Do Virgin Media Cap Heavy Users?

[Braveheart2009]

All the staff say they don't cap when I asked some of my mates about Virgin Media they say they block you from torrent sites if you use them and also cap you on downloads if you exceed a certain amount then they advertise free unlimied broadband.

[andydd]

All the staff say they don't cap when I asked some of my mates about Virgin Media they say they block you from torrent sites if you use them and also cap you on downloads if you exceed a certain amount then they advertise free unlimied broadband.

 

There is no usage limit but they do 'throttle' (slow down) the connections of heavy users during certain hours, its all in their T & C's somewhere.

 

There is no blocking of Torrent sites or torrent programs....at present.

 

Andy

[dx100uk]

there is a fair usage policy and also a no such thing as 'unlimited'

if you download [depending upon your package] XXXGb within a certain timescale your will be throttled. time to do some reading of the T&C's as advised.

 

dx

[andydd]

there is a fair usage policy and also a no such thing as 'unlimited'

if you download [depending upon your package] XXXGb within a certain timescale your will be throttled. time to do some reading of the T&C's as advised.

 

dx

 

..although unlike other ISP's that do cap users, I'm unaware of Virgin actually doing this, they just use their rather complicated throttling procedure, this mainly kicks in if you download large amounts during peak periods (i.e heavy torrent use), and stays there for the next few hours.

 

Personally Ive never really noticed in, although Virgin just upgraded my 2mb to 10mb so I'm a happy bunny, also i did some quick tests and found it was running at about 9.5mb

 

Heres the 'throttling' or Traffic Management info

 

Virgin Media Broadband:Traffic management - & Traffic management

 

 

If for example you are on the slowest S (2mb) package it throttles you for 12 hours at a time for only downloading 200mb, so it would appear that you could easily be throttled all the time ! (down to 1mb).

Andy

Edited December 13, 2009 by andydd

[Conniff]

As above, there is no cap, just throttling and that is to 1/2 to 3/4 your speed so you probaly wont even notice it.

 

They tell you if you want to download big files, then do it after midnight when there is no throttling.

You will notice that 50mb broadband isn't throttled at all.

Edited December 13, 2009 by Conniff

[locutus]

Another link to the same stuff Andy posted

 

Traffic management - Help - Virgin Media

 

Must be true, they posted it twice

Edited December 13, 2009 by locutus
Just realised it's exactly the same as Andy's link

[labrat]

i tend to get limited to around 250kb/s although i would be clased as a very heavy user

[Braveheart2009]

one of my mates said don't go with VM if you are going to download movies and large files as they will restrict downloads so I am staying away. I have been with pipex for 2 years and happy.

[andydd]

one of my mates said don't go with VM if you are going to download movies and large files as they will restrict downloads so I am staying away. I have been with pipex for 2 years and happy.

 

You may like to check out the details yourself (posted earlier) as opposed to what 'mates say', as mentioned, VM do 'throttle' heavy users but in reality it is rarely actually noticeable, I tend to download torrents but use the built-in scheduler to ensure that the 'heavy' downloading doesnt kick-in untill late at night when a) I'm not using the PC and b) The 'throttling' doesnt apply, as VM have just upgraded my connection from 2mb to 10mb, I'm a happy bunny, don't forget of course that VM are the only ISP to use fibre optic cabling, thus avoiding the need of a phone line, this also means that the actual download speed is very close to what is actually advertised, my 10mb connection was 9.5mb last time I tested.

 

My package is £21 a month for 10mb Broadband plus size L TV package, I have no use for a phone line so there are no extra phone charges which you will get with every other provider.

 

Andy

[Bookworm]

Couldn't disagree more with you Andy, about the "not noticeable".

 

We get so heavily throttled by VM in the evening that come 7.30 - 8.00, all we can do is browse the Internet and even that feels like we're back in the days of 56k modem, waiting for pages to load. There's absolutely no way I could download anything like a torrent in the evening. And we're supposed to be on 20 MB!

[andydd]

Couldn't disagree more with you Andy, about the "not noticeable".

