New Traffic Management Trial for Virgin Media

Dist · 17 Feb 2009 at 19:23

Phal said:
Oh cmon, downloading more than 3gb doesnt make you a heavy user in this day and age. Just because you dont download this much doesnt mean its reasonable to limit others. If they limits were more reasonable then it wouldnt bother me too much but theyre a bit on the low side imo.

Also, I cant help but think all this monitoring is affecting performance of connections in games :/

Actully i am a heavy user, i just time my downloads so that i dont get hit with the STM.

If they raised the limits more, so they were less limiting then there would be no point to them. They are meant to be limiting to prevent degrading of the service of others. If they raised the limits, everyone could download more but in some areas that would mean that everyone would have to download a slower speed due to so many high bandwidth users all on at once.

how is the monitoring affecting the perfomance of connections in games? Just like blueyonder i get <20 ping on decent UK servers, with no random disconections or anything like that. The only time my ping gets worse is after the STM kicks in, which is basicaly never for me as i time my downloads.

MrMoonX · 17 Feb 2009 at 20:51

virgin are muppets, my cable was cancelled months ago and I still get a 2mb line on my modem for free, now my xbox has a dedicated 2mb line lol

Dist · 17 Feb 2009 at 21:24

MrMoonX said:
virgin are muppets, my cable was cancelled months ago and I still get a 2mb line on my modem for free, now my xbox has a dedicated 2mb line lol

be carefull, they could give you a huge bill for using their equipment and services without being on their contract. It is after all their modem so if you continue to use it there is nothing stopping them from giving you a big bill.

FrenchTart · 17 Feb 2009 at 22:20

Dist said:
be carefull, they could give you a huge bill for using their equipment and services without being on their contract. It is after all their modem so if you continue to use it there is nothing stopping them from giving you a big bill.

I really can't imagine this happening/being enforceable.

Dist · 17 Feb 2009 at 23:33

Aekeron said:
I really can't imagine this happening/being enforceable.

Why not? It happens with other services like electricity without a contract with a supplier, you will get huge bills. The only difference i see is that VM may not choose to enforce it.

Phal · 18 Feb 2009 at 09:03

Dist said:
Actully i am a heavy user, i just time my downloads so that i dont get hit with the STM.

If they raised the limits more, so they were less limiting then there would be no point to them. They are meant to be limiting to prevent degrading of the service of others. If they raised the limits, everyone could download more but in some areas that would mean that everyone would have to download a slower speed due to so many high bandwidth users all on at once.

how is the monitoring affecting the perfomance of connections in games? Just like blueyonder i get <20 ping on decent UK servers, with no random disconections or anything like that. The only time my ping gets worse is after the STM kicks in, which is basicaly never for me as i time my downloads.

You cant complain about getting caught out by the STM if you know about it...

Unfortunately, the Virgin Sales department seems completely oblivious of the fact that theres any kind of STM policy in place! When I recently ordered my cable they either lied to me or at least tried to be as vague as possible or are just dumb as hell :/

That being said, that doesnt stop you from complaining at how small and crap their allowange is.

I dont mind having a limit as long as its reasonable and doesnt involve waiting 12 hours before you can download anything >.< Whats the point in having a 20mb line when you have to wait half the day to use it properly :/

As for gaming pings, I assumed that was the one thing I could rely on from cable but I still somehow get worse pings than my BE connection that I had at my last flat. My pings are lucky to get down to 25 at the moment and go up to 35 and thats not mentioning the constant choke I get! Even tested it this morning and still got anything up to 8-10 choke on an empty server :/ and yes my rates are fine.

Burnsy2023 · 18 Feb 2009 at 10:59

Dist said:
Why not? It happens with other services like electricity without a contract with a supplier, you will get huge bills. The only difference i see is that VM may not choose to enforce it.

There is statute to permit that, like the Gas Act, Broadband doesn't have the same legislation.

Matteysan · 18 Feb 2009 at 12:10

I like how they are pushing people to download over night, What about the people who use their connections overnight to do normal things aren't they then getting a poor experience due to everyone whoring their connections at night?

Ok you might argue that it is only 1% of customers or something like that, but the service is still degraded. Instead of putting limits why don't they upgrade their systems instead of overloading them like they have been doing for years on end. Or godforbid actually stop releasing these 20mb/50mb connections in the first place if they can't handle it.

Suffice to say, once cap times come the connection is near enough useless, I webcam with a friend in another country & once 4pm comes that is it, The whole connection comes to a crawl & takes an age to do anything at all. Should add I do try to keep my downloads out of the throttling hours, but somehow it still affects it.

Also another argument, what about families that have more than 1 person on the connection at a time, those limits are soon hit & everything crawls. I've seen this first hand, not on my connection but on other peoples & it is just a pain.

Don't think for a second that throttling won't come to the 50mb package because it will, they are waiting for enough people to get tied into the 12month contract & then bang it'll be there.

antijoke · 18 Feb 2009 at 12:36

So am I reading that table right that after 9pm there is no download limit?

thewanted · 18 Feb 2009 at 12:50

Looks like the trial has been extended to Aldershot and Acton.

