120M : Big Kahuna? not so big

[wsgnet]

Then
I used to be on 60M
I consistently got 60 and most times 60+
Very pleased I was.
I took the "Big Kahuna" offer - 100M etc
I was not getting 100 - ever.
I was getting between 40 and 90. At one time 98

Now
Ive been /supercharged!/
To 150.
Wow thanks Virgin.
But wait.
My speeds are crap.
I am getting 40 - 50 regularly.
Tonight I am getting 10 or less. (speedtest - ookla)
I can not watch BBC Iplayer because of the buffering.
My broadband is not broad.

What is up with Virgin?
Put me back on 60 or fix the supercharged Kahuna!

My broadband has NEVER been so bad.

WSG//

[horseman]

Originally Posted by wsgnet

.....
What is up with Virgin?
Put me back on 60 or fix the supercharged Kahuna!

My broadband has NEVER been so bad.

WSG//

Nothing wrong with the Big K (and 152Tier) conceptually that's not related directly to ongoing network upgrades in some areas!

It's very hard (almost impossible) to accurately & consistently detect "utilisation" without employing something like SamKnows hardware monitor.

I was similarly disappointed when migrating from 50/3 Tier that I had from March 2014 to 152/12 in mid October because utilisation (that started to trend upwards in July) was relatively not so noticeable on lower tier.

However despite increased utilisation with accompanying downstream speed degradation to 30mbps in 8-10pm weekdays peaks(troughs) the daily average has so far (upto end Jan2015 inclusive) still been over 125mbps!

Since the cost now is perversely less than my 50/2 tier before I renegotiated with Retentions then I wouldn't personally even reconsider reverting back to 100 let alone 50 until the daily average dropped below say 55?

You can get some inkling of this from the last published OfCom "average" results for UK VMTiers:
=====================
Broadband speed----Average speed at peak times----Average speed over 24hrs
--------------------------- (8pm-10pm)
Up to 50Mb ----------------- 48.91Mb --------------- 52.37Mb

Up to 100Mb ---------------- 87.48Mb --------------- 99.48Mb

Up to 152Mb --------------- 113.39Mb -------------- 138.7Mb

.... peak download speed data comes from Ofcom’s review of UK broadband speeds published in November 2014, based on Ofcom May 2014 test results.
======================

[MalteseFalcon]

I actually find I am getting better speeds through WiFi on the 100 package then I was getting with through WiFi with the 152 package.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by horseman

It's very hard (almost impossible) to accurately & consistently detect "utilisation" without employing something like SamKnows hardware monitor.

What?? Knowing how much capacity your network has and how much of it is in use is one of the most basic aspects of running any provider network...

You can get some inkling of this from the last published OfCom "average" results for UK VMTiers:
=====================
Broadband speed----Average speed at peak times----Average speed over 24hrs
--------------------------- (8pm-10pm)
Up to 50Mb ----------------- 48.91Mb --------------- 52.37Mb

Up to 100Mb ---------------- 87.48Mb --------------- 99.48Mb

Up to 152Mb --------------- 113.39Mb -------------- 138.7Mb

.... peak download speed data comes from Ofcom’s review of UK broadband speeds published in November 2014, based on Ofcom May 2014 test results.
======================

And herein lies the problem. 24-hour averages are skewed by the 16 hours a day most people aren't even able to use their connection, so for the majority of people aren't particularly relevant. Peak time speeds on the other hand, show clearly there's widespread congestion across the country.

Don't forget 'averages' doesn't mean that's 'average' speed you're going to get, it means 50% of customers get less than that speed*. On a service provisioned at over 160Mbps, most customers get less than 114Mbps at peak times - a drop of nearly 50Mbps. Even across the day most customers can't get above 140Mbps.

* Strictly speaking, that applies only to median averages, while mean averages can be skewed by extreme outliers