Broadband Quality Trial

[alferret]

Received acceptance email today. Just need to reply and wait for kit.

In the T&C of the trial there is a no disclosure clause.

(c) you acknowledge that the Trial is confidential and you agree that you will not make any public announcement, press release, communication or statement concerning the Trial and/or these terms and conditions without our express prior written consent. You further acknowledge and agree that you will treat as confidential all and any information which we may disclose to you during the Trial in relation to the Trial and/or your broadband internet service and that you will not disclose any such information in whole or in part to any third part.

Pretty standard I assume.

[AndyCambs]

Originally Posted by alferret

Received acceptance email today. Just need to reply and wait for kit.

In the T&C of the trial there is a no disclosure clause.



Pretty standard I assume.

Does that mean you shouldn't tell people you are on the trial??

[maccaria]

recieved my acceptance email and replied.

how long does it take from accepting before you recieve the gear?

[blenky]

Got my acceptance and replied. Hopefully it will highlight the very eratic 50 Mbit service.

There is a link to part of Samknows website within the acceptance email. You need to login in using the email account you registered with. However it does not recognise mine!

[Peter_]

Received my acceptance and replied so just awaiting the equipment.

[dd11]

Would this in anyway be able to monitor or know what websites i've visited?

---------- Post added at 19:33 ---------- Previous post was at 19:29 ----------

Originally Posted by Sambora

got the kit today - piece of cake to fit, took 1 minutes tops.

Also you get the chance of winning a £100 voucher just for applying, see the Ts and Cs

Application is linked from http://www.virginmedia.com/myvirginm...lity-trial.php

was it a modified Linksys WRT54G in the end?

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Moldova

Received my acceptance and replied so just awaiting the equipment.

Snap

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by Sirius

Snap

And for my email to be recognised by their system so I can log in.

[indie1982]

Originally Posted by dd11

Would this in anyway be able to monitor or know what websites i've visited?

From the VM website:

Will this trial monitor how I use the internet?

No. We won’t be monitoring how you use the internet.

Our trial is all about the speed and performance of fibre optic broadband from Virgin Media. We’ll give you some easy to install bits of kit which will help us test the performance. This kit automatically sends the results back to our independent experts, so you don’t need to do a thing.

[deathtrap3000]

My connection had been down for over 3 days these past few weeks and now, just before I go on the trial, my connection is rock solid at 20meg. There are some perks to this after all.

[Ignitionnet]

Something I am struggling a bit with. Given that VM have BADGER etc why do they need someone else to tell them how their network is running?

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Virgin have no control over the SamKnows kit and cannot infulence the outcome.

The only thing Virgin are doing is running the broadband as normal and signing people up to the testing

If VM are handling sign ups one would suggest they most certainly can influence the outcome. Avoiding connections in known problem areas is far from impossible. If you think for a second that VM don't pay special attention to the CMTS cards that Epitiro monitoring stations for example live on I can assure you you're being naive. These are treated as an extra high priority.

Then there's the issue of VM staff being on the trial. This shouldn't be happening. If things go wrong staff can pull string, perhaps monitor their own connections, etc, and their experiences of the service will not be representational of a normal punter. This is nothing to do with VM per se, no ISP should have its' staff anywhere near the Samknows performance monitoring network.

VM have comprehensive statistics on every single interface on their network. If they are handling signups it's too prone to abuse for my liking. I totally understand why a DSL ISP would want this - they do not control their products end to end there is the involvement of BT and/or other 3rd parties for backhaul and the access network, but as far as VM go I sense a publicity stunt in the making.

We'll see when the results are announced but looking at the people accepted that I know about I have seen a few staff, a couple of VM's fanboys, and a few Joe Average punters. I would hope that the actual breakdown is somewhat more of a cross-section.

Perhaps I'm just getting cyncial in my old age having watched VM's PR offensive get more and more intense and ever more flexible with the truth but I honestly see this as nothing more than a PR exercise and I hope that we can see stats from Samknows including and excluding the VM signed up peeps, no offense to any of you of course but I would appreciate it to eliminate exactly these games from VM. Anyone working for them at any level wouldn't put it past them for a second to play games with this trial.

Disclaimer: I'm grumpy at my poor excuse for an internet service being down yet again.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

Then there's the issue of VM staff being on the trial. This shouldn't be happening. If things go wrong staff can pull string, perhaps monitor their own connections, etc, and their experiences of the service will not be representational of a normal punter. This is nothing to do with VM per se, no ISP should have its' staff anywhere near the Samknows performance monitoring network.

I am staff and I have signed up because I am also a customer and I will just let the test run as per anyone else.

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

We'll see when the results are announced but looking at the people accepted that I know about I have seen a few staff, a couple of VM's fanboys, and a few Joe Average punters. I would hope that the actual breakdown is somewhat more of a cross-section.

It should be a cross section of all customers regardless of their status.

[blenky]

Maybe it’s just coincidence but my 50 mbit connection speed quality has picked up significantly over the last week. D/l from newsgroups is consistently maxing out and holding that level for hours.

This improvement comes right at the time I’ve been accepted onto an independent speed monitoring trial! Mmm.

Is it just me or has anyone else on the trial noticed any recent improvement in their service?

Take this with a pinch of salt maybe I'm just a conspiracy nut

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by Moldova

I am staff and I have signed up because I am also a customer and I will just let the test run as per anyone else.

It should be a cross section of all customers regardless of their status.

People have every right to question broadband quality trials when they involve staff though. Regardless of what you actually will do and I have no doubt that you aren't going to do anything untoward the appearance is bad.

---------- Post added at 22:50 ---------- Previous post was at 22:50 ----------

Originally Posted by blenky

Maybe it’s just coincidence but my 50 mbit connection speed quality has picked up significantly over the last week. D/l from newsgroups is consistently maxing out and holding that level for hours.

This improvement comes right at the time I’ve been accepted onto an independent speed monitoring trial! Mmm.

Is it just me or has anyone else on the trial noticed any recent improvement in their service?

Take this with a pinch of salt maybe I'm just a conspiracy nut

Heh look a couple of posts up from yourself.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/34831472-post55.html

This has potential to turn into a Phorm quality conspiracy.

its propaganda and when the results prove on the whole VM's networks is sound we will all know its bull plop propaganda