Virgin Media offically "Throttling" users

thaGeek

I pay for 20mbit. I get 580k/s during the traffic management period.
I should not be categorised as a "Heavy user", just a paying user, I pay for 20mbit and expect to get 20mbit (or as much as the network is capable of).
I do not expect to have my traffic "managed".
I am a long standing customer of Blueyonder/Virgin Media and if I had an alternative I would be taking it on principle.
I can have my 20mbit connection as long as I don't use it, what use it that to me?

If the network cannot support what I was sold then it should not have been sold. The price bands leave the 20mbit connection the only one worth going for otherwise I would drop back to 10mbit which I was happy with.

£37 per month for a service that they cannot and will not provide. :mad:

darwin-rover

thaGeek wrote: »

I pay for 20mbit. I get 580k/s during the traffic management period.
I should not be categorised as a "Heavy user", just a paying user, I pay for 20mbit and expect to get 20mbit (or as much as the network is capable of).
I do not expect to have my traffic "managed".
I am a long standing customer of Blueyonder/Virgin Media and if I had an alternative I would be taking it on principle.
I can have my 20mbit connection as long as I don't use it, what use it that to me?

If the network cannot support what I was sold then it should not have been sold. The price bands leave the 20mbit connection the only one worth going for otherwise I would drop back to 10mbit which I was happy with.

£37 per month for a service that they cannot and will not provide. :mad:

If you're using Windows XP , follow the advice on this page
http://www.virginmedia.com/help/20mb-broadband-optimisation.php

peter999

thaGeek wrote: »

I pay for 20mbit. I get 580k/s during the traffic management period.
I should not be categorised as a "Heavy user", just a paying user, I pay for 20mbit and expect to get 20mbit (or as much as the network is capable of).
I do not expect to have my traffic "managed".
I am a long standing customer of Blueyonder/Virgin Media and if I had an alternative I would be taking it on principle.
I can have my 20mbit connection as long as I don't use it, what use it that to me?

If the network cannot support what I was sold then it should not have been sold. The price bands leave the 20mbit connection the only one worth going for otherwise I would drop back to 10mbit which I was happy with.

£37 per month for a service that they cannot and will not provide. :mad:

If you're not a big downloader then you should not be throttled.

Your problems with speed at peak times may be due to congestion in your area & network not being able to cope, although Virgin/NTL will never tell you this.

Problem is people are being sold a service on fancy marketing which cannot & will not be guaranteed.

Virgin/NTL rely on the fact that most people will put up with it & rarely complain as "the internet is busy" or "that website is slow, not Virgin/NTL's fault".
If you complain, you'll be given an endless runround.

Traffic management
http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/internet/traffic.html

"Your speed won't be moderated unless you're in the top 5% of downloaders."

peter999

Sponge

I'm being throttled at the moment, so I guess I'm one of the 5% ruining it for everyone else.

All I did was download a few on demand shows, game demos for my PC and xbox, updates to linux and the odd music track. For those that immediately assume illegal activity - it's all perfectly above board.

It's not on!

I pay for a service and I should receive it when I want, how I want.

For those that can't understand how limits are reached, then I suggest you need to expand yourselves and your use of the www. There's more to the internet than emails and browsing the odd webpage or forum.

I recently downloaded a game demo that was 1.8gb and to those that say do it off-peak - I work 0700-1900. I don't have time to be logging into my PC in the morning and I'm certainly not staying up until midnight to start using my PC/internet connection.

I love the way VM have introduced a new method to measure internet use - number of music track downloads.

poke50uk

Sponge wrote: »

I'm being throttled at the moment, so I guess I'm one of the 5% ruining it for everyone else.

All I did was download a few on demand shows, game demos for my PC and xbox, updates to linux and the odd music track. For those that immediately assume illegal activity - it's all perfectly above board.

It's not on!

I pay for a service and I should receive it when I want, how I want.

For those that can't understand how limits are reached, then I suggest you need to expand yourselves and your use of the www. There's more to the internet than emails and browsing the odd webpage or forum.

I recently downloaded a game demo that was 1.8gb and to those that say do it off-peak - I work 0700-1900. I don't have time to be logging into my PC in the morning and I'm certainly not staying up until midnight to start using my PC/internet connection.

I love the way VM have introduced a new method to measure internet use - number of music track downloads.

I admit I also abuse my internets, and actually do alot of backing up my hard drive on gmail etc but we should be on 20MB.. we have been throttled 27/7 since the 15th July (we have been testing twice a day at various times, including 2:45am!) - and only getting max 4.3MB

We are not PC n00bs, and have an uber n-draft router, no problems our end!

But tommorow.. my partner is going to do the big battle, cause traffic calming is like saying, ok, you lose your loo's too much midland-ders, and so your only allowed to flush 2 times a day, cause your filling up the pipes more than our other users, its not fair on them and our sewer system cannot cope with the new demand. They were the ones that decided to take over two companies!

