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[bldz]

Hello,
I was wondering if you could shed some light on recent problems I've been having with my internet, It's quite a long story so make sure you have some time to read.
I originally signed up with Virgin.net broadband in November last year on the 8mb ADSL Max service and I was getting download speeds between 25kbps and 100kbps which is pretty bad, whilst playing games I was pinging between 300-800. I spoke to Virgin support and was told to do a bunch of speed tests which I later did and was regraded to a 2mb Streamed connection apparently. My download speeds were always around 230kbps and my pings were around 10-60 all the time. Virgin were still charging me for the 8mb ADSL Max service though. I spoke to someone at customer services and was told my costs would be changed. They weren't, I was put back onto an 8mb ADSL Max line sometime last week, I immediately noticed the terrible pings and download speeds and rang up, we arranged a regrade back down to 2mb of which I'm still paying for the 8mb ADSL Max and even on 2mb I'm now still getting the 300-800 pings and horrible download speeds. I was wondering if anyone could explain why I get these stupid download speeds and pings and why I'm having so many problems with my broadband. I was with Telewest for 9 years before we moved house and we only ever had to have an 9 year old Motorola Surf modem replaced that was refurbished before we even recieved it.
I have no spyware, I'm connected directly into the ADSL filter and I can't see anything causing these problems, I have two friends that work at Bulldog support that both said that It's just Virgin making promises they can't keep with the line speeds .etc

Update: Read the Speedtouch 330 page on Kitz main site and I'm currently downloading the speedtouch drivers and Dr Speedtouch.
Update: Got the details you say to get on the Speedtouch 330 page.

ReceiveAttenuation_dB= 10
ReceiveMargin_dB= 29
SendAttenuation_dB= 4
SendMargin_dB= 30

[roseway]

Hi bldz, welcome to the forum.

With those levels of attenuation you should have got a reliable 8Mbps connection when you were on Max. But actual download speeds are something else, and depend on all sorts of factors, such as exchange congestion, ISP congestion, and ISP traffic shaping. It's hard to reach any conclusion without more information - one thing we really need to know is what sync speed you were getting on Max, but I guess that's not possible now.

Those very high ping values look quite ridiculous, and rather suggest to me that the problem is entirely down to Virgin's handling of the connection. Your results are so bad that I think I would try to get out of the contract on the grounds that the product isn't fit for the purpose, but I don't know how much joy you'd have with this approach. Alternatively you're going to have to keep on nagging them to provide you with a decent service.

Eric

[havelock]

Now now roseway! Don't jump to conclusions, admittedly Virgin are handling his fault badly and placing orders when they shouldn't, but he could be syncing at 1 meg, having all sorts of issues with interleaving or even problems with the USB bus mode at higher bandwidths. I would think this is much more likely a BT fault as he doesn't have issues when on 2meg IPStream tho

Hi Bldz,

When you complete the speedtest it should have given you 4 figures - IP Profile, Downstream, Upstream and Throughput - If you could post these values here it'll give a good indication if your fault threshold is being breached.

Also, have you tried the high speed drivers for connections over 4mbit? http://www.speedtouch.co.uk/330highspeed.asp

Rgds
Havelock

[havelock]

I just re-read the original post and I may have misunderstood the current situation; to clarify

Are you back on 2Mbit and is it definately a fixed rate line (i.e. not ADSL max which is being limited to 2 meg) or is the regrade still going through? If you are unsure on this please go ahead and complete a speedtester.bt.com test and this should clarify.

Thanks
Havelock

[bldz]

I'm currently back on a 2mb "streamed line" as Virgin told me, the regrade went through two days ago.
I currently have the latest Speedtouch 330 drivers that Kitz links to that allow the 8mb connection. Just to clarify on the ADSL Max connection I ping fine and download around 200-300kbps between 1am and 2pm GMT. Around the onpeak times when people get home from work/school and before they goto bed I get insane pings and download between 5-50kbps. The exchange is also 342m away in straight line and the village is quite small.
Virgin have a £50 cancellation fee that I'm not too happy about paying but if I can find a good broadband service as reliable as my cable was that will give me stable download speeds and a stable ping then I will be happy to switch.
Just to add I've done the BT Speedtests on several occasions when I have problems and It reports pathetic speeds as can be seen below.

The speed test has completed on test server speedtester1.nat.bt.com for user xxxxxxxxxxx and you have downloaded a 1.7Mb file at a speed of 279 kilo bits per second (Kbps), your service bandwidth will have been quoted to you in kilo bits per second.
Your IP address is xx.x.xx.xxx, your browser is reported as being Mozilla 5.0 and is running on Windows XP.
BT would regard the speed ranges shown below as normal service:

     For 250kbps End Users speeds between 50 - 250kbps.
     For 500kbps End Users speeds between 100 - 500kbps.
     For 1000kbps End Users speeds between 200 - 1000kbps.
     For 2000kbps End Users speeds between 400 - 2000kbps.

