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Virgin Media - Slow Browsing, Good connection speed ?

Last post Thu, Nov 01 2007, 1:37 PM by redhead. 10 replies.
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  •  Thu, Oct 18 2007, 2:48 PM

    Virgin Media - Slow Browsing, Good connection speed ?

    Hi

    Just starting out with Vigirn Media ADSL service (I know....I'm sorry....) and need some comments from other users. I'm on the 8mbit unlimited service and live about 2km from the exchange.. Now I know I'm not going to get 8mbit (does anyone?) but my router is telling me its connecting with a download of around 5500 kb. Thing is, on normal web browsing (eg webpages and downloading friles from HTTP sites (eg antivirus updates) I can only ge a transfer speed of about 12-15Kb/sec... rubbish !!! Speedtests come back at around 150kb/s so that confirms its real.

     Now, I know about heavy use policies. I know about peak time usage...I know about distance from the exchange affecting speed...bI know about pcapping due to high p2p use (i'm not doing ANY p2p at all) but 15Kb/sec on an "up to 8mbit" service ?? thats awful

     To be fair, I am still only a week or so into the deal. So theoretically Virgin say they are still working out the top speed of my line. However, with the router connecting at 5500kb, surely my normal speed should be higher?  I can live with scheduleing high bandwidth things (if I get to that point) to outside of peak hours (as Virgin reccomend) but I want better browsing speeds if only to make peak time email/updating faster..Virgin state that I could potentially be capped at 2mbit if my exchange isnt up to a higher standard...but 15Kb/sec in the evenings?? come on.... even if the entire BT network is maxed is hould be getting better than that......

    I thought it could be my WiFi network being slow..but I'm getting 54mbit connections with excellent signal quality. And using an ethernet cable makes no difference either..so I'm guessing its either teething trouble..or this is just how Virgin ADSL is...

     Did anyone else experience anything like this with Virgin ADSL? or any other recently new ADSL connection?

    Thanks

    • Post Points: 50
  •  Fri, Oct 19 2007, 12:04 AM

    Re: Virgin Media - Slow Browsing, Good connection speed ?

    regarding the speed they say you are recieving, i dont think you will ever get that from virgin media because the amount of costomers they have they cannot keep up with demand and they always say that the customers always get high speed and they never do but always have to pay for the full rate ...i myself had to wait 12 months so that i could lower my speed (and the price) and it is exactly the same speed as b4...only diffrence is the price....cheers...
    • Post Points: 20
  •  Fri, Oct 19 2007, 12:19 AM

    Re: Virgin Media - Slow Browsing, Good connection speed ?

    Hi there,

    I have been with them for about a month now and the speeds are up and down all the time. I get good days of 3meg but that's rare lol Some days I have dial up speed. I think the only wasy we can try and get better speeds is to keep complaining until they get someone down to the exchange and put the necessary equipment there. So I have read that is. I'm no expert. I was with Tesco Broadband before and it was always 512k i had no problems so maybe I should've stayed put, but I resented having to pay £24.97 for up to 8meg their finest package, Which you'd probably end up getting up to 2meg anyway. Oh well not much we can do really, we will never get what we pay for. The worlds gone mad! I signed a petition on the online No.10 site, not sure of the link at the mo but can post it another time. Worth a try I guess.

    Regards

    JVW

    • Post Points: 20
  •  Fri, Oct 19 2007, 9:24 AM

    Re: Virgin Media - Slow Browsing, Good connection speed ?

    frustrating..... until recently I was with pipex.. crap Fair Use policy..and crap for P2P...but at leat I always got my full 2mbit web browsing/http downloads in the evenings......
    • Post Points: 5
  •  Fri, Oct 19 2007, 8:48 PM

    Re: Virgin Media - Slow Browsing, Good connection speed ?

    I had the same problem with Virgin ADSL. I sorted mine by plugging the modem into the BT Test socket but use TWO line filters in series (you should have got two with the SpeedTouch modem).

    Tech support are useless by the way.

    • Post Points: 20
  •  Fri, Oct 19 2007, 9:44 PM

    Re: Virgin Media - Slow Browsing, Good connection speed ?

    sorry, but how did you put 2 adsl filters in series and still get a broadband signal thorugh? I do have two filters handy, but if i plug one into the other, then into the router, i get no internet light on the router? my filters are the splitter type so i guess the first one separates phone signal from adsl signal, then the second one takes out the "cleaned" phone signal, leaving nothing !

     let me know if i've got that right....

     Jon

    • Post Points: 20
  •  Sat, Oct 20 2007, 11:33 AM

    Re: Virgin Media - Slow Browsing, Good connection speed ?

    Sorry, should have made that clearer.

    The first filter goes into the BT socket with your modem plugged into it. Second filter plugged into the first with phone/extensions plugged into that.

    I was getting less that 200kbps download but 340kbps upload. After using two filters I managed around 5.5mbps. The router always showed a connection speed of around 7.4mbps throughout.

    • Post Points: 20
  •  Mon, Oct 22 2007, 8:01 AM

    Re: Virgin Media - Slow Browsing, Good connection speed ?

    thanks.

    have made a little progress this weekend..saturday morning I was getting 4mbit (~400-500KB/sec) downloads..I guess I just have a really busy exchange...or Virgin have really oversubscribed their capability....will check out the dual filter arrangmenet later tonight, maybe boost it a little, but seems like "up to 8mbit" really is a scam....

     Jon 

    • Post Points: 20
  •  Mon, Oct 22 2007, 10:53 AM

    Re: Virgin Media - Slow Browsing, Good connection speed ?

    Hello again,

    That no.10 petition I was talking about is now closed but I doubt it will have done any good anyway. As for the ppl who get really good speeds, they must be paying £30+ and that way they get what they want. It's all wrong but nothing a few lil ppl like us can do. Lets just hope it improves along the way.

    Regards

    JVW

    • Post Points: 20
  •  Thu, Nov 01 2007, 8:40 AM

    Re: Virgin Media - Slow Browsing, Good connection speed ?

    I am glad that I saw this thread as I was thinking it was my computer that was slowing things down!!

    On an evening my speed is rarely higher than 512k, most mights its around 256k which is not acceptable.  I have just tested it this morning and it is 2.5mb so they must be limiting the lines on an evening.


    Well I am just going to cancel it if it continues and there is nothing that can be done, I only live about 1 mile from the exchange so I am expecting super fast internet for £17.99 a month not dial up

    • Post Points: 5
  •  Thu, Nov 01 2007, 1:37 PM

    Re: Virgin Media - Slow Browsing, Good connection speed ?

    Yes, you should be getting much better than 15Kb/sec, but not necessarily better than 150-200Kb/sec at peak times.  The problem is quite typical of a new connection to an ISP - any ISP - but from the description you appear to have some particular problems.  I have just switched my line to Virgin from a BT business broadband line provided by my former employers.  I had 3 weeks of high volatility while the exchange and server equipment tried to work out an acceptable balance between line speed and signal quality.  Now it has settled down with a router indicated speed (i.e. attempted connection speed) of around 7000Kb/sec, which is somewhat higher than BT's estimated maximum speed for the line of 5500Kb/sec.  For info, I live in a very rural area with poor quality copper wire patched several times from exchange via pole line to the house.  However, the indicated speed is no guide whatsoever to what you will get end-to-end.

    Your comment about achieving 15Kb on internet access vs speed tests of 150Kb are a non sequitur.  Both will be affected by the level of contention for the servers concerned as well as any effects on the broadband line.  The 150Kb/sec speed is eminently believable at peak periods, particularly during the line testing period, but do be aware that popular sites such as ZDnet themselves start to 'drown' at peak periods, especially when US subscribers come online too. 

    The key parameters will most likely be your line quality between exchange and master socket (and distance from the exchange is only part of the story) and the contention ratio between subscribers and ISP/exchange link.  All the main retail ISPs use a 50:1 contention ratio, so at worst you may be getting only one-fiftieth of the potential speed indicated by your router connection speed (assuming everyone actively communicates simultaneously).  By contrast, business broadband operates typically at a 20:1 contention ratio.  I can relate personally to the difference in these ratios since, on the former business line, the line speed was always faster than my current Virgin connection now is at peak periods (BT was around 800Kb/sec; Virgin gets 250-400Kb/sec between 7pm and 11pm typically).  In contrast, the Virgin connection achieves over 5Mb/sec effortlessly in the wee hours of the night when I'm probably the only person surfing via our country exchange.

    I repeat that ALL the ISPs work on the same contention ratios, so changing ISP will likely achieve little, unless you find an ISP which is particularly unpopular on your exchange!  Whether these contention ratios are reasonable, given the rapid take-up of broadband is another story altogether....

    Your router connection speed suggests that your phone line is of poor quality, since the ISP will set up the connection speed to attempt the fastest speed possible before signal-to-noise ratio becomes unacceptably high.  My router, for example, will cope down to about 6dB before it drops the connection and, as noted the indicated connection speed is around 7000Kb/sec.  It may be worth trying some of the tricks suggested in other posts.

    • Post Points: 5