Topic: Virgin torrent traffic management?

[Macphisto80]

I only just recently clicked on to this after noticing that my connection was very slow, so I did the speed check a few times and it's down from 10mb to 1mb for the past few hours. I'm not even that heavy of a downloader, but this is seriously pissing me off. Sure I could get on the phone to the bastards, but they're just going to fill my ear full of shit and not give a fuck. Is there any way I can get round them capping my connection? They obviously can tell I've torrents on the go. Fucking bastards and their false advertising.

[Golden_Child]

I was going to post the above link. Their figures aren't exact though. I tend to do most of my downloads between 2-4pm, a couple of gig after 4pm and the lay off it until about 9:30 and rinse the arse off the connection.

Technically they aren't using false advertising. It's still unlimited, just slower when they impose the cap rate and don't forget you're only paying for "Up to xxmb".

Of course, you could always fork out an obscene amount for the 50mb and above to get around it.

[Macphisto80]

So what exactly is the limit you can hit before they impose this cap? I've read that peak times vary and all that, and you can lose a few meg during it, but down to 1mb is a bit fucked. It says on that list 5 hours. Well, it's been over five hours now and I'm still getting slapped on the wrist here. Bloody annoying.

[Golden_Child]

I've often found that as soon as I go over 3gig during either 10-3 or 4-9 my bandwidth tends to drop off considerably even though their stated limits are 7gig & 3.5gig respectively. As for the 5 hours, it will begin from when you hit the tipping point. That's why if I'm downloading to any large degree I make sure my cap will run out before 10pm so I get maximal speeds from 10pm onwards, which has the additional bonus of others in my street being asleep meaning I get no bandwidth stolen by them 

If your already past the 5 hours and are using the virgin wireless router it might be an idea to log into your router and change the number in the drop menu under 'wireless settings'. My sisters router started being a bit funny and I changed it from auto to 1 and all was fine, she has since had to fiddle with it again but you've got 15 numbers to play with.

[Macphisto80]

So basically if you aren't capped by 10pm, your speed is maxed out all night until 9am in the morning?

[Golden_Child]

So basically if you aren't capped by 10pm, your speed is maxed out all night until 9am in the morning?

Yep, but if you hit the 4-10pm limit at say, 9:30pm you will be screwed over until 2:30am.

[Macphisto80]

Yep, but if you hit the 4-10pm limit at say, 9:30pm you will be screwed over until 2:30am.

Ah, bollocks to that, then. Never knew all this. Good to know for future reference now anyway. I hadn't a clue. Always did wonder why my connection was a bit shit at times. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Golden_Child]

No worries mate 

[SalisburyRed]

"Traffic management" ends at 9pm, not 10pm. Peer-to-peer stuff is monitored separately between 5pm and midnight.

On the subject of Virgin broadband, I recently upgraded from 10Mb to 30Mb, got the new Superhub today and had it activated. Sadly, my dad's computer (connected via ethernet) is getting about 10Mb and my laptop upstairs is getting about 4.5Mb. Why is nothing simple with Virgin?

[Golden_Child]

"Traffic management" ends at 9pm, not 10pm. Peer-to-peer stuff is monitored separately between 5pm and midnight.

On the subject of Virgin broadband, I recently upgraded from 10Mb to 30Mb, got the new Superhub today and had it activated. Sadly, my dad's computer (connected via ethernet) is getting about 10Mb and my laptop upstairs is getting about 4.5Mb. Why is nothing simple with Virgin?

Because they are shitheads. Are you in a heavily populated virgin area? Only needs a number of selfish gits like myself and some shoddy virgin networking to help screw people over.

Oh and yes, it is 9pm not 10pm. The p2p stuff is correct too. Watching a film while checking RAWK so sorry bout that 

[SalisburyRed]

Not really sure how many Virgin subscribers there are round here. Thing is, the connection when we had 10Mb was fine. I can deal with weaker speeds upstairs because I know the Superhub's supposed to be shite for wireless connections - the next software update will let you use it as a standalone modem and connect it to another wireless router, such as the one we used previously which worked very well. What's annoying is upgrading and then finding nothing's changed. The internet's been on and off this evening which suggests we might just be the victims of a temporary fault in the local network. I hope this is the case, but I'll be on the phone tomorrow anyway.

