Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Yes I'm sure. We had a thread in the trial where everyone would identify the number of channels they had and their node id. 10 channels was a very common answer in that thread.

What data do you have to back up your assumption?

There have also been multiple examples of 9 and 10 channel's on the public area of the community forum as well. Hard to miss if you're paying attention.

Why give an area 12 channels when 9 or 10 would do? It would be a waste of bandwidth and VM certainly aren't into giving more bandwidth than is necessary.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

10 channels should be pretty much gone now and will be soon. 10 channel nodes are using hardware and platforms VM have largely moved from.

10 channels = Cisco 10k with either I-CMTS or gigabit SPA. VM will be if at all possible moving customers onto next generation CMTS and CCAP solutions or if no alternative 3G SPAs while waiting for new CMTS and platform.

The capacity will be needed in the not too distant future ;)

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I've already conceded that 10 channels must be a thing.

Gee, thanks for that. Says the person who skipped past the post directly above them.

I'm going off what various folks have said about different UBR/CMTS's in use. Forgetting the 10 channel point, I'm still not convinced that 9 channels is anything other than a fault, albeit one that probably has zero impact. The channels are generally in even amounts - 8, 10, 12, 16, etc.

I've never seen 7, 11, 13, 15, etc. the only odd number I've seen (other than 1) is 9 and so far nobody has confirmed this is correct or not.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

This is anticipated by VM, of course, alongside that at some point, be it a few days or a few weeks, the novelty will wear off and usage revert to normal.

There's only so much content to download and very few people are sad enough to download 'for fun' for long periods of time so no real capacity worries.

Download speeds are just numbers on a screen and numbers generally aren't interesting when there's no background behind them. :)

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Stability is all I want - speed is second best. Would VM be the same?

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

And I am the person with 9 and it does appear I have zero impact as I have 208Mb 24/7.

Has anybody else got 9 channels?

I am in area 06

I have phoned Virgin to get Homeworks+ 300Mb but have so far been told it's not available in my area but should be in the next couple of months.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

You cannot have Homeworks+ in your area and no-one at VM should permit you to order it.

Minimum 12 channels. Selling you a product that will eat 6.6 of the 9 channels available would be a bad idea.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Did they let you have it internetgofast?

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

It is configured that way, and could be intentional for reasons of needing to preserve space on the network for TV channels / VoD.

Some network are being or have been rebuilt to supply more bandwidth, RF bandwidth, for broadband and alongside this capacity for VoD has been reduced and better compression for DTV is a work in progress.

The variations between areas can be quite pronounced now.

The HFC that newly built and newly rebuilt areas will have has 5-85MHz upstream and 105-1218MHz downstream, field adjustable to deliver 5-200MHz upstream and the rest downstream.

Some areas awaiting rebuild will have 5-50MHz upstream and 65-750MHz downstream. 1.1GHz downstream versus 685MHz downstream is a big difference and is why some areas struggle to make room for 12 or 16 channels while others have space for 32 channels plus DOCSIS 3.1 carriers right now.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Took 4 attempts but managed to get it added. That was way harder than it should have been!

Don't seem to be able to get more than 15 up though, even though the config states 21

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2016/04/17.png

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Interesting. That's a hell of a lot of bandwidth!

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Well I was told it should be available in my area in a couple of months from now.

But if I phone again it wouldn't surprise me if I get a completely different story from a different person.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Which sounds normal from what others have said :(

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

The network I worked on was originally a 650mhz build. Gonna be interesting when they are running 1.2ghz with some of the longer cable runs!

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Power is the problem really. Cascades are smaller than they used to be so attenuation and in turn MER from repeated amplification needed to get over it isn't the biggest problem, however to get the extra gain to compensate for the higher frequencies needs extra juice.

EDIT: The biggest problem of all is that splitters and isolators in homes in plant like that one will only be good for 1GHz before they have a big roll-off. They'll need swapping.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I was saying more on the lines of replacing existing amps in the future, the existing build still has some long cable runs, and there's only so much power you can push out of an amp before it starts causing errors

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

The amps will have to have components replaced to allow for the different split and higher frequencies anyway.

At 1.2GHz spacing is only really a problem on tree and branch networks. Star and hybrid/MDU networks should be fine and, worst case, splitting the node will resolve spacing issues.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Has anyone experienced any traffic management on this package yet?

So far this month ive downloaded 520.03GB and uploaded 243.64GB since my drive i store drivers\software on went bye bye and i had to re downloaded and then upload latest versions to a cloud account.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Hi Alan

Well there won't be any on the down, as for the up i'd have said if you were going to get it then you would have? But those figures suggest unless you are uploading overnight then you haven't either :)

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Just be aware, it wouldn't be the first time Virgin launched a new tier without STM, then added it back on later. Hopefully it won't come to that, but it's worth keeping in mind.