Virgin made it clear that they had me on exactly the same service I was previously on and they couldn't explain why I was having the stupid problems again, I have to do several tests for them and ring back in a few days.

[havelock]

As you hit speedtester1 below and completed a Speedtest (As opposed to a Performance test on ADSLMax) then you are indeedy on a fixed rate line.

With that decription there is almost certainly contention somewhere - either at the exchange or with Virgin.

If you connect to the Internet using the logon speedtester@speedtest_domain (Some people can and others get rejected at the mo) and run a test during peak periods are the speeds still slow? If they are then your exchange is likely approaching capacity and is over subscribed, or possibly there is interference causing lots of data corruption and slow speeds.

If on the other hand it works like it does off peak or faster, then the fault is definately at Virgins end  and they should allow you to withdraw from your contract without charge. If they don't then;

1. Ask to speak to a supervisor.
2. Be firm but polite. Tell them that as they are unable to rectify the problem you have been reporting for more than 3 months, and your service is unsuitable for use during peak hours, you will be approaching their ADR (Alternate dispute resolution) company OTELO for Advice if they will not provide you with a Migration code free of charge. If they tell you some c**p about it being for cancellation and not MAC codes ask for a breakdown of the "cancellation" charges in writing.
3. If you don't get a satisfactory answer follow through on the threat. You can get them on 0845 050 1614 and ask them for advice.

Rgds
Havelock

[bldz]

Thanks havelock,
I'm believe that it has to be Virgin as my friend is on an 8mb ADSL Max connection with demon.net and he pings fine and download fine all the time. I also believe It's Virgin because I ran fine on a 2mb fixed line for over 3 months before they messed with it and bust it again. I'm still doing tests at the moment, going to do a few more tomorow and then I'll have 7 to show Virgin. Right now It's 00:37am and I just got a 1769kbit on the speedtest and my pings are dropping to the 100 mark and by 1am I should be at about 30ping with a normal download speed, by around 2pm I can expect things to go crazy again.

I don't have anything in the house that could be causing any interference also, the only thing that concerns me is the house phones, I know that if I put one within a metre of anything wireless It cuts it off completely heh.

[kitz]

>> ReceiveAttenuation_dB= 10
>> ReceiveMargin_dB= 29

That looks a very good line to me and should easily be able to cope with 8Mb speeds.
There does seem to be many Virgin users reporting slow speeds and high pings on their  service.  Some users have found that disconnecting and reconnecting have found themselves on a different server and speeds and latency can be a lot better.

Havelocks advice is good, - try the BTw speedtest via the speedtest domain login.  I suspect roseway is also right that this is a virgin problem, Theres too many other users reporting exactly the same thing Im afraid.. but if you get a good result via the speedtest domain which totally bypasses your ISP - then it proves without a doubt its virgin.

[bldz]

I'm gonna try the BTw speedtests on the speedtest login shortly, on the previous speedtest on my account I was told to do them at various times of the day, so I did. It happens that I've been gaming nights whilst I have good pings so I did 2 more speedtests offpeak than I did onpeak so Virgin wouldn't report it as a fault 
Good news is that I actually spoke to someone who knew what he was on about and he even took care of everything, the day before I rang up and the guy told me he would do a woosh test and ring me back, I didn't hear anything. Yesterday I rang up, this guy goes straight to his senior and has woosh tests done. He tells it to me how it is, the exchange is over subscribed and Virgins equipment is a little outdated there, he told me I could either wait til they upgrade it which could be anything from a month to a year or I could just switch to a larger company who have better equipment, ie, BT.
He also explained that the internet is only as fast as It's weakest point and that there are many aspects to connection problems. I also have to wait 10 days for the line optimization, which ofcourse I forgot about as I've been regraded so many times 

[kitz]

Hi

>> I'm gonna try the BTw speedtests on the speedtest login shortly

That would be interesting if you can let us see those results...

also... reason

>> He tells it to me how it is, the exchange is over subscribed and Virgins equipment is a little outdated there,

That implies that would imply to me that he is suggesting  that you are on datastream - iirc virgin did use datastream on some exchanges using NTL as the backhaul.  If you are on datastream then yes it can sometimes take a while before the backhaul is upgraded.  If you are on IPStream, you can get a rough indication of your exchange status from here
http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/

>> could be anything from a month to a year or I could just switch to a larger company who have better equipment, ie, BT.
 
or if you are on datastream they could perhaps transfer you to IPStream, although IPStream customers at Virgin do appear to be reporting problems with Central capacity too. :/
If on IPStream the BTw speedtest should prove either way.

>> I also have to wait 10 days for the line optimization,

Bit of a myth really, you should see an increase in speeds immediately - the 10 days relates to the setting of the MSR and FTR, which shouldnt affect your actual throughput speeds.
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