.
• Both cable modem and DSL performance vary from one minute to the next depending on the pattern of use and traffic congestion on the Internet.
• DSL and cable Internet providers often implement so-called "speed caps" that limit the bandwidth of their services.
• Some home networks cannot match the speed of the Internet connection, lowering your performance

 

[rustybolt]

ive got a 20mb line and its always maintained stable speeds of around 19,500mbps downtime.

 

[Dean 1.4]

adsl also has conntention ratios

 

[Munson]

Russ no offence mate but when you mention bit torrent I stop reading.

 

[rustybolt]

i wont mention it but id like to know why tho Roy, im intregued?

 

[Munson]

Erm because unless you're downloading the queens funeral in 1080p, Bit Torrent is about a good indication of line speed, as me wondering why I have a 7 1/4 erection every morning.

 

[Griff]

ive got a 20mb line and its always maintained stable speeds of around 19,500mbps downtime.

Unless you're the next Albert Einstein I very much doubt it...

 

[Griff]

I'm sure it isn't quite that simple Russ is it? Contention ratios come into play on ADSL and cable don't they?

You're perfectly correct and at the same time wrong. VM have a contention ratio of 50:1, when I last checked. "Some" DSL providers have a contention ratio of 33:1 and 20:1. One I know of, and have worked alongside, have a contention ratio of close to, if not, 1:1.

I would elaborate but they're in the process of "restructuring" having been taken over by a mobile phone company.

In short Roy you are indeed correct that contention affects all forms of provider but some more than others.

I could be wrong but AFAIK both can be affected by heavy traffic. On a plus note, I don't think cable is affected by distance (although again I may be wrong) so none of this 'up to' 8mb. My connection seems to vary between 12mb and 18mb. Pretty quick TBH. That's my expereince anyway

 

[rustybolt]

Erm because unless you're downloading the queens funeral in 1080p, Bit Torrent is about a good indication of line speed, as me wondering why I have a 7 1/4 erection every morning.

You misread my answer Roy.

I said ive noticed a DROP in line speed whilst ive been using Bit Torrent, ie: at the peak times i get a lower download speed than at 1am say.

?

 

[Munson]

Yeah TBH I reckon that's b****cks. The highest I've seen in the real world is 18mb. Lowest 5mb (during peak ownage) Mostly around 12-13mb. A reliable 19.5mb is just b****cks, or a dream.

 

[Munson]

Cheers for the info griff

 

[rustybolt]

ive got a 20mb line and its always maintained stable speeds of around 19,500mbps downtime.

Unless you're the next Albert Einstein I very much doubt it...

oops, i meant kbps. lol

 

[Munson]

Erm because unless you're downloading the queens funeral in 1080p, Bit Torrent is about a good indication of line speed, as me wondering why I have a 7 1/4 erection every morning.

You misread my answer Roy.

I said ive noticed a DROP in line speed whilst ive been using Bit Torrent, ie: at the peak times i get a lower download speed than at 1am say.

?

Yeah but bit torrent sucks anyway so it's almost impossible to say. I judge my speeds on what I get over usenet mate, not any speed tests or BT experiences. It's all valid info though so fair play

When it's 1am for you, that really has no meaning for others seeding. Granted, it would appear that your speeds suffer on-peak, but TBH so do everyones, on every service

 

[rustybolt]

so i talk b****cks now Roy? have a word.

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/results.php?t=1190420595&v=2335834

 

[Munson]

Wow that's quick, I got 19289 the other day.

 

[rustybolt]

tbh Roy i never get much less than that other than at peak times as i said.

i dont use Bit Torrent as a guide at all just to clear that up.

Ive had a 20 meg Virgin Cable line at my house for about 3 months and never had any problems with speeds.

I suppose it depends where you live and the ISP your with.

 

[rustybolt]

heres another ive just done. 19631 kbps

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/results.php?t=1190421326&v=2335864

 

[Griff]

tbh Roy i never get much less than that other than at peak times as i said.

i dont use Bit Torrent as a guide at all just to clear that up.