 

We get so heavily throttled by VM in the evening that come 7.30 - 8.00, all we can do is browse the Internet and even that feels like we're back in the days of 56k modem, waiting for pages to load. There's absolutely no way I could download anything like a torrent in the evening. And we're supposed to be on 20 MB!

 

Thats very suprising, even if you do reach the throttle limit of 3.5gb you would be throttled to 5mb which by todays standard is still pretty fast and shouldnt result in slow loading web pages (which in most cases are only a few k), perhaps you have something else going on ?

 

I've only ever actually noticed a light slowing (certainly not bad enough to slow down web pages) down when Ive got a few torrents going at high download speeds, even then this can be solved by 'scheduling' the torrent to slow down in peak times and run at full speed at night.

 

I guess peoples experiences will differ though, personally I'd recommend VM over other ISP's I've tried.

 

Andy

[Conniff]

Couldn't disagree more with you Andy, about the "not noticeable".

 

We get so heavily throttled by VM in the evening that come 7.30 - 8.00, all we can do is browse the Internet and even that feels like we're back in the days of 56k modem, waiting for pages to load. There's absolutely no way I could download anything like a torrent in the evening. And we're supposed to be on 20 MB!

 

That's not throttling, you have a problem with contention (or something you have let into your pc) and need get it checked out.

 

Virgins prefered method of checking your speed is to go to their games page and click on download of 3 or 4 big games and total what the download speed is, (you cancel the download when finished unless you want the games). That is much more acturate than speed tests and confirms your speed from Virgin. Bad results mean you really should contact them to get it sorted. If the result is what you would expect, then the fault lies elsewhere.

Edited December 28, 2009 by Conniff
added a bit more

[Bookworm]

What's contention when it's at home? :-?

 

I haven't "let" anything in my PC, we have 1/2 dozen laptops and PCs round the house and the one I am using right now is only 2 weeks old and is practically empty. ;-) Yet, it doesn't matter which one gets used, they all go downhill at that time of the night.

 

Just to make sure, I will check out the games thing tonight. Thanks for that.

[kiptower]

contention ratio is on landline adsl , in plain english the supply you are connected to will have for example 50 meg capacity , the ratio is the max of users that are connected to that typical on BT private users is 40 (Bisiness) is 20 so ratio is 40 -1 (private) so when @ max connections your speed may only be just over 1 meg

 

on cable its similar but you are connected to optical fible which is typical 80+ meg, on 50 meg you will be fed by 2 before it goes coax, but VM dont state a ratio as such, cable is a lot more complex in that you will receive on 50 meg 3 separate channels @ 20 meg each and then combined in the cable modem, 20 meg works on the 50 meg supply but is fed by 1 channel only

 

btw bookie your PM box is full

 

Kip

[Conniff]

Ah - contention is where the more using it, the more it slows down. Are you using a wireless router for all the laptops?

 

What you need to do to check is to plug the cable directly from the modem into one of the laptops. That laptop will be the only one using the internet so you can then see if it is your setup or not.

If you do this, you will have to reboot your modem by switching it off at the mains for about 30 secs. You will have to reboot it again when you plug it back into the router.

[devilzwishbone]

Having worked for Virgin Media in the past for 3 1/2 Years.

 

Yes they do

 

It is written in your T&C even though they dont always cap they reserve the right to, more and more recently they have been addind caping to people who use the service excesivly as it carries a fair usage policy

[andydd]

Having worked for Virgin Media in the past for 3 1/2 Years.

 

Yes they do

 

It is written in your T&C even though they dont always cap they reserve the right to, more and more recently they have been addind caping to people who use the service excesivly as it carries a fair usage policy

 

Is there a 'fair usage policy' in the T & C's ?. I thought we were discusiing the actuall capping limits as linked to above by me and others, these dont mention any fair usage, they are actual limits that show how much you can download before the throttling kicks in, surely this applies to everyone, not just wether Virgin feel like it ?

[devilzwishbone]

There is 3 type of restrictions they use...

