Virgin Media Discussion Thread

ecksmen · 19 Mar 2011 at 12:43

I'm very happy, gone from 20Mbps to 50Mbps for another £5/month. Its complete e-penis as I doubt I'll hardly use it that much but its nice for the upload if nothing else. I am shocked a just how good the d-link is, best £100 I think I've spent in IT for the years of use its had.

KIA · 19 Mar 2011 at 13:42

ecksmen said:
Just had mine installed. Going though my old route still, D-Link DGL4300, over 7 years old and it still better than modern routers.

Very interesting. I was wondering if the 4300 could handle 40Mb/s FTTC let alone VM 50Mb/s!

I wonder how it'll cope with VM 100Mb/s?

I can't wait to test it out when I get FTTC.

ecksmen · 19 Mar 2011 at 13:55

fluff said:
Very interesting. I was wondering if the 4300 could handle 40Mb/s FTTC let alone VM 50Mb/s!

I wonder how it'll cope with VM 100Mb/s?

I can't wait to test it out when I get FTTC.

I'm pretty sure its good to about 90Mbps WAN / Lan with firewall on, but this is only from reading on the web. Unless it blows up I can see this router lasting me another few years yet.

Fantastic bit of kit.

rah^ · 19 Mar 2011 at 20:23

bloodhunter · 20 Mar 2011 at 17:59

With the newest Speedtest.net version how do i copy and paste a direct forum link?
I must be missing something.

KIA · 20 Mar 2011 at 18:23

ecksmen said:
Fantastic bit of kit.

Indeed. Up to 100Mb/s of routing power is impressive for such an old router. The only thing that annoys me is the need to reboot after applying settings.

RickST · 22 Mar 2011 at 20:55

Just got my BB installed, 50mb stable - loving it.

bemaniac · 22 Mar 2011 at 21:37

Been a bit hit and miss in portsmouth since mid feb but we got a month free for the congestion on the network. To think they want to launch 100mb right here in portsmouth in november is mad because they can't give a stable 20mb let alone 50mb right now especially sunday nights.

photoshop · 23 Mar 2011 at 08:39

Guys,

Just upgraded my 20mb to 30mb for an extra £1.20 a month.
The lady said i would recieve my new modem and "Superhub" this Friday.

Seeing as i have a 100Mb wifi router already, do i have/need to use the Superhub as a router?
I rather not if i have a choice.....and rather leave my Netgear to run as it is.

Can the router option of the superhub be disabled so im only using it as a modem?

SexyGreyFox · 23 Mar 2011 at 09:33

photoshop said:
Guys,

Just upgraded my 20mb to 30mb for an extra £1.20 a month.

I thought this was a free upgrade :confused:

photoshop · 23 Mar 2011 at 11:04

dmpoole said:
I thought this was a free upgrade

Nope.
Good news is that ive cancelled it. Cant be bothered with the "superhub" as i already have a home network and just cba messing with it for a little speed increase under the same TM restrictions.....

Reality|Bites · 24 Mar 2011 at 15:14

Just got my upload upgraded 2 months ahead of schedule

ecksmen · 24 Mar 2011 at 23:10

Well looks like my honey moon period is over, still got 5Mbp up but can't download anything over 14Mbps or there abouts.

Bit annoyed, posted on cable forums and virgin media forums. I'm not really expecting much, if it doesn't improve itself in a few days I'll call support :'(

Speed · 24 Mar 2011 at 23:13

ecksmen said:
Well looks like my honey moon period is over, still got 5Mbp up but can't download anything over 14Mbps or there abouts.

Bit annoyed, posted on cable forums and virgin media forums. I'm not really expecting much, if it doesn't improve itself in a few days I'll call support :'(

I assume you've checked the modem/hub log for clues and checked it is still locked at the 50mb speeds?

Should be: http://192.168.100.1

ecksmen · 24 Mar 2011 at 23:17

Speed said:
I assume you've checked the modem/hub log for clues and checked it is still locked at the 50mb speeds?

Should be: http://192.168.100.1

Yep: Tho not sure if the levels are ok, I assume they're important? My post from cable forums. Similar on VM ones...

Code:
I'm in Cardiff and had 50Mbps installed by engineer last saturday (19.03.2011) whereby I was getting full speed from my connection and was really impressed.

Now, less than 1 week later my upload is still 5Mbps (no complaints) but my download is stuck around 10Mbps, sometimes a shy more.

I've rebooted the superhub, disconnected all devices - nothing else is "stealing" bandwidth.

