Throttled @ 11:30am

[dragon]

Originally Posted by Florence

I have a healthy 45 gig peak time limit then an even healthier 300gig offpeak the max in a month I have used. is just over 20 gig. The connection is never traffic managed also can hop from one central to another if the one I am on is rather busy and slowing down.

Mines Not throttled at all

*wanders how long that will last* (I'm on be)

[frogstamper]

I think most people accept nowadays that there are very few truly "unlimited" ISPs out there, personally I feel VM should bite the bullet and stop claiming they have an unlimited service.

Originally Posted by Johnathan90

OMG Graham you are the best i been trying to say that in the other thread thankgod somebody understands

Obviously people are aware you can keep downloading at the reduced speed, but that's not the point, people are already paying a premium to be with VMs fiber optic service, so when they pay for a 20mb service they expect to get 20mb, not 20mb for half hour then a 5mb connection.
Of course you are not getting a unlimited service at the speed you pay for, VM are playing semantics, personally I'd prefer a set limit each month at the speed I pay for then if I exceed this it costs me, a far more honest policy.

[Florence]

Originally Posted by frogstamper

I think most people accept nowadays that there are very few truly "unlimited" ISPs out there, personally I feel VM should bite the bullet and stop claiming they have an unlimited service.



Obviously people are aware you can keep downloading at the reduced speed, but that's not the point, people are already paying a premium to be with VMs fiber optic service, so when they pay for a 20mb service they expect to get 20mb, not 20mb for half hour then a 5mb connection.
Of course you are not getting a unlimited service at the speed you pay for, VM are playing semantics, personally I'd prefer a set limit each month at the speed I pay for then if I exceed this it costs me, a far more honest policy.

You could say that is what i have moved to, while with VM I never knew just how much was downloaded or uploaded. Witht hem blocking the modem I couldnt use the most accurate system to check with more than one PC using the network.
Now they do it for me I kow what has been used daily, plus a running total for the month. Once month is up it moves over to historical list and starts all over again. Total peace of mind plus caps to stay inside if you go over depending on how much you could get billed for it. But! it is all in the customer control panel where you can login in and check, all transssparent not hidden away truting they wil let you know before they choke your speed down.. Another plus since i moved to ADSL I no longer drop to 512k at peak times, speed is very consistant and if I go over my cap the speed stays consistant I just get charged for over use. I have to say VM would need to learn to be more open, honest and trust the customers more to aow them chance to observe their usage they canot learn to control the download urges if they are kept in the dark at what they are downloading...

[Noob91]

The problem is that it's a UK wide issue, if not world wide (apart from Nordic countries with their 100mbit lines). Companies seem to want to restrict bandwidth because they maximise profit, this happens even when they are owned by the government as in Belgium (20mbit line, 30gb cap I think).

As it stands Virgin is great for heavy downloaders, because we can schedule our torrents/usenet clients to hammer the connection outside STM times. But for moderate downloaders who might fancy downloading a HD movie at peak time to watch in the evening, it sucks.

As the market is now, Virgin is the best ISP for 'unlimited' bandwidth for most people. Be is better, if you can get it but they are loss making so wonder how long that'll stick around.

What I can't get my head around is B.T's investing £10bn over the next 5 years and the bandwidth issue will probably still remain.

[DJ_Nik_Gnashers]

Consider my dialemma for one moment:
I am a DJ who has been streaming audio from home to various internet radio stations for the past 6 years. I started on an NTL 750kb cable service, which I think if my memory is correct had a maximum upload speed of 128kbps. I was able to stream 80kbps at any time of the day as the upload speed was very stable.
Over the years my cable speed has increased and I have continued to stream on internet radio stations, until 1 month ago, when my (now) 10MB down / 512kbps up cable supply seemed to be faulty. I contacted tech support many times (15+) had engineer fit new modem, wrote letters, and was constantly told nothing was wrong. Yet I could not stream a 128kbps audio stream to a net radio server for more than an hour without my upload speed dropping to an amazingly low speed (10kbps or less). Yesterday I upgraded to the 20MB XL cable supply, in the hope it would not drop below 200kbps upload thus allowing me to continue streaming on net radio.
I did a speedtest 2 hours after requesting the upgrade, and it showed my downspeed as 19970kbps & upspeed as 710kbps ... GREAT !!!
I started to stream on a net radio, sending a steady 192kbps and all was fine for 1 hour 20 mins, then the listeners told me my stream was buffering to them. I stopped streaming and did a speedtest, sure enough my upload speed had dropped to 6kbps !!!!!!!!!!!
I have worked out the STM issues, and a 192kbps upload stream for 1 hour is approx 85MB. The daytime limit for upload is 1400MB. Even IF I did exceed the limit, the upload speed should be 'throttled' by 75% which should still leave me with enough upspeed to stream, no way should it be as low as it was - 6kbps.
I have phoned demending to speak to someone higher than the indian call centre staff to discuss this issue but am constantly refused.
This morning my speeds are back to 19890 / 700.
Virgin Media is crap, they are blatantly lying about the throttle issue, and you can never speak to anyone who has the real answers to your questions.
After 6 loyal years I have had enough, I am leaving.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by DJ_Nik_Gnashers

After 6 loyal years I have had enough, I am leaving.

Problem is that even if 1000's left it would not change there mind as they are now so heavily dependent on STM holding up there network.

