Posted by Toney_Ericsson
Hello you lot
A question for you, how many of you or people you know use the Virginmedia broadband service for reference?
Reason I ask is that on a site full of other Virginmedia customers (32,414 registered members) a web petition and possible media attention may be organized. There is some very "annoyed" people on it.
This is about Virginmedia charging customers for an unlimited service but actually supplying half a speed service.
Look here http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/internet/traffic.html
Don't be fooled by what Virginmedia says there. What it is about is implementing a usage cap but charging you full wack which is meant to be an unlimited service, you can see that I'm sure.
Obviously that's not right. What's not mentioned there say for example your a 4mb customer, it does'nt take you long to transfer 750MB before you are traffic shaped down to 2mb at even just 4mb. It will be the same for 10mb and 20mb customers. Thing is you'll be paying for double the speed but only getting half.
Another thing, this traffic shaping will happen between 4pm and midnight, most people I assume do work and will use their broadband mostly between toughs times.
This in reality is about saving Virginmedia money but grabbing more from you.
Maybe it's Gordon Brown in disguise? or a greedy company with a similar face with his fingers in all the pies?
Roll on a customer revolt and show Virginmedia up for what they really are just like they tried to do with Sky.
I'm personally all for it as they are a bunch of ****S and is just what they need!
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I
myself
[ This Message was edited by: Toney_Ericsson on 2007-05-04 03:56 ]
Posted by Alec
These w*****s at VirginMedia cut off my SkyOne without warning, meaning I'm missing "Back to Back Jack".
I'm so tempted just to leave them and go over to sky, but virgin now provide my tv, phone and broadband so I can't be bothered to change them all.
Posted by MikLSP
Virgin no longer show the Sky channels because Sky demanded unreasonable prices for them to eliminate them as competition.
I have virginmedia broadband and it has been much less reliable than before they took over, not very impressed so far!
I did get upgraded to 4Mb from 2 for the same price but I have noticed my d/loads are slower in their so called peak times.
This is not on at all!
Posted by slattery69
i ve heard virginmedia block a lot of bit torrent activity by blocking certain ports.
anyone confirm or deny this im not with virginmedia but i do get asked a lot to join them
Posted by fatreg
very easy fix slattery...
get azereus and encrypt the data.....
beats all traffic shaping...
Posted by pmerryman
On 2007-05-04 19:43:38, slattery69 wrote:
i ve heard virginmedia block a lot of bit torrent activity by blocking certain ports.
anyone confirm or deny this im not with virginmedia but i do get asked a lot to join them
No problems at my end, and I am using virgin media. I use bitlord, and have had no probs so far, and have been with them since NTL for 10 years.
Posted by Trev1982
no ports blocked in my experience, running utorrent and playing xbox live, lots of up and downloading going on here.
Posted by arien617
Limewire is good for anyone that's interested.
Posted by p900 lover
Im with Sky, no need for all this hassle to be honest, plus i need my sky 1
Posted by scottt
Same here, yeah Sky is pricey but its a quality no hassle service....
Have my TV with Sky and Phone/Net with BT never had any problems
Posted by Toney_Ericsson
On 2007-05-04 18:56:54, MikLSP wrote:
Virgin no longer show the Sky channels because Sky demanded unreasonable prices for them to eliminate them as competition.
I have virginmedia broadband and it has been much less reliable than before they took over, not very impressed so far!
I did get upgraded to 4Mb from 2 for the same price but I have noticed my d/loads are slower in their so called peak times.
This is not on at all!
You know why this is mate, it's because Virginmedia have been trialling traffic shaping.
What Virginmedia say here http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/internet/traffic.html really is a load of bull shit.
It is about cutting costs and making them more money. They are not providing an unlimited service which is advertised as unlimited.
Say for example a customer is on 4MB, it doesnt take long at all to download that 750MB by either downloading, streaming internet TV or media, playing online games, VOIP or other people connected to your broadband connection within your house hold. I would say it would be quite easy to use that amount in a couple hours. So Basically and realistically 2 hours of the speed your paying for a day and then your traffic shaped after that each day.
This is just like ADSL companies with there per month usage caps only this is per day.
Bear that in mind and then read what they say in that Virginmedia web page above.
Now thats why I see it as bull shit. I agree it's not on at all. I can see this being in the as well because there is a hell lot of angry customers.
I'm all up for signing a petition and the site to watch about it is
cablehell.co.uk
Posted by londonlad123
But are you certain they don't do it to make sure everyone has SOME broadband rather than none at all.
I know a few people on sky bb and they always complain that at certain times they have NO bb coverage at all. I was using it around a mates and in the middle of checking my email it stopped and it didn't return for another hour. Someones also mentioned it in the sky any good thread.
Posted by Toney_Ericsson
On 2007-05-05 10:02:18, londonlad123 wrote:
But are you certain they don't do it to make sure everyone has SOME broadband rather than none at all.
I know a few people on sky bb and they always complain that at certain times they have NO bb coverage at all. I was using it around a mates and in the middle of checking my email it stopped and it didn't return for another hour. Someones also mentioned it in the sky any good thread.
What virginmedia say there about a 5% downloading abnormal amounts is bull. Everybody uses there broadband as they wish. I most certainly am not a heavy user but I am paying for an unlimited connection so thats what it should be rather than after a couple hours having my connection "traffic managed".
Look on cablehell, loads of customers are finding since virginmedia took over that their broadband has gone down the pan all the time. It was alright before, wonder why.
You really got to be a mug if you fell for Virginmedia's press release about Sky being a bunch of ****s and that they are doing customers a favour. Last year Virginmedia's profit was £313 million. They got the money to pay Sky. End of the day Virginmedia offer a quadruple service, they got the money but of coarse no.
Now their trying to screw customers by providing a half pint service but of coarse still being paying for the full wack. Erm.....
Posted by Kwiksta
I'm with Virgin Media. Been with them (or Telewest) for around 6 years now. Just upgraded our tv package the other day
Posted by Adz21
not to bothered myself got the 10mb broadband, if i do use 3gb in a few hours i can handle 5mb broadband for a little bit! if not its just more ammunition to moan at them for more discounts!
phone up and complain! well worth it! when VM lost sky one i went mental and got loads of upgrades for free. I get the full package with tv movies and sports, ive got a V+ box and second box upstairs, 10mb broadband and land line for £60 a month! big savings if you add it all up!
very very happy customer!
[ This Message was edited by: Adz21 on 2007-05-05 20:25 ]
Posted by Toney_Ericsson
On 2007-05-05 21:24:37, Adz21 wrote:
not to bothered myself got the 10mb broadband, if i do use 3gb in a few hours i can handle 5mb broadband for a little bit! if not its just more ammunition to moan at them for more discounts!
phone up and complain! well worth it! when VM lost sky one i went mental and got loads of upgrades for free. I get the full package with tv movies and sports, ive got a V+ box and second box upstairs, 10mb broadband and land line for £60 a month! big savings if you add it all up!
very very happy customer!
[ This Message was edited by: Adz21 on 2007-05-05 20:25 ]
I know, I got TV XL with movies and sports out of them too when Sky took away their channels as VM did'nt want to pay for them instead thought they'll get them for nothing seeing as they made £313 million last year and have a face such as branson behind them with his fingers in all the pies.
You obviously have'nt got anything wrong with your connection then like the countless Virginmedia customers here at cablehell.co.uk, many people I know even on basic speed broadband or 10mb have noticed this "traffic management".
Broadband was good when it was ntl, now since Virginmedia have come along everything is messed up.
If you believe this http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/internet/traffic.html your a mug. What a coincidence it's another "we're doing you a favour by doing this". What crap.
If your happy paying for 10mb when your getting 5mb well good luck to you. Same goes for poor upload speeds even when your not traffic shaped.
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myself[ This Message was edited by: Toney_Ericsson on 2007-05-06 07:10 ]
Posted by Adz21
my laptops broken so i havent been using Utorrent for a week and a half so i cant say i have noticed yet. i dont pay for 10mb i only pay for 4mb so its not all bad but ill be sure to complain if it is!
Posted by dougproctor
Has the download service slowed since they took over Ntl? I used to download software etc at about 450 Kbts but now I struggle to get 60 sometimes. My dial up years ago was faster! I mean, it can take 10-15 seconds to download 2Mb. And I am paying £24.99 for a 4Mb service. My webcam pictures move like crap.
Is this a common problem?
Doug
Posted by Toney_Ericsson
On 2007-05-06 20:25:32, dougproctor wrote:
Has the download service slowed since they took over Ntl? I used to download software etc at about 450 Kbts but now I struggle to get 60 sometimes. My dial up years ago was faster! I mean, it can take 10-15 seconds to download 2Mb. And I am paying £24.99 for a 4Mb service. My webcam pictures move like crap.
