Virgin offer - where's the catch?

dntbloodshot said:
"Slow lane" or "additional bandwidth" is just semantics but let's just say I would never pay money to an ISP that does not offer neutral bandwidth.
Click to expand...

It isn't just semantics if looked at superficially. Giving more bandwidth to some websites while keeping the majority at the same as now is very different to giving the majority less bandwidth than now.

It will have an effect, though. Eventually, high-bandwidth sites such as YouTube, TV online services like iplayer, big game patch and demo download sites, etc, will have to pay ISPs in order to function properly. That means they either have to pay every ISP or they can only be accessed properly with specific ISPs. So you might be able to watch BBC TV online with AOL, but not with Virgin, but Virgin will give you great access to game patches and demos, whereas AOL's access to them will suck. Big ISPs, getting a lot of money from websites, will be able to hugely undercut smaller ISPs, putting them out of business. Sites that don't pay big ISPs will have far less bandwidth to use than sites that do, so they will not be able to be popular and they will not be able to use flashy and/or useful stuff that uses a lot of bandwidth.
 
Angilion said:
Phorm is going to happen, sooner or later. Probably in a year or two, enough time for the objections to be forgotten. All the big ISPs are likely to go for it. It's even possible that the government will force them to go for it.
Click to expand...

And it is even possible that the EU will block it totally.

Never underestimate the power of the people.
 
Angilion said:
Watch one hour of TV on the services various channels offer online (iplayer, etc) and you'll hit the capping figure.

It might have been only 3% a while ago, but it certainly isn't now.
Click to expand...
I'm not saying 3% is spot on, yes usage habits are changing and it wouldn't suprise me if that figure was based on stats VM compiled when they first started considering STM 2 years ago. My point was that making the leap from 3% to saying "everyone gets capped" is wrong and either shows a lack of comprehension or gross exaggeration. It suggests that everyone will have their connections severly hampered by STM, when in reality the vast majority of people still don't use their connections sufficiently to ever be affected by it. Yes services like iPlayer are becoming more prevalent, but most people still aren't interested in watching TV on their PCs.
 
Here,

If you're on VM BB, Wait until this fri/sat/sunday

Check your speeds in conjunction with you usage

Mine "almost" always gets dropped speed-wise even if i haven't used my limit or whatever you wanna call it

As i say it seems if there's not many subscribers in your area you may not get limited ever or not as much as others

And others that don't go over the limit can get limited so it aint just me lol

Do a google for the issue, You will see countless ppl getting capped and they never go over the limit

I check mine and i still get capped sometimes lol

So if on VM BB check and see, If you're not on VM BB and are going by what is posted on VM site about wake up n smell the coffee

Ohh and any guru's, How would VM go about picking out the say 3%-5% heaviest users ?? Always wanted to know this

Ciao

Def
 
Defiance_co said:
If you're on VM BB, Wait until this fri/sat/sunday

Check your speeds in conjunction with you usage

Mine "almost" always gets dropped speed-wise even if i haven't used my limit or whatever you wanna call it
Click to expand...
That's not traffic management, that's oversubscription.
 
yep thats it alright lol, virgin is shady like that as they have 2 upstream frequencies in my area and they always dump people on the one and the other is emtpy.

a quick change in the modem settings and you get a perfect connection again. also removes you from STM but that violates your agreement in some way.
 
spookywillow said:
yep thats it alright lol, virgin is shady like that as they have 2 upstream frequencies in my area and they always dump people on the one and the other is emtpy.

a quick change in the modem settings and you get a perfect connection again. also removes you from STM but that violates your agreement in some way.
Click to expand...

Presumably because it involves modifying the modem in a manner that can also probably allow unauthorised (non paying) modems on the network...(remember the agreement you have with Virgin is that you won't modify or connect unauthorised equipment to their network, in part because it protects other customers and their equipment against damage/interference caused by dodgy third party hardware).

It's also possible the reason they don't use that second upstream for residential modems is because it's set aside for business, another use or that frequency range has interference at times causing it to be unreliable in some areas.
 
The differing frequencies are normally for the different (ex)networks. E.g. ex-Cable and Wireless, Blueyonder, etc.

At least, if memory serves correctly.
 
no not at all.

the modems they give you have a config page where there are settings you can change. virgin has 2 upstream channels which each have 4 channel ID's. the upstream channel frequencies are different depending on who you were with before virgin took over.

the channel ID's depend on your modem i think, me and my brother had different modems and he never had acces to channel ID's like i did and was set to an ID that wasn't available to me. since then i have got the same modem when i moved house and i'm now limited to just channel frequencies.

if you get a decent enough support tech then they will change it for you (upstream channel) otherwise they wont have a clue what you are onabout and deny that they exist (most likely).

the second frequency isn't for business use as sometimes after a modem reboot it will be on the other frequency.

aekeron, im was with blueyonder and virgin use the same frequencies that blueyonder uses, ex ntl will be on the ntl frequencies.
 
spookywillow said:
no not at all.

the modems they give you have a config page where there are settings you can change. virgin has 2 upstream channels which each have 4 channel ID's. the upstream channel frequencies are different depending on who you were with before virgin took over.

the channel ID's depend on your modem i think, me and my brother had different modems and he never had acces to channel ID's like i did and was set to an ID that wasn't available to me. since then i have got the same modem when i moved house and i'm now limited to just channel frequencies.

if you get a decent enough support tech then they will change it for you (upstream channel) otherwise they wont have a clue what you are onabout and deny that they exist (most likely).

the second frequency isn't for business use as sometimes after a modem reboot it will be on the other frequency.

aekeron, im was with blueyonder and virgin use the same frequencies that blueyonder uses, ex ntl will be on the ntl frequencies.
Click to expand...


That's kind of what I meant but you expanded it into far greater detail :p
 
Hiya's,
Well after posting here earlier, I decided to see if i would get capped on my 20meg cable bb

Used up and down less than 2gig

Guess what i'm now capped

Ciao

Def
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom