Next upgrades.

[James Henry]

Haha nah I knew you didn't work in cable, I was just curious, not many people on this site (I lurked a while ) who are qualified to tell me how this stuff works and good to have someone who's happy to try keeping me honest and attentive.

As you have an interest in it perhaps you should consider it when you graduate. Just take as a warning that there's a hell of a lot more to it than you see here and it is painful to learn, I spent 3 years learning the stuff and I'm a newbie. Learning the specs is easy, learning where / what / why and how is nasty but rewarding.

You're right as well of course, ntl are skipping it and going straight to DOCSIS 3. I was merely pointing out that current tech *could* do it rather than the experimental and in development pre-DOCSIS 3 kit.

[jtwn]

Eyy, appreciate the words, probably will take a look in later

Its alright to not be right all the time James, jk

[janipewter]

Even a 1Mbit upload speed on the 10Mbit product would be good, 384Kbit is pathetic. Obviously with the current DOCSIS crap it's complicated and stuff, but remember Telewest made a press release earlier this year saying they were targeting "50 to 100Mbit." Obviously this is going to be on DOCSIS2 or 3 since the current specification can't handle that much.

Imagine 100Mbit down with 384Kbit up and a 5gig cap though, lol.

[James Henry]

Originally Posted by janipewter

Even a 1Mbit upload speed on the 10Mbit product would be good, 384Kbit is pathetic. Obviously with the current DOCSIS crap it's complicated and stuff,

Nope not really it is pathetic and is to save cash on upgrades. There are a few different upgrades that can be done, and by keeping the upload low Telewest were in a position to avoid or put off the most expensive one.

It costs a lot less to increase the download capacity than it does the upload

[J.D]

It costs a lot less to increase the download capacity than it does the upload

If Telewest wants to remain in a strong position in the ISP derby then it needs to fork out the cash. I live that close to an exchange that I can get a 16meg line with 1 meg upload for £13 cheaper a month with 24/7 free calls (£47 Per Month) and thats compared to my Telewest 10meg with 24/7 free calls: £60 per month but down to £45 for 6 months (discounted :p)

I really hope Telewest does whats necessary.

[drakken]

yep i'm hoping so 2, i wont be upgrading until they do offer better up speeds, need it for my gaming & "ratio" lol - cant leave my pc on 24/7, my electric bills will soar ffs

[J.D]

I just wish a house would come up so my mum could move out and I can get my 16meg line & 1meg uploads.

Don't slate me for downloading (t.v shows) but I was downloading some series of something the past few weeks and my speeds have very rarely shot past 200kb/s. I only download for a few hours a night, well I pay for my line lol. I like my bandwidth free for surfing and I play a lot of Call of Duty online and other games. I'm not a network hogger.

The thing is with my speeds being at 200kb/s. I know of Torrents you should never expect anything near your top speeds but 200kb/s constant for weeks is a little strange. At least when my friend from Birmingham phones me up telling me about a letter he had just received from his ISP (UK Online). My friend has a 20meg line and uses his Newsgroups quite often. I think he downloaded 16gb in a 12 or 14 hour peroiod one time and now his ports for p2p and newsgroups has been limited to 200kb/s. The letter stated that he has been limited to the said speed for torrents and Newsgroups. Lmao we had an arguement about ISP's. I said that I've been with Telewest for nearly 5 years now and at times I've downloaded like the entertainment of the world had been stolen and had NEVER received a letter to limit my speeds. In the end I was just telling him that my "Unlimited" contract seems to be more stable than his uk online's policy. He never took it well and we screamed facts to and forth for a while. Damn all I said was my "Unlimited" Means unlimited (so far) Even funnier he phones me back 20 minutes later and claims his brummie missus was at work and one of her colleagues had mentioned that he was with Telewest and downloads all the time (nearly 24/7) and received a similar letter. Funny coincidence 20 minutes after a debate (fancy name for an argument lol)

Do you think that might be in place with Telewest? Especially as a lot of people just download every movie, tv show and game like they are going to evaporate 2moro.