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

Energize · 18 Feb 2009 at 13:01

This is worse than normal traffic shaping, for watching iplayer or downloading a game update your connection will be raped for the rest of the day! Why do the government allow providers to oversell their services, falsely advertise broadband and breach the unfair contract terms act all in one? I remember the good old days when 512Kb cost £30/pm and there was no traffic shaping.

Le_Petit_Lapin · 18 Feb 2009 at 13:30

How much does the average iPlayer episode (say about 60mins) weigh in at?

Matteysan · 18 Feb 2009 at 14:08

Le_Petit_Lapin said:
How much does the average iPlayer episode (say about 60mins) weigh in at?

Depends on the quality I guess, Could be anything from 350mb - 700mb. I've recently given up with watching anything on iplayer over my connection cause it is just a buffering mess half the time.

Le_Petit_Lapin · 18 Feb 2009 at 14:31

Hmm, ok, might have a wee problem at weekends then. : / not 100% sure though, have to check DUMeter when I get home and see what our averages are. Might still be all right, I think there's a reasonable amount of headroom left.

Most large things I just leave on scheduled not to start till the Traffic management drops in the evenings.

The problem is Steam usually ***** it all up when it decides to download a 900MB patch on both our PC's at once at about 3pm. Get slapped with a 7 hour slowdown and can't do anything about it.

Matteysan · 18 Feb 2009 at 14:36

Le_Petit_Lapin said:
Hmm, ok, might have a wee problem at weekends then. : / not 100% sure though, have to check DUMeter when I get home and see what our averages are. Might still be all right, I think there's a reasonable amount of headroom left.

Most large things I just leave on scheduled not to start till the Traffic management drops in the evenings.

The problem is Steam usually ***** it all up when it decides to download a 900MB patch on both our PC's at once at about 3pm. Get slapped with a 7 hour slowdown and can't do anything about it.

At 3pm you shouldn't get throttled there is a 1 hour grace period between 3pm - 4pm where you can download whatever you like

The only thing that gets monitored then is upload speed & that is from 3pm - 8pm, The download one gets put back on again at 4pm - 9pm. T

That is going by the old throttling times not the new ones they are "testing" at the moment

Obviously if you hit the limits before 3pm then you'll get throttled back

Le_Petit_Lapin · 18 Feb 2009 at 14:48

Mattey1 said:
At 3pm you shouldn't get throttled there is a 1 hour grace period between 3pm - 4pm where you can download whatever you like

The only thing that gets monitored then is upload speed & that is from 3pm - 8pm, The download one gets put back on again at 4pm - 9pm. T

That is going by the old throttling times not the new ones they are "testing" at the moment Obviously if you hit the limits before 3pm then you'll get throttled back

3pm was a random time pulled out of my head, probably not the best given that it just misses both the current windows

It doesn't seem to have a set time as to when it starts up, just its usually at the most inconvenient time.

Matteysan · 18 Feb 2009 at 14:52

Le_Petit_Lapin said:
3pm was a random time pulled out of my head, probably not the best given that it just misses both the current windows It doesn't seem to have a set time as to when it starts up, just its usually at the most inconvenient time.

I'll definitely agree with you there that it sure does kick in at inconvenient times, I would hate to be sharing my internet with family with these limits so glad I have it to myself. Can keep tabs on it

Le_Petit_Lapin · 18 Feb 2009 at 14:56

Mattey1 said:
I'll definitely agree with you there that it sure does kick in at inconvenient times, I would hate to be sharing my internet with family with these limits so glad I have it to myself. Can keep tabs on it

Its just the me and the housemate that shares our one, but he forgets that there's limits and then will watch several episodes of a series from some streaming service (4oD or iPlayer or whatever) and will then complain that the internet has got slow.

Been wondering if there's some way to ninja NetLimiter onto his PC and set speeds that will keep us just under the limit even if he maxes it out.

antijoke · 18 Feb 2009 at 15:13

I am thinking of getting Virgin 10MB package when I move next month. Don't download huge amounts, at what times and what limits (in plain english, I dont seem to be able to understand the stupid boxes etc) would I get any sort of traffic management?

Le_Petit_Lapin · 18 Feb 2009 at 15:32

Its basically 3 rules:

For the L Package:

Download more than 1200MB between 4pm to 9pm during the week your speed will be cut by 75% for 5 hours.

Upload more than 700MB between 3pm and 8pm during the week and your speed will be cut 75% for 5 hours.

Download more than 2400MB between 10am to 3pm during the week your speed will be cut by 75% for 5 hours.

25% of your max speed is 2.5Mb/ps Downstream, 128Kb/ps Upstream.

That help?

Other than the Traffic Management, and it being irritating if you accidently hit it, I can actually reccommend Virgin Media, I seem to get my advertised speed all the time.