Virgin Media already looking to 400Mbps broadband - Page 3

mjpartyboy · 06-07-2010, 09:38

If I currently get speeds of 1 MB in the evening on a 10 MB service, can I expect to get 10 MB on a 100 MB service?

Perhaps VM should sort out their current infrastructure first before they set themselves up for even more complaints on their community forums. Maybe this is their solution though: deliver even higher services so when they're over subscribed the speeds will be higher than the current services. 10 MB down when it's peak time is better than 1 MB right.

weesteev · 06-07-2010, 13:10

The whole point in these faster speeds is more capacity. The reason there are speed issues in some areas is due to overuse (some well known student areas) or the network design from the legacy cable days making upgrades tricky.

The recent 50Mb upgrade solved a lot of capacity issues over the whole country but ongoing work is required to improve things further. I wouldnt always assume that faster speeds mean neglecting the current customer base, if anything faster speeds mean upgrading the existing network infrastructure to improve service for all.

Ignitionnet · 06-07-2010, 23:33

What he said. Actually 50Mbps was a side effect of other work, not the original intention. The BSRs and Cisco 10k's were being introduced to the network for capacity relief as the previous uBR7246VXR had reached end of life, that they were DOCSIS 3 compatible was a huge bonus!

The 50Mbps DOCSIS 3 overlay network resolved downstream congestion issues however due to it being done on the cheap it created upstream congestion issues which are being resolved as part of both the 100Mbps project and the 10:1 ratio project. Taking several nodes and combining them across 4 downstream channels giving 200Mbps of downstream capacity and only 1 channel of upstream for each 1/4th of the downstream nodes at about 9Mbps of capacity wasn't really wise given the legacy network was most often a split of 38Mbps downstream, 4 x 9Mbps upstream.

In some respects these products follow on from each other very well, little things like when doing a resegmentation for 100Mbps doing three of them, splitting the previous single area into 2 then splitting each of those reducing the homes passed per node by 4 times ready for the 10:1 project are pretty efficient.

This will certainly be a more expensive year than the 50Mbps rollout

captain jack · 16-07-2010, 17:52

Hi I have a 50 Mb connection and I got a letter from VM today headed Detrimental use of my broadband connection and asking me to move a large proportion of my uploading and downloading outside the busy 9am-9pm period and as far as I can see this is just another way to apply their traffic management policy to customers with 50 MB so whats the point of introducing a 400MB for who knows what restrictions VM would apply --regards

Peter_ · 16-07-2010, 21:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain jack

Hi I have a 50 Mb connection and I got a letter from VM today headed Detrimental use of my broadband connection and asking me to move a large proportion of my uploading and downloading outside the busy 9am-9pm period and as far as I can see this is just another way to apply their traffic management policy to customers with 50 MB so whats the point of introducing a 400MB for who knows what restrictions VM would apply --regards

You have not been traffic shaped, all they are advising is to do your thing outside of the hours in the letter.

captain jack · 17-07-2010, 09:41

Hi Masque Thanks for your reply -Can you tell me as you are a Virginmedia Staff member what would be an acceptable amount of data for me to download during the hours of 9am to 9pm so that i dont inadvertently affect the enjoyment of other users in my area as stated in the VM letter-- regards

Peter_ · 17-07-2010, 09:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain jack

Hi Masque Thanks for your reply -Can you tell me as you are a Virginmedia Staff member what would be an acceptable amount of data for me to download during the hours of 9am to 9pm so that i dont inadvertently affect the enjoyment of other users in my area as stated in the VM letter-- regards

If you have received a letter then it may give you a figure that you have downloaded, I could not give you a figure even if I knew it as that would be in breach of my contract due to it being business sensitive information.

The hours in the letter should give enough leeway even for the most prolific downloader.

Maybe another non - employee will be able to post such a figure for you.