At some point in future, I'm sure upload STM will be removed, but no doubt it's a ways off yet. Hopefully the 10:1 alignment will return, then when that's stable and good STM will be removed. Probably years away though.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

We've said before this will likely happen. I recall seeing this on 50 as others have said and 120 before.

After all - they slapped it on 200 pretty quick, Unless it was there from the start.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

All tier upgrades since the lauch of 50Mb have had Traffic Management, but it's now only upstream management.

Upstream management has been on 200Mbit from the start - as the only change for 200Mb is the downstream.

The upstream is the same speed and management as 152Mb.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I'm sure it'll have upstream management placed on it if needed, however VM are quite confident it won't be necessary.

If management does end up being required at some point it may take the form of a Comcast-type approach rather than blunt STM.

Rather than being set to a fixed rate those who are heavily using the service get everyone else on the node's leftovers :)

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

That sounds more reasonable.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Hows the download-athon going?

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I've had a lot of games to download so it's been pretty good, tried uploading some 4k 60 fps footage too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmtqOIJDGmY

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Ahh nice 4k,

Makes me realise how **** my PC is lol

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I thought doing 300GB overnight on my FTTC was hardcore lol - nothing compared to you.

nice 4K :)

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Once the new gpus come out in June i will be buying a new one for around £300 more then likely.

---------- Post added at 14:05 ---------- Previous post was at 14:04 ----------

I remember back when i was living with my dad and we had 12 meg BT internet and i tried to upload a 600 meg video, took an hour and a half while now on 20 it takes less then 5 minuets. How times change from 2007 to 2016.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Imagine how those on 1Gbps manage. must be hard :D :p

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

1000 up is what dreams are made of.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

There was a time when we would have said the same about even 10meg up.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Yes and we wouldn't have dreamed 15 years on it would only have doubled once.

But that's life.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Or down.

I was fortunate enough to work for ISPs during the early part of my career. When the top home product was 3Mb I could 'encourage' 18Mb out of the home connection and at work pull perhaps 30-40Mb.

When the top home product was 8Mb my office connection was such that the slowest part of it was the 100Mb switch port to my docking station.

I was fortunate enough to be fairly close to the exchange using my employer's ADSL 2+ product and had a home connection that could be encouraged to run at 22Mb down and 2.4Mb up.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

15 years ago was 2001, most people were still on dialup and ADSL speeds topped out at about 512k down (assuming you could get it at all) and I think cable was maybe 768k. Don't even remember what upload was, probably 64k.

Dunno what you're trying to say, really, things have more than doubled in 15 years.

15 years from now I would expect gigabit speeds to be the norm.

Aha, "encouraged". I like that term. Let me think, 3Mbit being the top home product must be about what, 2004?

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Okay. I got really drunk, was trying to download some files, and decided it would be a good idea to uncap my modem to get them faster. :(

---------- Post added at 20:53 ---------- Previous post was at 20:36 ----------

Best upload speed you could get at that time without a leased line was 256k.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

You got drunk?!!???

I always looked on you as a measure of sobriety.

"Okay. I got really drunk, was trying to download some files, and decided it would be a good idea to uncap my modem to get them faster."

Bust my bubble now,:D:D:D:D:D:D

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Should we not be impressed he can do that when he is drunk? I can't pee in a straight line.

Kudos!

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

tbf, it was around the time this happened.

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/24446...uk-wide-outage

Coincidence? ;)

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Nah, the fault came from the Leeds Area :P

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Just downloading world of warcraft!.

Getting Mega speeds even at Peak

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2016/04/15.png

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Holy shizz!

I get 9 on FTTC lol - No way are you getting 650mbps. Must be a glitch but looks good!

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Don't know if it has something to do with the installer but it was averaging 55mb/s and peaked at 65.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I am truly gob smacked by that. I know the installer can get direct from Blizz or P2P but I didn't know it would be like that lol

Like I said I get 9mbps on FTTC. I have my SH3 coming on Tuesday I think. Happy days!

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Some game clients report the effective transfer rate, which includes the effects of decompressing the files on your computer, which is probably what you're seeing here.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

It never does it for me and I use the same software. Odd :/

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I thought this could be the case. This seems to be more accurate:

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2016/04/14.png

23prince Your going to love it mate.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

38MB/sec!?

Holy do a donkey! LOL!

I get 8.8MB/sec although it is all the time. I will give it a go I have 28 days or something as I've never been with VM before.

