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Originally Posted by the-cable-guy
yes it is an issue cuz their using more bandwidth then they'v been allocated, even more so if they're using PPV & not paying for it.
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HD PPV maybe, but the vast majority of boxes aren't HD compatible or have VOD access, so the effect on other subscribers is insignificant. Probably less of a problem than VM's own accounting problems or potentially illegal fees.
I would be curious to hear TraxData's views on how this all breaks down in terms of numbers, though, or yours, if you have any insight into this. How big a percentage of the illegal boxes do VM believe have HD or VOD access? And surely cloned boxes aren't affected by these latest efforts anyway?
---------- Post added at 17:11 ---------- Previous post was at 17:00 ----------
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Originally Posted by TraxData
2-3mbit you say, ok say thats true, multiply that by about 30-40 people who are illegally recieving services in that street/area alone, the bandwith bill really adds up, so yes it does have an effect, let's not forget most of the stealers also have a minimum package (net/tv) as well adding up to it.
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I will grant you the issue where people are leeching off a non-subscribed feed, but I maintain it's VM's job to make sure those are disconnected. It doesn't add to bandwidth usage if people have a minimum subscription, though. Anyway, like I said above, I would be interested in hearing your views on how many cloned/HD/HD compatible boxes are believed to be around? My impression is that most boxes are SD-only software emulated boxes.
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Funny, i've seen quite a few that can do HD...and watching h264 1080p chews up alot of bandwith that i can assure you.
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Given the grand total of 20 minutes worth of HD that's available with Virgin (rough estimate), not an issue.
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I've also seen techs get threatened by people stealing services after he disconnected them all, the whole street was out in a gang with baseball bats telling him to either put them all back on or face the beating of his life, it's really not a nice experience to be in, fortunetly when it happened to me there was a fair few other techs with me and the police turned up.
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How Virgin enforce their disconnections is a different issue, though.