Virgin Broadband Limiting bandwidth.

uktim29

Don't most ISP's reduce bandwidth to heavy users now?

mute_posting

d.ylan wrote: »

I chose Bethere as my new isp on the BT line too, new BT line wired up on one day, and Bethere was up on running three days later with no stupid caps.

But VM weren't "capping" - they were throttling during heavy usage periods surely?

What makes you think you would have got the "untrhrottled" speed during these periods anyway? (It's not like the world and his dog aren't using the net during these periods anyway!)

As regards be, AFAIK thay are the company that supply / are partners with o2 (who I am with, like yourself, unlimited) However, I don't delude myself for a second that at some point in the near future they too (bethere / o2)won't introduce throttles in lieu of "caps"

MP

beautifulgorgeous_2

I pay for 8mb and get 216 !

Godders

Vampgirl wrote: »

The thing is that you ARE already paying for for the setup you're getting - what you are paying for is internet access with bandwidth UPTO 20MB. Guaranteed 20MB would be a LOT more expensive than what you're paying. Pretty much all residential services work this way, and many of the business DSL services do too. If you want guaranteed bandwidth then DSL/cable is not the right product for you: you'd need something like a business ethernet product and the cost of that would over £1000 per month. You pays your money, you takes your choice!

ISPs would not be able to survive financially if they had sufficient bandwidth for every user to have access to their max bandwidth on DSL/cable networks - there would be huge amounts of spare capacity. 2MB is perfectly sufficient for most people's day to day needs - we have 2MB cable broadband and that is perfectly fine for two people working all day from home plus surfing/downloading/etc out of hours.

This is spot on, they advertise in the small print that you pay for a speed upto the maximum subject to local conditions and fair usage policies etc.

A guaranteed 100 Meg line is around £80,000 a year rental with a 3 year contract, add install charges to take year 1 costs up to around £100,000 - making a total 3 year cost of £260,000 for 100 Meg. And thats at Educational rates which may well be lower than normal business rates.

So a rough guess of about £52 grand in total over 3 years for 20Mb uncontended, making an average cost of just over £17,300 a year - so about £1440 a month - for three years!

olly300

uktim29 wrote: »

Don't most ISP's reduce bandwidth to heavy users now?

Yep. If they don't start off with one they get one once they have lots of users.

There is an OFCOM code of practise on broadband speed - http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/ioi/copbb/copbb/
Most ISPs have signed up to it.

Even business connections have fair use policies, and even if you work at a large company that has it's own dedicated connection if you do heavy downloading whether work related or not, the IT department will want to know what you are doing.

d.ylan

mute_posting wrote: »

What makes you think you would have got the "untrhrottled" speed during these periods anyway? (It's not like the world and his dog aren't using the net during these periods anyway!)

Contention is always an issue with any ISP. Specifically I took personal exception declining level of service VirginMedia were providing. I use my upstream bandwidth throughout the day and easily surpassed the meagre threshold of my package (for legitimate purposes, not for seeding etc). Once the throttling was in triggered again my connection ground to a halt whenever anything but minimal upstream traffic was present, even multiplayer Mario Kart. When your usage constantly triggers the ridiculous arbitrary restrictions and renders the connection unfit for purpose it gets my goat-up. It makes sense to find someone offering a better package. That's again not even touching on the corporate stance VM are taking on various consumer issues which I cannot in good faith support.

mute_posting wrote: »

As regards be, AFAIK thay are the company that supply / are partners with o2 (who I am with, like yourself, unlimited) However, I don't delude myself for a second that at some point in the near future they too (bethere / o2)won't introduce throttles in lieu of "caps"

I agree that restrictions will probably enter most ISP's as they increase in size, and this is why it's always important to have the OPTION to move to another provider. Having a BT line fitted opened up my options massively, as only VM can supply down the VM line, and now, when the situation changes in the future, I can pick and choose from all the options, be it a return to VM or a simply a different ADSL provider.

Simple choice is one of the most powerful consumer tools we have.