FAO chuck....or anyone

[pastafreak]

I have a problem with deteriorating internet service.
It has virtually ground to a halt in the past few days-yet if I call my ISP (Virgin) I am told there are no issues in my area.
Things had been generally fine until early August....but started to slow down then-I assumed it was due to my daugher running several lappys+a lot of downloading. There were occasions on weekends when I would lose service for an hour or several.
The past 2-3 weekends were particularly bad...loss of service from 10am-2-3pm.
Yesterday-loss was almost all the day-with 5-10 minute 'windows' where I was able to read an email,and little else.
Any ideas....before I go rant to Virgin....?

[ChuckFickens]

is it virgin cable or is it ADSL (i.e. supplied via your phone line)

[pastafreak]

ADSL

[pastafreak]

I think *?*

[pastafreak]

I am thinking back to when I first got the service-this was when telewest was taken over by Virgin in my area....a BT phone line was not needed. This was one of my reasons for choosing VM.....so now I am assuming it is cable that I have.

[LeMarchand]

1) Make sure (if using wireless) that it is secure - try to change the key if possible (in case you have neighbours etc using your wireless).

2) Send your daughter out for the day,and turn OFF all computers and if possible connect your machine via ethernet (don't have your wireless broadcasting - see above). Wait 5 hours - this is the "time out" for any throttling Virgin may be applying. (If you time this right, there should be little disruption).

3) Turn on your machine with no internet type applications apart from your browser and check your speed http://www.speedtest.net/ (it's not likely you'll be getting your full speed for various reasons). Use YOUR machine as normal, if speed is OK it could well be that Virgin are throttling your connection due to excessive use. If speed still no good, repeat test with another machine (to rule out a problem with yours). If same problem across multiple machines - have a moan at Virgin. Otherwise, if it only happens with multiple machines/ downloading happening, I suspect traffic management: http://shop.virginmed...affic-management.html

[stoofur]

Do Virgin throttle back your internet speed if you are abusing the fair usage policy?