Virgin Media Discussion Thread

[sandys]

It can be limiting as upload bandwidth for requests and acknowledgements is used more than it may appear. Part of an earlier post I made:

Yup noticed even when downloading games on PS5 it was taking 10-15 MB on the upload just to download for comms traffic and I have limited that to 500MB. That is a fair chunk of my 40MB upload particularly if others are doing stuff in the house.

If fact just looked at my app as it is doing some background downloading you can see it likes a bit of bandwidth.

Plus games are only getting bigger, last two I downloaded FC6 and AC:Valhalla were 100GB and 140GB, blimey a patch for Cyberpunk the other month was 80GB

 

[Ayahuasca]

I can't see it being long before VM have at least 100Mbps on the upload for Gig1 customers.

 

[Avalon]

DOCSIS is asymmetrical so it won't ever go more than 200mb upload with version 3.0 which VM use, 3.1 allows for a 10G/1G but I think VM only enable 3.1 on downstream right now.

From what I gather they are moving away from the HFC DOCSIS setup to FTTP so I wouldn't expect much from them until they transistion, though to get classed as gigabit capable and receive government funding towards upgrades the upload has to be 20% of the download so there is hope of improvement.

Though the wording could also be read as they only need to provide 20% of the 33% of min download but that's still at least 75Mb upload on what they currently provide for Gig1 download.

I'm sure they would have to do more to remain competitive with FTTP guys who can do Symmetric 1Gb.

Your ethernet caps the port, full bandwidth is only available via multiple ports, so if you have a few things connected or stuff on wifi it would share between all those if you have a router with balance ability you can plug in two cables and get all bandwidth in to your third party network but not many have that and it would still limit a single stream to ~940Mb

They are moving everyone to FTTP over the next 7? years, at least until then RFoG will continue to be a thing, but once you have a pure fibre network and telephony is pure VoIP, then you can look at ditching RFoG and just using IP for everything, of course that needs CPE changes, so it's easier to do by attrition than throw money at the problem street by street. Between now and then DOCSIS 4 moves the boundaries to 10Gb down and 6Gb up, but i'd imagine/hope VM will transit away before they need to migrate, if they follow the Gig2 first trial then 214Mbit upload would make things slightly more interesting, but it requires physical hardware upgrades just as the 3.1 downstream upgrade did, given OR fibre is stuck at 900/200, then 22400/214 at a reasonable price point is still competitive, especially as most customers aren't upload orientated and symmetrical fibre is still a tiny part of the market. If they stick to the 2nd and 3rd stage trial's and remain on 52Mbit up for Gig2, then that's going to suck and it's back to waiting for FTTP to eventually arrive.

 

[Avalon]

I can't see it being long before VM have at least 100Mbps on the upload for Gig1 customers.

I'd love you to be right, but given the only trial they have conducted with a higher upload (Gig2 with 214Mbit up) was done with DOCSIS 3.1 modules for both upstream and downstream, it seems a stretch, but it's at technically possible to do 214Mbit on 3.0, so it's not a straight 'no'.

 

[SpudMaster]

Also on Gig 1, how does it work when your internet speed is faster than the ethernet port? I think I've got 1gig ethernet ports but might be slower slightly than the actual gig1 speed?

Well you can only go as fast as your slowest link so regardless of your connection speed your PC would only receive data as fast as your ethernet port can handle.

 

[Rainmaker]

Also on Gig 1, how does it work when your internet speed is faster than the ethernet port? I think I've got 1gig ethernet ports but might be slower slightly than the actual gig1 speed?

Well you can only go as fast as your slowest link so regardless of your connection speed your PC would only receive data as fast as your ethernet port can handle.

Yup. With a gigabit NIC, you're looking at around 940Mbps maximum throughput. It's basically 1000 minus the space TCP/IP/Ethernet takes up on the packets in overheads. In other words, you start with a piece of paper 1000 characters long, but you have to write a source and destination etc on the paper for it to be delivered, leaving a little less space for your content (speed/throughput).

 

[Avalon]

Well you can only go as fast as your slowest link so regardless of your connection speed your PC would only receive data as fast as your ethernet port can handle.

Don't forget the overheads - you're talking mid 930Mbit.

 

[Sparx]

Where is everyone getting this sub £10 o2 sim deals? Cheapest I seem to see on their site is £10 for 5gb on a 24month contract

Look up a few posts and you'll see I already said

 

[Rainmaker]

Yup. With a gigabit NIC, you're looking at around 940Mbps maximum throughput. It's basically 1000 minus the space TCP/IP/Ethernet takes up on the packets in overheads. In other words, you start with a piece of paper 1000 characters long, but you have to write a source and destination etc on the paper for it to be delivered, leaving a little less space for your content (speed/throughput).

Don't forget the overheads - you're talking mid 930Mbit.

Ginger step-child, etc. Beaten by a few seconds!

 

[Avalon]

Look up a few posts and you'll see I already said

Look even earlier and you'll see you weren't the first... also Quidco/TCB are worth using.

