virgin- why speeds are so different

indup

indup

indup

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16 Jan 2009
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had virgin cable installed today under the impression (as this is what virgin told me when i signed) that i would get constant 10mb download speeds as that is the speed that i signed up to.
been running speedtest at varying times during the day and been getting 9.5mb plus results every time.just ran it now at 11pm and im getting speeds of about 2mb. is there something wrong with my install that i need to speak to virgin about?
im not a heavy downloader or anything i just surf forums generally.
 
A lot of people seem to use it later in the evening, sometimes (and quite often, in fact) the ISP runs in to capacity issues. It's over subscribed, to many people sitting on the pipe.

That's VM for you.
 
As said above, it is still a contented service (quite a high ratio too I'd guess) so whereas unlike with DSL services your line will be capable of the speeds they sell to you i.e. you don't have to worry about your sync rate and distance from a phone exchange that doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to get that speed 100% of the time.

Speedtest.net I have also found to be pathetically unreliable on a variety of connections. I much prefer to use something like an FTP download from the UKMirror service or the Zen Internet test files - those typically can always max out a line without any worries.
 
Over subscribed. You'll only get full speed when everyones in bed.
Which will also get worse as more people start adopting the 'download my pirate torrents overnight' technique.

It's not just torrenting to blame to be fair. The networks just cannot cope with the demand for large files like HD video streams and so on.
So basically they advertise speeds, give you really small data caps and make you avoid using the network for the purposes you purchased it for. It's the same worldwide, but we get the old rip off Britain factor thrown in for free.
 
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Heh. :)

Back on topic, you could have also hit the download cap (3gb in 1 hr and you are capped at 5mb for 4 hours.) during a heavily contended moment.

If your connections starts to drop out completely then it is time to call for an installer, but if the connection speed drops for a short while then as has already be considered, you are in a heavily contested area or you have downloaded too much in a short space of time.
 
BloodyL said:
Back on topic, you could have also hit the download cap (3gb in 1 hr and you are capped at 5mb for 4 hours.) during a heavily contended moment.
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all i do is surf forums, surely i cant have hit 3gb.

ticks me off that when i signed up they said constant 10mb connection and now i have this.

by the way just ran the speedtest now and its back to 9.7mb.
 
Try downloading some large files off their FTP site as this will give more accurate result than most of the speed test websites.

ftp.blueyonder.co.uk

You'll only get 10mbit if a website can send the information that quick as well (whether busy or not), however most should be quick now.
 
I get 30 meg off my 10mb connection according to speedtest.net and a constant 1.2mb/s download speeds. Loving Virgin, everyone in my area has Sky :D
 
50Mb user here...get download speeds of upto 5.9mbps anytime of the day or night...cannot complain...definitely best bar none...gotta love Virgin :D
 
CK61938 said:
50Mb user here...get download speeds of upto 5.9mbps anytime of the day or night...cannot complain...definitely best bar none...gotta love Virgin :D
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That is mostly due to the fact they don't apply their STM policy to the 50mbit package yet. It is still a contended service though.

Give it a few months and wait for them to overload their network even more and I reckon things will be different.
 
reflux said:
I get 2mb when it throttles, and a full 10mb the rest of the time
QUOTE]


well im going nowhere near the 2400mb downloading limit to be getting throttled just surfing forums (?) so is it the over subscribed too many people using it at certain times thats making it slow? and i thought that was the whole point of cable that it didnt get slowed like adsl/phoneline connections?
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indup said:
well im going nowhere near the 2400mb downloading limit to be getting throttled just surfing forums (?) so is it the over subscribed too many people using it at certain times thats making it slow? and i thought that was the whole point of cable that it didnt get slowed like adsl/phoneline connections?
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i'm switching from Sky to Virgin next month just so i can receive more channels with not paying much more + the faster broadband as Sky can only serve me with 4mb at present.

But as indup has said i assumed virgin's cable lines didn't throttle like normal adsl lines
 
For the love of all that's holy, won't somebody please think of the bits and the bytes! ;)
 
indup said:
and i thought that was the whole point of cable that it didnt get slowed like adsl/phoneline connections?
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magicroundabout said:
But as indup has said i assumed virgin's cable lines didn't throttle like normal adsl lines
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The main factor affecting ADSL is attentuation, i.e. the reduction in signal strength over the length of the line. Cable isn't affected by attenuation in the same way, so in that respect Virgin Media are in better position to provide a consistent level of service. But it is still a contended service and over subscription isn't uncommon, that's the main reason people experience slowdowns on VM.
 
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