 

1) NPD which stands for Non Paid Disconnect

Pretty self explanatory and doesnt relate to this query, only when a person fails to pay their bill

 

2) Abuse

Virgin Media as the ISP have an obligality to respond to any reports of abusive behaviour online, bullying, hacking, virus spreading etc

It is written in the T&C you shall not use the services for these purposes and that they have the right to suspend or disconnect your services

In this case the Internet Abuse team apply a restriction to the account stopping internet access this can be from 1 month to 3 months ive seen.

This can happen without notice, but they will keep details to provide evidence as to why the services were restricted / shut off

 

3) High Usage

If a customer is abusing the service lets say throtelling downloads from peer to peer websites and copying software, movies and music illegally

VM have the facility to see were the data source if coming from and if your using the services in excess to the "Average" user which is calculated with the Mean (Being mathematical term and not mean as in nasty), the mean value of customers download usage

 

If your exceeding the average usage between all virgin media customers then it is considered as above fair usage and therefore reserve the rigfht to slow your internet connection down (in some instances even restrict access to the net down to dial up speeds)

 

Other factors involved...

Water in cabling outside can cause problems to both CATV and BBI (Cable Television and Broadband Internet)

 

N2R, Noise to Ratio, which if in a block of flats / row of houses were the feed goes through a main cable, you can get people using old equipment.

 

Old TVs or VCRs which return noise levels back down the cabling distorting the signal

 

Damaged cabling as little as peeled cable can cause loss of signal power which can reduce signal speeds

 

Finally,

Spyware, this can dissable your computer from accessing the net all together so always make sure u got a valid and up to date antivirus.

DONT USE PCGUARD I think its a pile of crap and I used to work for them and use it, I installed it when it was a trial back in 2007, when I uninstalled it for PC Tools antivirus is found over 1000 threads on my computer and it was PC Tools that resolved my issues for me.

 

Unless your using their software any spyware issues is classified as problems with your own equipment not the equipment that they supply or their lines therefore they are not liable or responsible to fix it.

If there is a signal getting to the modem and back to them, they are supplying the service to your address and regardless of your computer not wanting to conect to the net your still liable to pay them for supplying the service to yoru household

 

Think of it as your TV

Only because you might not watch the TV stations or happy with 1-5 doesnt mean you dont pay for Virgin Media sending the signal to your house for the remainder 30+ stations

Edited December 29, 2009 by devilzwishbone

[Bookworm]

3) High Usage

If a customer is abusing the service lets say throtelling downloads from peer to peer websites and copying software, movies and music illegally

VM have the facility to see were the data source if coming from and if your using the services in excess to the "Average" user which is calculated with the Mean (Being mathematical term and not mean as in nasty), the mean value of customers download usage

 

If your exceeding the average usage between all virgin media customers then it is considered as above fair usage and therefore reserve the rigfht to slow your internet connection down (in some instances even restrict access to the net down to dial up speeds)

And of course here lies the problem... when I signed up, they had no such FIP and I pay a premium amount to have high speeds at all times... Unilaterally (and very sneakily, may I add), VM then found they didn't have the infrastructure to cope with the high demand from lots of people and introduced the FIP and subsequent throttling...

 

Yes, I am a heavy user. I have lots of computers and laptops, 2 sons who game online, and a daughter who browses a LOT and chat and swap pics with their mates and I am forever uploading and d/loading many types of documents from one to another and networking etc... That, after all, is why I want and am ready to pay a premium amount. I then find it galling that VM, because THEY can't cope with the usage I am paying for, decide to slow it down to an extent where it is barely usable.

[kiptower]

Bookie are you still on 20 meg, ? I have 50 meg and dont get capped

[Bookworm]

20, yes... I didn't see the point in paying yet more to NOT get what I was paying for.

[kiptower]

check out your bill to what your paying for 20 meg

 

I went up to 50 meg and it was reduced to £28 pm, if you take another service from them, and finished up internet and phone line all in £38 pm

 

20 meg on its own is £37 pm

 

also if you not tied to a contact , eg you have been with them over a year, talk to retentions department in that your thinking of going to sky

[locutus]

if you not tied to a contact , eg you have been with them over a year, talk to retentions department in that your thinking of going to sky

Only if you don't mind them putting you back into a minimum term!

[kiptower]

barter on the min term , I did mine through the CEO complaints team