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SOSAGES · 04-12-2009, 00:00

Hello all,
Just thought I would pick your brains. I am having some issues with virgin media after upgrading to the XL (50Mb) service a few months ago. Before that I had the 20Mb and all was fine since day 1.

The problems started the day I got 50Mb but they were intermittent enough not to bother me but lately it’s been getting worse + there is a general “slowness” to the connect (well that’s what virgin media approved speed tests show me)

The problem came to my attention using a newsgroup service to download some files. These generally download as fast as your connection can take and you can still do some light web browsing while all this is going on.
I use Astraweb as my news group provider (came over from giganews, loved giganews just couldn’t afford it)

I use newsleecher as my client.

When i was on 20Mb i used to use the EU SSL astraweb server on port 563 this worked fine for me and always gave me my max download speed all the time without fail and allow me to still work on the pc (browse the web check emails etc)

Since the day i got 50Mb i have had very intermittent results with any of Astrawebs SSL services and none SSL services. At first I thought it was an issue with SSL due to the extra overhead but it was still happening on none SSL newsgroup servers.

When i was on 20Mb i could download at max speed and still do some web browsing, sure it was a little slow but there seemed to be more than enough bandwidth to let me catch up on the various news sites i read.
Since i was on 50Mb a lot of the time when downloading via the speed will cut back down to around 500k and spike to around 1.5MB/s
Also web browsing when this happens is painful.

Now it’s not all the time but it’s enough that I notice it and its starting to get on my nerves. For example did 3 hours of downloading at max speed (roughly 5.80MB/s) and then it went down to 1.6MB/s for the rest of the download regardless of me swapping newsgroup servers (tried EU / US / SSL / NONE SSL / Other providers etc)

So I spent a long time limiting the number of connections but found little difference between 1-20

I tried giganews and same thing

I swapped newsgroup clients (tried 2 on my pc 2 others on a laptop and an embedded one on my NAS) all the same.

It did seem to be that the router got all bunged up with all this data so I swapped routers around I was on a dlink 524 that has served me well and I installed the router virgin give you with the 50Mb service that didn’t seem to make a difference at all..

So I have tried different hardware / software and provider.

Next up was a closer look at my setup.

So bang right away disabled firewalls on router and PC (windows 7)
Disabled antivirus software.
No difference.
Got my laptop (windows vista) did much the same thing still no difference at all.
Removed the router from the equation and connected direct to modem on PC
No difference
Connect direct to laptop
No difference.

Tried various speed tests (did 40 or so) over last few days and noticed not one went over 15Mb/s normally they were around 9Mb/s my upload is fine at 1.5

The slow speed results is a new development as when I first got the connect first thing I did was do a speed test and it was where it should of been.

Have also done various speed tests since when download speeds dropped and everything seemed fine.

So armed with all this info I called virgin and was told there was no faults my modem is fine and that was that.

I said I understand that there is only a certain amount of bandwidth in the world but were talking off peak here and its rubbish. I work from home so use a pc from 7in morning till 2-3 at night and I can say that my download speeds on 50Mb package have been AMAZING but a lot of the time they are naff.

So having been told there is nothing wrong even after explaining I’m only getting 9Mb on speed tests I thought I would ask here.

Help me obi wan. As it stands I’d rather go back to 20Mb that was rock solid and I avoided disappointment

Power levels downstream are
Power Level (dBmV)
Ds-1 = -0.38
Ds-2 = -0.93
Ds-3 = -0.62

Upsteam:
44.25

im in the rg12 area (reading/bracknell) if you need anymore info then let me know.
thanks in advance for any help.

04-12-2009, 00:00	#1
SOSAGES Inactive Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 2,379	50Mb issues Hello all, Just thought I would pick your brains. I am having some issues with virgin media after upgrading to the XL (50Mb) service a few months ago. Before that I had the 20Mb and all was fine since day 1. The problems started the day I got 50Mb but they were intermittent enough not to bother me but lately it’s been getting worse + there is a general “slowness” to the connect (well that’s what virgin media approved speed tests show me) The problem came to my attention using a newsgroup service to download some files. These generally download as fast as your connection can take and you can still do some light web browsing while all this is going on. I use Astraweb as my news group provider (came over from giganews, loved giganews just couldn’t afford it) I use newsleecher as my client. When i was on 20Mb i used to use the EU SSL astraweb server on port 563 this worked fine for me and always gave me my max download speed all the time without fail and allow me to still work on the pc (browse the web check emails etc) Since the day i got 50Mb i have had very intermittent results with any of Astrawebs SSL services and none SSL services. At first I thought it was an issue with SSL due to the extra overhead but it was still happening on none SSL newsgroup servers. When i was on 20Mb i could download at max speed and still do some web browsing, sure it was a little slow but there seemed to be more than enough bandwidth to let me catch up on the various news sites i read. Since i was on 50Mb a lot of the time when downloading via the speed will cut back down to around 500k and spike to around 1.5MB/s Also web browsing when this happens is painful. Now it’s not all the time but it’s enough that I notice it and its starting to get on my nerves. For example did 3 hours of downloading at max speed (roughly 5.80MB/s) and then it went down to 1.6MB/s for the rest of the download regardless of me swapping newsgroup servers (tried EU / US / SSL / NONE SSL / Other providers etc) So I spent a long time limiting the number of connections but found little difference between 1-20 I tried giganews and same thing I swapped newsgroup clients (tried 2 on my pc 2 others on a laptop and an embedded one on my NAS) all the same. It did seem to be that the router got all bunged up with all this data so I swapped routers around I was on a dlink 524 that has served me well and I installed the router virgin give you with the 50Mb service that didn’t seem to make a difference at all.. So I have tried different hardware / software and provider. Next up was a closer look at my setup. So bang right away disabled firewalls on router and PC (windows 7) Disabled antivirus software. No difference. Got my laptop (windows vista) did much the same thing still no difference at all. Removed the router from the equation and connected direct to modem on PC No difference Connect direct to laptop No difference. Tried various speed tests (did 40 or so) over last few days and noticed not one went over 15Mb/s normally they were around 9Mb/s my upload is fine at 1.5 The slow speed results is a new development as when I first got the connect first thing I did was do a speed test and it was where it should of been. Have also done various speed tests since when download speeds dropped and everything seemed fine. So armed with all this info I called virgin and was told there was no faults my modem is fine and that was that. I said I understand that there is only a certain amount of bandwidth in the world but were talking off peak here and its rubbish. I work from home so use a pc from 7in morning till 2-3 at night and I can say that my download speeds on 50Mb package have been AMAZING but a lot of the time they are naff. So having been told there is nothing wrong even after explaining I’m only getting 9Mb on speed tests I thought I would ask here. Help me obi wan. As it stands I’d rather go back to 20Mb that was rock solid and I avoided disappointment Power levels downstream are Power Level (dBmV) Ds-1 = -0.38 Ds-2 = -0.93 Ds-3 = -0.62 Upsteam: 44.25 im in the rg12 area (reading/bracknell) if you need anymore info then let me know. thanks in advance for any help.