Virgin Media newsgroup server under performing?

scorpionxedos

Starting today the VM downloads have been very slow, intermittent. I usually get a solid 5-6MB on downloads from this server, today they are a stuttering 418kb.

Downloads with TweakNews and BlockNews are normal.

Anyone else having problems today or can sugguest course of action?

Have system restored to a couple of days back, no change.

If it's an ongoing problem that will be fixed in due course, that's fine. Would just like to know.

Nilrem

It's happening to me as well, my guess is that they've got an issue with either the server or it's connection at the moment as normally I can get anything from 6-10MB/s from it.

scorpionxedos

Nilrem wrote: »

It's happening to me as well, my guess is that they've got an issue with either the server or it's connection at the moment as normally I can get anything from 6-10MB/s from it.

Thanks Nilrem, still got the problem this morning. Speedcheck gives a solid 50MB, which is normal, just the problem with the VM newsgroup downloads. Tried turning off anti-virus, firewall, etc no change.

Contacted VM yesterday - put through to India - he seemed to think there was a problem with my router. Connected directly to the pc and got almost 2MB, which was an improvement, but I should be getting 5MB. And that doesn't explain why Tweaknews and Blocknews get full download speeds?

Downloads now "peaking" at 178KB/s!

Are there no others with this problem?

gjchester

Didn't;t know they still offered newsgroups, its been a woefully under resourced service for years and I thought they'd outsourced them in the last set of cuts...

fenlander_uk

I'm currently getting between 8.5MB and 10.7MB from the VM newsserver using port 119. I have several back-up servers but they rarely kick in when the file is newly posted. Retention on the free VM server is very restricted - a few days, I believe. Also, VM still cap speeds on usenet and peer-to-peer at busy times (see here). Perhaps this is what is happening in your case? Have you tried downloading in the early morning or after 11pm.?

I gave up on the VM server a long time ago because of poor performance and only recently tried again. I was surprised how good it was.

scorpionxedos

fenlander_uk wrote: »

I'm currently getting between 8.5MB and 10.7MB from the VM newsserver using port 119. I have several back-up servers but they rarely kick in when the file is newly posted. Retention on the free VM server is very restricted - a few days, I believe. Also, VM still cap speeds on usenet and peer-to-peer at busy times (see here). Perhaps this is what is happening in your case? Have you tried downloading in the early morning or after 11pm.?

I gave up on the VM server a long time ago because of poor performance and only recently tried again. I was surprised how good it was.

Thanks fenlander_uk, I was getting an uninterrupted 50MB-55MB, sometimes even slightly more on my 50MB connection. I tend to grab what I need early in the morning and rarely download enough to warrant the tmp to kick-in. The server has always performed admirably, which is why the current situation is so noticeable.

I've read of about a dozen people who have posted exactly the same problem and judging by the number of views, it seems something that people are interested in, maybe also having the same problem but don't want to post?

Will just have to sit tight and hope they get the server back on track.

fenlander_uk

I'll just add that the speeds I quoted are MB, ie bytes not bits = approx 90Mb/sec. I assume you mean 50Mb, not 50MB.

Big_Graeme

gjchester wrote: »

Didn't;t know they still offered newsgroups, its been a woefully under resourced service for years and I thought they'd outsourced them in the last set of cuts...

They did and it saw a huge improvement in the service, I saw a dip in download speeds mid-morning and they are back up to decent speeds at the moment.

I'd say the outsourced company are doing some maintenance as it was the middle of the night US time.

scorpionxedos

fenlander_uk wrote: »

I'll just add that the speeds I quoted are MB, ie bytes not bits = approx 90Mb/sec. I assume you mean 50Mb, not 50MB.

Yep, 50Mb. I'm using GrabIt. What news client are you using?

If the situation doesn't change by tomorrow, I may have to consider looking at other options.

scorpionxedos

Big_Graeme wrote: »

They did and it saw a huge improvement in the service, I saw a dip in download speeds mid-morning and they are back up to decent speeds at the moment.

I'd say the outsourced company are doing some maintenance as it was the middle of the night US time.

Thanks Big G, I seem to recall we had something similar a while back. Anyway, I am inclined to think (hope) work is ongoing and results will filter out to affected areas.

Same question about news client: I'm using GrabIt, what are you using, in case I need to rule out that potential factor if things don't change.

Big_Graeme

Newsleecher for me, I have 4 connections open and while it's not maxing out my bandwidth at the moment (I don't download huge binaries) it's now chugging along at a speed I would expect for this time of night.

I have Newsdeamon as a backup server, a couple of quid for 20GB lasts me ages.

Remember a lot of Usenet stuff is US based, they tend to take down their servers overnight just as we would. While we'd never see a Highwinds status page anything that slows down during that time there is a good chance that is what it is.