Virgin Media sets throttle on hardcore hogs

[JackTheLad2]

Policy change to target 0.1 per cent

Virgin Media's bandwith throttling policy will in future be more targeted towards the minority of customers the firm says "hammer" its network.

It said its 50Mbit/s network upgrade programme, now completed, will allow it to restrict bandwidth during peak times for 2 per cent of customers rather than the current 5 per cent.

Within that group Virgin Media plans to contact a "hardcore" of users, who have disproportionate impact on the network through heavy BitTorrent and newsgroup downloading, to demand they ease off. The firm has made a change to its acceptable use policy to codify the policy.

It now reads: "In isolated cases (currently less than 0.1 per cent of customers) where excessive network usage at busy times (9am to 9pm) is having a detrimental effect on other users, we may need to take appropriate action in accordance with the terms of this AUP to notify users of the impact they are having and require them to move some of their activity into the less busy period."

Subscibers to the most expensive 50Mbit/s package will remain free of any bandwidth throttling and all packages do not have gigabyte download limits. Full details are here.

Broadband executive director Jon James said "Our premium 50Mbit/s product remains free from traffic management and takes advantage of our extra network capacity, however this also provides us with opportunities across the rest of our portfolio.

"By focusing our traffic management on the tiny minority who are having a direct and detrimental effect on other users, we're able to maximise the quality of service and simultaneously reduce the number of customers managed on a daily basis."

Along side the announcment its network upgrade was complete, Virgin Media said it will begin trails of increased upload bandwith with a view to increasing it for all packages. Some customers in the Midlands and North East will see up to 10Mbit/s.

The firm's current best upstream bandwidth is 1.5Mbit/s, available to top package subscribers.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/16/vm_throttling_change/

FFS don't they realise people only want 50MB to hammer the downloads there's no other reason for it otherwise.

 

[Darkstar]

And how are VM going to identify the 'hardcore'?

The 'hardcore' as you put it are all using clones with multiple mac codes. How can they demand them to ease off when they don't even know who 'they' are?

 

[english]

Lol here it comes, 50 MB capping.

 

[Darkstar]

English is right. They were just looking for an excuse.

 

[Erbs]

why do they offer these fast speeds then people at the lower end have to be sacrificed with even more shit speeds to compensate for the 50 meggers

Richard Branson=Cock

 

[Kruger]

why do they offer these fast speeds then people at the lower end have to be sacrificed with even more shit speeds to compensate for the 50 meggers

Richard Branson=Cock

So it might force them to fork out more and opt for a faster speed.

 

[Lanstrom]

It said its 50Mbit/s network upgrade programme, now completed, will allow it to restrict bandwidth during peak times for 2 per cent of customers rather than the current 5 per cent.

But thats a good thing isnt it ? That means only 2 percent will now be capped rather than the 5 percent ? Or I have I missed something ?

Perhaps the All You Can Eat buffet just got downgraded to a Limp Lettuce Soggy Sandwich ?

 

[richyrich]

How many of you download over say 200 gig a month? Why don't they limit it that way or is that worse for many of you?

 

[Captin]

They only throttle at peak time 9am to 9pm. I do all my downloading overnight from the newsgroups and never get throttled. I dont download during the daytime at all.

Just downloading overnight still means I can get over 600Gb in a month on a 20meg line.

I dont see how anyone needs to hammer their connection during the day when VM doesnt want you to, nighttime downloading gives enough time to get anything you want.

 

[P33 RRV]

aye i was thinking getting this but they keep changing the price they will give it to me and they dont seemt o be making it easy...i pay £90 a month as it is

 

[die5el]

why do they offer these fast speeds then people at the lower end have to be sacrificed with even more shit speeds to compensate for the 50 meggers

Richard Branson=Cock

Blame the 50 meg users. First it was the 20 meg users that got the blame, seeming that the 50 meg is on a diffrent docsis (docsis 3) to other broadband users it should have no effect on lower tiers .Why should the people who pay for the top tier get penalised?we pay for it why shouldn`t we use it when we want to (all tiers not only the 50meg users btw)
Its the ones who stay uploading on p2p allday every 24/7 on the lower tiers who is hammering the network the ones you want to blame are virginmedia who pushes out the fast speeds fully aware they have OVER SOLD thier bandwidth capabilities. If you paid for a pint of beer at peak times and only got half i would bet there would be uproar in that pub @ Lanstrom they will cap everyone m8 like they do on the lower tiers not just the 0.1 per cent on 50 meg like they said it will be the top 5% on the lower tiers @ JackTheLad2 i use my 50 meg between 2 pcs and a laptop plus 2 ps3 not for hammering the downloads 24 /7 as you put it. Btw a 758.78 MB file downloaded in less than 2 mins lol.

 

[hoppy]

I can honestly see why people rip the arse out of the VM network.!
If they are not changing your package every 5min thus changing your bill they are then imposing throttling times.
My bill has been screwed up 8 times in the last 11 months and i still can't get a straight answer out of them.
They give super offers to new customers but dont seem to give a f*** about loyal customers and every 5mins when your back is turned they impose some new restriction.
If it were up to me i would have dumped them a long time ago as i hate them with a passion but for some reason the missus want's to stick with them for now.

 

[JackTheLad2]

Well I use 20MB and don't hammer the downloads, but from my point of view I see no need for me to have 50MB as I simply don't need it.

The only reason I can see for 50MB is for heavy downloaders or those who have several machines connected at the same time.

 

[janobi]

Well I use 20MB and don't hammer the downloads, but from my point of view I see no need for me to have 50MB as I simply don't need it.

The only reason I can see for 50MB is for heavy downloaders or those who have several machines connected at the same time.

What is classed as a heavy downloader?? If people who download a lot are paying for the service, then it is those who dont use the internet much that should suffer imo. If your only surfing, and the like, and rarely downloading, then restrict the bandwidth available to those, and free up the bandwidth for those who need it.

Its just vermin being vermin, they are traffic shaping because the network cannot take people constantly connected at 50mb, and nothing to do with the heavy usage of people downloading. And for those with a 20mb/50mb connection who are downloading, then they are paying through the nose for that privilige, so let them leech.

 

[JackTheLad2]

I think that if you need the bandwidth and are prepared to pay for it you should receive the service you pay for. I bet they don't warn you prior to signing up that they will shaft you between 9am - 9pm if you wanna hammer Newsgroups or Torrents.

My thinking is when I want to download a file I want to download it at 20MB not something less.

I grab a few NZB's every week or so. Sometimes I'll download 5 or 6 games a week sometimes maybe only 1. But when I want to download I wan't it to be at 20MB although I really shouldn't complain as I only pay for 10MB lol.

On another note I can't really think of a time when throttling has affected me tbh.