XL 20 mbs not yet!!- how to get it fixed?

Stanch · 09-10-2008, 07:23

Hello,

I have recently subscribed to the full XL package and over the past 8 weeks or so have yet to have a 20 mbs service. I have made numerous calls to VM support (India) and have produced daily statistics of the speeds I have. Last time they even commented how I had registered many calls with them over the low speed issue.
I thought something was going to happen a couple of weeks ago when I was instructed to disconnect the cable modem from the cable and switch it off for 2 hours. Then reconnect my PC via ethernet cable directly to the cable modem (Ambit). I was assured after this process all would be O.K.
Unfortunately, it's still the same. I've had no follow up from VM support. Yesterday, I reconnected the wireless access point as I needed the link.
My connection speed varies throughout the day (and through the week).
Usually ( not always so, sometimes worse, very rarely better) I find around 6 a.m. I get around 18mbs. as the day progresses it falls. By 5 p.m. it will be around 4 -5 mbs. One Sunday afternoon it was around 25Kbs!!
(I also find occasionally changing TV channels and searching TV listings can be very jumpy and somewhat unresponsive).

I have spent a lot of time on the phone and sending emails to VM. Is there a better way of getting VM to do something. I partly switched to VM due to their advertising "the mother of all network connections " - they can say that again!! Prior to VM I had PlusNet ADSL and happily had a 6.2mbs connection which was pretty steady, certainly no more than a 15% drop during presumably heavy use. There is no way the "20mbs" VM link is faster than my old ADSL link.
Where does a customer stand legally when the service is sold as a 20 mbs service and yet, often, the link is below 1 mbs?

My usage is, normally, surfing the web, dowloading patches and upgrades and very occaisionally downloading an .iso newer linux image. I do not play games or stream video.

I am based in central Swindon, Wiltshire.

I am an IT Network engineer of over 20 years. My home PC is a Intel Core Duo PC with 3 Mbs Ram, 1Gb network card running XP Pro SP3 fully patched.
The pc is scanned daily for malware and virii.

All I can think of is to contact VM billing and suggest they bill me for a lesser service. I so regret losing the bandwidth I had.

Any ideas how best to go forward?

Rgds.

Stan Chelchowski

Sirpingalot · 10-10-2008, 00:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stanch

...3 Mbs Ram...

There's your problem.

No, but in all seriousness there's nothing you can do. Whether or not you get a good connection is luck of the draw. Chances are your modem logs are fine so I wont even bother to ask about them. Though things may improve with time, they did here.. after about 12 months.

Bottom line, if you want a good connection, I suggest you leave before the trial period is up.

SteevieNiteHeat · 10-10-2008, 00:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirpingalot

There's your problem.

Man it'd be a struggle running Windows For Workgroups 3.11 with only 3MB of RAM! I used to have at least 8MB

dajone · 10-10-2008, 02:53

You Could try this http://www.virginmedia.com/help/20mb...timisation.php
but probley your area over subscribed

Stanch · 10-10-2008, 07:59

Whoops!... 3 Gb Ram ... gee...???

Sorry about the typo....

Rgds.

10-10-2008, 08:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stanch

Whoops!... 3 Gb Ram ... gee...???

Sorry about the typo....

Rgds.

Are you on the XL package for all 3 services or just for broadband because being on XL for all 3 services does not always mean you are on 20mb broadband, phone up and they will confirm the speed you are on.

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g0mit · 10-10-2008, 09:08

I have same problem in L18 Liverpool but I have just put it down to over subscribed

Sirpingalot · 12-10-2008, 17:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by g0mit

I have same problem in L18 Liverpool but I have just put it down to over subscribed

I used to be in L17 and things were brilliant there.. so that's odd

12-10-2008, 17:34

No problems here in L10 appears to be no over subscription here.

g0mit · 12-10-2008, 17:52

L18 has a lot more property's than L17

broadbandbug · 12-10-2008, 19:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stanch

Hello,

I have recently subscribed to the full XL package and over the past 8 weeks or so have yet to have a 20 mbs service. I have made numerous calls to VM support (India) and have produced daily statistics of the speeds I have. Last time they even commented how I had registered many calls with them over the low speed issue.
I thought something was going to happen a couple of weeks ago when I was instructed to disconnect the cable modem from the cable and switch it off for 2 hours. Then reconnect my PC via ethernet cable directly to the cable modem (Ambit). I was assured after this process all would be O.K.
Unfortunately, it's still the same. I've had no follow up from VM support. Yesterday, I reconnected the wireless access point as I needed the link.
My connection speed varies throughout the day (and through the week).
Usually ( not always so, sometimes worse, very rarely better) I find around 6 a.m. I get around 18mbs. as the day progresses it falls. By 5 p.m. it will be around 4 -5 mbs. One Sunday afternoon it was around 25Kbs!!
(I also find occasionally changing TV channels and searching TV listings can be very jumpy and somewhat unresponsive).

I have spent a lot of time on the phone and sending emails to VM. Is there a better way of getting VM to do something. I partly switched to VM due to their advertising "the mother of all network connections " - they can say that again!! Prior to VM I had PlusNet ADSL and happily had a 6.2mbs connection which was pretty steady, certainly no more than a 15% drop during presumably heavy use. There is no way the "20mbs" VM link is faster than my old ADSL link.
Where does a customer stand legally when the service is sold as a 20 mbs service and yet, often, the link is below 1 mbs?

My usage is, normally, surfing the web, dowloading patches and upgrades and very occaisionally downloading an .iso newer linux image. I do not play games or stream video.

I am based in central Swindon, Wiltshire.

I am an IT Network engineer of over 20 years. My home PC is a Intel Core Duo PC with 3 Mbs Ram, 1Gb network card running XP Pro SP3 fully patched.
The pc is scanned daily for malware and virii.

All I can think of is to contact VM billing and suggest they bill me for a lesser service. I so regret losing the bandwidth I had.

Any ideas how best to go forward?

Rgds.

Stan Chelchowski

Hi Stan, To be honest you will be lucky to get 20Mb/s in Swindon at the moment.
For a start, due to the architecture that has been built there the majority of the network is limited to QAM64 Downstream Ports. In plain terms this means that the downstream pipe that you are using is only 27Mb/s.. Obviously this means contention ratio's of above 60:1..

There is work underway to improve things.. But it is going to be a few months before you will see the improvements.

13-10-2008, 12:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by whydoIneedatech

Are you on the XL package for all 3 services or just for broadband because being on XL for all 3 services does not always mean you are on 20mb broadband, phone up and they will confirm the speed you are on...

The fact that Stanch sometimes gets 18Mbps shows that he's on the 20Mbps tier.

Ignitionnet · 13-10-2008, 12:27

Stanch,

Could you post your modem stats from http://192.168.100.1 please?

Thanks.