It was only a matter of time; Virgin Media start packet shaping

[Fothsn]

To draw customers into a, what they want you to think, competitive speed.
then they get you in a contract and put up prices and apply limits. Good marketing strategy?

That’s the way it seems, and thats how it looks like they’ve got me

 

[Shin Gouki]

i can't believe people are complaining about not being able to download more than 3gb in an 8 hour period..... and as much as they like for the other 16 hours a day?

The problem i have is that sometime's i need to grab a file over 3gb and also upaloded a file as fast as possible during peak times. It's not often but sometimes i just have to do it!

 

[Hen_Dawg]

Im not with VM but its sounds like a dumb idea was thinking of switching to the 5MB package, seen as though my area sux and i can only get 5.5MB MAX. Stupid BT not installing Cable. So atm iim with BT 1MB U/L Broadband haha, so stop moaning! i get MAX of 110KB/s downloads so don't moan when your only getting 640KB/s!!!!!!!!!!!

Exactly!

It's really not that bad. Some of you guys need to be brought back to reality a bit.
Speeds being brought down to 640KB/s for probably only a fraction of your peak time sound fine to me. My ADSL Max, up to 8MB line never goes beyond 640KB/s and if I ever tried to use torrents they are crippled to 10-20KB/s!

I'm trying to say VM BB is still the best sounding deal around and you are still not happy. If you're still so displeased there is the option below

You are paying for an up to 20mbit line. The bandwidth is shared. If you want a 20mbit leased line you will be paying thousands

 

[DreXeL]

i can't believe people are complaining about not being able to download more than 3gb in an 8 hour period..... and as much as they like for the other 16 hours a day?

Exactly.

Oh can anyone tell me what sort of figure is acceptable monthly usage atm with no moan letters with cable ?

I average 200-300gb a month, and I haven't been moaned at yet

 

[marc2003]

The problem i have is that sometime's i need to grab a file over 3gb and also upaloded a file as fast as possible during peak times. It's not often but sometimes i just have to do it!

oh well can't argue with that. but you'll never get that kind of service on adsl either. it's your choice.

 

[Jabbs]

Exactly.




I average 200-300gb a month, and I haven't been moaned at yet

Superb thanx for the reply thats nice to know.

 

[Darkwave]

Just called them and had my 20Mbit connection cut to 4Mbit. The guy on the phone even agreed with me it was utterly unfair that 20Mbit users get a 75% reduction in speed when 4Mbit and 2Mbit users only get a 50% reduction in speed.

He also offered me my whole phone and internet package for £32/month because he felt that only being able to use a 20Mbit connection for 10-20min was a pointless waste of time and a bit of a con.

I just found out I can get Sky "up to" 16Mbit broadband and free evening and wekeend calls for a grand total of £20/month, so I'll probably be switching soon as it's bound to be faster than 4Mbit even in my area and is unlimited.

 

[Nismo]

he felt that only being able to use a 20Mbit connection for 10-20min was a pointless waste of time and a bit of a con.

But what about the other 16 or so hours in the day when you can use it to its max?

 

[Robert]

Not everyone wants to leave their PC on 24/7.

 

[Jabbs]

Yeah but if you had some big files you wanted surely you could set them going overnight or set them before you leave for work.

 

[Darkwave]

But what about the other 16 or so hours in the day when you can use it to its max?

Some of us need our PCs more during peak time, that's why it's called peak time.

 

[schnipps]

thats their own stupidity and greed then.

i swear some people really dont live in the real world do they. everything for nothing.

Thats quite funny actually, are you actually having a go becasue some people want/ have gotten cheaper deals on their price plan and because of this they are greedy?

If you are then you must be in a very small minority of people who would rather pay more for somethng when they dont have to, i can only assume you are either loaded, or dont care about your household outgoings.

As for the 12 month contract rubbish, nope thats only when you get their free router. I certainly wouldnt agree to another 12month contract, mainly because it was obvious this was going to start happening with throttling/capping.

Personally i am annoyed about it but it could be a lot worse. Just wait until Sky get their BB customer base right up and watch the exact same thing happen

 

[Nismo]

Some of us need our PCs more during peak time, that's why it's called peak time.