[bradigor]

100meg is fine, get 12MB/s on a regular basis. Couldn't imagine being stuck on 10-30meg now.

[bradigor]

"Traffic management" ends at 9pm, not 10pm. Peer-to-peer stuff is monitored separately between 5pm and midnight.

On the subject of Virgin broadband, I recently upgraded from 10Mb to 30Mb, got the new Superhub today and had it activated. Sadly, my dad's computer (connected via ethernet) is getting about 10Mb and my laptop upstairs is getting about 4.5Mb. Why is nothing simple with Virgin?

Wired? Wireless? What are your computer specs? Loads of other things to consider.
I personally run wired as much as I can, as the Superhub sucks.

[Golden_Child]

Sounds like a nightmare. I've been with them, and their predecessors in my area, for about 15 years and never had many major issues. Saying that, I don't use one of their routers because I was an early wireless adopter before they even offered it so from yours and my sisters experiences I can understand that there are problems. I'm thankful for my netgear router, even if it did cost me a weeks wages a few years ago 

[SalisburyRed]

Wired? Wireless? What are your computer specs? Loads of other things to consider.
I personally run wired as much as I can, as the Superhub sucks.

My laptop's connecting wirelessly. I didn't have a lot of time today, but I'm going to have a play around with it tomorrow. I've had a look around various forums and a lot of people seem to have gotten a lot of grief from the Superhub. The most annoying thing for me - aside from the fact we're not getting 30Mb, which could just have been an activation error - is that using the old Netgear router when we were on 10Mb I lost barely any bandwidth on wireless wherever I was in the house. By the sounds of it the next software update - currently in Beta testing - should do the trick.

[Kashinoda]

The Superhub is a peice of fucking shit, i am loving 50mb though i couldnt go back.

[SalisburyRed]

30Mb is coming through clearly on the downstairs computer now via ethernet. The Superhub is the worst wireless router I have ever used though. My laptop was getting speeds of roughly 20Mb when connecting wirelessly whilst it was sitting right next to the Superhub. Now back upstairs I'm getting anything between 1Mb and 5Mb.

The next software update will allow you to use the Superhub as simply a modem and use your own wireless router. Apparently there are ways to configure this already however, and I'll certainly be looking into those later on today.

[Macphisto80]

"Traffic management" ends at 9pm, not 10pm. Peer-to-peer stuff is monitored separately between 5pm and midnight.

On the subject of Virgin broadband, I recently upgraded from 10Mb to 30Mb, got the new Superhub today and had it activated. Sadly, my dad's computer (connected via ethernet) is getting about 10Mb and my laptop upstairs is getting about 4.5Mb. Why is nothing simple with Virgin?

You said it, mate. Even getting someone on the phone who actually knows what the fuck they are talking about can be a chore. And if you want to leave, you pay through the arse too. I mean, actually charging someone for not wanting to use your service any more? That doesn't sound right, but I think it's like 60 quid or something. Fuckers.

[SalisburyRed]

30Mb is now working (ish). The computer downstairs connected via ethernet is running at top speed. One laptop upstairs is running about 25Mb.

Mine, in the next room, however, is running at about 4Mb. Why might this be happening? Windows shows I have two bars out of five as far as wireless signal is concerned. Could it just be that I'm out of range of the good speed? As I posted earlier, I was only getting 20Mb when sat right next to the Superhub! On the old 10Mb service I consistently had speeds of 9Mb or over up here. Could it be something on my computer preventing me from accessing the full amount? I've tried playing around with a few things, such as the wireless channel and my firewall, but to no avail.

EDIT: I might try the workaround suggested here and try and connect my old wireless router.