Ignitionnet · 17-07-2010, 23:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain jack

Hi Masque Thanks for your reply -Can you tell me as you are a Virginmedia Staff member what would be an acceptable amount of data for me to download during the hours of 9am to 9pm so that i dont inadvertently affect the enjoyment of other users in my area as stated in the VM letter-- regards

Ask Virgin yourself, you should have a contact on the letter. Going by previous experience they are so reluctant to give an actual figure, for PR reasons, that they'll probably give up and leave you alone. This is exactly what they did with another person who pursued the matter, wanting to know how much he had used and how much was acceptable.

captain jack · 17-07-2010, 23:38

Hi Ignitionnet Thanks for response
Yes a name and numbers on the letter I will give them a call and i will ask them to clarify the situation

kwikbreaks · 18-07-2010, 08:11

When you were downloading was it still running at full tilt? If so there wasn't much contention so their letter is based on some internally set limit rather than what they claim about it impacting others. If you were still running full speed then I'd suggest that should be a good lever in requesting their limits.

captain jack · 18-07-2010, 09:51

Hi kwikbreaks Thanks for your response

Yes was running around 5000kbs during downloads but my first inkling that i was infringing on their acceptable use policy was when i received their letter on the 16th july 10 so I gave VM a call today and was told that this is a standard letter they send to customers when they see unusually high usage between the busy 9am-9pm period and all they are asking me to do is to move the bulk of my downloading to outwith these times.They were not able to give me any figures of what is acceptable between the hours of 9am-9pm so any big stuff i might want i will download outside these hours. I dont have a problem with this and I will do as they suggest but the point i was trying to make in my initial post was whats the point of introducing a 400mb download speed when there are all these restrictions on lesser ones such as traffic shaping and acceptable use policy and whatever else is in force at this time--regards

jedd · 18-07-2010, 09:52

How can i find out when it will be in my area?

Sirius · 18-07-2010, 09:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain jack

Hi Ignitionnet Thanks for response
Yes a name and numbers on the letter I will give them a call and i will ask them to clarify the situation

Try and get it in writing.

General Maximus · 18-07-2010, 10:03

you havent got the letter because of how much you are downloading between 9-9, you have got it because you are downloading more than 500gb a month and VM are saying that it is a huge amount and without them actually actually looking at your download patterns, they have sent you a letter by-the-by asking you to move your utilisation to nights just to make sure that you arent doing it during the day as you are downloading so much.

Ignitionnet · 18-07-2010, 10:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by captain jack

Hi kwikbreaks Thanks for your response

Yes was running around 5000kbs during downloads but my first inkling that i was infringing on their acceptable use policy was when i received their letter on the 16th july 10 so I gave VM a call today and was told that this is a standard letter they send to customers when they see unusually high usage between the busy 9am-9pm period and all they are asking me to do is to move the bulk of my downloading to outwith these times.They were not able to give me any figures of what is acceptable between the hours of 9am-9pm so any big stuff i might want i will download outside these hours. I dont have a problem with this and I will do as they suggest but the point i was trying to make in my initial post was whats the point of introducing a 400mb download speed when there are all these restrictions on lesser ones such as traffic shaping and acceptable use policy and whatever else is in force at this time--regards

Stuff that. Download what you want when you want to be honest.

If they bother you again ask them for details on what they consider acceptable and when, simply saying that it's a 'standard letter' isn't good enough.

To answer your original point some people benefit from increased speeds for the sake of the increased speed rather than the amount of data it allows them to download. I don't use that much but do occasionally wish I still had the XXL service when downloading a large file, then I remember how crap the reliability was in this area and it soon passes

---------- Post added at 11:07 ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by General Maximus

you havent got the letter because of how much you are downloading between 9-9, you have got it because you are downloading more than 500gb a month and VM are saying that it is a huge amount and without them actually actually looking at your download patterns, they have sent you a letter by-the-by asking you to move your utilisation to nights just to make sure that you arent doing it during the day as you are downloading so much.

Do you have references for this? I have not seen any specific figures mentioned and indeed people under 500GB have been contacted.

VM do have very specific usage figures just FYI - granularity is hourly.