New STM/Virgin traffic managent confirmed - so that's why it's slow!

Originally Posted by broadbandbug

LOL I am not a current or past VM employee.. My only links to VM are via technology vendor relationships.

If you knew anything about how Cisco STM works you would know they can only have two active windows (Peak & Off-Peak).
So if they were going to have Overnight STM they would have to extend one of the other windows by a shed load of hours.. To do this and still stay within the 5% daily capture rate they would have to raise the Volume Threshold by a huge margin which would result in nobody being caught at the times that VM want them to be!

Wrong, wrong and wrong

[CrowmanUK]

Spot on Trax, quick visit to Cisco brings this up

Feature List

The Subscriber Traffic Management feature has the following operational features:

•Subscriber Traffic Management 1.1 (STM1.1) supports cable modems that have registered for DOCSIS 1.1 operations (using the service class/service flow ID (SFID) model).

•Up to 20 enforce-rules can be created on each CMTS.

•Separate enforce-rules can be used for downstream traffic and for upstream traffic.

•Each enforce-rule uses a subscriber's registered QoS profile to identify which users should be monitored for excessive traffic. The registered QoS profile must exist on the Cisco CMTS. If you want to manage cable modems that are using QoS profiles that were created by the cable modem, you must first manually create a QoS profile with the exact same QoS parameters on the Cisco CMTS, and then allow the cable modem to come online using the manually created profile.

•Each rule specifies the maximum number of bytes a user can transmit during a specified window.

•Subscribers who exceed the maximum bandwidth that is specified by their enforce-rule can be automatically switched to a separate enforced QoS profile that limits their network use for a customizable penalty period. The enforced QoS profile can change the guaranteed bandwidth, priority, or any other aspect of the traffic that the service provider considers an acceptable response to subscribers who violate their service agreements.

•Subscribers are automatically switched back to their registered QoS profile at the end of their penalty period. A technician at the service provider's network operations center (NOC) can also can switch them back before the penalty period expires.

•This feature also supports a no-persistence option, so that the enforced QoS profile does not remain in effect when a cable modem reboots. This option is particularly useful when the feature is initially implemented, so that the service providers can identify problem subscribers and applications, without creating a major impact on the entire user base. When repeat offenders are found, they can then be switched to an enforce-rule that does keep the enforced QoS profile in effect even when the cable modem reboots.

•Service providers can display a list of all subscribers' current usage statistics. Service providers can also display a list of just those subscribers who are overconsuming bandwidth.

•The penalty period persists across reboots of the cable modem, so subscribers cannot avoid the enforced QoS profile by resetting their modems and reregistering on the cable network. This allows service providers to set an appropriate penalty for those users that consistently exceed the maximum bandwidth they have been allocated.

•If a user that is using excessive bandwidth then decides to upgrade to a higher level of service, the service provider can reconfigure the provisioning system to assign a new QoS profile to the cable modem. The user can then reboot the cable modem and come online using the new level of service.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/cabl.../ubsubmon.html

[broadbandbug]

Originally Posted by CrowmanUK

Spot on Trax, quick visit to Cisco brings this up



http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/cabl.../ubsubmon.html

Please remember that VM are running a DoCSIS 1.0 network! The above is STM for Service Flows in DoCSIS 1.1
The feature is very different in this environment.. With regards to current deployment.. Upstream and Downstream are dealt with separately.. So there is 1 upstream window and 2 downstream windows. It is dealt with per Tier.. So if they wanted to they could create more Tiers of service to enable them to deal with different groups in different ways.. But just think of the admin

The 20 limit does stand for the current deployment.. However each Tier uses its own rules! So there are currently enforce rules for 2, 4, 10 & 20Mb/s plus Business & Legacy Tiers (512Kb/s etc) so you do the math!

[Captain Fishy]

Hi guys, been lurking and reading for a bit, thought i'd just post for once, was looking at some previous posts that showed line speeds, well i just did mine and on two seperate goes i never got much above 800 - 900 kbps on the readout - foremost i am not a heavy user, bar a few tunes from itunes, dont have bbc iplayer etc etc - i'm sposed to be getting the dreaded "up to" 4meg service, last few weeks its just slowed to a crawl, just advice really, amd really ****ed at not getting what im paying for, i know most of you are all veterans of VM here, im beginning to think its the worst move i made!

Any suggestions on a course of action to tackle VM.s customer service as to why my connection is so bloody slow? and how to at least get it upped to somewhere close to 4meg?

Appreciate any suggestions

The Cap'n

[nemesis01]

Have to say I have not seen anymore signs of new STM in my area though no doubt it won't be far off. If I download during the day, I stop everything at 3PM, and don't download anything again until well after 12am if I am still awake. I am not quite sure of the STM hours, I know the VM site says between 4PM & 9PM, so does that mean I can resume my downloads anytime after 9PM without fear of being STM'd, or do I have to wait until after 12am like I usually do?

Besides that this whole STM sucks, and for those that say you should get a monthly allowance, and if you go over then pay extra per gb or whatever, well I just totally disagree with that. I pay my full £37PM as do many for what was advertised to me when I signed up, I do not whine to retentions when I want a few quid knocked off the bill, I do not phone VM everyday and moan and prattle on, I don't download 24/7 even though I believe I have that right at the speed I pay for without being STM'd so I just don't see the point in anything VM do at the minute, it's all bad. I nearly took the TV & phone service a couple of weeks ago, didn't and am very glad, also to be perfectly honest if there was any real alternative to VM in my area I would happily consider others as my 12 months contract is up and I have no ties to them now.

Anyhoo, if somebody would be kind enough to put me straight on the STM hours thing I was on about earlier in my post I would be grateful.

[CrowmanUK]

Theres the official link mate, best to keep an eye on it just in case it changes again...

http://www.virginmedia.com/help/traffic-management.php

[|Kippa|]

I have a dedicated server hosted in france for £19.99 a month. For that I get the dedicated server and 100mbit upload and download rate with an unlimited quota and isn't capped or traffic managed at all. Why is it that for £19.99 I can not only get an unlimited and uncapped connecitons at 100mbit, but also get a dedicated server thrown in as well, and Virgin Media, who do even give me a smeggin server and just give me 1/5th of the internet conneciton have to use STM? It is madness, sheer madness.

If you are curious about the server host I use OVH by the way.
http://www.ovh.co.uk/

[peanut]

Has anyone recieved one of those letters yet about the new STM times?

[|Kippa|]

Originally Posted by peanutkp

Has anyone recieved one of those letters yet about the new STM times?

Nope not yet.

[wray2k]

hi,

I got the letter 28th May, tried to get out of the contract, it seems they can change the terms, prices & any other thing the desire, but i have to stay until April 09.

[broadbandbug]

Originally Posted by wray2k

hi,

I got the letter 28th May, tried to get out of the contract, it seems they can change the terms, prices & any other thing the desire, but i have to stay until April 09.

So you are in the top 160,000 downloaders on the VM Network.. Congrats

[wray2k]

hi,

There must be others who download house, lost and battlestar every week.

[broadbandbug]

Originally Posted by wray2k

hi,

There must be others who download house, lost and battlestar every week.

You have got to be doing more than that to get a letter

To get in that list you must be 100+GB per month surely?

[Jelly]

Sometimes I get in about 20GB a day. Usenet speeds are AWESOME.

Originally Posted by broadbandbug

You have got to be doing more than that to get a letter

To get in that list you must be 100+GB per month surely?

Err no, you get put in the list if you hit STM more than 3 times in a month, actually.