Rollout timetable
<a href="http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/ex ... edule.html" target="_blank">http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/ex ... le.html</a>
Alot TBC but it says they will update it over summer.
Virgin Bb Xl Package
Moderator: Claw
On the VM site today:
Traffic management
We don't like traffic jams
Here at Virgin Media, we want all our customers to get the best
service possible from their broadband. That means speedy downloads
for all users - not just a few.
When someone is downloading a particularly large amount of
information over a long period of time, it can slow down the
internet speed for other users who might just be checking their
email or browsing online. So to make sure our service is fair for
everybody, we sometimes moderate the speeds during peak times (4pm
till midnight) for customers who are downloading an unusually large
amount at these times.
This ensures that the service doesn't get blocked up with people
using more than their fair share - which means a lot fewer traffic
jams on the information superhighway.
Will my download speed be affected?
Your speed won't be moderated unless you're in the top 5% of
downloaders. Our boffins recently ran a trial to see how much our
service was being affected. They discovered that, in certain areas,
just 5% of customers were downloading such a large amount of content
that it was affecting the service for other users in these areas.
And we're not talking about just a few video clips. In some cases
the top 5% of users were downloading as much as 3GB, just during
peak times. That's around 750 music tracks in the space of a few
hours.
So, unless you're downloading an unusually large amount of
information at peak times, we won't restrict your service and you
can download to your heart's content.
Aren't you simply trying to cut costs?
We've never believed in cutting costs for the sake of it. And we
never will. We want to deliver the best possible value to all our
customers - and that's exactly what we're doing. That's why we're
starting to double the speed of our top broadband package up to a
supersonic 20Mb.
When will this new policy be launched?
We'll start moderating the heaviest users' service at the same time
we roll out the new speed increases for Broadband XL customers.
More information about speed increases and when they're happening.
What traffic management policies are you applying to the heaviest
users?
That depends on the broadband package you're signed up to. And it's
important to remember that these traffic management policies only
apply during peak times (4pm till midnight) - as this is when the
download speeds are likely to be affected by people using more than
their fair share.
The Technical stuff
Here are some details about the different thresholds for each
broadband service:
Broadband Size: M
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: M package download at
least 350MB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight)
will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed - their
download speed will be set to 1Mb, with their upload speed set to
128Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management
policy is applied.
Even if a Broadband Size: M user has their speed temporarily traffic
managed, they can still download over 1,000 music files per day.
Broadband Size: L
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: L package download at
least 750MB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight)
will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed - their
download speed will be set to 2Mb, with their upload speed set to
192Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management
policy is applied.
Even if a Broadband: Size L user has their speed temporarily traffic
managed, they can still download over 1,500 music files per day.
Broadband Size: XL
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: XL package download at
least 3GB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight)
will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed - their
download speed will be set to 5Mb, with their upload speed set to
256Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management
policy is applied.
Even if a Broadband Size: XL user has their speed temporarily
traffic managed, they can still download over 4,000 music files per
day.
How do we know this will work?
Well, as we said, we've carried out a trial in which we looked
closely at when the heaviest users were downloading the most
information, and how that affected the service for everybody else.
We found that this small minority of customers were actually
downloading or uploading enough information to significantly affect
the service for other customers' broadband service. To put it
another way, just 5% of customers were affecting the service for the
other 95% during peak times (that's between 4pm and midnight).
What's more, we noticed that when we restricted the speed of the
service for this 5 % of users, we had a positive response from
customers (there were less calls into our technical support teams
regarding problems with broadband performance). We also noticed that
the broadband speed was faster for the vast majority of users.
Will the thresholds change?
The way that our customers use their broadband is changing all the
time, so it's possible that in the future we may increase or
decrease the thresholds - don't worry though, we'll always let you
know on our website if we're going to make any changes, and we don't
expect the thresholds to change very often.
How can I tell if I'm nearing the threshold?
There are several tools that you can use to check how much you're
downloading or uploading. One particularly useful tool you can
download is called DU Meter*.
If you'd like to use a different tool, you might like to try
www.tucows.com*
The legal stuff
* Please note, these links are provided simply as a convenience to
our users. They are third party sites, and we have no responsibility
for the content of them.
Thanks
Traffic management
We don't like traffic jams
Here at Virgin Media, we want all our customers to get the best
service possible from their broadband. That means speedy downloads
for all users - not just a few.
When someone is downloading a particularly large amount of
information over a long period of time, it can slow down the
internet speed for other users who might just be checking their
email or browsing online. So to make sure our service is fair for
everybody, we sometimes moderate the speeds during peak times (4pm
till midnight) for customers who are downloading an unusually large
amount at these times.
This ensures that the service doesn't get blocked up with people
using more than their fair share - which means a lot fewer traffic
jams on the information superhighway.
Will my download speed be affected?
Your speed won't be moderated unless you're in the top 5% of
downloaders. Our boffins recently ran a trial to see how much our
service was being affected. They discovered that, in certain areas,
just 5% of customers were downloading such a large amount of content
that it was affecting the service for other users in these areas.
And we're not talking about just a few video clips. In some cases
the top 5% of users were downloading as much as 3GB, just during
peak times. That's around 750 music tracks in the space of a few
hours.
