Virgin Media forced to drop “unlimited” broadband ad claim

[tom_gr7]

http://hexus.net/business/news/telcos/53489-virgin-media-forced-drop-unlimited-broadband-ad-claim/

I'd be so annoyed if I paid the earth for virgin media for them to simply slow you down after downloading a few gig.

 

[Everon]

Virgin Media are a bunch of scammers. If you read their forum you will see that nearly everyone on VM's network is subject to "overutilisation" and not getting the bandwidth they pay for.

Best thing I did last year was to ditch VM after 6 years as a loyal customer to join BT Infinity. I get exactly what I am quoted by BT for bandwidth with no limits on P2P and no caps at any time of the day.

 

[nathanjrb]

At my old place I was supposed to be receiving "100mps!" - I actually have a screenshot from speedtest.net registering -3.5. yeah... minus... lol

 

[rickne]

Dont all other networks using fibre optic use VM and BTs line anyway? I see no benefit to switching. All I do is switch Wifi channels if it gets a bit congested in the evenings. It still never drops below 20 mbps. Sure there is hardware faults time to time but its always dealt with.

 

[Karnor00]

Am I reading it right? If you go for the biggest subscription then at peak evening times you can download 11GB in a 5 hour period before you are subject to restrictions (which reduce your speed by 50% for the rest of the 5 hours). Doesn't seem like a terrible restriction to me.

Who downloads that much stuff anyway? You'd fill up a 1TB HDD in a couple of weeks at that rate!

 

[Rakk]

Am I reading it right? If you go for the biggest subscription then at peak evening times you can download 11GB in a 5 hour period before you are subject to restrictions (which reduce your speed by 50% for the rest of the 5 hours). Doesn't seem like a terrible restriction to me.

I think your speed is actually restricted for 5 hours from when you pass the amount (11GB in this case) rather than the rest of the period in which you were being measured.

To be honest, as long as you know the time frames and save any big downloads til outside those times you are fine, if I'm downloading large amounts I leave it til after 10pm, for a start if you're downloading something that big it's going to make everything else your'e trying to look at online or playing games online not be very responsive anyway

Yes, these restrictions may be annoying if you are always downloading lots, but at that point you probably should be paying for a more expensive less restricted package anyway.

 

[keynes]

Yes, these restrictions may be annoying if you are always downloading lots, but at that point you probably should be paying for a more expensive less restricted package anyway.

Do they offer a no-restrictions package?

 

[Wozza63]

Do they offer a no-restrictions package?

sadly not, the 100mbps package used to be unrestricted but they are constantly changing the restrictions etc, at one point it was only a 50% restriction which wasnt so bad but now they have put it to 75% again

 

[mishra]

Hah so it looks like I am the only happy VM customer. I'm paying for 30meg, but I do get 32meg somehow and that is always the same. No matter how often I do SpeedTest check - not too mention ultra low ping!
Never had problems with VM downloads or fair usage policy - and all that for I think £23.65 = win! No line rental to BT either since it's a cable connection.

Only problem I ever had was that WiFi would constantly drop from my phone but not my girlfriends! Tried various settings and channels and nothing would help, so had to get Access Point device.

I was previously on BT which wasn't bad but it got very expensive at the end, moved to Talk Talk which was absolutely rubbish - never again!
Regarding OP worry, I'm pretty sure they will not cap your broadband if you happen to download more than you should on an odd occasion. They will first send you few emails warning you that you are going over your allowance. So I wouldn't worry too much about it... unless you download half the internet through P2P on a daily basis

 

[mdwh]

Am I reading it right? If you go for the biggest subscription then at peak evening times you can download 11GB in a 5 hour period before you are subject to restrictions (which reduce your speed by 50% for the rest of the 5 hours). Doesn't seem like a terrible restriction to me.

Who downloads that much stuff anyway? You'd fill up a 1TB HDD in a couple of weeks at that rate!

The issue is not so much whether the policy is reasonable in itself, but that they advertised as "unlimited" and "no caps".

 

[Karnor00]

The issue is not so much whether the policy is reasonable in itself, but that they advertised as "unlimited" and "no caps".

Yup, that's not right.

 

[Boozad]

I've been with VM since they were Telewest (in the Midlands), so probably about 13 years or so, and I've never had an issue with them whatsoever. I have the 60mb service and I never notice any slowing down of my service at all to be honest, as recently as yesterday I downloaded over 20gb worth of stuff and my connection was solid throughout. I've often run net speed tests and hit over 70mb on several occassions.

 

[rosgor]

They have been testing out a new traffic management for a few months now.

"The new system is more dynamic and generous than our existing solution and is designed to help our customers get the most out of their new ‘Double Speed’ broadband services. Of course, the vast majority of customers will continue to be unaffected by traffic management on a daily basis."

 

[Tom DWC]

Makes me wonder whether this is all traffic or exclusive to file sharing traffic. But it would be relatively easy to bypass such a restriction so it wouldn't really work.

With many games coming in at 15GB+ now over Steam I don't think these restrictions are generous enough, but they aren't really any worse than many other providers, apart from BT Infinity as I don't think it's limited, if it is I haven't noticed.

The ASA should focus on the bigger problem - mobile phone carriers. They get away with murder in comparison.