I definately haven't hogged anything at all. I've used the free blueyonder newsgroups twice. Yeah I was getting about 5gb an hour (1,260kb/s) but I only used it twice. I have downloaded a lot in the past but thats been before Telewest had 10meg lines. I download T'V series now and would like my bandwidth back. I hope this isn't true and Telewest have already put traffic shaping software in the network as this will be a final cutting to go to Bulldog.

Saying this also I've been getting the same speeds with my 8meg Bulldog line.

I'm going to setup newsgroups again (new install of OS) and give it a test.


So am I just listening to too much or is there a bit of truth in what I hear?

[drakken]

not really sure to be honest, I had been downloading some films/tv programmes like 24 and a cple of months ago i could no longer use the standard port number, all i did was change to a different one & it went back to normal - i usually get full speed depending on what site i'm using.
currently d/l Lost season 1 but only getting around 1meg speed from my 4 meg conn, i put it down to using a public torrent site for this d/l where people dont share as much.

[J.D]

lmao - I just got all of season 2 last night and have around 50% done of Lost. Still not seen it though - just from my m8's description of it makes it sound good

[janipewter]

I've maxed my connection out downloading through BitTorrent, me and a couple of friends got a large file (1gb) on all 3 of our dedicated servers, I hashed up a torrent of it and gave it to the other two so all 3 of us were seeding, and then downloaded it to my PC and the speeds were a constant 1220KB/sec.

[J.D]

Cool that's a step closer to quashing the traffic shaping fear I'm having at the moment.

I really hope they don't do it but the only way I could see it working is if ADSL & Cable carry it out (all ISP's). Really where will you turn? And with no choice in the matter.

But in the end it's us who's paying for it. ISP's should be the one monitoring and reducing/warning very heavy users. Because of the leechers the average user is going to suffer maybe. This will not do!. If I have a 10meg line what would it be good for? A few patches for games and driver files.

I mostly use my line for my gaming but on the odd occasion I do download some various stuff through Torrents and to be limited to 200kb/s out of 1,260Kb/s is ridiculous. Especially as I don't hammer the network.

I hope I find a fast torrent for testing myself as were in different areas janipewter.

[James Henry]

Originally Posted by J.D

My friend has a 20meg line and uses his Newsgroups quite often. I think he downloaded 16gb in a 12 or 14 hour peroiod one time and now his ports for p2p and newsgroups has been limited to 200kb/s. The letter stated that he has been limited to the said speed for torrents and Newsgroups.

To be on 20Mbit he must be on UKOnline LLU - UKOnline don't traffic shape or monitor their LLU network in this manner.

Even funnier he phones me back 20 minutes later and claims his brummie missus was at work and one of her colleagues had mentioned that he was with Telewest and downloads all the time (nearly 24/7) and received a similar letter. Funny coincidence 20 minutes after a debate (fancy name for an argument lol)

Possible, Telewest have sent some letters to some customers 'informing' them about upload usage.

I hope this isn't true and Telewest have already put traffic shaping software in the network as this will be a final cutting to go to Bulldog.

Having spoken to a Telewest employee within the last month or so he informs that he isn't aware of any traffic shaping either running or being prepared on the Telewest network.

So am I just listening to too much or is there a bit of truth in what I hear?

You're both listening to too much and not listening enough, if you get my meaning.

[J.D]

At least when my friend from Birmingham phones me up telling me about a letter he had just received from his ISP (UK Online).

I had already mentioned he was on UK online.

To be on 20Mbit he must be on UKOnline LLU - UKOnline don't traffic shape or monitor their LLU network in this manner.

Did you not read my post??? He DID receive a letter about heavy usage and that his ports have been reduced to 200kb/s for newsgroups and torrents. His workaround for it is changing ports all the time.

He is one of my best friends and he isn't going to lie to me (lol why would he). He's only been in Birmingham coming up two years after leaving bonny Scotland for Brummieland (& a bird). So please don't try to tell me UK online are not traffic shaping or monitoring their networks.

