STM always enforced?
 

I'm on XL60 which has a 1 hour limit of 3.6GB and a two hour limit of 4.5GB. I made a decision when the new STM was announced to basically ignore it as the penalty period was so much less than before.

The other day I had a few downloads during the STM period which I thought would maybe put me over the 4.5GB limit and should have been over 3.6GB on their own. I checked to see what I'd been limited to and found I was still getting 60Mbps.

Today I just downloaded 5.4GB flat out and on checking I've not been STM'd and can still get 60Mbps.

What gives? Has anybody else found anything similar? I do know that on the old STM I never got limited if I exceeded the morning period limit and somebody suggested that some CMTS were limited in how many STM rules they could operate.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

It takes time for the STM limit to kick-in, check half an hour after you finish downloading.

It only checks what you've used every 15 minutes, so at 60mb/s you can download 4.5GB in 10 minutes, then you have to wait for the next checkpoint for it to realise, then the limitter usually kicks in at the 15 minute after that.

So it's possible to do way more than the limits but you will be punished more severely if you do. Just like motorway police chasing you. Eventually they will catch you.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

As MUD_Wizard has stated, the STM is measured in 15min increments, so it's possible to absolutely thrash your connection and beat the STM for a bit, but you will still get hit with it when the next 15mins interval is up. That does mean you can go from no STM to the 2hour/40% reduction inside 15mins as well.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Ah I see. I'll see what happens next time and check several times for up to half an hour after. The SamKnows monitoring didn't spot it as it's showing me at 60Mbps today.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Well the theory was good but my downloads this morning ran past the 11am weekend STM start. They weree running flat out at sust over 7MBps so from 11:00 to 11:15 that would be over 6GB and when they finished at 11:25 over 10GB.

No sign of my 2 hour spanking...

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2013/08/43.png

Still no sign...

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2013/08/44.png

I don't think I'll complaint to VM though :)

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Is that the no Traffic management trial :)

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Maybe they got the Superhub team to do the STM code for the CMTS?

Re: STM always enforced?
 

It does seem to be a bit wonky atm, i've done 21GB since 12pm and still no sign of STM, it's usually kicked in way before now.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Same here I thinking they switched off STM.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

43GB and counting with no sign of STM, the 8GB i did between 12 and 1pm should have triggered it never mind the 35GB i've done since 1pm til now.

I've started a huge file via FTP and will leave it running for another hour just to see if it ever kicks in but i think it's safe to say STM currently isn't on.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2013/08/41.png

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Just downloaded 65GB via steam no STM still full speed.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I was hit by STM at 11:20 and I'm on 72mbps - still going though.

Cardiff for reference.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

108 GB download in the past 3 hours now and still no STM. I'm up in Fife.

I wonder if they are trialing no STM, maybe for the next new top tier. No doubt it'll end up just being a glitch though.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Would be nice! but probably just a cock up like you say.. I have been STM'd and I still am but I am still downloading.

Could it take no STM?

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Both 50mb and 100mb had no STM for a while so i imagine the next tier will too, then it'll be slapped on once they get X amount of customers for it :p:

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I never knew that... Well I guess we are all testing how much we can download today! I'm not far behind your figures.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

LOL Been downloading since 2AM Just finished downloading 250gb guessing if we all carry on like this virgin network will be a meltdown.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Funny, for most of its existence VM and its predecessors did not have STM and there were fewer complaints of meltdown in those days...

Re: STM always enforced?
 

In those days speeds were slow. I am sure if everyone had 30mb there would be no need for STM

I just downloaded again after coming out of STM and I am back in it again so whatevers going on STM is working here

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Slow relative to what? 10Mbps was considered as fast back then as 100Mbps is now. In 5 years time I'm sure you'll complain today's speeds are slow.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Slow relative to how much capacity was needed?

I'm sure I wont!

i dont complain about the speeds. I think back to when we had BT Home Highway!

STM yes - slower upload YES - raw speed NO

Re: STM always enforced?
 

someone said (might have been ignition but not sure) due to the way STM is implemented some areas dont actually have it, at least not all the time.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Are you talking about VM rotating STM around the country? Like a red-zone.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

50 and 100meg were STM free because at the time they were the only tiers on DOCSIS3. It was a top package, so not many customers on it (relatively speaking) and they more or less had the whole network to themselves. Now everyone is on DOCSIS 3, aside from Legacy tiers. Believe it or not, the 30meg customers will use more data than the 120meg ones do, simply due to sheer numbers.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Guys, Update my STM Still switched off been downloading since 2AM.
Finished Steam games around 10PM (300GB).

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Then you are lucky. I know someone who had that for about 2 months before they did the last change and they got caught in the net.

Or maybe your area no longer needs it?

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I guess everyone's going to ignore jb66's post? Was he telling us something?

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I thought he was making a joke about it all. I seriously doubt VM are trialling no STM as soon as they roll that out the network would melt?

