virgin adsl - why can't I seem to get speeds over 1Mb - Page 2

ulmo · 18-04-2009, 18:02

Cheersone and all.
I will get in touch with virgin and see what happens.

crowman - its not 8kbytes ber second its about 100kbytes per second in my browser. 0.8Mbit broadband was what I was describing my connection as. I think thats 800kbits or 80 kilobytes (which is about what I experience in the browser +-20ish). Sorry if my description was a bit pants.

I will be really annoyed if this turns out to be traffic management as I was not warned about this by virgin. I am not a big downloader either. No torrents and only had one big download session a few weeks back getting some linux updates and game files. On most days I am just surfing the web on fairly light sites, with no huge downloads.

chickendippers · 18-04-2009, 18:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

He doesn't have a BRAS profile he's not on BT Wholesale.

Ah fair enough, is this how the "Broadband Boost" thing works, using the C&W LLU? When I saw "upto 8Mb" I just assumed it was a standard BTW arrangement.

ulmo · 18-04-2009, 18:41

Just called virgin and they were very helpful.
They couldn't solve the problem right away as one of the tools they use for checking is offline at the moment, but I have to call back tomorrow which should mean that the checking thing is available by then.

fireman328 · 18-04-2009, 18:55

I am close to my local exchange and get about 5 to 7 Meg depending on time of day

Ignitionnet · 18-04-2009, 19:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by chickendippers

Ah fair enough, is this how the "Broadband Boost" thing works, using the C&W LLU? When I saw "upto 8Mb" I just assumed it was a standard BTW arrangement.

They are offering up to 16 over the C+W LLU - notice this chap is synched at nearly 20Mbit down and 1Mbit up, ADSL2+ Annex A capped to 20/1.

KingDaveRa · 18-04-2009, 21:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

He doesn't have a BRAS profile he's not on BT Wholesale. I'm tempted to say it's traffic management or a fault somewhere with the Cable and Wireless network that you're connecting to Ulmo.

Have you spoken to VM on this issue and explained the problem.

---------- Post added at 17:41 ---------- Previous post was at 17:39 ----------

He's not on Max, he's on ADSL2+. If it were a line issue he'd see lower SNR margin due to noise, gain is not a visible stat only transmit power.

The line is fine, nice high SNR margin so it's easily handling the speeds, the fault is either with the DSLAM or with Virgin Media's traffic shaping.

Only course - speak with VM.

Sorry, I wasn't aware VM were doing ADSL2+ now. I thought it was BTWholesale still.

spiderplant · 18-04-2009, 22:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by ulmo

crowman - its not 8kbytes ber second its about 100kbytes per second in my browser. 0.8Mbit broadband was what I was describing my connection as. I think thats 800kbits or 80 kilobytes (which is about what I experience in the browser +-20ish). Sorry if my description was a bit pants.

I will be really annoyed if this turns out to be traffic management as I was not warned about this by virgin. I am not a big downloader either. No torrents and only had one big download session a few weeks back getting some linux updates and game files. On most days I am just surfing the web on fairly light sites, with no huge downloads.

Doesn't sound like traffic management, unless they've increased the limit. On the one occasion I got TMed (caused by the missus streaming video for 4 days), it was dead on 80Kbit/s for a week.

Try leaving the router off overnight and see whether you get a better BAM tomorrow. Occasionally I get a duffer, and it seem I'm not alone:
http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/vir...ml#Post3246343

Ignitionnet · 18-04-2009, 22:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by spiderplant

Try leaving the router off overnight and see whether you get a better BAM tomorrow. Occasionally I get a duffer, and it seem I'm not alone:
http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/vir...ml#Post3246343

That won't work either, he's not connected via one of the overloaded BT circuits to a BAM but via the Cable and Wireless 10Gbps interconnect so BT interconnect overload isn't going to happen.

There appear to be 4 interconnects between VM and C+W for the DSL, 1 each to manc-t3core-1a and 1b and 1 each to popl-t3core-1a and 1b. In between there's also some bad ass Allot Omega Series Service Gateway shaping action.

ulmo · 19-04-2009, 11:39

"That won't work either, he's not connected via one of the overloaded BT circuits to a BAM but via the Cable and Wireless 10Gbps interconnect so BT interconnect overload isn't going to happen."

Am I not ? I had assumed I was on a bt circuit. Certainly a bt phon line. Just for the record could you explain how Cable and Wireless come into it ?

Ignitionnet · 19-04-2009, 12:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by ulmo

"That won't work either, he's not connected via one of the overloaded BT circuits to a BAM but via the Cable and Wireless 10Gbps interconnect so BT interconnect overload isn't going to happen."

Am I not ? I had assumed I was on a bt circuit. Certainly a bt phon line. Just for the record could you explain how Cable and Wireless come into it ?

You connect to Cable and Wireless equipment in the exchange via a BT line, from there you go along Cable and Wireless goodness until you go onto VM's network.

ulmo · 19-04-2009, 12:52

Thanks. That makes sense now !

---------- Post added at 12:52 ---------- Previous post was at 12:33 ----------

Wahey think I may have a good result coming !

Spoke to vm technical folks - they said I was showing on their system as being assigned a 1Mb rate. They put me thorugh to sales who said I had was on the 8Mb package...at which point I explained what the tech guy said. I was then put on hold for a while (presumably while sales and tech support talked to each other). When the guy came back on, he said I'd been capped at 1Mb and he was going to get this removed, but it takes about 5 days to go through. Hurrah - hope this sorts it !

I think that means my connection was being traffic managed ?

Ignitionnet · 19-04-2009, 12:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by ulmo

Thanks. That makes sense now !

---------- Post added at 12:52 ---------- Previous post was at 12:33 ----------

Wahey think I may have a good result coming !

Spoke to vm technical folks - they said I was showing on their system as being assigned a 1Mb rate. They put me thorugh to sales who said I had was on the 8Mb package...at which point I explained what the tech guy said. I was then put on hold for a while (presumably while sales and tech support talked to each other). When the guy came back on, he said I'd been capped at 1Mb and he was going to get this removed, but it takes about 5 days to go through. Hurrah - hope this sorts it !

I think that means my connection was being traffic managed ?

Virgin thought you were on 1Mbit and kept you at that rate, so not traffic managed but they thought that was what you were paying for.

Can I just say that your phone line could give you 24Mbit, have you considered a change of ISP:

http://broadband.o2.co.uk/home/index.jsp
https://www.bethere.co.uk/

ulmo · 19-04-2009, 13:04

Thanks.

To be honest I am not sure of the benefit of say 24Mb over 8 or 10Mb and what that might amount to in the real world. Presumably I'd be paying extra to get something like 20Mb ??
There is also the downside of probably needing to change my e-mail address...which would actually be a lot of hassle as I have so many online things setup with my current e-mail address.

I think I'll wait and see what this 'fix' delivers before I consider other isps, but thanks very much for the tips. If I do get about 8Mb with the fix then that's already about ten times faster than I am getting today. That is going to seem so good (I hope) !

Ignitionnet · 19-04-2009, 13:10

Depends what you're paying right now Ulmo though I appreciate all that goodness. It's a case of what you're happy with, but given that you've that very short and very good line I just wouldn't have felt right if I hadn't shown you a couple of ISPs that would give you the full benefit

ulmo · 19-04-2009, 13:41

No worries :-)
It does look like I'd get 24Mb with Be for the same price as 8Mb on virgin.

Maybe I'll start making a list of just how many online accounts I have and slowly migrate them to a generic webmail of some kind like yahoo or gmail. Then if I decide to switch isp it will be easier.