What he has lined up, cut and pasted from my notes-
as we cannot get through the new line (we have only mobiles + skype) we'll have to try the freephone new customer helpline
if that fails
Steve Burch CEO Virgin Media Ltd, media House , Bartley Wood Business Park, Hook, Hampshire. RG27 9UP, 01256 7520000 if he isnt in perhaps Kira Frost or Donna Cook his PAs can help

1. Call BT on 0808 100 5152.
2. Ask to port your cable phone number to BT.
3. BT will contact Virgin Media for you.

BT’s sales line will be answered far quicker than the Virgin Media customer retentions number. Virgin Media may call you to ask if you’re sure you want to leave, at which point you can either haggle for a better deal or confirm your choice.

Then the legal rights to quote-
services to a proper standard of workmanship. Furthermore, if a definite completion date or a price has not been fixed then the work must be completed within a reasonable time and for a reasonable charge.

Also, any material used or goods supplied in providing the service must be of satisfactory quality.

(2A) For the purposes of this Act, goods are of satisfactory quality if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any description of the goods, the price (if relevant) and all the other relevant circumstances.
In section 14 of the [1979 c. 54.] Sale of Goods Act 1979
Right of partial rejection

(1) If the buyer—

(a) has the right to reject the goods by reason of a breach on the part of the seller that affects some or all of them,

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poke50uk

WAY TO CONTACT VIRGIN MEDIA BROADBAND HELP LINE "directly"
Phone 012567520000
ask for Steve Burch CEO
Kira Frost or Donna Cook and moan tio the hook bout the fact you cant phone 09 numbers cause you got them blocked through your phone company.. you "originally got put through to 09 etc via customer relations"

and clame you were talking to someone on the 09 number and they cut you off

then threaten to leave, what ever they say about they can't transfer people, basically i got it out of them that its just company policy to..

you'll have to wait while they get permission.. but they eventually got us through

let them put you through to customer relations

then repeat the fact you cant call 09 numbers, you got cut off after someone put you through to the 09 via customer relations.. threat again as required.. but customer relations are the way to go

enjoy the 09 number for the price of what should be a normal geographical call (we'll have to wait till my mobile statement to see the exact costs)

darwin-rover

Talk about rambling
Steve Burch isnt CEO anymore for a start

I admit I also abuse my internets, and actually do alot of backing up my hard drive on gmail etc but we should be on 20MB.. we have been throttled 27/7 since the 15th July (we have been testing twice a day at various times, including 2:45am!) - and only getting max 4.3MB

Could be your settings in XP
http://www.virginmedia.com/help/20mb-broadband-optimisation.php

What if I sign a contract that has hidden or unfair conditions? The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 protect you against anything in a contract which is:
# unfair;
# unreasonable;
# unclear; or
# ambiguous (has more than one
meaning).

Throttling is only applied to big downloaders dont forget . Its to stop people downloading huge files during busy periods . 5% of people are responsible for 30% of downloads . Throttling is there to keep things moving during busy periods , so how can it be deemed unfair or unreasonable .

poke50uk

Its seriously wasn't my XP settings- twas a modem playing up
and those apply to ethernet, not n-draft wireless
And as for throttling, we still end up paying £37 a month for a 50% or less service.. I wouldnt mind if they took that into account when billing at the end of the month

telewest coped but virgin extended their user base without considering the technical aspects its their fault, not ours. Just cause I actually use my internet for more than the youtuber/ituner user doesn't mean I should be penialised for it

and if I want to use my connection between certain times of the day I should be allowed to.. its like the governament saying oh its busy round at rush hours.. so lorrys that use the roads then have to park up and use a moped to carry their load.

the whole reason for choosing telewest in the first place was cause they looked to be the only company without traffic calming

theoretically.. you'll use your 3GB limit in 153 seconds if you were given a true 20mb connection


think thats got it out my system, lol

banger9365

if you think that move to adsl and you will find more than throttling in peek and telewest could not cope in my area ,i had about 12 month off bad speed until this throttling came in , i do download a lot and i do it after 00:00 put alway done that with the times i work and on my days off i would set the downloads to runn after 00:00, peeks for normall us not cloging the network up with downloads that you can put off until later when every one asleep (should be )i have only been throttled twice since it came in and i download well over 100Gb a month , you still have 16 hours of not been throttled ,us some commom sence that all it needs

darwin-rover

the whole reason for choosing telewest in the first place was cause they looked to be the only company without traffic calming

Most people dont realise that VMs traffic shaping (throttling , traffic calming , call it what you will) is a carry-over from Telewest and was trialled first in Telewest areas before NTL even bought the company . NTL or Virgin Media cant really be blamed for that one .