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Come on jb66. If you're silent we'll take it as confirmation and if you deny it we'll know you're lying. ;)

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Im hitting the STM every day. Im not bothered. If they are they had better cut me off.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Still no STM Since Friday looks like virgin left STM off in my area.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

STM is definitely active here, we hit it every night (7 housemates using the connection)

Re: STM always enforced?
 

7 Day stll no STM Downloaded over 1.5TB the last 7 days guessing my area has tons of bandwidth.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I checked my own again this morning and it wasn't triggered. I think it's more likely to be an accidental misconfiguration than a deliberate one because of utilisation.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Some thoughts I added on STM on another forum in a dim and distant galaxy far far away….
I-wanted-to-stick-up-for-Virgin-s-Unlimited-Claim

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Still none for me either, haven't been STM'd since before last weekend no matter how much i try to trigger it. If this keeps going i may consider sticking around with VM.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

What the hell are people needing to download that they consider using TB's of data in like 7 days?

Re: STM always enforced?
 

These days you can't just say downloading for the usage, with streaming services you can use up a lot of bytes especially if there is more than one person in a household using this kind of service. Then add some online game purchases for a couple of platforms and it easily eats up a fair bit of lovely chunks of data.

Also I remember when Mb's was classed as a lot of data....then it moved to Gb's and people were CRAZY downloading more than a few Gb's a week. Wonder how long it will be till we get Pb's of data a month :)

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I stream a hell of a lot of stuff from the states

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Linux.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

4-6GB per hour is used in our house just from netflix, iPlayer etc, some people seem to be stuck in the past and think a GB means pirating.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

If I ran a daily backup of my server it'd take 1.5TB a day.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

To my knowledge I've never been STM'd even when I have accidentally gone over the limit. Is STM universal now, even in low contention areas?

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Incremental, or full?

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I took the liberty of modifying your query just for completeness?

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Thank you....

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Full, obviously :P

Re: STM always enforced?
 

It would appear so!

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Apart from those oddities who aren't getting STM'd at all.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

More lucky ones - ones with an internet experience the way it should be!

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Oi!! Who are you calling an oddity??? :) (still none today either)

Re: STM always enforced?
 

No STM here either - Glasgow G42 area. Had noticed my TBB graph had increased a little in spikes since people had been talking about getting no STM but hadn't had a chance to try it out until last night. Did 13GB in one hour and the following hour no STM.

Since it's a low-utilisation area I would expect VM are only releasing certain areas like this from STM that can handle it. Still getting the full 126mb/s at all times of the day. Instead of my speed graph being a completely flat line, now I do get the odd blip but the average is still 124mb/s so no issues with that.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Same here too Just downloaded over 434GB Today still full speed.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Jeez! 434Gb. That's the same as my whole music collection in 1 day. I'm so glad you are not on my node.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

This is the result :P

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...a/td-p/1949556

---------- Post added at 01:12 ---------- Previous post was at 01:11 ----------

I'm trying! :p

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Was only a 10 minute outage and has nothing to do with STM or utilisation. Most likely regular maintenance as they always seem to do upgrades about the same time of night here. Though thankfully, not very often.

---------- Post added at 03:01 ---------- Previous post was at 02:59 ----------

OMG. LOL! That's more than my monthly useage!! Which is mostly streams, TV and film downloads.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I'd guess very for others on your segement :)

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I don't care about others on my segment - that's up to Virgin to sort out - not me :)

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Couple of guys from work mentioned they never seem to get capped, however I still am, but I live in an area known for students, which is probably why STM is enforced there :(

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Well I don't live in an area of students and I also get STM'd. So I feel your pain.

Every cloud etc :)

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I thought virgin media will reduced speed from 120Mb to 84Mb once you hit 5000MB as I had downloading 26GB in 26 minutes and still max out at 13.7MB/s transfer rate. Yesterday I downloading 78GB in 1 hour and 18 minutes with full transfer rate of 13.7MB/s. There is no reduced in speed. Have Virgin Media pulled out of traffic management for good?

[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]
[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]


Look like they had ditched the traffic management for good?

Re: STM always enforced?
 

There's no way you downloaded 26GB in 26Minutes. That would require an average transfer rate of just over 17MByte/s or a 136.5Mbit connection.

That said, some people have reported not getting STM'd for a few weeks now. It seems some areas are lucky while others are not. No official announcement or anything like that so just enjoy it while it lasts. Could just be a side-effect of your area only recently being switched to 120Mbit.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Point of information.

13.7MB/s x 60 (seconds in a minute) x 78 (1 hour 18 minutes) = 64,116MB - not 78GB.

Even if you were downloading consistently at 128Mb/s (16MB/s), you would still only (only???) download just under 75GB in 1 hour and 18 minutes).

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Also there's no point in showing files being downloaded today, as STM doesn't start until 4PM during weekdays.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I just got off the phone call as virgin tech support had confirmed that Telford do not have any STM in the area at present but it will bring in STM next month once the whole Telford network upgraded is completed.

Damn it.

---------- Post added at 15:04 ---------- Previous post was at 15:00 ----------

I thought weekend is friday to sunday?