Ive had a 20 meg Virgin Cable line at my house for about 3 months and never had any problems with speeds.

I suppose it depends where you live and the ISP your with.

I'd say you're one of the lucky ones to be honest.

"We" have been monitoring VM's 50mbps trial in Ashford, which goes by the name of "willy waving" in the industry

While 50mbps sounds excellent in TV adverts and marketing exercises, as does your proven speed, the reality is that the vast majority of VM customers rarely acheive such speeds and if they do it's only for a limited period of the day. Partly due to ridiculous contention ratios (in certain area's) and partly due to the philosophy of pushing the technology/current infrastructure to it's limits.

 

[Munson]

Yeah I'm with VM too on 20mb. My pipe is consitently rapid so I have no complaints at all. But for it to constantly max 20mb I'd have to be very lucky. I would say that 15mb is an average if I was to work it out. That's just a ballpark figure though

 

[rustybolt]

ive not monitored my line to the extent both you Roy and Griff have.

However from personal experience every time ive tested it on a few different speed tests its always been in the 19k kbps bracket.

a 50mg line seems silly to me?

I know you can get higher speed connections through Satelite but why would you want to do that i dont know.

I wanted a high speed line so i can get a good ping rate on COD3 and to be able to download films etc without waiting weeks.

In the real world rendering web pages a 2mg line would suffice.

 

[Griff]

ive not monitored my line to the extent both you Roy and Griff have.

However from personal experience every time ive tested it on a few different speed tests its always been in the 19k kbps bracket.

a 50mg line seems silly to me?

I know you can get higher speed connections through Satelite but why would you want to do that i dont know.

I wanted a high speed line so i can get a good ping rate on COD3 and to be able to download films etc without waiting weeks.

In the real world rendering web pages a 2mg line would suffice.

At the end of the day if you're happy with it and it "does the job" then that's all that matters.

 

[Munson]

BTW, on a laptop drive, I've found that 20mb is too fast. It swamps my machine with data to the extent that the OS cannot operate properly. On my other machines with multiple (high speed) drives/partitions then it's not a issue.

 

[rustybolt]

i am happy Griff tbh.

When i was at Uni we had a 10mg NTL connection and that was superb, i came home and signed up with AOL which was the biggest joke of a service ive used so cancelled that at the end of the agreement.

I then had BT ADSL which again was very poor. I switched to Pipex only for the line to keep dropping and the connection speed was less than a 1000kbps on an 8mg line for ages, no matter how many times i rang the tech guys it still didnt get any better.

Tried cancelling that but i was told i couldnt.

So i ordered Virgin cable to be installed as i had good experiences from the NTL line at uni and havent looked back since.

From personal experience ill never have an ADSL connnection again.

 

[Evil Ally]

I take you are aware that VM have implemented traffic management? This is effective between 4 and 12 in the evenings and will be activated depending on the package you are on and how much you download. Perhaps this is what you are seeing?

As a side note, I've had NTL/VM broadband since it was available. Apart from a few months of sub par performance after the VM rebranding, I've always acheived the speed I've been paying for. Right now I pay for 20meg, and that's what I get! Roll on 50meg!

 

[Munson]

I'm currently using usenet and getting around 13mb while surfing, streaming radio etc.

I reckon that's pretty good at what I'd call a pretty busy time of the week. I'd love to see those super quick 20mb speeds though


EDIT: The only speed test that matters

 

[Dave S2K]

im with Virgin,

its because its cable and most people log on at that time, the bandwidth is shared on a cable connection unlike ADSL.

I find this hard to believe tbh, been with them 7 years now, and this has just started in the last 3 weeks which seems odd to say the least. They tried to fob me off saying that it will be a spyware issue. Have tried a friends brand new computer on the modem and he gets the same speeds as me after 7pm.

Will be speaking to them again this week...

 

[Dave S2K]

Just made a quick call to them again. Basically they've told me that my reduction in speed is due to a recent large increase in new customers with Virgin broadband and it will take them a few weeks to upgrade the platform to increase bandwidth, unfortunately they only give refunds for loss of connection and my premium rate calls to them.

Suck and see...