Not quite sure why you would need to do 3GB+ that cant be done another time, but each to their own.

I'm a relatively heavy downloader and can honestly say none of this bothers me.

 

[metachi]

traffic shaping started 2 weeks ago in my area =\. i can't play online games and download at the same time because i'll get huge lag. I Probably will switch to Be Unlimited as i heard good comments about them.

 

[Robert]

Not quite sure why you would need to do 3GB+ that cant be done another time, but each to their own.

I'm a relatively heavy downloader and can honestly say none of this bothers me.

A) People work. They don't want to leave their PC on whilst they're out.

This could be due to the fact that something could go wrong OR the waste of electricity.

B) 3gb is NOTHING these days. Patches for games can be 2gb - also with the advent of D2Drive games.

traffic shaping started 2 weeks ago in my area =\. i can't play online games and download at the same time because i'll get huge lag. I Probably will switch to Be Unlimited as i heard good comments about them.

Traffic shaping won't cause that :/

Sorry misread it - well it'll be the same with any connection mate. It depends how fast the download is going. You could always limit it.

 

[Nismo]

A) People work.
[/b]

Guess what, so do I. Out before 8am, not back in till gone 6pm. In theory I would only ever be at my PC during these peak, throttled times.

There are ways around this, its just strikes me that some people would rather moan than try to figure out a different way to get what they want.

 

[sanaxe1]

Im on the 20mb package and this doesn't bother me one bit. I'll never download 3GB a day Everyday in the peak times and still after that your getting 640kb/sec that is still plenty fast for massive files. Tbh i cant think of what you will be downloading that is such a big size , Sure theres programs etc you might want to download but i doubt you will need to everyday so this means most of the people moaning must be downloading illegal files. Music , films etc and if you think there going to cater for that you have another thing coming.

 

[Darkwave]

Guess what, so do I. Out before 8am, not back in till gone 6pm.

There are ways around this, its just strikes me that some people would rather moan than try to figure out a different way to get what they want.

I am figuring out a way to get what I want. I am downgrading my package to something much less expensive until I decide wether or not I want to switch my service to something that might better suit my needs for even less cost (SkyBB, for example, may offer a much better alternative for what I need.)

Just because I'm not doing what you are doing doesn't mean I'm just moaning and not doing anything about it, and frankly I find it quite arrogant that you think you can dictate to me which internet provider and which one of their services is best for me since you don't know what I need my internet for and when I need to use it most.

In fact, you sound just like half the Virgin Media employees I had to crawl over to find a helpful one today.

 

[Robert]

Guess what, so do I. Out before 8am, not back in till gone 6pm. In theory I would only ever be at my PC during these peak, throttled times.

There are ways around this, its just strikes me that some people would rather moan than try to figure out a different way to get what they want.

Er I've already said that I don't leave my PC on. What else can I do? My PC is fairly quiet and I still won't be leaving it on over night.

What else is there?

Also why should I waste money on building a download box?

You're talking about methods which we shouldn't have to resort to.

Im on the 20mb package and this doesn't bother me one bit. I'll never download 3GB a day Everyday in the peak times and still after that your getting 640kb/sec that is still plenty fast for massive files. Tbh i cant think of what you will be downloading that is such a big size , Sure theres programs etc you might want to download but i doubt you will need to everyday so this means most of the people moaning must be downloading illegal files. Music , films etc and if you think there going to cater for that you have another thing coming.

Just for you seeing as you clearly have no idea:

Xblive content
Demos
Betas
Itunes
Trailers
Direct2Drive games
Patches
Streaming TV services
Buying applications via the web
Uploading files


......

 

[Nismo]

What else is there?

Scheduled downloads which automatically shut the PC off when they are done.

Regardless of the source of the download, I'm pretty sure that there will be an appropriate app to support it e.g. Flashget for web based downloads, Newsleecher for Usenet. Both are able to shut down after they have finished.

What would be the problem of setting them off in a morning?

As I said, each to their own. I just don't personally see the issue here