If they decide to VM will be at 600Mb by 2016. There is a near unprecedented level of investment going into the network over the next 3 years precisely to ensure their lead.

Congestion isn't as widespread as forums make it appear and many of the issues seen will disappear pretty much overnight when new channels are deployed, which will in turn give VM more time to continue the network investment which will reduce nodal area sizes.

As Farnz alluded to some existing nodes could, by swapping out the node itself and deploying more fibre, be broken down into 4 nodes, however with the appetite for bandwidth ever-increasing even this isn't enough and on an ongoing basis VM have been having to push fibre deeper into the access network.

There is also a bit of a spike as getting those additional channels deployed can be problematic but the results are already being seen - congestion has been relieved in a few areas via going from 8 to 12 downstreams.

As far as upstream goes this is a focus, though not as much as downstream. The major issue here is that some areas are on an original DOCSIS subsplit still. However the same investment programme I mentioned will resolve these restrictions, improve return path performance, and permit a quadrupling and more of upstream capacity per cable modem through a combination of additional channels, higher order modulations and node splits.

VM's userbase is, on average, eating a fair chunk of bandwidth. VM are doing alright to confine the congestion to <3% of customers, though the aim is of course to get that down to 0%.

yeah to be fair I have not been a VM customer since the takeover, so I have no experience of VM under this new ownership.

But of course on the flipside my comments regarding congestion I can only speak from my own personal experience.

But from what you said it does sound like the investment in their network is much higher post takeover than pre takeover.

Does going to 12 downstreams require new modem hardware? My Superhub shows 8 downstream in use (it went up from 4 about 18 months ago) and room for no more. Just lately evening speeds have been no better than 50 Mbit on my 100 Mbit connection. In the day time there is no problem getting max speed so I guess it must be congestion.

Nah. 8 channel modems are load balanced across the 12 channels.

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

If they decide to VM will be at 600Mb by 2016. There is a near unprecedented level of investment going into the network over the next 3 years precisely to ensure their lead.

Congestion isn't as widespread as forums make it appear and many of the issues seen will disappear pretty much overnight when new channels are deployed, which will in turn give VM more time to continue the network investment which will reduce nodal area sizes.

Well, 600mbps sounds like a load of........ as far as the congestion issues go, It is as bad as the forums say because the forums are showing posts from customers complaining about congestion, my areas has had lots of new downstream channels added, my SH has had a whole new bunch of them but still issues, and investment over the next 3 years is too late... They should of been doing it continuously to prevent the issues customers are faced with.

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

VM's userbase is, on average, eating a fair chunk of bandwidth. VM are doing alright to confine the congestion to <3% of customers, though the aim is of course to get that down to 0%.

3% and these figure come from where exactly? about 3% of the city I live in is actually getting steady speeds above 100Mb/s at all times of day, and I know of a big chunk of Birmingham suffering terribly to and has done for years, also Dudley's ongoing issues.... That's more than 3% right there.. It must be... and I know there's more areas also suffering

I know how you feel, it may be a small % assuming ignition's info is accurate, but it doesnt mean its a small problem as those in that % are probably suffering congestion long term as it always seems to be the same areas.

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

3% and these figure come from where exactly? about 3% of the city I live in is actually getting steady speeds above 100Mb/s at all times of day, and I know of a big chunk of Birmingham suffering terribly to and has done for years, also Dudley's ongoing issues.... That's more than 3% right there.. It must be... and I know there's more areas also suffering

The figures come from VM's own, which I take more seriously than anecdotal evidence on forums.

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

I know how you feel, it may be a small % assuming ignition's info is accurate, but it doesnt mean its a small problem as those in that % are probably suffering congestion long term as it always seems to be the same areas.

I know that, but it's just impossible for the figure to be that small considering Virgin's footprint in the UK compared to the utilization issues "They have admitted too"

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

The figures come from VM's own, which I take more seriously than anecdotal evidence on forums.

So what says that Virgin's figures are correct also what's to say they aren't biased... wouldn't make sense to advertise your own product as "rubbish" now would it?

GOV need to step in a get some "proper" regulations on Telecoms ASAP... It's starting to get out of hand....

PS. I heard a rumor that Liberty Global where going to sell!

Maybe explains why they are offering unbeatable and amazing offers to new customers.... Make the books look good for the big sale day.

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

So what says that Virgin's figures are correct also what's to say they aren't biased... wouldn't make sense to advertise your own product as "rubbish" now would it?

I'm not entirely convinced their own internal figures would be biased in order to advertise the product to their engineering staff.

Believe what you will.

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

I'm not entirely convinced their own internal figures would be biased in order to advertise the product to their engineering staff.

Believe what you will.

Now I wasn't aware that you worked for Vrgin Media!

If what your saying regarding the 3% is true, what does it include?

By that I mean, what percentage of utilisation on a UBR is classed as over-utilised?

I know from what Virgin Forum Staff have said the level at which utilisation is considered over-utilised is pretty high, so maybe this is my mistake as most utilisation related issues arn't yet considered over-utilised!