Virgin Media will double the number of hours it throttles the bandwidth of customers who hammer its network day and night, changes to its traffic management policy have revealed. The tightened regime means that between 10am and 3pm subscribers to its "M", "L" and "XL" packages will have their connection throttled for five hours if they download more than their full speed ration.The decision follows recent regional testing of extended restrictions in London and the North West. Previously the brakes were only slammed on for five hours if limits were exceeded at any point between 4pm and 9pm.
View: The full story @ The Reg
It's sort of the same way oil companies say they have no choice but to charge the insane prices they are charging today.
At least with oil we will eventually have a choice to use alternative fuels, but what's the alternative to these broadband monopolies? They've got us trapped.
It's sort of the same way oil companies say they have no choice but to charge the insane prices they are charging today.
At least with oil we will eventually have a choice to use alternative fuels, but what's the alternative to these broadband monopolies? They've got us trapped.
By that logic broadband companies should increase prices to reduce the number of people on their network, which is not happening.
If Virgin keep going the way they're going now (i.e. reducing the quality of the service without cutting the price), then that's exactly what will happen.
They are the worst broadband company out there, even BT is better and that's saying something.
I'd also like to add how they make it sound like HEAVY users are the only ones that get affected by this - those who "hammer its network day and night". Look at the restrictions, download 900Mb and you're hammering the network! Yeah!
They shouldn't advertise their connection speeds if you can't use them. I estimate that a 900Mb/day cap means your REAL connection is more like 85kbps (900Mb a day), not the 2Mbit they advertise.
Even the 20mbit is capped at 6000Mb a day, which is sadly little over 568kbps - that's the connection speed I had 5 years ago and THAT wasn't capped!
They're a big, fat joke.
I'd also like to add how they make it sound like HEAVY users are the only ones that get affected by this - those who "hammer its network day and night". Look at the restrictions, download 900Mb and you're hammering the network! Yeah!
They shouldn't advertise their connection speeds if you can't use them. I estimate that a 900Mb/day cap means your REAL connection is more like 85kbps (900Mb a day), not the 2Mbit they advertise.
Even the 20mbit is capped at 6000Mb a day, which is sadly little over 568kbps - that's the connection speed I had 5 years ago and THAT wasn't capped!
They're a big, fat joke.
i suggest you look at the limits again, they only apply for 5hrs, 6gb in 5hrs during the day is plenty
I'd also like to add how they make it sound like HEAVY users are the only ones that get affected by this - those who "hammer its network day and night". Look at the restrictions, download 900Mb and you're hammering the network! Yeah!
They shouldn't advertise their connection speeds if you can't use them. I estimate that a 900Mb/day cap means your REAL connection is more like 85kbps (900Mb a day), not the 2Mbit they advertise.
Even the 20mbit is capped at 6000Mb a day, which is sadly little over 568kbps - that's the connection speed I had 5 years ago and THAT wasn't capped!
They're a big, fat joke.
i suggest you look at the limits again, they only apply for 5hrs, 6gb in 5hrs during the day is plenty
When you're paying £40 a month for the privilege of 6Gb/day it's really NOT enough.
I'd also like to add how they make it sound like HEAVY users are the only ones that get affected by this - those who "hammer its network day and night". Look at the restrictions, download 900Mb and you're hammering the network! Yeah!
They shouldn't advertise their connection speeds if you can't use them. I estimate that a 900Mb/day cap means your REAL connection is more like 85kbps (900Mb a day), not the 2Mbit they advertise.
Even the 20mbit is capped at 6000Mb a day, which is sadly little over 568kbps - that's the connection speed I had 5 years ago and THAT wasn't capped!
They're a big, fat joke.
i suggest you look at the limits again, they only apply for 5hrs, 6gb in 5hrs during the day is plenty
When you're paying £40 a month for the privilege of 6Gb/day it's really NOT enough.
where does it say you're limited to 6gb/day?
I'd also like to add how they make it sound like HEAVY users are the only ones that get affected by this - those who "hammer its network day and night". Look at the restrictions, download 900Mb and you're hammering the network! Yeah!
They shouldn't advertise their connection speeds if you can't use them. I estimate that a 900Mb/day cap means your REAL connection is more like 85kbps (900Mb a day), not the 2Mbit they advertise.
Even the 20mbit is capped at 6000Mb a day, which is sadly little over 568kbps - that's the connection speed I had 5 years ago and THAT wasn't capped!
They're a big, fat joke.
i suggest you look at the limits again, they only apply for 5hrs, 6gb in 5hrs during the day is plenty
When you're paying £40 a month for the privilege of 6Gb/day it's really NOT enough.
where does it say you're limited to 6gb/day?
The problem is that you don't get throttled during the stated hours, you get throttled for 5 hours AFTER you hit the limit. So if you hit 6Gb with one minute to go before "off-peak" hours, you get limited for the next 5 hours anyway.
So count it up, between 10 and 3 (That's 5 hours) and between 4 and 9 (another 5...) you're only allowed to download 6Gb. 6gb in 10 hours on a 20mbit connection? That's absurd!