So, unless you're downloading an unusually large amount of
information at peak times, we won't restrict your service and you
can download to your heart's content.
Aren't you simply trying to cut costs?
We've never believed in cutting costs for the sake of it. And we
never will. We want to deliver the best possible value to all our
customers - and that's exactly what we're doing. That's why we're
starting to double the speed of our top broadband package up to a
supersonic 20Mb.
When will this new policy be launched?
We'll start moderating the heaviest users' service at the same time
we roll out the new speed increases for Broadband XL customers.
More information about speed increases and when they're happening.
What traffic management policies are you applying to the heaviest
users?
That depends on the broadband package you're signed up to. And it's
important to remember that these traffic management policies only
apply during peak times (4pm till midnight) - as this is when the
download speeds are likely to be affected by people using more than
their fair share.
The Technical stuff
Here are some details about the different thresholds for each
broadband service:
Broadband Size: M
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: M package download at
least 350MB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight)
will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed - their
download speed will be set to 1Mb, with their upload speed set to
128Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management
policy is applied.
Even if a Broadband Size: M user has their speed temporarily traffic
managed, they can still download over 1,000 music files per day.
Broadband Size: L
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: L package download at
least 750MB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight)
will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed - their
download speed will be set to 2Mb, with their upload speed set to
192Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management
policy is applied.
Even if a Broadband: Size L user has their speed temporarily traffic
managed, they can still download over 1,500 music files per day.
Broadband Size: XL
During peak times, the top 5% on the Size: XL package download at
least 3GB of traffic each.
Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight)
will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed - their
download speed will be set to 5Mb, with their upload speed set to
256Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management
policy is applied.
Even if a Broadband Size: XL user has their speed temporarily
traffic managed, they can still download over 4,000 music files per
day.
How do we know this will work?
Well, as we said, we've carried out a trial in which we looked
closely at when the heaviest users were downloading the most
information, and how that affected the service for everybody else.
We found that this small minority of customers were actually
downloading or uploading enough information to significantly affect
the service for other customers' broadband service. To put it
another way, just 5% of customers were affecting the service for the
other 95% during peak times (that's between 4pm and midnight).
What's more, we noticed that when we restricted the speed of the
service for this 5 % of users, we had a positive response from
customers (there were less calls into our technical support teams
regarding problems with broadband performance). We also noticed that
the broadband speed was faster for the vast majority of users.
Will the thresholds change?
The way that our customers use their broadband is changing all the
time, so it's possible that in the future we may increase or
decrease the thresholds - don't worry though, we'll always let you
know on our website if we're going to make any changes, and we don't
expect the thresholds to change very often.
How can I tell if I'm nearing the threshold?
There are several tools that you can use to check how much you're
downloading or uploading. One particularly useful tool you can
download is called DU Meter*.
If you'd like to use a different tool, you might like to try
www.tucows.com*
The legal stuff
* Please note, these links are provided simply as a convenience to
our users. They are third party sites, and we have no responsibility
for the content of them.
Thanks
Looks like most ISP are going that way. I'm with wightcable wgo have just been renamed www.smallworldmedia.com I signed up for 4mb download with 1mb upload. I was informed when I signed up that the upload speed was now 512k. Ok I thought twice as quick as it was. I emailed them yesterday to say I'm having problems reaching this upload speed to be told that it's now 300k 
As my only other option is RADSL which will top out at 1.1mb download I'm stuck!
As my only other option is RADSL which will top out at 1.1mb download I'm stuck!
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Read it again, peak time is 4pm - 4am 
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight)
will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed - their
download speed will be set to 5Mb, with their upload speed set to
256Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management
policy is applied.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I wish someone would sue one of these companies who offer their broadband as unlimited but with a fair usage policy meaning it's not unlimited.
Although most people won't be affected by this and you'll still be able to download just at a reduced rate. Might affect streaming tv and the likes which needs high bandwidth but for general gaming I doubt it'll have a great affect. I wonder what sort of affect it will have on pings etc as with less congestion that should improve.
Personally I have any torrents limited to 5% or off between 5pm and 11pm then limited to 50% until 1am then full speed until 8am after which my dad has all available speed to do his business until about 12noon when it comes back up to 50%
I can't see how the ISP's are going to be able to bump speed much more if they can't handle data amounts at the moment. Time to think about installing some newer technology between exchanges
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Any users hitting this amount during peak times (4pm till midnight)
will have their broadband speed temporarily traffic managed - their
download speed will be set to 5Mb, with their upload speed set to
256Kb. This will last for 4 hours from when the traffic management
policy is applied.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I wish someone would sue one of these companies who offer their broadband as unlimited but with a fair usage policy meaning it's not unlimited.
Although most people won't be affected by this and you'll still be able to download just at a reduced rate. Might affect streaming tv and the likes which needs high bandwidth but for general gaming I doubt it'll have a great affect. I wonder what sort of affect it will have on pings etc as with less congestion that should improve.
Personally I have any torrents limited to 5% or off between 5pm and 11pm then limited to 50% until 1am then full speed until 8am after which my dad has all available speed to do his business until about 12noon when it comes back up to 50%
I can't see how the ISP's are going to be able to bump speed much more if they can't handle data amounts at the moment. Time to think about installing some newer technology between exchanges