Virgin's New STM Policy

Robert · 28-05-2008, 19:13

http://www.virginmedia.com/help/traffic-management.php

Bugger

divine · 28-05-2008, 19:36

I'll be honest and say that doesn't look hugely horrific to me, unless you actually attempt to max your connection all day long.

20Mb for example, if you download 6GB during the day, will get knocked to 5Mb (which will still provide over 500KB/s surely?) for 5 hours. Evening time if you download 3GB the same thing. So, just self cap your download speeds during day/evening so you won't fall foul of the limits and do your bulk downloads overnight...

Garp · 28-05-2008, 19:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by divine`

20Mb for example, if you download 6GB during the day, will get knocked to 5Mb (which will still provide over 500KB/s surely?) for 5 hours. Evening time if you download 3GB the same thing. So, just self cap your download speeds during day/evening so you won't fall foul of the limits and do your bulk downloads overnight...

Quick bit of math..

20Mb / 8 = 2.5MB per second. (3*1024)/2.5= 1228.8 seconds, or just a whopping 20 minutes.

Whats the point of having a 20Mb connection if you're only allowed to use it at full speed for 20 minutes?

Even during the day time that's capping you to just 40 minutes.

Why waste money paying for a super fast connection when you can't even use it?

Robert · 28-05-2008, 19:40

To be honest it is pretty horrific to me.

They advertise the service as unlimited - when it clearly isn't.

divine · 28-05-2008, 20:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert

To be honest it is pretty horrific to me.

They advertise the service as unlimited - when it clearly isn't.

It is unlimited, technically. You can still download over 500GB a month if you wish to.

You'll just have to do some of it at 5Mb

At the end of the day, being capped to 5Mb for a few hours is hardly the end of the world, it's better than a lot of ADSL services that will cap you to 256K for an entire day. It hardly cripples your ability to use the net, or even download still.

Also, bear in mind, this will only be a problem if you're doing something illegal or are on a mission to find every Linux ISO ever created

Robert · 28-05-2008, 21:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by divine`

It is unlimited, technically. You can still download over 500GB a month if you wish to.

You'll just have to do some of it at 5Mb

At the end of the day, being capped to 5Mb for a few hours is hardly the end of the world, it's better than a lot of ADSL services that will cap you to 256K for an entire day. It hardly cripples your ability to use the net, or even download still.

Also, bear in mind, this will only be a problem if you're doing something illegal or are on a mission to find every Linux ISO ever created

No, technically it is limited.

LeperousDust · 29-05-2008, 00:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by divine`

It is unlimited, technically. You can still download over 500GB a month if you wish to.

You'll just have to do some of it at 5Mb

At the end of the day, being capped to 5Mb for a few hours is hardly the end of the world, it's better than a lot of ADSL services that will cap you to 256K for an entire day. It hardly cripples your ability to use the net, or even download still.

Also, bear in mind, this will only be a problem if you're doing something illegal or are on a mission to find every Linux ISO ever created

While i agree with you mostly, what about me. In a flat with 5 guys, we're only on the smallest option because we dont need blazing fast internet, 2mb shares between 5 easy. What if we're independantly watching iplayer a youtube throughout a day plus browsing? I can see us topping 900mb /450mb (or whatever it is) pretty quick

Then all being throttled back to essentially 1mb between 5 (which then works out pretty shocking) doesn't really seem fair now does it?

divine · 02-06-2008, 23:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeperousDust

While i agree with you mostly, what about me. In a flat with 5 guys, we're only on the smallest option because we dont need blazing fast internet, 2mb shares between 5 easy. What if we're independantly watching iplayer a youtube throughout a day plus browsing? I can see us topping 900mb /450mb (or whatever it is) pretty quick

Then all being throttled back to essentially 1mb between 5 (which then works out pretty shocking) doesn't really seem fair now does it?

See how far that £3.60 per person gets you elsewhere though.

£18 per month would probably not even get you a 512K connection on ADSL, when you take into account the £11 per month going to Line Rental. Never mind a 1Mb connection that you could leaving downloading for hours on end and not have a word said to you.

Toby · 02-06-2008, 22:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by divine`

It is unlimited, technically. You can still download over 500GB a month if you wish to.

More like 4TB.

Try doing that every month on any other ISP and see how long before they "have a word", regardless of what their terms may say.

Wossi · 28-05-2008, 19:48

They keep getting more stringent with their limits. This has changed since the 4Mb users have been upgraded (free of charge) to 10Mb. I can't honestly see it changing till they get round to upgrading the back end of the system and they go to Docsis 3.

28-05-2008, 19:13	#1
Robert Chump!!! Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: North West Posts: 993	Virgin's New STM Policy http://www.virginmedia.com/help/traffic-management.php Bugger

28-05-2008, 19:36	#2
divine Moonshine Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Southampton Posts: 3,201	I'll be honest and say that doesn't look hugely horrific to me, unless you actually attempt to max your connection all day long. 20Mb for example, if you download 6GB during the day, will get knocked to 5Mb (which will still provide over 500KB/s surely?) for 5 hours. Evening time if you download 3GB the same thing. So, just self cap your download speeds during day/evening so you won't fall foul of the limits and do your bulk downloads overnight... __________________

28-05-2008, 19:40	#4
Robert Chump!!! Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: North West Posts: 993	To be honest it is pretty horrific to me. They advertise the service as unlimited - when it clearly isn't.

28-05-2008, 19:48	#10
Wossi Absinthe Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: In the middle Posts: 1,385	They keep getting more stringent with their limits. This has changed since the 4Mb users have been upgraded (free of charge) to 10Mb. I can't honestly see it changing till they get round to upgrading the back end of the system and they go to Docsis 3.