VM speed capping

P_A_N_I_C · 25 Jul 2008 at 14:14

after being capped a few times i'm only downloading over night now, but sometimes i grab a few things during the day like game demos / hd vids or what have ya and they cap me. ok np's.

same thing happened yesterday, i put some torrents on at 11PM and they were dog slow so did the speed test and yep it was 1MB conn :*(

the tracker i use now uses SSL, and after logging into the site, the download speed went up to pretty much 4MB. but doing the speed test still chopped it to 1MB :confused:

i really didnt think using SSL connection would seem to bypass the speed cap. or is that a commonly know thing?

FrenchTart · 25 Jul 2008 at 14:21

The SSL connection won't bypass their capping - but if your speed is being managed in another way (e.g. traffic shaping of torrents) it may bypass that.

P_A_N_I_C · 25 Jul 2008 at 14:24

okee, i'll try to look into it more

Subby · 25 Jul 2008 at 15:26

You can't bypass the capping unfortunately.

FrenchTart · 25 Jul 2008 at 15:30

Subby said:
You can't bypass the capping unfortunately.

Not without doing illegal stuff with your modem at least.

JimAroo · 25 Jul 2008 at 15:43

They have changed something, i've been capped twice now in the past 2 days, i always stop my downloads before 5pm too.

Think they might have changed it to start at 4pm or something..

FrenchTart · 25 Jul 2008 at 15:43

They have several periods during the day where you can be capped - check the VM website for more info.

Sinopa · 25 Jul 2008 at 18:19

See here: http://www.virginmedia.com/help/traffic-management.php

P_A_N_I_C · 25 Jul 2008 at 20:15

Subby said:
You can't bypass the capping unfortunately.

not really looking to bypass tbh, it's just speed test showed a 1MB connection but torrents were running 450kB/s :confused:

arknor · 25 Jul 2008 at 21:21

maybe your source of torrents has seeds on crap connections with many leechers?

i had someone phone from virgin media quality assurance today and he said 50mbit is coming in september and it will get around traffic management whatever that means.

he didnt make it sound like a free upgrade though like all of the previous ones

MikeHiow · 25 Jul 2008 at 21:27

Aekeron said:
Not without doing illegal stuff with your modem at least.

Please explain what you could possibly do on a consumer cable modem that could possibly bypass traffic shaping? This sounds ridiculous to me.

ElectroBlaster · 25 Jul 2008 at 21:31

I heard about all this cable modem hacking many years ago. Isnt it highly illegal?

P_A_N_I_C · 26 Jul 2008 at 00:17

arknor said:
maybe your source of torrents has seeds on crap connections with many leechers?

don't think i made it very clear, the speed test though the web shows 1mb/s but i'm downloading @ full speed / 4mb using torrents

FrenchTart · 26 Jul 2008 at 00:30

TraxData said:
...stuff...

Exactly. Glad it wasn't me who had to post that

Substance · 26 Jul 2008 at 02:34

P_A_N_I_C said:
don't think i made it very clear, the speed test though the web shows 1mb/s but i'm downloading @ full speed / 4mb using torrents

It will be the speed test that is reporting incorrectly, most of them are useless, and if you are getting slow downloads you are using the wrong servers

The only real test is to download a file from a server that is pretty much guaranteed to max out your connection,

I use This file and it always maxes out my connection (20mb / 2.2MB/s) even when other sites seem to be throttled

gnr26 · 26 Jul 2008 at 02:43

50MBIT is guaranteed to have a silly STM, there is no way a company with least service with maximum profit attitude is going to offer uncapped 50BMIT there is more chance of finding bin laden and lord lucan. As for speed testing with a guaranteed fast source..one word "Usenet"

MikeHiow · 26 Jul 2008 at 08:14

Their traffic shaping is a joke then. It's amazing that speed profiles are set on the cable modem too.

Apologies for my initial haste in slamming this theory, we don't receive cable where I am, I imagined it would operate a better system than this.

FrenchTart · 26 Jul 2008 at 11:12

MikeHiow said:
Their traffic shaping is a joke then. It's amazing that speed profiles are set on the cable modem too.

Apologies for my initial haste in slamming this theory, we don't receive cable where I am, I imagined it would operate a better system than this.

The cable modem contacts a server to get it's config. With a dodgy firmware you can override this however. Of course, if VM catch on to you doing this (which they're a lot better at doing these days if you use your own MAC), you could get quite a hefty slap on the wrist.

tehgazza · 26 Jul 2008 at 11:28

if you have either a motorola or scientific atlanta cable modem it is perfectly legitimate to uncap yourself. if you are living in an area with more than one frequency you will be able to change the modem frequency and this will reset the cap. once capped again change back to the other frequency.

some help....
330750000
331000000
339000000
586750000
402750000

a handful to test. to change freq:
motorola - go onto 192.168.100.1 and the downstream one... sometimes if youre already online your not allowed to change it.
SA - go to 192.168.100.1/gscan.asp and then set to new frequency.

edscdk · 27 Jul 2008 at 08:02

torrents will never run at 1b on a 1mb connection, 400k is pretty good... when they cap you it will all but kill your DL off... - its does for me and everyone at work (appart from those on 20mb connections)

dont forget when you leech you also seed as well