If it's good I might reduce or dump the FTTC for now. £48 vs £57 for x5 the download speed is well worth it.

Cheers for the trouser fizzling screenshots lol

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Ive seen it goes as high as 42mb/s on occasions

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2016/04/12.png

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Stop it - You are making the wait turn into hell! :P

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Well that's one of the lowest pings i have ever seen on my connection.

[img][/img]

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

<<< has to stop coming here until Tuesday cause it's torture LOL

:P

Nice!

I dread to this the usage on these lines. I am doing well at 2TB but no doubt you are much much more than that !

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Slightly off topic but this has raised some questions, the green mini box on the right side was added a few days ago by some company that dose fiber installations but dose anyone know what it is for?. I have never seen anything like it before so i'm kinda curious what it could be.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/at...6&d=1460925109

Mod Edit - picture re-sized

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

It's a stand-off shell for the BT cabinet next to it. That's where the copper lines go and where they are jumpered to street-side DSLAM and to exchange.

It's literally just adding more space for jumper blocks, copper pair patch panels essentially.

---------- Post added at 19:15 ---------- Previous post was at 19:13 ----------

I'm more impressed that there's someone still actually playing WoW.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Oh huh that's neat.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Not a fan of speedtest.net because it comes up with things like this. For timing reasons you can't really go below 5-6ms. Occasionally quite literally a single packet in a bunch of them will be faster but on the whole can't happen.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

DSLs speedtest gives me 17ms which i believe more.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2016/04/10.png

I had that happen to me a lot in the past with my old FTTC connection.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

This is about as good as it gets for FTTC. Host there is a few miles away.

traceroute to www.bbc.co.uk (212.58.244.70), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 gateway (192.168.0.1) 0.230 ms 0.286 ms 0.309 ms
2 host-62-24-255-10.as13285.net (62.24.255.10) 5.138 ms 5.259 ms 5.317 ms

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Truth is i don't play i was just testing how fast it would download lol.

No time 2 kids and a missus that keeps my on my toes ;)

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

LOL

Well there are 2 of us we know of :P

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Bad as it sounds I actually fully expected you to say that you were just using the download as a test :D

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Are there any suggestions that 300 may be possible without signing up to Homeworks+ 300? Happy to pay extra, but I don't really want all the other fluff that comes with it.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Nope. Vivid 200 was only released late last year.

Further speed upgrades are pending capacity upgrades within VM and BT moving on their ultrafast broadband to provide the business case for VM to invest and release higher speeds.

Obviously you don't have to take all that extra fluff if you don't want it.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I think he means will there be an option to pay extra for the speed, and not all the other stuff that it comes with? With their current pricing you're paying £9.99 for stuff you don't need, so couldn't they release an option at say, £5.99, for just the 300Mb upgrade?

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Well no , I am paying £13,99 for the 300mb+ service. £9,99 is 200 or whatever speed with just the fluff on I believe?

@Ignition. So it is on the cards then? Is it worth me keeping my line in in case BT do something drastic with this gfast stuff?

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

They certainly could. Whether they will or not I've no idea. Rather makes Homeworks+ redundant if they do, though. Can't see there being that many people who want 300/20, are willing to pay the extra for it and want all that other stuff too.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

That is exactly what I was suggesting. An extra £5.99 I would not mind paying for the uptick in speed.

For me the 300 service is actually more for the upload rather than download anyhow. makes remote working much viable. Also allows remote access of things I have stored on my NAS more workable.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Someone told me yesterday that Eir in IE is worse than BT and VM here was better than VM in IE.

poppycock. They are doing 1Gbps and 360Mbps respectively. They make BT look like drivel.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

"Doing" 1Gbps and actually providing a good service are two very different things. Without having used the Irish service, it's hard to say who is really better. I believe they have hard caps there, which is a huge dealbreaker for me.

G.Fast is still many months, if not years away.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I know it's probably capacity but I've always wondered by there is no option for gigabit if it's possible on 3 right now. Not saying it makes any business side sense but if they offered gigabit for £80 i would probably consider it.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Roll-out starts later this year although it will be a drawn out process.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I presume the 3 there was supposed to be FTTP :)

It's capacity, yes, but not as you might think it. It's not a problem with the FTTP networks themselves, those run 2.4Gb downstream, 1.2Gb upstream per 32 or 64 premises. More than enough to allow for 1Gb.

