View Full Version : What's causing my slow speed? (20mb)
The past few months have been unpredictable. I used to have good speeds alot of the time but now the speed can peak at 19mb and then go straight down to less than 1mb. I have just gotten a new modem and my speed at this second is less than 4mb. I asked the tech people to check utilization and he said its's low. Like i said, i've just gotten a new modem and i doubt i've had two faultly modems. I have no programmes on this computer that could be slowing it down and my power levels have been checked and they seem fine. What could be causing my slow speed.
Has your area been upgraded to 50meg? If so, all 20meg customers have been moved over to new kit. In my area, this gave me 72hrs of downtime and things have never been the same since.
Has your area been upgraded to 50meg? If so, all 20meg customers have been moved over to new kit. In my area, this gave me 72hrs of downtime and things have never been the same since.
I don't think so. This started around a month ago and i don't think there was any upgrades.
Use the 50meg checker on the Virginmedia website and see...
Use the 50meg checker on the Virginmedia website and see...
It says it is availible where i live on the postcode checker.
There you go then.
I'm guessing they sent you the new modem to ensure you were compatible with the new CMTS after the upgrade.
Essentially, they've installed loads of new kit for 50meg and moved the 20meg customers onto the new kit. This means it's easy for them to upgrade people to 50meg and it also locks out the people cloning modems on the 20meg service.
Moving off all the 20meg users takes a lot of load off the old kit, so they're offering people a "free" (1) upgrade from 2meg to 10meg to use up the available capacity. This will allow them to create a load of marketing propaganda in the future saying how quick their service is and that the slowest speed is 10meg. (2)
So you've been bumped onto a newer, more complicated network and things aren't working as well. You need to log a fault with tech support asap and tell them roughly when it started.
(1) - Many customers are reporting a £2 increase in charges this year.
(2) - Whether customers can actually achieve claimed speeds is a different question
There you go then.
I'm guessing they sent you the new modem to ensure you were compatible with the new CMTS after the upgrade.
Essentially, they've installed loads of new kit for 50meg and moved the 20meg customers onto the new kit. This means it's easy for them to upgrade people to 50meg and it also locks out the people cloning modems on the 20meg service.
Moving off all the 20meg users takes a lot of load off the old kit, so they're offering people a "free" (1) upgrade from 2meg to 10meg to use up the available capacity. This will allow them to create a load of marketing propaganda in the future saying how quick their service is and that the slowest speed is 10meg. (2)
So you've been bumped onto a newer, more complicated network and things aren't working as well. You need to log a fault with tech support asap and tell them roughly when it started.
(1) - Many customers are reporting a £2 increase in charges this year.
(2) - Whether customers can actually achieve claimed speeds is a different question
Nope, they sent the modem because i kept phoning them about slow speeds and they sent it to make sure it wasn't my old modem. There have been no mention about the ugrade though. What should i say to the tech guys. I've been ringing them about slow speeds quite alot and no one mentioned that it could be something to do with a new network.
They generally perform maintenance in an overnight window which should inconvenience customers the least and, in normal circumstances, kit will automatically reconnect when the work is completed and before the customer wakes up. They never really inform customers about maintenance in advance and the Indian call centre wouldn't even admit it to me after 48hrs of downtime.
It's very hard to get past the support helpline. If you use Twitter, you could try sending a message to @virginmedia to raise the profile of your case.
I sent them a twitter. I hope they listen to me for once (doubtful). I've been a customer for a long time and i don't like getting treated like dirt. I will swich provider if i have to.
Can someone make sure my stats for the modem are okay please:
Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 4
Downstream Frequency : 331000000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : -2.9 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 37.4 dB
Cable Modem Upstream
Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 3
Upstream Frequency : 29200000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QAM16
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 43.0 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2
My limited knowledge says it looks ok, especially the downstream.
My limited knowledge says it looks ok, especially the downstream.
Then i have no clue to why it's slow. I checked about that network stuff you mentioned and kept asking the tech staff and they said it didn't look like there was any problems with it. I dunno what to do.
The past few months have been unpredictable. I used to have good speeds alot of the time but now the speed can peak at 19mb and then go straight down to less than 1mb. I have just gotten a new modem and my speed at this second is less than 4mb. I asked the tech people to check utilization and he said its's low. Like i said, i've just gotten a new modem and i doubt i've had two faultly modems. I have no programmes on this computer that could be slowing it down and my power levels have been checked and they seem fine. What could be causing my slow speed.