My laptop is more than capable of 50Mbps through its LAN port, this is a typical test:

These are my power levels:

Code:

Startup Procedure Procedure Status Comment Acquire Downstream Channel 315000000 Hz Locked Connectivity State OK Operational Boot State OK Operational Configuration File OK Security Enabled BPI+ Downstream Channels Lock Status Modulation Channel ID Max Raw Bit Rate Frequency Power SNR Docsis/EuroDocsis locked Locked QAM256 95 55616000 Kbits/sec 315000000 Hz 3.6 dBmV 40.9 dB Hybrid Locked QAM256 93 55616000 Kbits/sec 299000000 Hz 4.0 dBmV 40.8 dB Hybrid Locked QAM256 94 55616000 Kbits/sec 307000000 Hz 3.7 dBmV 41.4 dB Hybrid Locked QAM256 96 55616000 Kbits/sec 323000000 Hz 3.5 dBmV 40.8 dB Hybrid Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV 0.0 dB Unknown Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV 0.0 dB Unknown Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV 0.0 dB Unknown Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV 0.0 dB Unknown Upstream Channels Lock Status Modulation Channel ID Max Raw Bit Rate Frequency Power Locked ATDMA 3 20480 Kbits/sec 45800000 Hz 47.7 dBmV Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV Unlocked Unknown 0 0 Ksym/sec 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV Primary Downstream Service Flow Downstream(0) SFID 30617 Max Traffic Rate 53000000 bps Max Traffic Burst 10000 bytes Mix Traffic Rate 0 bps Primary Upstream Service Flow Upstream(0) SFID 26975 Max Traffic Rate 5140000 bps Max Traffic Burst 8160 bytes Mix Traffic Rate 0 bps Max Concatenated Burst 8160 bytes Scheduling Type Best Effort

I've even tested on the virgin media test site where you can select 1,10,100,500mb tests all report circa 10Mbps speeds, if lucky 15Mbps.

My 20Mbps connection was faster.

Do my levels look ok? Guess I need to call tech support.

SexyGreyFox · 24 Mar 2011 at 23:27

ecksmen said:
Well looks like my honey moon period is over, still got 5Mbp up but can't download anything over 14Mbps or there abouts.

Bit annoyed, posted on cable forums and virgin media forums. I'm not really expecting much, if it doesn't improve itself in a few days I'll call support :'(

Is this during the evening or all the time?

Gunslinger · 25 Mar 2011 at 09:16

you'd be better off calling retentions now, while your still in or close to the cooling off period and start as you will find you need to go on, by threatening to leave

They are traffic shaping by usage type, so a 20 minute download at the speed yourpaying for is now taking 4 or 5 times as long and making it seem like you are a heavy downloader when you may not be

I ran a speed test on mine the other night via one of those test sites, it reported no faster than 20meg download

... although to be fair the laptop i used may not have been configured 100% correctly, and i didn't fire up any downloads, but i am not happy, because it means the home plugs are NOT the restriction in my current setup, but i have no real way to prove it without installing a system where i normally have one but don't right now

EDIT:
Just as an after thought, ecksmen, i know you said you were getting full speed and now it has changed, i would be tempted to run a tcp/ip optimiser on your pc, just in case an update or something screwed with your settings

Treznor · 25 Mar 2011 at 09:35

It's prolly down to the traffic shaping that VM have running, its quite frustrating, more so when its causing issues for genuine use, like streaming video etc.

Only way to get around the god aweful shaping is to use a VPN or other methods of encrypting your connection, you should'nt have to, but when their system is causing issues for regular use, it shows that they traffic shaping is flawed.

Gunslinger · 25 Mar 2011 at 09:56

they're using deep-packet inspection so they can discriminate against specific types of users, as in those that use specific services like the nerws groups.

Bottom line is that the internet was not exactly intended for streaming huge amounts of HD video to millions of people that think the PC is a replacement for the TV !!!

On a plus point, i have Alt.Binz setup to use the VM servers as my primary server, and my Astraweb SSL account as the secondary server, thus if something is outside the 7 day retention period, it will automatically cascade to the Astraweb SSL connection..... however, i dropped a 27 day old file into the list today and it's downloading off the Virgin Media server as far as i can tell

... so maybe they have changed the retention period ??

i'll try and test it some more later with a freshly setup server that does not have the Astraweb one as a secondary.

220 days old file causes it to trip to the astraweb account, but also to fail on the connection constantly when running in auto cascade mode.... thats probably an issue in Alt.Binz

ecksmen · 25 Mar 2011 at 13:52

Gunslinger said:
you'd be better off calling retentions now, while your still in or close to the cooling off period and start as you will find you need to go on, by threatening to leave

They are traffic shaping by usage type, so a 20 minute download at the speed yourpaying for is now taking 4 or 5 times as long and making it seem like you are a heavy downloader when you may not be

I ran a speed test on mine the other night via one of those test sites, it reported no faster than 20meg download ... although to be fair the laptop i used may not have been configured 100% correctly, and i didn't fire up any downloads, but i am not happy, because it means the home plugs are NOT the restriction in my current setup, but i have no real way to prove it without installing a system where i normally have one but don't right now

EDIT:
Just as an after thought, ecksmen, i know you said you were getting full speed and now it has changed, i would be tempted to run a tcp/ip optimiser on your pc, just in case an update or something screwed with your settings

My laptop is regularly connected to networks which dwarf my home connection so I'm confident it's not the bottleneck. I did also test from my servers which are hardwired and they all report similar results. I have not tested during the day but I will try over the weekend.