Netflix data warning

[totalwar]

Just sign up to Netflix a few months ago and got a warning from Virg9in about the amount of data that I am consuming.It is a lot of data but doing nothing illegal just watching movies.I paying £34 pounds a month which is not cheap.If you want to use sky go or lovemovies or any other service like this and virgin moan how much data we use just not fair.This is the future the way pay is going Virgin and sky want to much money.


Measurement Period: 30days 10h:2m:53s
Data Downloaded: 412GB 0Bytes
Data Uploaded: 57GB 318MB

Here the standard letter from them.

Want a faster broadband service in the evening? Read on!


As you may know with Virgin Broadband we don't limit the amount that you can download. However, we've recently noticed an unusually large amount of data being transferred over your broadband connection (daily between mid-day and midnight) at our busiest network time and this may have resulted in your connection being managed under our traffic management policy (you can review this policy at virginmedia.com/traffic).

To help you better manage your broadband performance and to keep things running smoothly here are a few tips:

1. Move 'non time critical' usage to after midnight

Okay that might sound late, but actually it's easy to schedule downloading big files such as Movies until then. Check out our FAQs and details of how to schedule downloads on common software at virginmedia.com/peaktimefaq


2. Make sure your PC security software is up to date and active

Not having security software installed or up to date can really slow you down. Try using Virgin Media Security. It's free and covers all the major security threats. Learn more and download by going to virginmedia.com/security.


3. Make sure your Wi-Fi is secure

Check that your wireless router is password protected and that you've got encryption switched on. Neighbours or anyone in your Wi-Fi range could be using your connection without your knowledge and slowing you down. For more detail on how to avoid this and change these settings go to virginmedia.com/help/wireless.


4. Other members of your household eating up your connection

Large amounts of uploading or downloading could be taking place without your knowledge. The most common application to use large amounts of data is file sharing software. If you use a Windows 98 or XP computer and you're unsure whether file sharing software is installed on computers in your home, or you wish to remove it if it is, a software utility called Digital File Check* is available that can check for you.

This can be found at ifpi.org/dfc * You can also learn more about File Sharing by going to our FAQ virginmedia.com/peaktimefaq

We strongly recommend that you follow these tips in order to get the best broadband performance in future. Especially the first tip of scheduling non-time critical downloads.

There are several tools you can use to check how much you're downloading or uploading such as tbbMeter (thinkbroadband.com/tbbmeter.html *) and there are others available at softpedia.com *

Thank you for your attention.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by totalwar

Just sign up to Netflix a few months ago and got a warning from Virg9in about the amount of data that I am consuming.It is a lot of data but doing nothing illegal just watching movies.I paying £34 pounds a month which is not cheap.If you want to use sky go or lovemovies or any other service like this and virgin moan how much data we use just not fair.This is the future the way pay is going Virgin and sky want to much money.


Measurement Period: 30days 10h:2m:53s
Data Downloaded: 412GB 0Bytes
Data Uploaded: 57GB 318MB

Here the standard letter from them.

Want a faster broadband service in the evening? Read on!


As you may know with Virgin Broadband we don't limit the amount that you can download. However, we've recently noticed an unusually large amount of data being transferred over your broadband connection (daily between mid-day and midnight) at our busiest network time and this may have resulted in your connection being managed under our traffic management policy (you can review this policy at virginmedia.com/traffic).

To help you better manage your broadband performance and to keep things running smoothly here are a few tips:

1. Move 'non time critical' usage to after midnight

Okay that might sound late, but actually it's easy to schedule downloading big files such as Movies until then. Check out our FAQs and details of how to schedule downloads on common software at virginmedia.com/peaktimefaq


2. Make sure your PC security software is up to date and active

Not having security software installed or up to date can really slow you down. Try using Virgin Media Security. It's free and covers all the major security threats. Learn more and download by going to virginmedia.com/security.


3. Make sure your Wi-Fi is secure

Check that your wireless router is password protected and that you've got encryption switched on. Neighbours or anyone in your Wi-Fi range could be using your connection without your knowledge and slowing you down. For more detail on how to avoid this and change these settings go to virginmedia.com/help/wireless.