Ok I will downloading at 4pm of 30GB see what happen.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Post from Mark about whether there are any 'No STM' areas, and whether people have not had management applied when they shoudl

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...1969916#M28728

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Just downloading 14GB so far since 4pm (no STM hit yet)

http://s11.postimg.org/dvhs2pt9v/Untitled.jpg

---------- Post added at 17:00 ---------- Previous post was at 16:51 ----------


Don't believe any word from Mark Wilkin. There is proof there ain't any STM at all. I think virgin media is only try to scare peoples off with STM on the site but it clearly I haven't been hit by STM since 120MB upgraded. So, I going to downloading 500GB of porn HD in the next 4 weeks. ;)

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Fixed for you ;)

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Bringing in STM after months of having none?? The cheek of it - I think you should cancel and go FTTC instead.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

http://s8.postimg.org/5vzi9ccpx/Fibr...c_133_Mbps.png

It showing still no STM hit yet!

---------- Post added at 18:05 ---------- Previous post was at 18:03 ----------

Nah, FTTC is only 78 Meg with BT IP Profile capped and even worse DLM can decided to reduced speed from 78 Meg all the way down to 38 Meg if there is lots of noise on the line.

Virgin Media 133 Meg is far better than BT FTTC without no profile capped or DLM. :D

Re: STM always enforced?
 

On that basis, so is VM's 100Mb service yet you were all for changing to FTTC...

Wonder what will happen next time the wind changes round your way :)

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I just wish VM would bring in the ability to see what you have used. It cannot take the brains of an arch bishop to implement. :mad:

---------- Post added at 19:17 ---------- Previous post was at 19:15 ----------

Depends on if he gets a day out pass from under the bridge :D

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I've just downloaded BF3 (well 13gb of it). Took 20 minutes and was never STM'd and still get 100/5 on speedtest.

I aint complaining.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I done 113GB so far and no STM at all

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I've not had any STM for a while now. I'm not sure for how long as I don't often exceed the trigger, but at least a couple of weeks.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

just enjoy it where it last, virgin media support manager say it will bring in STM in some areas by areas but I don't believe any word of it. There isn't any STM for many of us lately.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

downloading 145GB so far and no STM

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2013/09/33.png

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Well it appears both download and upload are unlimited, just uploaded 3.5GB and no STM as of yet, still uploading so will see.

Don't you just love no stm in an overutilised area :D

http://puu.sh/4gzW0/3cf2d4d260.png

Re: STM always enforced?
 

speedtest at 10:30am

Re: STM always enforced?
 

That's 5:32PM?

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Quite correct.

That being said, STM doesn't begin until 16:00. I'd like to know how telford downloaded 145GB in 90mins. Apparently he's trialing VM's new 220Mbps service.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

for some reason i see this? PDT somehow

Re: STM always enforced?
 

it say 6:32pm (you need a new spec saver glasses!)

http://s7.postimg.org/s45vmwdaz/Untitled.jpg

Re: STM always enforced?
 

How interesting, it seems that SpeedTest detects your location (or at least tries to) and adjusts the time accordingly. This is what I see:

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2013/09/31.png

I fear I may owe Telford a minor apology, as 2 and a half hours actually makes more sense.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

It appears to me as 10.32 am but I am using a pub WiFi ATM.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Speedtest.net lets you set your time zone, I don't know if it saves it via IP address or cookie though. It could be the former and that would explain why it darts around so much. Or it's just using poor IP location to set a default.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

If I was in a pub, I wouldn't be on CableForum :D

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I almost didn't believe it but I've finally been able to test this myself and I appear to be one of the lucky ones not getting STM'd. Just downloaded about 30GB of material over the last 40minutes and I'm still speed testing a solid 125mbit.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

lol there seem to be broken in STM but hey all, Sssshhhh don't tell VM.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

*Runs off to tell VM* HAHAHAHA, I wish I had 30Gb to download.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

I cant understand what people find to download so much.

So far this month i have just downloaded 39.93GB. Most of that is used streaming youtube videos.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Try having a house full, of adults and kids that

Stream tv
Stream films
Download games off Steam
Download games off origin
host games on steam
run a teamspeak server if needed
use teamspeak
update games via steam
update games via origin
update your os on various pc,smart phones, tablets, laptops
work from home via a vpn
stream tv to android and ios devices
Have a home server i access whilst at work

Should i continue ???

7th of the month and already on 280gig

Re: STM always enforced?
 

How dare you use your unlimited broadband - Virgin should disconnect you and blacklist lol.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Well i have had the letters many times that tell me i have been using my unlimited broadband in an unlimited way ;)

Re: STM always enforced?
 

Porn. Lots of HD porn. Some at 60FPS, too.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

im a good boy i dont watch things like that!

Re: STM always enforced?
 

4k 3d porn?

Re: STM always enforced?
 

This man knows the score.

Re: STM always enforced?
 

just because you use so little does not mean everyone uses the same. it even begs the question why are you with virgin or cable? with so low usage.