Broadband Speed

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

Right, I'm running Virgin's cheapest most basic package of 2mbps here, just done a quick check on Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test only to find it's running constantly at 0.5 meg!!!! (not running wireless) Just gave their tech dept a call, went through all the usual gubbins of emptying the browsing history, switching the modem off and on ( : ) and it's made no difference whatsoever. Told to "give it a few hours" but of course that's not gonna change owt is it. Anyone got any advice? I intend to call back later and kick off a bit for a new modem or is there anything else it could be? I know it's a slow connection anyway but that's a pisstake for the money paid, might as well be back on dial-up.

 

[CP 0 3 BHA]

Just PM'd you on this.

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

I didn't get it dude?

 

[Easy 10]

I had some horrendous problems with my broadband speed with Virgin a couple of weeks ago, at times I was only getting between 0.5 and 1. Went through all their bollocky tests which did nothing, got a new modem out of them which didn't alter anything (and then a new wireless router). Had an engineer out, and a day or two before he arrived my speeds were suddenly right back up, and its been pretty much ok for the last couple of weeks now. The engineer did nothing, just said that the network is completely oversubscribed, but they're supposedly upgrading it later this year.

I've just run that test and I'm getting 9.7m. It does still sometimes drop a bit at peak times in the evening down to 3 or 4, but thats still plenty fast enough for me. As long as streaming video runs without stopping I'm happy enough.

 

[CP 0 3 BHA]

I didn't get it dude?

I'll try again - obviously using the PM system is beyond me!

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

I had some horrendous problems with my broadband speed with Virgin a couple of weeks ago, at times I was only getting between 0.5 and 1. Went through all their bollocky tests which did nothing, got a new modem out of them which didn't alter anything (and then a new wireless router). Had an engineer out, and a day or two before he arrived my speeds were suddenly right back up, and its been pretty much ok for the last couple of weeks now. The engineer did nothing, just said that the network is completely oversubscribed, but they're supposedly upgrading it later this year.

I've just run that test and I'm getting 9.7m. It does still sometimes drop a bit at peak times in the evening down to 3 or 4, but thats still plenty fast enough for me. As long as streaming video runs without stopping I'm happy enough.

Hmmm. As I suspected, may just have to scrap 'em then. At least it's an explanation for my eternal crapness on Xbox live.

Anyone know of any better deals out there then the Virgin M package??

 

[Martinf]

My provider, SKY broadband, proudly tell me that I can get up to 20mbps. I actually get 7mbps.

 

[Gully]

Just checked mine, which came in at 6mbps, which isn't bad as the last time I checked it it was barely half that speed!

 

['sladegull]

My provider, SKY broadband, proudly tell me that I can get up to 20mbps. I actually get 7mbps.

Same as me , but I get 10mbps if I connect directly to the router.....wireless seems to degrade it but guess that is normal?

 

[Poyetry In Motion]

My provider, SKY broadband, proudly tell me that I can get up to 20mbps. I actually get 7mbps.

I'm with Sky unlimited "up to 20 meg " and for the last 18 months have been getting 0.1 -0.8 meg. After much hassle, I've finally got the feckers to increase my line speed to a whopping 1.9 meg - still disgusting. So i'm actually paying for 90% of a service I can't have
Problem is, the wording " up to 20 meg ". It's their 'get out clause' ....the crafty sods

 

[binky]

Right, I'm running Virgin's cheapest most basic package of 2mbps here, just done a quick check on Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test only to find it's running constantly at 0.5 meg!!!! (not running wireless)

Virgin don't do a 2mb service, do they?

<snippetty> might as well be back on dial-up.

Then you have clearly forgotten what dial up was like

To be fair to Virgin. I've never had a problem with speed. The POP mail servers are flaky, and sometimes "dissapear" for days on end.
However, just like ADSL, the total bandwidth to the street box, is shared between all the connections to that box.
You may have a whole bunch of neighbors on fast virgin connections downloading torrents 24/7.

 

[Easy 10]

However, just like ADSL, the total bandwidth to the street box, is shared between all the connections to that box.
You may have a whole bunch of neighbors on fast virgin connections downloading torrents 24/7.

This is what I reckon has happened. I think for a while, the bandwith was being "eaten up" by some fecker who was downloading christ knows what every night. It was actually moderately embarrassing when the engineer called round, cos my connection was back to running GREASY quick again, had been for 3 days previous, and he could find no technical faults. Its peak time now and I'm still getting near-on 10 meg.

I was literally on the point of switching (and said as much on the customer survey email they sent to me after the engineer visit). Since then though, its been behaving...and as long as that remains the case, I'll stick with them.

 

[brakespear]

Virgin don't do a 2mb service, do they?



Then you have clearly forgotten what dial up was like

To be fair to Virgin. I've never had a problem with speed. The POP mail servers are flaky, and sometimes "dissapear" for days on end.
However, just like ADSL, the total bandwidth to the street box, is shared between all the connections to that box.
You may have a whole bunch of neighbors on fast virgin connections downloading torrents 24/7.

This, I can remember having to leave a dial-up connection on for at least 24 hours to get 100MB of data - now I get in 11 minutes or so.

 

[Lethargic]

Unfortunately there is probably little you can do, it is dependant on the number of people sharing the connection on your segment, more people equals less speed for all. Check the terms and conditions to see if there is any quality of service guarantee (probably not) and this might give you some argument but unfortunately demand is outstripping supply which means more people will be pushed but the tree in terms of package size.

That said you could always get rid of anyone else in your area using Virgin so you get the whole line.

 

[ofco8]

I'm with Virgin at edge of city and speed is always fast and constant. My son-in -law who is very techie reckons it's the fastest he's used in Sussex.
Probably go tits up now!!!!!

 

[LowKarate]

If you're in an area where you can receive BT's Infinity service, then that could be a better answer for you. It's up to 40Mbit/s (yes, 'up to' like all the others), but the difference is that it doesn't use ADSL2, it uses the new VDSL technology and this operates in a different frequency range from ADSL signals and is delivered from different network electronics).

The beauty of that is that it doesn't compete with the customers in the area that are already signed up to ADSL2 and because the product is in the early days of availability, the number of customers signed up is much lower than the ADSL2 numbers and so the contention for use of the bandwidth from the green street cabinet is much lower. It's going to be a much better service than ADSL2 for many years.

If you really hammer the network for gaming, downloads or TV, then it's worth it. I'm still waiting to get my hands on this (due in 2012 where I live).

 

[Napper]

download 9mg , upload 0.9

paying for 10mg, is that right then ?

 

[Easy 10]

Yep. Spot on.

 

[Napper]

Wow , Virgin as well

 

[Muzzman]

I have the Virgin M+ Package.

Right now I get 9.98Mbps for Download and 1.02Mbps Upload.

Pretty happy with that as I'm on wireless too.