Having spoken to a Telewest employee within the last month or so he informs that he isn't aware of any traffic shaping either running or being prepared on the Telewest network.

I've spoken to loads of TW employee's and they have all got different information. Some one's will tell you to the nearest month of upgrade's/changes and others have no knowledge at all. I wouldn't rule out traffic shaping yet. At the end of the day Telewest would rather reduce these heavy users than having old and new customers who don't hammer the network getting poor gaming/surfing sessions. It's bad rep for the company. Imagine if you joined from ADSL 8meg and were receiving a lesser service from 2meg more. I think Telewest wants to keep and attract new customers and this hammering of the networks is appearing to be a growing problem.

[James Henry]

Originally Posted by J.D

Did you not read my post??? He DID receive a letter about heavy usage and that his ports have been reduced to 200kb/s for newsgroups and torrents. His workaround for it is changing ports all the time.

There is no traffic shaping or usage monitoring on the UKOnline LLU network at this time. Fact. If there were traffic shaping it would not be evadeable by changing ports as the traffic being shaped on the non-LLU services is shaped using packet inspection hardware which doesn't care about the port being used and looks into the contents of packets. Fact.

He is one of my best friends and he isn't going to lie to me (lol why would he). He's only been in Birmingham coming up two years after leaving bonny Scotland for Brummieland (& a bird). So please don't try to tell me UK online are not traffic shaping or monitoring their networks.

I just said the LLU one wasn't being shaped or monitored at the moment, the non-LLU services are being shaped and letters sent for high utilisation. 20GB / day is perfectly possible on non-LLU 2Mbit, which is both being shaped and monitored. Someone using 12 - 14GB in a day wouldn't raise eyebrows unless they did it repeatedly, there are people on 2Mbit who were shifting 600GB/month.

I've a certain unique insight into this stuff, I do know what I'm talking about with regards to these particular matters. Think Bill C might be able to testify to that.

I've spoken to loads of TW employee's and they have all got different information. Some one's will tell you to the nearest month of upgrade's/changes and others have no knowledge at all. I wouldn't rule out traffic shaping yet.

The guy I spoke to was a tad more senior than the people you get on the phone He didn't say anything about ruling it out for the future but certainly not there right now.

[J.D]

Originally Posted by James HenryThere is no traffic shaping or usage monitoring on the UKOnline LLU network at this time. Fact. If there were traffic shaping it would not be evadeable by changing ports as the traffic being shaped on the non-LLU services is shaped using packet inspection hardware which doesn't care about the port being used and looks into the contents of packets. Fact.

What if it was too difficult to reduce the speeds through just torrents and newsgroups without messing with normal transfer speeds for all other tasks with packet inspection?

How do you know there isn't any taffic shaping going on or monitoring at UK Online for a FACT?

Why did he receice the letter then and had his speeds reduced to 200kb/s? for newsgroups and torrents. If I need to I will ask him to scan this document and post it to me to show you. He was actually downloading at 200kb/s till he got a work around for it.

I just said the LLU one wasn't being shaped or monitored at the moment, the non-LLU services are being shaped and letters sent for high utilisation.

Sorry but you are wrong because my friend HAS one of those letters for high utilisation with a LLU

I've a certain unique insight into this stuff, I do know what I'm talking about with regards to these particular matters. Think Bill C might be able to testify to that.

Well what happened to Mr Insightful?. I'm sorry for being cheeky but I've already mentioned my friend has this letter. If I bloomin' read about it in the paper, fair point but no I didn't.

the non-LLU services are being shaped and letters sent for high utilisation

Well it seems that UK Online is doing it ALSO. FACT

The guy I spoke to was a tad more senior than the people you get on the phone He didn't say anything about ruling it out for the future but certainly not there right now.

I apologise for that scare I was just worried as what I was downloading was running about 200kb/s and after what happened to my m8 made me paranoid. Was a "just incase".