If they were to drop STM there network would fall over if you ask me.

[yorkshireborn]

the thing is no one plans ahead when cable was laid no one thought lets make it the best lets make it so it can handle 500meg down the line lets make the tv bigger so it can handle 1,000 channels yes it would have cost more to do back then 100 million quidbut now it would cost a hell of a lot more to do prob a 500 million quid .

we all would be jumping for joy by now we'd all have 100meg.
and every channel would be full hd.

[DJ_Nik_Gnashers]

My point is ... 768kbps - 75% = 192kbps
I am not anywhere near the so called 'limit' when stm should be introduced, but even IF I WAS, I should still get 192kbps AFTER the throttle is introduced.
NOT 6kbps !!! ffsk - (upload speed)
And how come my downspeed is never throttled ?
I would love someone from VM explain why but as usual nobody ever can.
They are simply throttling everyone regardless, and well over what the website states. It is a blatant rip-off and I am not paying £37 a month for a connection I cant even stream 24kbps on.

[squirrel1970]

DJ Nik...
I too have been broadcasting on the internet for the last four years and have never experienced issues like you are, then again, I do only broadcast 2 streams - one at 96kbps and one at 128kbps, then again, I am using a dedicated server.. if you're being hit, it could be that you're getting everyone to connect directly - which is going to really bomb your bandwidth.. there are plenty of alternatives out there that, for the sake of preserving bandwidth, are a lot better... my host provides me with a 'slot' and depending on how much I pay each month, I can have the low plan option of 10 listeners @ 128 for £2 a month or pick one of the higher up plans for a tenner...
PM me if you wish to talk about this further

In the meantime, I live in a glorious area with very few on VM (most are on BT...) and I'm loving it.. rarely throttled and that makes me smile so hard my face hurts
My partner and I are both on the internet a fair bit (gaming and whotnot) and... whatever we're doing, we're doing it right! (we even have the stm thing sussed too... any game thats a gig or more, you download the first 500mb between 3-4pm and the rest after 9pm )

[DJ_Nik_Gnashers]

Thanks cj for your input, am glad you are not having the problems I am.
I am streaming directly to a server hosted in germany, that was yesterdays 'station' anyway, I do not host a server on my own pc.
I know a lot about streaming using shoutcast servers and windows media servers, having setup 2 stations in the past.
I only wish to stream from my PC to a shoutcast server elsewhere at a rate of 192kbps, which should not be a problem on even a 10MB cable (with 512kbps up) let alone a 20MB with 768kbps up. In fact a 4MB cable with 400kbps up should be plenty............
I am disgusted for want of a stronger phrase, at VM, as it seems like as soon as I start streaming, they can somehow 'detect' this and then slow me down to nothing meaning I cant even stream a 24knps mono audio stream out, it really is pathetic, I mean what am I paying these ppl for ???

[eth01]

there have been a few cases of where STM kicked in at the wrong times (if that helps you)

[Ignitionnet]

Quick point. While your area may not have many people on VM it just means they share the same bandwidth out between a larger area. VM are unlikely to upgrade areas for fun so if there's no congestion or chance of congestion on an area is just doesn't get upgraded.

If there's 30Mbit of 38Mbit used in an area and no more doesn't matter if that area is 250 homes or 2500 homes beyond that to split an area down to 250 homes costs a lot more than 2500

I'm very miffed. I find myself throttled and I've not done anything bandwidth wise bar browse a little today and check emails??? No other apps running. Done a reboot of the box etc.

Overall Average Speed = approx 713 Kbps, 0.7 Mbps

[LaineY]

Originally Posted by DJ_Nik_Gnashers

Thanks cj for your input, am glad you are not having the problems I am.
I am streaming directly to a server hosted in germany, that was yesterdays 'station' anyway, I do not host a server on my own pc.
I know a lot about streaming using shoutcast servers and windows media servers, having setup 2 stations in the past.
I only wish to stream from my PC to a shoutcast server elsewhere at a rate of 192kbps, which should not be a problem on even a 10MB cable (with 512kbps up) let alone a 20MB with 768kbps up. In fact a 4MB cable with 400kbps up should be plenty............
I am disgusted for want of a stronger phrase, at VM, as it seems like as soon as I start streaming, they can somehow 'detect' this and then slow me down to nothing meaning I cant even stream a 24knps mono audio stream out, it really is pathetic, I mean what am I paying these ppl for ???

I bet its ur server iv been doing it for 7 years ...and i had that issue aswell..

i then decided i had enough.. and closed my (AMERICAN) shoutcast Server.

I recently bought another one which was costing me like 5 quid a month.. @ 128

it works ABSALOUTLY perfect.

the people i had the server before with was lossing packets. which made all my listeners buffer constantly...

concider the obvios first..

it could be ur routing to ur shoutcast or something daft like that.

[JediMaster]

Originally Posted by DJ_Nik_Gnashers

I am not paying £37 a month for a connection I cant even stream 24kbps on.

Should only be £25 PCM for 20MB. I pay £16 for 10mb. Ring V.M (150) & select option to Leave, say you wish to have this offer as a valid V.M user (or you may leave VM).

On http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html...l_size_xl.html you get 20MB for £10 for the first 6x Months (new customers only) & then £20 after. So you should get the £20 offer NOW (assuming you have VM Phone Line).