20 mb Extremly slow and fluctuating

Hatchet · 10-03-2008, 22:22

Hello,
been having this problem for a good few weeks and maybe a month and have been looking on this forum for tip/tricks and answer but to no avail. My 20 mb has frankly been all over the place on speed tests, tonight my upload speed finally overtook my download speed! I Think this means I have not been stm's as I am getting full upload speed ???

Heres the photo finish! it was a close battle to the finish!

we have 3 computers on the network behind a router and know the all the computer gained atleast 16mb when we first subscribed to it, since then it had gradually shrunk I believe.To make sure it was not the network/router we plugged the internet straight into 1 pc which showed similar results of upto 2/3 mb. I tried other tweaks such as virgin medias guide for "optimizing you pc for 20mb" and changing to open dns but nothing has changed. I was hoping anyone with any knowledge of power levels could tell me if these are ok before I call virgin media technical support.

I would also like to mention when refreshing the DownStream page the the Downstream Receive Power Level ranges anywhere between 1.2 and 0.2 dbmv every time I hit refresh. Is this normal as when I refresh the Upload page nothing barley changes.

Also I am not sure whether the Event Log page will be of any use but I dont know how many criticals or warnings is normal?

Sorry for the long post but I would really appreciate any help or ideas with this problem as it is really pushing on my patience, I thought it may have "sorted" its self out over time which it the usual approach I have taken with VM but this is driving me nuts!

ps thanks for your time

slowcoach · 10-03-2008, 22:34

Your settings are better than mine and I can get 19Mb at 4.00AM, evenings are garbage, struggling to download at 1Mb.
The sooner Fred KarnoÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s circus is sold the better, they just need to find a buyer who is more stupid than us, not going to be easy.

Hatchet · 10-03-2008, 23:47

To be honest I was really hoping for something to be wrong with the levels just to give me hope it was fixable. If this is the case it should be illegal what they are doing.....

Rant Alert!!! just ignore if you will
0.5 mb is just frankly taking the ****. I know there are alot of people who actually get this mythical 20 mb as they probably dont spend much time complaining about it. What enrages me even more is i hear that the yare rolling out 50 mb on new servers which will be clutter free? Seems to be there trying to grab at as much money as possible. Feels like some customers have a whole field to play in while some of us are just left in crampacked over crowding cages.
Rant over!

Im guessing a phonecall to technical support will just be pointless and lead to a conclusion that my area is oversubscribed. If anyone has any advice on what to do im all ears!

jcuk · 11-03-2008, 09:54

Try calling tech support, you wont know until you try, but id always recommend countless phonecalls and monitoring agents answers to get an overall conclusion on what the issue is.

They will at least send you out a tech to see what the issue is, are you connecting directly to the modem via ethernet cable?

ceedee · 11-03-2008, 10:19

In your position, the next time the speed dropped way low, I'd do the full range of tests that VM TS seem to like (tracerts to bbc.co.uk, netstat -a, four simultaneous downloads plus the details from those two modem pages) and post them to the newsgroup.

I wouldn't even *think* of phoning!
You'll get much better service direct from the techs and, if they're not rushed off their feet, it's quick! (Watched somebody report a problem on there the other day -- they got the full diagnosis, network check, new modem ordered and an engineer visit booked all within 30 minutes.)

Hatchet · 11-03-2008, 15:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by ceedee

In your position, the next time the speed dropped way low, I'd do the full range of tests that VM TS seem to like (tracerts to bbc.co.uk, netstat -a, four simultaneous downloads plus the details from those two modem pages) and post them to the newsgroup.

I wouldn't even *think* of phoning!
You'll get much better service direct from the techs and, if they're not rushed off their feet, it's quick! (Watched somebody report a problem on there the other day -- they got the full diagnosis, network check, new modem ordered and an engineer visit booked all within 30 minutes.)

Ill try newgroup when its its really bad again do i need to install any applications for it to work? (i think so when i had a look the other ay but it looked a bit complex?). Also jcuk I did get very poor speeds with one computer plugged straight into the modem. Thanks for the replys i appreciate the help. If i get anywhere ill post back.

ceedee · 11-03-2008, 16:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatchet

do i need to install any applications for it to work?