[shelovesyou]

With them myself and have a desktop connected via ethernet to the  router which is far slower than my wireless connection.
Weird.

[Golden_Child]

For people suffering from slow wireless connections:

The virgin routers are shite.

I know it's harsh but bite the bullet, buy a decent netgear router for £70 and you're sorted.

The argument will be "I'm paying £xxx a month so why should I buy something?"

Valid point, it still won't get you anywhere. Virgin have probably the most reliable connection in the country, get a decent router you will be sorted. The fact is that the small percentage of the monthly bill that pays for your shit router is more of a scam than buying a new router and using the same connection. Thing is, you signed up for the shitty router before researching it and so have no legal right to complain. Don't forget, you purchased "up to xxmb" broadband.

Any problems sorting it can be posted on RAWK and fixed the same day   

[SalisburyRed]

Got a USB wireless adapter, as my wireless card in my laptop didn't have wireless N capability. As a result I'm now getting full 30Mb everywhere in the house - where previously I wasn't even getting full speed in the same room as the Super Hub - except my bedroom. Tried using my old router as an access point, but still low signals in my room. I've now turned the spare room into my own office where the speeds are fine. Not ideal, but I'm rather liking my new setup in here.

[smicer07]

Do the 50 and 100 meg options have no traffic management then?

[bradigor]

Do the 50 and 100 meg options have no traffic management then?

Not as yet. None I have encountered anyway

[Gili Gulu]

Not as yet. None I have encountered anyway

Virgin are throttling p2p & newsgroup traffic between 5pm and 12am for all packages, weekdays, and from 12pm to 12am weekends.

From the Virgin cable  traffic management policy, link posted earlier:

File sharing

We moderate the total volume of file sharing traffic on our network between 5pm and midnight on weekdays and midday and midnight on weekends. This policy, which applies to all broadband packages, is restricted to Peer to Peer ("P2P") applications and Newsgroups (which are commonly used to distribute large amounts of data)

This policy does not impact any applications other than Peer to Peer and Newsgroups, so things like watching iPlayer, online gaming, making calls via Skype, downloading music tracks from iTunes or streaming them from Spotify and sending an email or normal browsing are unaffected.

It's important to remember that these traffic management policies only apply at peak times when speeds are most likely to be affected by people using more than their fair share. Outside of peak times we do not manage traffic.

Some people have been able to get around the newsgroup restriction by changing the port to HTTP SSL port 443, if their newgroup provider supports this.

[kev_goss]

Does this apply to gaming??? Id have thought this uses a lot of bandwith too.

[bradigor]

Virgin are throttling p2p & newsgroup traffic between 5pm and 12am for all packages, weekdays, and from 12pm to 12am weekends.

From the Virgin cable  traffic management policy, link posted earlier:

Some people have been able to get around the newsgroup restriction by changing the port to HTTP SSL port 443, if their newgroup provider supports this.

Ah, I don't use newsgroups or p2p. Thanks for the info though, was unaware of the change.

[Gili Gulu]

Does this apply to gaming??? Id have thought this uses a lot of bandwith too.

 

Should be no effect on gaming, iPlayer, skype etc.

Just p2p and newsgroups.

What it seems Virgin are doing is limiting newsgroups and p2p to 50% or less of the internet traffic in any given area during the limited hours. So if you're the only person using it in your area you might be lucky.

While a 50% share seems more than enough, a lot of the time during the limited hours the download speed is reduced by around 90%.

[gazzalfc]

I've had 2 letters through the door regarding my 'detrimental use' of my virgin broadband connection between the hours of 9am and 9pm

They now 'heavily recommend' that I keep my 'peak utilisation' of the network to between 9pm and 9am when the network is at his lowest use.

Failure to do so may involve the suspension (temporary or permanent) of my account (with or without notice).

They claim (unofficially) that 'detrimental use' involves the 'transfer of 350GB of data (upload and download) between the hours of 9am-9pm over a 28 day period.

Not really unlimited broadband now is it?