Virgin Media Need To Change Their Speed Capping Policy

Everton | Jul 21, 2007 | Comments


With every day that goes by I am getting more and more frustrated with Virgin Media’s new speed capping policy. After having an unlimited genuine 10MB service from Telewest for 1 year for £35 a month with no complaints, I’m now paying £37 a month for a 20MB service which is effectively giving me 5MB.

I’m only getting 5MB thanks to Virgin Media’s annoying new speed capping policy. Once I hit 3GB of usage i.e. after 20 mins of downloading, my ‘20MB’ connection is then limited to 5MB for the next four hours. 5MB may sound like a reasonable speed, but after having a constant 10MB line speed for a year from Telewest, I can really notice the drop-off in speed. Basically, I’ve effectively had my line speed halved and my price put up by £2/pm.

I can understand that Virgin Media want to protect their network, particularly the inferior ntl network, but what’s the point of ‘increasing’ speeds just to gain a marketing claim when loyal users like myself (nearly 7 years and counting) are now getting a raw deal?

I think the time has come for me to switch providers. Does anyone know which ISPs don’t cap speeds or limit monthly downloads?


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About the Author: Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University.He also writes for Windows 7 News, Windows 8 News and One Tip A Day.

  • Seems like if they want to put a cap in place they need to adjust thier prices, downward.
  • I've been having a similar experience in the last few days (although I am only on 4Mb), and am quite sad that after years of good service from Telewest that it has come to an end.

    My major frustration is that the cap is imposed for four hours regardless of when you go over the download limit. So if you hit it at 11PM, you're capped until 3AM. I don't agree that this is traffic management during the peak time, as they claim, rather a punishment for downloading too much.
  • I think what is really unfair is that the policy doesn't take account of usage over the rest of the month
  • Ray
    Same here.
    Many many years at NTL.
    Now its time to move on.
    BE Broadband 24MB, unlimited and no capping.
  • David Atkinson
    Well I have just noticed that my connection is also capped and from what i've read on here has p*ssed me off even more. I had NO idea Virgin were capping speeds.
    This site has even more complaints
    We're all bitching about this but something needs to be done instead of just complaining on sites like this.
    I'm calling Virgin tomorrow to complain and threatening to leave unless my original service which I ORIGINALLY signed up for is reinstated. If they wont then i'm going to be complaining to the Advertising Standards Agency because on the Virgins website it states there are "No download limits" and what is happening here clearly is a "limit".

    Does any one know when this actually came into effect?
  • David Atkinson
    Also you should complain to Ofcom
  • wow just read the comments on Tech Digest. I didn't realise the pings were affected, which would explain why mere browsing gets difficult. I'm considering moving to Be internet if they can guarantee me over 10Mbps
  • AGM
    Just another Virgin marketing first and service last issue. Since Virgin took over my NTL line my speed has dropped sometimes to almost dial-up speeds. Is this really about "protecting the network" or just a ploy to sell the same bandwidth to four or five different customers.
    Good luck to those who are going to complain. I've tried but after hunting down anyone willing to even speak about the issue you get "speak to the hand because the ears arn't listening".
    Whilst Virgin may think they've struck gold they might reflect on the old marketing adage...."for every customer who complains another 10 simply walk away". If I'm going to have download limits I'd sooner have them from a company honest enough to be up-front about it.
  • Cipher
    Use a proxy many are available search google for more info. It bypasses their capping.
  • bonsc
    Ive been having problems with them for ages over this i have a 4 mb bb and the speed cap come on my pc even if i dont go over the limit and says on till the next day and now i have just found out that if i start to download at 1155 and go over the limit the cap kicks in and stays on for 4 hours even though they said it stops at 12 oclock
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