STM Trial times changed

[Code601]

No other company would get away with selling you a service then asking you not to use it when you please. seriously folks. This is beyond a joke.

Because thier is no competition with cable broadband they get away with this because they know lots of people dont want to change phone line in order to change broadband. I would change in a second if another cable provider was avalible. Virgin have ****ed me off for ages by offering "retention deals" and "new customer only" deals while us loyal customers have to bend over each month and take our payments.

The STM is unreasonable and made in the most confusing way possible. They indroduced it to deal with the "worst 5%" of customers, but its must affect a lot more than than now. Its a money saving measure that only virgin get the benefit of. They dont pass along the cost savings to us. Cable modems are becoming the worst value for money known to man.

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by Code601

The STM is unreasonable and made in the most confusing way possible. They indroduced it to deal with the "worst 5%" of customers, but its must affect a lot more than than now. Its a money saving measure that only virgin get the benefit of. They dont pass along the cost savings to us. Cable modems are becoming the worst value for money known to man.

It could be a lot more than 5% at any one time, and most probably is if you look at the time and amount it needs before you are STMd compared to how many customers thay have. but I was told that to be within the boundaries of OFCOM I think it was. that figure can't be any higher than 5%. they don't show proof of it so we and OFCOM just have to take their word for it.

it used to be 3% and changed to 5% later. you would think that it should have got higher since then as the STM time window has changed so more people should be caught by it.

[idontpirate]

Dear god why the hell do they advertise how fast you can download a HD film, when you are only able to download 2 before you get bummed by the STM. In my opinion it should only be limited to people who use the top 3-5% in that area and they would get max 2MB connection. This stops people who are genuinely trying to download content and not abusing the connection being punished. There are no hard limits on Sky so i dont see why there should be with Virgin. Its simple, just punish the people who are REALLY abusing the connection or dont oversubscribe without having the nessesary equipment and bandwidth.

[100meg]

Originally Posted by Gary L

It could be a lot more than 5% at any one time, and most probably is if you look at the time and amount it needs before you are STMd compared to how many customers thay have. but I was told that to be within the boundaries of OFCOM I think it was. that figure can't be any higher than 5%. they don't show proof of it so we and OFCOM just have to take their word for it.

it used to be 3% and changed to 5% later. you would think that it should have got higher since then as the STM time window has changed so more people should be caught by it.

it mite make for an interesting case if some one took em to county court and
demanded proof under the disclosure rules.

my guess is they would settel rather than hand paperwork over.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Gary L

it used to be 3% and changed to 5% later. you would think that it should have got higher since then as the STM time window has changed so more people should be caught by it.

It has always been 5%

Here is the link to Traffic management page put up in May 2007 - when STM was introduced

Will my download speed be affected?
Your speed won't be moderated unless you're in the top 5% of downloaders. Our boffins recently ran a trial to see how much our service was being affected. They discovered that, in certain areas, just 5% of customers were downloading such a large amount of content that it was affecting the service for other users in these areas

[bywater]

Originally Posted by idontpirate

Dear god why the hell do they advertise how fast you can download a HD film, when you are only able to download 2 before you get bummed by the STM. In my opinion it should only be limited to people who use the top 3-5% in that area and they would get max 2MB connection. This stops people who are genuinely trying to download content and not abusing the connection being punished. There are no hard limits on Sky so i dont see why there should be with Virgin. Its simple, just punish the people who are REALLY abusing the connection or dont oversubscribe without having the necessary equipment and bandwidth.

Your kidding are you not ? You could not even download one without the STM kicking in. So effectively it is false advertising on Virgin Media's part. Perhaps they are just doing this to protect there TV revenue with all the different media services now online. Virgin media really don't want you to use your connection for what it is advertised for. 1.2GB limit from 4 to 9pm on my 10MB is ridiculousness. That is the exact time you want to be watching a film not 1 to 2 3 am in the morning. If they don't want me to use my connection for streaming media then they can give me there TV service for FREE. Yet I want to watch HD content but Virgin Media's offering is very very poor.


High Definition 1280 by 720 (maximum)Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound8 New releases - $4.99
Library titles - $3.99

6 Mbps: less than 1 minute
2 Mbps: about 2 hours
768 Kbps: about 8 hours

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

It has always been 5%

It hasn't. it was 5% then it went down to 3% and back up to 5%. I remember because we had a big discussion about it in the virgin newsgroups. the argument was that they put it back up to 5% to make it look more credible.

there was even talk about it on websites at the time.

Make it the fault of some mythical "3%" (was 5% to start with) who "abuse" the bandwidth, depriving the reasonable people who just want to check their e-mail, and let's blame "them", those selfish swines hogging the cable.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...a-traffic.html

Your speed won't be moderated unless you're in the top 3% of users (uploaders and downloaders). Our boffins ran a trial to see how much our service was being affected. They discovered that, in certain areas, just 3% of customers were uploading and/or downloading such a large amount of content that it was affecting the service for other users in these areas.

http://web.archive.org/web/200712142...management.php

It went from 5% to 3% to 5% from their boffin tests in the space of a month. and in nearly 2 years since they are saying it hasn't changed by 1% either way.

[frogstamper]

I can't believe that as regards the new "S" tier 2mb service where you are stm'd for 12 hours if you download a truly paltry 100mb will only affect 5% of customers.
I mean a few e-mails, a couple of videos on you-tube or the like and then you are classed by VM as a "heavy user", even by VMs standards that is laughable.

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by frogstamper

I can't believe that as regards the new "S" tier 2mb service where you are stm'd for 12 hours if you download a truly paltry 100mb will only affect 5% of customers.
I mean a few e-mails, a couple of videos on you-tube or the like and then you are classed by VM as a "heavy user", even by VMs standards that is laughable.

They will just have to re-write it all so that 2MB won't be part of them figures anymore. but I'd say there's only so long they can get away with saying that it's only 5% of people being affected. if it was 24hr STM they would still claim it's only 5%

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by frogstamper

I can't believe that as regards the new "S" tier 2mb service where you are stm'd for 12 hours if you download a truly paltry 100mb will only affect 5% of customers.
I mean a few e-mails, a couple of videos on you-tube or the like and then you are classed by VM as a "heavy user", even by VMs standards that is laughable.

The STM on S has nothing to do with being a heavy user. BB S is purposely designed to be a low usage tier. It is not for people who use Youtube or download music.

[lardboy]

I'm fine with the trial times and limits as long as they keep "peak time" as ending at 9pm if they go with the 10pm option I'll be "annoyed".

[broadbandking]

Originally Posted by lardboy

I'm fine with the trial times and limits as long as they keep "peak time" as ending at 9pm if they go with the 10pm option I'll be "annoyed".

Its 1am mate on the trial

[fizgog]

Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight) will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed

Everyone needs to forget about the 5% figure that VM keep mentioning as once you hit your allocated limit you will be traffic managed.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by fizgog

Everyone needs to forget about the 5% figure that VM keep mentioning as once you hit your allocated limit you will be traffic managed.

Not everyone downloads or does online gaming so the majority never get STMed.

[fizgog]

Yes not everyone gets STMed, which is why I said "once you hit you allocated limit you will be traffic managed."