Sure, you can download it at OTHER times, but what's the point in paying that much for a connection if you can't use it during the day?
So count it up, between 10 and 3 (That's 5 hours) and between 4 and 9 (another 5...) you're only allowed to download 6Gb. 6gb in 10 hours on a 20mbit connection? That's absurd!
Sure, you can download it at OTHER times, but what's the point in paying that much for a connection if you can't use it during the day?
no, you download 6gb between 10 and 3, throttled to 5mb and continue to download at 5mb speeds for however long you want. when you hit the 6gb "limit" your internet access isn't stopped, you can continue to download so in a single day.
some maths for you:
6000mb takes 40mins at 2.5mb/s (20mbit)
3000mb takes 20mins at 2.5mb/s (20mbit)
so now 23hrs remaining of a day...
you will trip the throttling limit twice per day
so thats 10 (2x5) hours at 5mbit which is 22gb
other 13hrs are at 20mbit which comes to 114gb
add it all up and you get 145gb per day limit, little bit more than your 6gb
So count it up, between 10 and 3 (That's 5 hours) and between 4 and 9 (another 5...) you're only allowed to download 6Gb. 6gb in 10 hours on a 20mbit connection? That's absurd!
Sure, you can download it at OTHER times, but what's the point in paying that much for a connection if you can't use it during the day?
no, you download 6gb between 10 and 3, throttled to 5mb and continue to download at 5mb speeds for however long you want. when you hit the 6gb "limit" your internet access isn't stopped, you can continue to download so in a single day.
some maths for you:
6000mb takes 40mins at 2.5mb/s (20mbit)
3000mb takes 20mins at 2.5mb/s (20mbit)
so now 23hrs remaining of a day...
you will trip the throttling limit twice per day
so thats 10 (2x5) hours at 5mbit which is 22gb
other 13hrs are at 20mbit which comes to 114gb
add it all up and you get 145gb per day limit, little bit more than your 6gb
That's all well and good, but I never once said you had a 6Gb/day total limit, what I said was that you had a 6Gb/DAY limit on the CONNECTION YOU PAY FOR. So if you're paying for a 20Mbit connection, you only get that for the first 6Gb. Why not advertise a 500Mbit connection that gets capped to 1Mbit after the first 200Kb? It's no different in principal.
you said: 'Even the 20mbit is capped at 6000Mb a day'.
since when is a day 5 hours? and since when does the connection stop working after 6gb? so no it isnt capped at 6gb a day
you said: 'Even the 20mbit is capped at 6000Mb a day'.
since when is a day 5 hours? and since when does the connection stop working after 6gb? so no it isnt capped at 6gb a day
Yeah, that's right, the 20Mbit is capped, not the connection.
Give it time and they will be capping that as well (read somewhere they are trialling for this as well).
Seems like they are too tight to upgrade the network and to think they want to release 50mb, who in thier right mind would want that if that's capped as well. Oh well nice to see in thier adverts that thier product is unlimited.... oh wait.
I'm seriously considering switching ISP's now. Shame the rest aren't much better
try https://www.bethere.co.uk/
Unleash true, untamed and unchallenged broadband. Download life at will. Be how you want to be.
Up to 24 meg ultra-fast broadband
Up to 2.5 meg upload speeds
24/7 unlimited usage
24/7 member support
�24 connection fee
�22 monthly (incl. VAT)
1 Static IP free, up to 16 available
that's more than twice as fast as cox here in the US, and it cost less
People are complaining, but I mean, cmon. Even if you Hit the limit every day, that means you've downloaded at least 180GB in a month. Plus, the service is still technically unlimited, as you can still download as much as you want. The way I see it is that the highest ADSL speed I can currently get here is 4mbps, cable I can get 20mbps, or 5mbps for 5 hours if I'm capped) - who's losing out?
Although, I will be writing to them about this. If all of their customers writes them a letter threatening legal action we might see some change.
4 people live in our house and we hit the limit almost every evening, its only 3gig which would total 90gig in a month.
According to my routers logs we have never transferred more than 142gigs in a month, which I dont think is bad in this day and age with Xbox Live, The Iplayer, Steam and HD video's.
BeThere aren't all what they are cracked up to be. Very poor coverage, and then "Up to" is quite literally that. The majority of people will not get anywhere near the speeds of 24Meg, and as bmaher has said, they do have a "fair use" policy that either results in unexpected bills, or throttling.
4 people live in our house and we hit the limit almost every evening, its only 3gig which would total 90gig in a month.
According to my routers logs we have never transferred more than 142gigs in a month, which I dont think is bad in this day and age with Xbox Live, The Iplayer, Steam and HD video's.
If my router actually logged that kind of stuff, I would say thats easily what my house do everyday. Streaming TV shows from 4oD, iPlayer and football matches, Xbox Live, PC Gaming, e-mailing attachments.
Personally I upload quite a lot of HD footage to the net, which means my uploads take 3 times as long as they should.