Is this a common problem?
Doug
That is basically what I and a lot of other Virginmedia customers are finding.
Their "traffic managment" was trialled, I noticed it then, others noticed it, now Virginmedia announces that they are implementing "traffic management".
What customers are finding though is that it is'nt only at their "stated times" it's most of the time.
Me like most Virginmedia customers are not happy about paying for a unlimited service which is'nt unlimited and also is half the speed that your actually paying for or all these connection problems.
Do any of you do online gaming? notice anything when your playing online games? losing connection when on servers?
This really is the site to watch http://cablehell.co.uk look at the thread in chit chat called "[merged] Traffic Management Discussion" quite a few of them are making a complaint to Watchdog. I knew something like this would happen as there is a lot of angry Virginmedia customers.
Posted by lamont
Im a happy sky HD customer and it will be staying that way!
Posted by Toney_Ericsson
Want to make a complaint to the BBC's Watchdog about your Virginmedia broadband like many others? here is where
http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer[....]tchdog/contact_computers.shtml
Roll on seeing them on Watchdog.
I
myself
[ This Message was edited by: Toney_Ericsson on 2007-05-07 22:30 ]
Posted by Toney_Ericsson
Here's a couple of interesting facts about Steve Birtch, incase you didn't know he's now running Virgin Media, but came from Comcast in the US, this is what happened when he was in the US.
He ran the largest cable network and introduced controversial traffic shaping, which was widely talked about and I don't think is common in the US: Both clearly on the Comcast Wikipedia page, it's interesting that they note traffic shaping, where as they don't do this on any other US ISP's, so Comcast must have been noted for it's traffic shaping.
According to the Comcast High Speed Internet terms of service, customers are provided with dynamic IP addresses[2]. Comcast has not admitted to implementing a traffic shaping policy that can interfere with Voice over IP or online gaming applications. Comcast has a policy of terminating broadband customers who allegedly use excessive bandwidth. Comcast has declined to disclose a numerical bandwidth limit, arguing that the limit is variable on a monthly basis and dependent on the capacity of specific cable nodes. Comcast claims this policy only affects users whose bandwidth consumption is among the top one percent of high-speed internet customers. Statements issued by Comcast in response to press inquiries suggest that excessive usage is generally defined as several hundred gigabytes per month.[3] However, their terms of service state that a costumer's use should not "represent (in the sole judgment of Comcast) an overly large burden on the network."
He refused to provide other channels output and was forced to arbitration, where they made them pay more money and display the channel:
After the Washington Nationals baseball team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2004, Comcast alienated many fans in the area by refusing to add the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), which airs the team's games, to its channel lineup. In July 2006, as a condition of its approval of Comcast's takeover of a portion of Adelphia's assets, the FCC ordered Comcast to enter into binding arbitration with MASN to settle their dispute. As a result, on August 4, 2006, it was announced that Comcast would carry MASN programming starting in September 2006. A price increase was announced as well.
In the Philadelphia region, Comcast uses the FCC's "terrestrial loophole" to avoid negotiations with satellite television services for delivery of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, which is transmitted via a closed-wired system instead of satellite (as its predecessor, PRISM, was a local-only service). This essentially denies competition in the Philadelphia market for games of the Philadelphia Phillies (baseball), Philadelphia 76ers (basketball), and Philadelphia Flyers (hockey). Comcast does, however, supply Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia programming to Verizon for their competing FIOS video service.
Sound familiar?
Posted by Miss UK
On 2007-05-04 18:47:20, Alec wrote:
These w*****s at VirginMedia cut off my SkyOne without warning, meaning I'm missing "Back to Back Jack".
I'm so tempted just to leave them and go over to sky, but virgin now provide my tv, phone and broadband so I can't be bothered to change them all.
My answer to that is why don't you just download the episodes your missing?
My friends with Virgin Media and he was abit angry at first but he would change to Sky one just for the sake of a tv show
I have Virgin media's Broadband and Phone line here at home,
never encountered any problems though
Posted by Toney_Ericsson
On 2007-05-07 23:54:05, miss uk wrote:
On 2007-05-04 18:47:20, Alec wrote:
These w*****s at VirginMedia cut off my SkyOne without warning, meaning I'm missing "Back to Back Jack".
