Thanks for the replies. I can get 20mbit and do get that sometimes. I go through a good D-Link router which is well configured, and for testing purposes I have tried going straight into the cable modem (which Virgin supplied). The speed doesn't change. It is 20mbit when it's working, but it's about half a megabit when I'm being traffic managed. My problem is that I am downloading things almost constantly, even during the day while I'm at work I usually leave things downloading. I find that every evening when I get home about 6pm, the speed drops hugely and it stays like that for the rest of the night. I only usually get to use the net at home between about 6pm when I get home from work, and about 11pm when I start getting ready for bed, and during all that time, it is being traffic managed.
The few times I have been off during the day too, I find that the same thing happens. I'm not sure about the exact times, but one day last week I set something running at about 9am and I went out for a few hours and then came home around lunch time and it was being traffic managed.
And I know it's traffic management, because a few times I have been up at about 4am and the connection is extremely fast then. It can download at about 2.2MB (megabytes) per second which is very fast, and the upload is about 80kB/s which is decent. But this is at 4am and that is not really any use to me. If I have to leave stuff going over night, then I would prefer to go on a cheap 2mbit connection because after using a 2mbit for a year or more, I know that I am not any better off with this 20mbit connection than I used to be on 2. A couple of times when I haven't downloaded anything all day and I just need to get one thing, then it can be useful, but that doesn't really match my habits. I am either constantly downloading or I'm not downloading anything at all. And if I am constantly downloading, then it just gets traffic managed to an extremely slow speed, for what seems to me to be an entire day, and in that case, I was far better off with a cheap connection.
Do you think I might be able to cancel my Virgin account? Or maybe get them to drop it from 20 down to 2? I just hate paying this much money for something that doesn't really work properly, when I could get something so much better with a different company.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stevos
i'd start with dont download during 10am until 9pm... unless its nescessary..
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That would no doubt work, but that is not acceptable for the amount I'm paying. I am paying for the top tier broadband which is quite expensive, and not using it from 10am to 9pm is almost the entire day. I go to bed at 11pm, so it would mean I am paying all this money for 2 hours internet. If I was going to have to put up with such restrictive rules, I would prefer to just change it to a 2mbit connection again. At least that way I am not really any worse off and yet it would be much cheaper. If I could only switch back to Sky, I could get their 16mbit connection for just £10. But I think it might be too late for me now because I joined Virgin.