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Traffic shaping - how do I know?
fenlander
Posts: 2,199 Forum Member
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How do I know if I'm being "traffic shaped"? I use BitComet in Windows and Azureus in Linux - what are the visible signs that a slow download is caused by traffic shaping rather than some other factor?
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According to Virgin's terms & conditions
so, what do they mean by "as soon as possible"? How do they notify customers of this regrade? Post? Email? Has any DS user received such a notification?
I gather they don't like to publicise the trigger point at which the traffic shaping kicks into place, but I think it would be better for Virgin to treat its customers like adults and give them a gentle warning if their rate of usage looked likely to push them past the trigger point over a given period.
I'm coming to the conclusion that my abysmal evening speeds are a result of shaping, but why haven't Virgin followed their own T&C and informed me?
Why can't they provide a usage monitor on the customer account page like other ISPs?
I also notice slow speeds some evenings, sometimes as low as 1000kb or even less sometimes. I am paying for 4mb and I usually get about 3800-3900kb. This has been happening ever since NTL changed to VM.
I am writing to them this week to complain about my tv service so I will mention this in the letter. I am also considering writing to Trading Standards as well because when I changed from 2mb via a set top box to 4mb via a modem the customer service rep told me that because it was using a modem I would have a guarenteed speed.
This was the point of my enquiry. A lot of people have complained that they think they're being affected by traffic shaping, but if VM denies it, how can it be proved? Also, how does traffic "shaping" work? Does it affect a user's connection speed globally or are only specified ports (those likely to be used for applications like P2P downloads) affected?
I would assume from the term "shaping" that there should be some subtlety in how it is done, just as a network administrator can allocate bandwidth to different protocols (ftp, http etc) to balance traffic on a network. If your ISP just nukes your bandwidth if your data volumes exceed certain arbitrary and undefined limits, that seems too crude to be called "shaping".
LOL complaining about dropping 100 - 200Kilobits? WHAT?
VM states that they provide UP to the service you subscribe to. Losing approximately 200kilobits and complaing about it is crazy.
200kbit is around 25K/sec.. hardly noticeable.
The only arguement you have is the CSR saying you would get guaranteed speed. Nothing is guaranteed but as far as complaining about losing 200Kbit is concerned, you should consider yourself lucky. There are customers out there not even gettin 50% of their service speed.
LOL.. 200Kbit...
Aagain, the experiences of the initial few indicated definite and clear cut-off points where the download speed would instantly halve (i.e it would drop instantly rather than be a gradual slowdown), and would remain that way for 2 hours.
On an average torrent, yes, that would be true. On the torrents I suggested, and used as a speed throttling test, there is absolutely no reason they should not go full pelt. I can download any of those 3 and get a consistant 1mb/s. Of course if the user sees nowhere near his maximum, when he knows his maximum is achievable (no other constraints), then he surely is being traffic shaped.
3900 minus 2900 = 1000
so I am losing 2900kb not 200kb
AFAIK the volume limit for 'Traffic Shaping' kicking in is more like 3Gig for 10/20Mb/s service, not sure about the other tiers.
Let us know if you find a good ADSL provider that gives you better service than you are getting now.. I think we are all looking for one of them.
I am on the 4meg service and it is always at the 700mb point when ts kicks in. I am currently tempted by ADSL24, it has newsgoup access and consistant speed looks good, tarriffs to suit all.
http://abcde.co.uk/virginmedia/broadband-faq.html#q28
I am on the 4meg service and it is always at the 700mb point when ts kicks in. I am currently tempted by ADSL24, it has newsgoup access and consistant speed looks good, tarriffs to suit all.
I am in Blackpool, thanks for the reply Mossy.
Chris, please accept my sincere apologies. I DID misread your post.
Humble pie eaten
That sounds about right for the 4Mb/s tier. So yes you are being 'shaped' in the 1600 - Midnight period due to your what is seen as 'heavy usage' in the peak time. If you shift your usage outside of those hours it should tick along at 4Mb/s for the other 16 hours of the day. I suppose you could go up to the XL tier where the limit is somewhere between 2.5 & 3Gig
So perhaps this is the reason behind my loss of speed and connection? I'm on the 4mb package put my speed has been around a constant 2mb if not less for over a month, it's just appalling.
Edit - just been on the site posted and it's only specific times, my connection speed loss is 24 hours a day.
That's ok, easy mistake to make
Chris
I hardly consider 700mb download heavy usage, a 2-3gb limit sounds fair, I have a friend joining adsl24 next week, if things go well for him i'm off.
But this is supposition as VM have not made public any of the parameters in place.
That 700Meg is just within the 4PM - Midnight peak period so that is around 90Meg per hour. Outside of this period you can download as much as you like.. Seems quite fair to me.
As mossy says it has been worked out on the tier and amount of data that can be downloaded at full pelt over a defined time period.