I'm so tempted just to leave them and go over to sky, but virgin now provide my tv, phone and broadband so I can't be bothered to change them all.
My answer to that is why don't you just download the episodes your missing?
My friends with Virgin Media and he was abit angry at first but he would change to Sky one just for the sake of a tv show
I have Virgin media's Broadband and Phone line here at home,
never encountered any problems though
Theres a slight problem with that MissUK
Look here http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/internet/traffic.html look at for example if your a 4MB customer
"Broadband Size: L
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: L package download at least 750MB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight) will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed – their download speed will be set to 2Mb, with their upload speed set to 192Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management policy is applied."
So basically even if there was'nt connection problems at the moment/slow speeds and IF everybody was getting the speed their supposed to be on say 4MB after you have downloaded or used 750mb you would be on half your speed but still being charged the full wack for 4mb!
Thats also what this is about.....
On another note, it's so easy to use 750mb, you don't have to be a complete mick taker and be downloading the whole internet. I personally do a fair bit of online gaming, download stuff, stream stuff it all uses bandwidth.
You could easily use 750MB in an hour and a half a day and then you would have your connection strangled to half but still be paying for twice that.
I'm currently beta testing something for the BBC. Later you will be able to download BBC program's that say you missed last week. Thats no good with this Virginmedia broadband though is it. Things like that are the future, you also have things like joost. They all use bandwidth and besides the point this is meant toi be an unlimited broadband connection.
It is'nt it's traffic shaped now - false advertising I think
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I
myself[ This Message was edited by: Toney_Ericsson on 2007-05-07 23:27 ]
Posted by Miss UK
Hmm...
I was on that 4MB but I had it dropped down to 2MB..
I tend not to download much, I know a few people in my area do cos sometimes the net is ever so slow, a few times it's refused to work aswell late at night but I guess stuff like that happens
is there any news when there putting the speed up again,
they do this every now and then when they get off there lazy arses
Posted by Toney_Ericsson
On 2007-05-08 00:18:10, miss uk wrote:
Hmm...
I was on that 4MB but I had it dropped down to 2MB..
I tend not to download much, I know a few people in my area do cos sometimes the net is ever so slow, a few times it's refused to work aswell late at night but I guess stuff like that happens
is there any news when there putting the speed up again,
they do this every now and then when they get off there lazy arses
Virginmedia are out to supply customers with half speed broadband but charging for the full wack during 4pm and midnight when most people use their internet.
That saves them money, just like with Sky, they "did'nt want to pay". It also makes them more money!
The laughable thing also is they have increased 10mb broadband to £37, it used to be £35 a month. £2 extra from say a million customers also makes them a lot of extra money.
Last year they made £313 million profit from Virginmedia customers.
The way I see it they are a bunch of ******s.
I do not believe none of this "we are doing customers a favour" crap as it is just that.
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I
myself[ This Message was edited by: Toney_Ericsson on 2007-05-07 23:41 ]
Posted by Miss UK
I guess the reason for that is because of the loss of customers moaning about SkyOne..
so they have had to increase there prices!
But hey i'll keep my eyes open see if I get any probs,
im gunna ave to download a film or sumat about 9pm - 12 midnight
Posted by Toney_Ericsson
On 2007-05-08 00:47:24, miss uk wrote:
I guess the reason for that is because of the loss of customers moaning about SkyOne..
so they have had to increase there prices!
But hey i'll keep my eyes open see if I get any probs,
im gunna ave to download a film or sumat about 9pm - 12 midnight
I think it's all about making more money out of customers and supplying a crap service which is what it is now.
Even a sodding update patch for say Battlefield 2142 can be 500mb. It does'nt take much to use 750mb. How the hell can over 750mb be excessive use. Thats normal use i'd say.
Read this another happy Virginmedia customer
http://forum.myvirginmediahell.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=39
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I
myself[ This Message was edited by: Toney_Ericsson on 2007-05-08 00:04 ]
Posted by Toney_Ericsson
Heres some more on it, this is basically what I've been saying all along...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/[....]8/vigin_nationwide_throttling/
Posted by hutchygers
no problems for me i have my phone tv and broadband from virgin aswell as my mobile 10 pound per month that gives me 300 texts and anytime minutes.
i download or upload nearly every day on utorrent at maximum speeds for both on my 2mb connection. just sometimes it depends on peers connected to me.