At the moment BT Openreach hand traffic over to ISPs over 1Gb links which would be no good for 1Gb products. They've been testing both 1Gb FTTP products and 10Gb handovers in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, other trials are ongoing or upcoming, and the product will be going live as part of their Next Generation Access 2 strategy. It'll be a combination of enhanced copper in the form of up to 300Mb G.fast, and 1Gb FTTP / FTTP on Demand.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I meant more DOCSIS 3 since you have provided in the past a link to cable at 1000/50 but the part about FTTP networks was interesting, didn't know any of that so that's surprising to know.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Oh that.

Combination of things, ignoring the business side.

Compatibility issue with one of the CPE and the number of channels required to get up to 1Gb (20 as a minimum).

Compatibility issues between DOCSIS 3 and some of the legacy set top boxes preventing VM from reclaiming the rack space and power being eaten up by the older DOCSIS 1.1 kit.

Deployment of next generation CMTS, Arris E6k and Cisco cBR8, isn't finished. Some areas are still running on the older Cisco 10k and Motorola BSR 64k. One of those can only do 12 channels, the other needs specific upgrades to do more than 10.

Which feeds into:

Capacity - the 1Gb products you've seen are being sold on 1.216Gb of bandwidth which is cutting it fine to say the least.

Which feeds into:

People in the UK complain too loudly if they see contention at peak periods.

From the business point of view there's little appetite in the UK to actually pay for such products. Many people are reluctant to pay more than a tenner a month for broadband. One of the products I linked is over £80 a month, the other over £100.

There's no competition forcing VM's hand either. Services faster than Homeworks+ are available to less than 1/20th of the cable footprint.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Ah yeah that dose make sense shame really since i'm one of the few who want faster but thank you for explaining all of that.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Unlimited according to https://www.eir.ie/extreme/ i missed the caps bit if there is one.

Also, can there be worse service than BT?

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Comcast.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Fair enough :)

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I'm guessing since 300 is not being sold to businesses around me that Homeworks 300 won't be either.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Yes your areas will be still running on the older equipment.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

The max i have ever hit is 40MB/s

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Highest i have ever gotten out of steam was this.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2016/04/11.jpg

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I am literally waiting for my SH3 to arrive. This is torture! :P

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Next we will be getting posts from you about the crap firmware it has ATM. Still in BETA and you've become a trialist.

Oh no, you're a customer not a trialist!

No change there from VM. Always pushing out new CPE before the bugs have been sorted!

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Considering the SH3 has been more stable then the SH2ac i have to disagree.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

4 and a half months since I got my SH3 as a "normal" customer, about 4 months since they said the new firmware was "coming soon" :D

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

LOL you wont be getting any such posts like that from me. I would have to give a crap to do that, and I don't!

I did just had a VM rep come to my place and tell me I couldn't get 300 - only to go away come back tell me I had taught him a few things, and then to say that if I was to move to an area where there was no service my contract would be cancelled without penalty.

He was a nice bloke. I am so glad I have CCTV over my front door with sound and his card - might use that in the future :)

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

I'm an original trialist for the SH3 and it is a complete joke. The amount of time it takes to release firmware fixes is ridiculous.
No idea how they thought releasing the SH3 to the public with the current state of the firmware was a wise idea.

I just keep the SH3 in modem mode and use my own router. Bob's your uncle fanny's your aunt jobs a gud'un ;)

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

One of the lucky ones then.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Woke up to no internet and then this, virgin sure do love starting my days off good.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2016/04/10.jpg

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Are you on Direct Debit? If so that really should never go wrong. Check your bank statements and make sure everything has went through then call 150.

Also, £109 a month? Ouch.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

It's supposed to be £57.24 but apparently upgrading in the middle of the mouth took me from behind and ran with it.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

How strange, and something I'd get checked out ASAP. Considering that Homeworks should be just an upgrade to your current service, you shouldn't have anything more than a portion of the new service cost applied extra.

Hopefully you can get your bill sorted.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Well that's the thing i called them and they told me it was normal since i upgraded half way through last month i would have to pay that, i'm starting to get the feeling i was played like a fiddle by whoever that guy was though.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Phone retentions.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Everything on the bill seems like something i agreed too apart from this, this just seems weird. I will call those people then.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2016/04/9.jpg

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

My area has at some point (recently) gone from 12 to 14 channels - All looks good as I can max out 300meg at any time of the day.

Good to see VM staying ahead of the curve (in some areas)

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Eh? The Homeworks upgrade is £13.99 pm, so where did VM come up with £25.99 for 1 month and 8 days? Retentions it is. If your monthly bill was usually £57, you should've been billed £28 extra at most if you had to pay for 2 months of Homeworks. I think they've messed your package up too.

Re: Virgin Media Homeworks 300Mb
 

Calling now but this is the full bill.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2016/04/8.jpg