Analysis - Virgin Media questions accuracy of broadband speed-testing

[HEXUS]

The ISP is worried that current online speed-testers won?t do its imminent 50Mbps service justice.

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[Webby]

While I can see where Virgin are coming from in terms of test packet size and test server load/bandwidth I find the blaming of general internet congestion to be a bit odd after all if it effects 50Mbit services it does the same to 2Mbit so everyone is going to be effected. And after all do you care that your line can theoretically transfer at 50MBit or that when you download from a real server somewhere that it is fast? While I can also see that people want to get what they pay for, the current speed tests probably provide a good idea of what you can expect to achieve in terms of everyday internet use.

If server bandwidth congestion and packet size are an issue perhaps you should conduct multiple (10?) speed tests with different sites simultaneously and compile the results?

[jimbouk]

I wonder how many speed tests you can run at peak times (most of the day) before you get your bandwidth capped?

[Steve]

So how many minutes can you download at 50Mbps before triggering the download throttle?

[Jay]

To test your VM use thier internal FTP.... ITs a shame the rest of the internet is not on their FTP! If they can't give everyone even decent speeds at 10Mb why offer 50Mb?

Also I think its about time VM looked at how their speed is delivered, pings are all over the place, loss is a an issue at peak times etc etc.

[moogle]

So how many minutes can you download at 50Mbps before triggering the download throttle?

The speed has more than doubled but I'd say they'll increase the throttle limits linearly, so you'll spend more time not on your 50mbit internet

They say they should be testing speeds to their servers, but what about the real internet where not everything is on their servers. It's not the speed to their servers they should be worrying about it's the average speed they can provide to most servers and the pings. The faster speeds you can provide on a majority of servers makes the ISP better even if it can't reach full speed.

[BUFF]

well, they do have a point in that if you wish to test the speed of their network then isolate it & test only their network. Surely that's only good practice?
certainly a lot of these web-based testers are suspect - often you can get wildy conflicting results within seconds using the same test site let alone different test servers or sites.

of course if you are paying an ISP (any) for a speed & there is a slower bottleneck between their network & where you want to browse/download then you aren't going to see that speed.

[mayhem]

Got to admit im with virgin and if i jump on you tube a few times though the day my connection gets capped which is pants to be honest. We have phoned them and will be reducing our connection limit as they expect us to watch you tube after 12:30 at night which is a bit of a micky take.

Personly if they do go 50mb though the country they just taking the micky cos you'll get capped after a few min of 50mb download.

[Stringent]

I don't even see 20Mbit speeds let alone will I see 50. Why provide faster Internet anyway if you are going to be throttled for it? They really need to sort their current speeds and issues out first IMO.

You know what, I am actually going to time it. I'll download a demo on my PS3 and see how long it takes. then I will download a Linux distro to see. Sure it might be connecting to other servers, but for legal downloads the main things which chomp bandwidth are Linux, and the consoles XBox Live, PS3 etc. General browsing doesn't require blistering speeds.

[mayhem]

You do know the ps3 and the xbox 360 are throttled on Virgin. They have done that for a long time. If you could reroute it via another port and perhaps a second web site that routed it on you'd find its would go at full speed. Shame Virgin employ these below the belt tactics to achieve there desired market standing and position.

I hate the way they throttle and use limit certain systems and try to limit the behavior of its standing customers.

[moogle]

I hate the way they throttle and use limit certain systems and try to limit the behavior of its standing customers.

It's why I and most customers left. Surely if they put all this money and time into making the current network able to handle the load naturally without the need to throttle instead of 50mbits it'd be better for all. Hey I might even switch back. Not likely though

It's a shame though there's no real tough competition right now between the ISP's.

[shaithis]

I am still blown away by how many people stay on VM even after uncovering their shady tactics.

I do have a laugh at a few friends who are still on VM and refuse to switch (too afraid to be without the internet for a week or 2!)....every so often they tell me about the latest speed increases....and I always ask them how fast it is to hit their caps now

A few people (in more rural areas) are adamant that theirs are rarely capped though.

[moogle]

I am still blown away by how many people stay on VM even after uncovering their shady tactics.

I do have a laugh at a few friends who are still on VM and refuse to switch (too afraid to be without the internet for a week or 2!)....every so often they tell me about the latest speed increases....and I always ask them how fast it is to hit their caps now

A few people (in more rural areas) are adamant that theirs are rarely capped though.

They can't get LLU or know they're too far from the exchange. They're basically hostages to VM

[Hicks12]

Virgin do have a point but yes providing 50Mb/s is pretty stupid when your capped fast BUT remember your throttled 75%(unless on 2 which is 50%) so that is still 13.5mb/s which although is a HUGE drop its still better than most and it is a free upgrade from 20mb. Im with virgin but only because its cheap(£10 a month) and 10mb/s constant is good enough for me, throttling pees me off big time but its something ill have to live with unless other companys start competeing.

before someone says im a "virgin fan boy" or something, virgin offer the best here and i personnaly hate them so hurry up Be with your cable .

Speedtesting sites do need to be supported though so it is a good move by them...

[miniyazz]

According to their T&Cs, throttling occurs 4pm - 12 midnight if you're in the top 5% of users or something like that. But surely they can't compare the bandwidth of people on different contracts (20Mb and 2Mb for example)? Perhaps what we should be doing is choosing the contract with heavy downloaders on, so we get compared against them and thus avoid any throttling