Your power levels are fine so either it is the exchange but Virgin say no or its your computer so try this tweak if on XP run the tool and set the slider right over to the right.
http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php
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You could try this below if you are on Vista
http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=2574
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Then try this speed test without any router in place as they can give false results.
click on these 2 gamefiles battlefield_2142_demo.exe and bfme2demo_english_final.exe and save them to your desktop, and then wait a couple of minutes then write down the transfer rates on the files that are running add them together then multiply them by 8 and you will get a truer download speed.
Remember to stop and delete the files.
i.e : 250Kbps X 8 = 2Mbps, 500Kbps X 8 = 4Mbps, 1250Kbps X 8 = 10Mbps, 2500Kbps X 8 = 20Mbps
Then add 10% to the final figure to account for any processes running on your computer.
http://www.virginmedia.com/testmyspeed/manual.
Your power levels are fine so either it is the exchange but Virgin say no or its your computer so try this tweak if on XP run the tool and set the slider right over to the right.
http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You could try this below if you are on Vista
http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=2574
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then try this speed test without any router in place as they can give false results.
click on these 2 gamefiles battlefield_2142_demo.exe and bfme2demo_english_final.exe and save them to your desktop, and then wait a couple of minutes then write down the transfer rates on the files that are running add them together then multiply them by 8 and you will get a truer download speed.
Remember to stop and delete the files.
i.e : 250Kbps X 8 = 2Mbps, 500Kbps X 8 = 4Mbps, 1250Kbps X 8 = 10Mbps, 2500Kbps X 8 = 20Mbps
Then add 10% to the final figure to account for any processes running on your computer.
http://www.virginmedia.com/testmyspeed/manual.
I tried the game files and it was less than 2 mbps. I tried it on different computers and it's slow of both of them.
I tried the game files and it was less than 2 mbps. I tried it on different computers and it's slow of both of them.
So your are getting around 15Mb then.
So your are getting around 15Mb then.
No, i downloaded two of the gamefiles and each of them were downloading at about 50kbs each and that's less than 2mb right?. I'm not a tech guy and i'm kind of new to doing this stuff. Like i said i haven't had a problem for years. My laptop doesn't have any new programmes and i only really use it for just a few websites. I also use my internet for my PS3, Xbox360. My laptop has the same stuff i had when i bought it. I'm quite sure it has nothing to do with my PC because my speed can also be slow on PS3 and Xbox. I don't have a constant slow speed. Some days it can be about 19mbps for most of the day. Unfortunatly, Thursday and Friday it has been less than 1mb. It can go up to about 4mb if i'm lucky.
---------- Post added at 01:36 ---------- Previous post was at 00:02 ----------
Also how can i find out what UBR i am on?.
---------- Post added at 01:46 ---------- Previous post was at 01:36 ----------
Ok i think this is my UBR?, cable.ubr01.sprt.blueyonder.co.uk.
Ring in this morning and you should get a UK call centre
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Tech Support is open 24/7 on the numbers below.
For help with your TV or Phone and for Broadband Technical Support:
Call Product Support/Faults on 151 option 3 from your Virgin Media Phone. It's absolutely free.
Or call 0845 454 1111 from any other phone line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ring in this morning and you should get a UK call centre
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tech Support is open 24/7 on the numbers below.
For help with your TV or Phone and for Broadband Technical Support:
Call Product Support/Faults on 151 option 3 from your Virgin Media Phone. It's absolutely free.
Or call 0845 454 1111 from any other phone line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I can't do much at the moment because the guy on the phone said because it's a new modem he can't take a snap shot. He said wait until Monday, what time would i get a UK call centre on Monday?. I posted in the news groups and my UBR is at 38%.
---------- Post added at 15:06 ---------- Previous post was at 15:03 ----------
The tech guy from news groups said if i could check for packet loss info. How do i check for this?.
I can't do much at the moment because the guy on the phone said because it's a new modem he can't take a snap shot. He said wait until Monday, what time would i get a UK call centre on Monday?. I posted in the news groups and my UBR is at 38%.
Even if its a new modem we have tools that can see the connection so he was talking porkies.
Call after 0800 on Monday.
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The tech guy from news groups said if i could check for packet loss info. How do i check for this?.
You could use this tool and try doing a traceroute to any website that you use.
http://tools.virginmedia.com/
Even if its a new modem we have tools that can see the connection so he was talking porkies.
Call after 0800 on Monday.