We've never had an unexpected bill or anything like that, I don't know anyone that has. And believe me, I've tried to max the crap out of their network!
We're fortunate that we live next to an exchange, so we do actually get 24Mbit, but I realise not everyone will get this - please realise it's not Be's fault, it's just how ADSL2+ works. All other ISPs (that aren't on cable, i.e. everyone except Virgin) has the exact same issues, except most of them only advertise up to 8mbit because they use ADSL1 - you'll still be at the mercy of your telephone line for this, though.
That's not to say everything is rosy and perfect, far from it. Be's customer service has a lot to be desired, it took nearly 2 months to get the connection properly sorted (had to push them to get BT to fix the bloody telephone line - twice), so it's swings and roundabouts.
But for the price £18 a month for the "up to 24Mbit" thing, you really can't complain. The same for Virgin will barely get you a 10Mbit connection that gets throttled to ****. Not to mention some people still have issues with transparent proxies and stuff like that, but that's another story.
At least with Be, your connection speed will be consistent. It may not be the full 24mbit, hell it might not even be half that, but it's not going to drop at different times of the day (I've regularly downloaded at 2.5Mb/s at peak times).
It’s a joke but sadly if I switched to ADSL I would never get more than 2mbit.
You can never have too many Linux ISOs
My solution? Move to Canada. Specifically, Saskatchewan. SaskTel offers 10 Mb/s ADSL2+ lines for forty bucks a month, first month free. No restrictions. No Throttling. No bull****.
http://www.sasktel.com/personal/internet/h...ison-chart.html
I have 3 months of my contract left before I will cancel and will be back off to BE who provide a 24mb service.. It made me laugh cos when I joined virgin, they claimed they rpovided the fastest service, and were actually shocked when I said I would actually be downgrading my broadband to go with them... they didnt even know there competition..
Unlimited hsould be exactly wheat it means... I paid for a 20mb unlimited service, and that is what I should get..
Please post again when you get news either way on this. If it's only for new customers then it's not so bad for us already stuck with them!
I got to the till and had all my goods scanned. It came to £100 for 12 bags of shopping.
I went to put the bags into the trolley to walk out of the store when the manager came up to me and and told me he had to take 9 of my bags away from me.
I asked him why, and he stated that because the store was so busy today they had no choice but to limit my shopping allowance to 25% of what I had bought. I asked for a refund of 75% of the money I paid, but the manager just laughed at me and told me that I agreed to the T&C when I entered the store.
I pointed out to him that no one had told me about this new policy, but he just shrugged his shoulders and stated "well Sir, you should have checked the website".
So I ask you people who are simply lying down and accepting this scenario, would you allow Tesco to **** on you and steal back 75% of your shopping even though you had paid for the whole lot already?
No? I didn't think so.
So why do you jump when VM say jump?"
or for live streaming that's in the middle of the day?
Even for consumers who don't work on-line there are PLENTY of totally legal FREE & Pay-Per video download & streaming services, large game demo downloads, or simply participating in the user content generating culture of today that can easily put you through these limits every day 100% perfectly legally so enough of the 'to go through those limits you must be pirating something' rubbish.
Not to mention multiple machines all sucking down patches, and then your xbox 360/ps3/wii hogging bandwidth on top, all 3 in some cases.
This is utterly retarded, the Tesco analogy above is pretty good.
Here we were looking at maybe changing to a 20mb line because of the increased bw before cap (and VM seem to be massively overcharging us for 2mb as a 4 year long customer, compared to current customers), but don't see the point now and are looking into just dropping Virgin Media entirely instead.
can anyone tell how much you download when playing games ie 1 hour of Battlefield 2
There are pplenty free bandwidth monitor tools about.. search google...
hopingassuming not.Sadly I have just taken a new contract out with them, so if as DrScouse mentioned it is only going to be for new customers (unconfirmed as yet) I wonder if that will include myself, as technically I would be classed as a new customer.
virgin on ridiculous
I can also confirm that this applies to everyone, and not just new customers...!!!
I was trying to cancel my contract due the change in the serviced I signed up for, but apparantly I cant do that.. maybe I should just change the amount of money I pay them.. how can they change the service they provide me, and yet I cant do anything about it...
I signed up for 20mbps unlimited, which is what I want.. I may go a whole month or so only downloading a few gig, but thats not the point.. I want to be able to download what I want when I want, afterall it is supposed to be an "unlimited" service.. I put up with their 4pm to 9pm throttling....
What annoys me is they say the top few percent of users will be punished, not true.. I thought this meant that they monitored the usage of users, and those who were to top would be subject to limits, but no, theyve decided that 3gb (XL) in the evening between 4pm and 9pm must mean you are a heavy user.. what if I dont download anything all month, then just exceen that 3gb in one session, am I in the top percent of heavy users, I dont think so!!
Luckily for me, i only have 3 months left.. and they can kiss my money goodbye.. Back to BE, they certainly kjnow what unlimited means!!
Last edited by DrScouse on 04 Jun 2008 - 18:08
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