Virgin Media Discussion Thread

Hi,

Recently upgraded to M600 as part of a larger package. The speedtest app for windows reports DL consistently as >650mbps - all good. Hub is in Modem mode and using a third party router - no issues on internal wired network.

However, and whatever time of the day, a Speedtest through a browser (connecting to same server) comes in at around 320mbps max; any download through a browser comes in at around 200 - 300mbps. Similarly far from expected speed with other services e.g a Usenet test reached ~200mbps.

Finally a 1GB web DL from Tele2 peaks at 210mbps. FTP of the same file from Tele2, however hits ~620mbps.

What am I missing?
 
firstborn said:
Hi,

Recently upgraded to M600 as part of a larger package. The speedtest app for windows reports DL consistently as >650mbps - all good. Hub is in Modem mode and using a third party router - no issues on internal wired network.

However, and whatever time of the day, a Speedtest through a browser (connecting to same server) comes in at around 320mbps max; any download through a browser comes in at around 200 - 300mbps. Similarly far from expected speed with other services e.g a Usenet test reached ~200mbps.

Finally a 1GB web DL from Tele2 peaks at 210mbps. FTP of the same file from Tele2, however hits ~620mbps.

What am I missing?
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IIRC, VM aggregate many channels to give faster speeds. You may have to split downloads into many threads to gain all the benefit of that. Some tools will be better set up for that than others. What does this test say between a single thread vs a multiple thread download?

Browers and usenet clients often err on the side of being polite to the server by not hammering it it with too many connections, but you may need to up the connections to fully saturate a M600 connection.

Also make sure your router is up to the job of dealing with such high speeds (which is implied by your FTP results), and that nothing is disabling any packet acceleration on the router (such as enabling any sort of DPI or traffic limits).
 
firstborn said:
Thanks, results of that compared with Speedtest:

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I think you're going to have to make more connections to your target servers and see if that improves overall speed. These speedtest sites are a good basic rule of thumb, but they don't take into account limitations at some other server that you want to use, and you often have to tune your software for that, or sometimes even the setting on your router (eg number of open connections, nothing that will hand off packet acceleration to the router's CPU, etc).

In the first instance, I would try upping the connections in your usenet client, and see if that helps, though bear in mind there's often a balancing act between the number of connections to a news server, and the processing power/speed available on your local PC to deal with those increased number of connections doing a parallel download (make sure you're downloading to a SSD, a mechanical hard drive can be a bit sluggish dealing with 30 connections to a news server unless you're purely downloading with no post-processing).

VM like to sell a high headline speed, but getting the most out of it can be a little tricky, which is why they spend so much time selling those services as something a busy family all using the internet would gain benefit from. Each individual isn't using the headline speed, but together they would see a better service. For one person alone, it may need some tweaking to max out the bandwidth, and you can only go as far as the target server will let you.
 
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I'm considering joining Virgin again. Currently with Sky and the line has gone a little flaky whereas it had been pretty solid. Not quite sure why as the stats are fine, then it'll just resync for seemingly no reason. Not often enough to get it looked at though. Last time I was with Virgin, they suffered from upstream congestion which caused latency to rise, mainly at peak times. Download speeds were generally ok unless others in the area were hammering the upload. I see that Gig1 is available here, so I'm guessing some upgrading of the network must have been done to be able to cope. I guess there is always the cooling off period if it's still not great. Do you still get the Hub 3 with packages below Gig1 or is the Hub 4 given out now? I was looking at M350 as that can be had between £32-£35 depending on which comparison site is used.
 
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Jon20 said:
I'm considering joining Virgin again. Currently with Sky and the line has gone a little flaky whereas it had been pretty solid. Not quite sure why as the stats are fine, then it'll just resync for seemingly no reason. Not often enough to get it looked at though. Last time I was with Virgin, they suffered from upstream congestion which caused latency to rise, mainly at peak times. Download speeds were generally ok unless others in the area were hammering the upload. I see that Gig1 is available here, so I'm guessing some upgrading of the network must have been done to be able to cope. I guess there is always the cooling off period if it's still not great. Do you still get the Hub 3 with packages below Gig1 or is the Hub 4 given out now? I was looking at M350 as that can be had between £32-£35 depending on which comparison site is used.
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I signed up for the m350 deal in June and received the hub 4 but I have only used it in modem mode with an AC86U router.
 
Just got a call from Virgin trying to get me to swap my Hub 2 to a Hub 3. I stuck with the Hub 2 (in modem mode) as the Hub 3 had ping spikes etc reported - anyone know if that has now been fixed? Don't want to swap to a Hub 3 if that hasn't been fixed.

I put them off for now, asking them to call back later on.
 
ahar said:
Just got a call from Virgin trying to get me to swap my Hub 2 to a Hub 3. I stuck with the Hub 2 (in modem mode) as the Hub 3 had ping spikes etc reported - anyone know if that has now been fixed? Don't want to swap to a Hub 3 if that hasn't been fixed.

I put them off for now, asking them to call back later on.
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Yes its fine with later firmware.
 
Expect I'll get that call as well as I have a SH2ac, which has been pretty solid. It does need a reboot maybe every few months or something. The wifi is fairly decent which is fine for the size of the house, I can't remember if the SH3 wifi was better range? Was hoping to hold out until SH4 becomes the norm for lower tier packages (200mbit).
 
ahar said:
Just got a call from Virgin trying to get me to swap my Hub 2 to a Hub 3. I stuck with the Hub 2 (in modem mode) as the Hub 3 had ping spikes etc reported - anyone know if that has now been fixed? Don't want to swap to a Hub 3 if that hasn't been fixed.

I put them off for now, asking them to call back later on.
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I would stick with the SH2ac as long as you can as though it has been 'fixed' in the SH3 the work around is a bit of a kludge from what I remember, which more so mitigates certain aspects, than entirely solves it.

My upload to certain servers improved markedly after the firmware update so it was definitely an improvement.
 
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Drake5 said:
Have any of you guys noticed an improvement in wired gaming when using the hub in modem mode with a 3rd party router
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I’m plugged into a 1gb UniFi switch, have 3 x LR APs around my bungalow, speed test shows latency under 10ms constantly I’m on a SH4 btw
 
Thanks guys. Going to see if I can get a Hub 4 rather than 3, as when they roll it out in my area I want to move to the 1 Gig service for the better upload speed. They may as well send me a Hub 4 anyway!
 
Anyone having issues with Discord? Discord is not loading with my Virgin connection but loads fine on my sky connection on the same pc...
 
Locky said:
Anyone having issues with Discord? Discord is not loading with my Virgin connection but loads fine on my sky connection on the same pc...
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None noted, but you're not using VM's DNS are you? :o Just checking, as their DNS is woeful and 'works on one ISP and not another' is pointing to DNS issues (or routing).
 
Any Londoners experiencing issues? For at least a few days now, my internet is acting like I am on torrents (speed crashes through the floor and it can't even load a webpage but then returns shortly after).
 
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