4. Other members of your household eating up your connection

Large amounts of uploading or downloading could be taking place without your knowledge. The most common application to use large amounts of data is file sharing software. If you use a Windows 98 or XP computer and you're unsure whether file sharing software is installed on computers in your home, or you wish to remove it if it is, a software utility called Digital File Check* is available that can check for you.

This can be found at ifpi.org/dfc * You can also learn more about File Sharing by going to our FAQ virginmedia.com/peaktimefaq

We strongly recommend that you follow these tips in order to get the best broadband performance in future. Especially the first tip of scheduling non-time critical downloads.

There are several tools you can use to check how much you're downloading or uploading such as tbbMeter (thinkbroadband.com/tbbmeter.html *) and there are others available at softpedia.com *

Thank you for your attention.

When did you get this letter, I was under the impression they are no longer sending these out ?

[BenMcr]

They still send out the letters, but what changed was the removal of any mention of any action being taken

So they are just there to advise people of there overall usage

[Cobbydaler]

If you want to watch Netflix, do it after midnight and before midday. That's really user friendly...

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Cobbydaler

If you want to watch Netflix, do it after midnight and before midday. That's really user friendly...

It's just pointing out that the usage will trigger the STM, which not everyone may be aware of:

However, we've recently noticed an unusually large amount of data being transferred over your broadband connection (daily between mid-day and midnight) at our busiest network time and this may have resulted in your connection being managed under our traffic management policy (you can review this policy at virginmedia.com/traffic).

and then some tips on how to avoid being traffic managed. Nothing more than that

Like Cobby says it's not user friendly at all.

[BenMcr]

And?

[muppetman11]

How does this compare to other ISP's Traffic Management/FUP ?

[MovedGoalPosts]

I's not apparent exactly which package the OP is on in terms of upload and download speeds. Fom the figures of download and especially upload there is a lot of traffic. VM's warning letter will relate to the overall use levels, not just netflix, and the upload is not explained by streaming use. It's worth noting too that upload speeds are only a proportion of download and I would suspect it is these which triggered the warning letter.

[Telly_]

One thing I have really noticed is the lack of management on my Sky unlimited connection. Also I have noticed a few users on various forums stating they can get better speeds via a 3G connection using tethering when STM kicks in on VM.

My advice is remember there are other options available to users and its worth looking into them.

---------- Post added at 12:32 ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 ----------

Originally Posted by muppetman11

How does this compare to other ISP's Traffic Management/FUP ?

I can tell you Sky have absolutely no management at all and you will NEVER trigger any letters or anything.I have read of some people downloading TB's a month quite happily. I'm not a downloader but with 2 Sky HD boxes quite often using anytime+ and kids using various things on the web its not uncommon for our household to max our 16Mb Sky connection for 4 or 5 hours at peaks time.

[carlwaring]

Originally Posted by Telly Bear

I can tell you Sky have absolutely no management at all and you will NEVER trigger any letters or anything.

Assuming this is standard ADSL and not Infinity then the reason they can do that is because (as is well documented) most users won't get anywhere near their headline speed in the first place.

I have read of some people downloading TB's a month quite happily.

As you can with VM. You connection does not stop; just slows down for a while.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by carlwaring

Assuming this is standard ADSL and not Infinity then the reason they can do that is because (as is well documented) most users won't get anywhere near their headline speed in the first place.

Nope Sky's ADSL product and Upto 40/2 , upto 80/20 fibre products are all completely unlimited , does anyone know what BT Infintys policy is ?

[BenMcr]

Currently on Infinity 2 it's unlimited apart from P2P Management. However neither Sky or BT yet have the number of customers on the range of high speeds that VM do

[Telly_]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Currently on Infinity 2 it's unlimited apart from P2P Management. However neither Sky or BT yet have the number of customers on the range of high speeds that VM do

There are loads of people near me all on Sky 40Mb and 80Mb products, My date has been pushed to the 30th June.

[BenMcr]

Wasn't suggesting there weren't anyone on Sky or BT fibre, but the customers numbers are different