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You could use this tool and try doing a traceroute to any website that you use.
http://tools.virginmedia.com/
traceroute to www.google.com (209.85.227.147), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 194.117.133.226 (194.117.133.226) 0.536 ms
2 194.117.136.178 (194.117.136.178) 0.600 ms
3 tele1-know-rab.telewest.net (194.117.136.158) 8.354 ms
4 195.50.113.29 (195.50.113.29) 14.877 ms
5 195.50.118.214 (195.50.118.214) 13.979 ms
6 209.85.255.78 (209.85.255.78) 13.932 ms
7 72.14.232.134 (72.14.232.134) 20.178 ms
8 72.14.236.191 (72.14.236.191) 20.931 ms
9 209.85.243.93 (209.85.243.93) 24.134 ms
10 wy-in-f147.google.com (209.85.227.147) 14.467 ms
That's what i says for google. At the moment my speed is 18mbps. The problem is it will get bad at random times. I asked them to send a engineer to try and find out what could be causing it. He is coming on Monday so i hope he can figure it out.
Looks fine at the moment give us an update on Monday.
The engineer came round and tried some things and the connection was still slow. He rang the guys from Virgin and they say it must be my laptop but even the engineer doesn't think it's my laptop (it isn't). They are going to try and get one of their laptops to test it. It could be later today but i'm not sure.
He brought a laptop but my speed is going fast at the moment so he can't prove to his boss that there is a problem. Shame VM don't believe their own engineers. Going to try tomorrow and hope the speeds slow.
Gunner Greig
08-06-2009, 18:31
Had around 20mb for a day, and now its back down to 4mb, so frustrating:mad:
Had around 20mb for a day, and now its back down to 4mb, so frustrating:mad:
Yeah, tell me about it. The engineer saw the slow speed and he knows it's not my laptop. We even hooked the laptop to the box outside and it still went slow. If you get a engineer to check your speed i would make sure they bring a laptop with them, otherwise VM will just say it's your computer that's doing it. Even though i own 3 games consoles that also use the internet and it goes slow with them too. I hook them up separately by the way.
Gunner Greig
08-06-2009, 21:41
Yeah, tell me about it. The engineer saw the slow speed and he knows it's not my laptop. We even hooked the laptop to the box outside and it still went slow. If you get a engineer to check your speed i would make sure they bring a laptop with them, otherwise VM will just say it's your computer that's doing it. Even though i own 3 games consoles that also use the internet and it goes slow with them too. I hook them up separately by the way.
Im trying to play my xbox360 on live at the moment, but it laggs so much i get disconnected. It's been happening for the last 2 months and its really frustrating.
Im not expecting to have 20mb all the time, i expect 17mb+, but im not even getting that, 80% of the day it's 5mb and under.
Im trying to play my xbox360 on live at the moment, but it laggs so much i get disconnected. It's been happening for the last 2 months and its really frustrating.
Im not expecting to have 20mb all the time, i expect 17mb+, but im not even getting that, 80% of the day it's 5mb and under.
Get an engineer around. Don't bother phoning, it doesn't get you anywhere. Make sure he brings a laptop though or like me you'll be waiting even longer for them to bring one because they don't believe their customers (or engineers).
It's still bad. At random times it can go less than 1mbps. The ping goes quite high too. VM doesn't seem to want to fix it. The easy response is to blame my PC. Like i said before the Engineer doesn't think it's my Laptop and the problem is they won't log it until i can get a engineer to bring a Laptop at these RANDOM times. The only problem is that everytime i ring them they can't make it at the time i ring. What is the point of even ringing them if they can never make it here when it's slow. This is NEVER going to get fixed and i'm getting really angry now.
irishguymcr
14-06-2009, 22:01
hopefully you aren't being traffic managed as they have changed their policies ... i'm on 10mb and since 8th June they have told me that there is a fault in my area every night ... eventually i got a manager in the (Indian) call centre who told me that I am being traffic managed, worst is i don't download but have a lot of video streaming.
hopefully you aren't being traffic managed as they have changed their policies ... i'm on 10mb and since 8th June they have told me that there is a fault in my area every night ... eventually i got a manager in the (Indian) call centre who told me that I am being traffic managed, worst is i don't download but have a lot of video streaming.
Get a Engineer around. Don't trust what the tech guys say. I've been phoning tech guys for a long time and most the time it ends up that they were lying to me. The Indian call centre is rubbish, don't trust them.
The engineers phoned the tech guys and it does seem to be high utilization. I have no clue what to do now. Any help??.
The utilisation has been fixed but my speeds are still dodgy. This is really annoying.
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