Outlook Express will handle the text newsgroups adequately.
VM's instructions for setting it up are pretty straightforward.
The one you'll be after is "virginmedia.support.broadband.cable".

hth

DEADS · 11-03-2008, 19:08

my service seems to go from 0.7 to 5.5 on average ( id have been happy with 80% of what was promised but im not staying up till midnight to get it .

not bad for 37 pounds a month ,i wish i owned virgin

The_real_dj · 11-03-2008, 23:17

mines extreamly show in oldham as well

and its fine if i try early morning so im guessing the oldham area is just saturated.
To be honest i seem to remember back in the old cable and wireless days someone telling me that oldham and manchester are one of their biggest areas, so ive got a feeling there are way too many customers for the bandwidth thats on offer!!

ceedee · 12-03-2008, 01:05

I've only phoned TS once in the last 2.5 years (to report a complete loss of signal) and went through the whole "turn it off and on again", "have you checked your drivers" routine and it ^U^U^U^Utired me off.

But from what I've seen, the folks covering the TS newsgroups (who will probably not appreciate the publicity) are easy to deal with (especially if you've already done the tests they need) and right on the ball.
Take a couple of minutes and go setup the newsgroup in OE and read a few threads and see for yourselves?

Why pay to call your ISP to report a problem with their service?

[ps. If you don't already know about Phorm, PLEASE go and read about VM making money by spying on you]

Hatchet · 12-03-2008, 23:00

Hello again!
I was planning on going on newgroups or calling tech support yeasturday but found I was recieving 16 mb off peak and as low as 7 mb on peak times. I also had talked to very friendly member of virgin media staff who said the UBR card is not too bad and I should recieve around 20 mb off peak times, which seems to be the case at the moment.

It seems that for now the problem has sorted its self for now. Seems I did not have enough patience waiting for this problem to "sort" its self out. Usually I would wait a week and things would improve but in this case it was worringly long for my liking. Thanks everyones replys/answers and help.

I might add the internet has only been better since yesturday so hoping this will last, any changes and I will post the results!

Thanks again

Serum · 13-03-2008, 01:31

vm throttle virtually all net connections between (i think)6pm and midnight,so every 1 gets a 'fair share'.
I was on the 20meg(for 2 hours a day) service,downgraded to the 4 meg and my speeds in the evening are about a quarter what i pay for they're actually faster than when i was on the 20meg.....
Just read somewhere else that BT have overtaken VM with 26% of BB connections in the UK......cant think why,can u?
Found out the other day that my local bt exchange is 463 metres away,guess where im going soon??

redfocusgreen · 13-03-2008, 12:00

I'm from stockport and I have been having issues with speed, I have the 20 mb connection ok early morning but as the day progresses the speed gets slower and slower, called tech help they said your getting 20mb, then she got me to do a test download from some fuller zen address, anyway this was equivalent to 10mb, she then said I will ring at 16.00 - 17.00 and we will do another test, she did ring back and the download speed was worse, she then sorted a techy guy to call today to see if he could fix it, he couldn't but he did say that this area the UBR or URB is very populated in this area and that scheduled maintaince is due on 18th april, hopefully then it will be sorted.

I see your from Bolton maybe this upgrade will help you too.

Hatchet · 13-03-2008, 13:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by redfocusgreen

I'm from stockport and I have been having issues with speed, I have the 20 mb connection ok early morning but as the day progresses the speed gets slower and slower, called tech help they said your getting 20mb, then she got me to do a test download from some fuller zen address, anyway this was equivalent to 10mb, she then said I will ring at 16.00 - 17.00 and we will do another test, she did ring back and the download speed was worse, she then sorted a techy guy to call today to see if he could fix it, he couldn't but he did say that this area the UBR or URB is very populated in this area and that scheduled maintaince is due on 18th april, hopefully then it will be sorted.

I see your from Bolton maybe this upgrade will help you too.

I was told there was going to be a UBR upgrade in my area (Bolton somewhere) on the 14th of May, will be interesting if the speed increases during peak times.

spankysmagicpian · 13-03-2008, 14:13

Same here - it's been bad for the last week or so. I was gaming last night and my mate from Bolton kept getting kicked due to connection problems.