Virgin Media throttling while advertising unlimited bandwidth
nOne of the largest ISP(Internet Service Provider) in the UK is Virgin Media, since it's acquisition of Virgin Media's internet services, and adoption of it's name, it is now called Virgin Media(Virgin Media Broadband for those on the cable network, and Virgin Media Beyond cable for those on ADSL), but it is in effect the same company that was called NtlFreedom and Ntlworld.nnNtlfreedom formerly Ntlworld Beyond broadband and broadband services are in the red to the tune of several millions, as with any acquired business with a very large deficit cutbacks have to be made to recoup that loss.nnAs of 2007 Virgin Media have started throttling its ADSL and cable users,nit claims that apparently 5% of its users use 95% of the resources, andnthrottling its users speeds to some extent no better than dial-up is the bestncase scenario for all involved.nnAs expected they have been an uproar that customers are paying for an unlimitednbroadband service only to have it limited in usage, Virgin Media still claimsnits broadband advertised is still unlimited, however that argument does not hold muchnground, in that dial-up is still unlimited, but what is the point of waiting anweek for a download, which is in effect what many Virgin ADSL customers that have undergone STM(Subscriber Traffic Management) are reduced to. It is the equivalent of having bought a top of the rangensports car, and you are told if you use that top of the range sports car betweennthe hours of 4pm and midnight on a week day, and between the hours of 10 in thenmorning and midnight Saturdays and Sundays(which let's face it is the optimum time to use that sports car), you are going to be penalised bynhaving to walk for the rest of the entire week simply because you used what younpaid for.nnWhat makes matters even more insulting is that for ADSL Virgin Media customersnon the up to 8MB ADSL package, it could take less than 20 mins to download 350MB on a reasonably good day,nthis apparently is the cut-off mark(albeit the exact clarification of when this cut-off mark is initiated is not clear, there is no official documentation on Virgin Media's terms of service or on their website to clarify what exactly is excessive usage) to determine whether you get throttled ornnot.nnSo using your unlimited broadband pacckage for 20 mins a day means you are goingnto be reduced to dial-up speeds for the rest of the following week. Unless ofcourse younchose to do your downloads in the early hours and only download thereafter, and don't work during anworking day, because that apparently is the only time their throttling/bandwidthnSTM (Subscriber Traffic Management) does not apply.nnCould this possibly be a ploy to move all their ADSL subscribers to the fibre optic network(although being advertised as new it is the same old Telewest Cable that has been around for sometime, which apparently has the old coppoer wire connection from your street into your home)?nn
About the Author
Mr D Stevens is a reviewer at Virgin Media have your say http://virgin-media-throttling.blogspot.com/
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