Ginger step-child, etc. Beaten by a few seconds!

I once said something similar to an ex, only to realise as the words were leaving my mouth, that she was indeed someone's red headed step child.

 

[Sparx]

Look even earlier and you'll see you weren't the first... also Quidco/TCB are worth using.

Google it and none of us were first!

 

[SpudMaster]

Look up a few posts and you'll see I already said

So you did. Thanks

 

[SpudMaster]

Does anyone know if the SH5 has better settings compared the SH3 and 4? QoS would be nice

 

[Avalon]

Does anyone know if the SH5 has better settings compared the SH3 and 4? QoS would be nice

No QoS, LAG, VPN or PBR, it's an ISP supplied router designed to provide basic functionality, just like the SH3 and SH4 but with better wifi and a different architecture (TI/Intel Puma is no more). If you want advanced, you put it in modem mode, just as you always did. The SH5 availability is minimal at best, bordering on non existent, tbh having tested the SH3 and SH4 in modem mode, neither has skipped a beat other than an odd UDP quirk on the SH3 that I haven't been able to replicate for months and have yet to try on the SH4.

 

[Conanius]

Just at the in-laws They currently have a Superhub, in modem mode, connected to an Asus router.

Trying to install a V6 box, this is replacing a Tivo box that was removed ~6 months ago due to being so slow it was unusable. This is the same time then fitted the Asus router so we've never had a TV box plugged into it.

I've connected the V6 box via ethernet to the Asus router (not the superhub, as I have presumed all the LAN ports are disabled) and its got the S102 error (Activation issue). This is after its gone on the internet and pulled down updates etc.

I'm just going to give it a go using wifi (lots of pages online seem to suggest this is the fix)... but am I doing something else wrong?

Edit - Using WiFi hasn't made any difference (its on the "loading, 33% purple screen when its trying to load in the channels.).

Just called Virgin on 0345 454 1111 based on reading the guide here https://www.virginmedia.com/help/virgin-tv-error-codes/s102 - and when I entered their account info it says "it looks like you've asked for a quick start kit, sit tight whilst we activate the equipment"

 

[Avalon]

Just at the in-laws They currently have a Superhub, in modem mode, connected to an Asus router.

Trying to install a V6 box, this is replacing a Tivo box that was removed ~6 months ago due to being so slow it was unusable. This is the same time then fitted the Asus router so we've never had a TV box plugged into it.

I've connected the V6 box via ethernet to the Asus router (not the superhub, as I have presumed all the LAN ports are disabled) and its got the S102 error (Activation issue). This is after its gone on the internet and pulled down updates etc.

I'm just going to give it a go using wifi (lots of pages online seem to suggest this is the fix)... but am I doing something else wrong?

Edit - Using WiFi hasn't made any difference (its on the "loading, 33% purple screen when its trying to load in the channels.).

Just called Virgin on 0345 454 1111 based on reading the guide here https://www.virginmedia.com/help/virgin-tv-error-codes/s102 - and when I entered their account info it says "it looks like you've asked for a quick start kit, sit tight whilst we activate the equipment"

Updates don't download via the internet, you need to connect the RF feed and if it's not been plugged in/activated it won't work till it is activated.

 

[Steampunk]

Does anyone know if accepting the Hub 5 offer extends the Virgin Media contract period? I've received the offer email, but the terms and conditions don't say anything about extending the contract period. I am currently out of contract but might be moving home next year, and don't want to be tied in to an 18 month contract.

 

[Avalon]

Does anyone know if accepting the Hub 5 offer extends the Virgin Media contract period? I've received the offer email, but the terms and conditions don't say anything about extending the contract period. I am currently out of contract but might be moving home next year, and don't want to be tied in to an 18 month contract.

They can't extend your contract without informing you in advance, that would be illegal.

 

[Dave Taht]

@Rainmaker I know that having perfectly low latency under load ( https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/35236152/ ) internet is terribly addictive (I am patient zero) and an actual increase of your gaming activities might explain not seeing you here for a while. Could you email me your before and after sch_cake *.flent.gz files ? I'd like to use them for something....

 

[Rainmaker]

@Rainmaker I know that having perfectly low latency under load ( https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/35236152/ ) internet is terribly addictive (I am patient zero) and an actual increase of your gaming activities might explain not seeing you here for a while. Could you email me your before and after sch_cake *.flent.gz files ? I'd like to use them for something....

Haha! Good to hear from you Dave - and on a weekday, no less! I've been around, just not on this thread. I've been occasionally educating people (upon invitation) on Reddit/forums/chats about how to fix their 'Internet' with OpenWrt and SQM. I think that's even more fun than actually having low latency Internet under load... But I think you're patient zero for that, too!

It's currently 3.23am - I saw your post by chance after the baby woke up; so ping me again in ~12h if you've not heard from me (i.e. I went back to sleep and forgot). I don't have the originals, but I can re-run them with and without SQM for you no trouble.