FAQs > Broadband > The basics > TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT




We don't like traffic jams
Here at Virgin Media, we want all our customers to get the best service possible from their broadband. That means speedy downloads for all users – not just a few.

When someone is downloading a particularly large amount of information over a long period of time, it can slow down the internet speed for other users who might just be checking their email or browsing online. So to make sure our service is fair for everybody, we sometimes moderate the speeds during peak times (4pm till midnight) for customers who are downloading an unusually large amount at these times.

This ensures that the service doesn't get blocked up with people using more than their fair share – which means a lot fewer traffic jams on the information superhighway.

Will my download speed be affected?
At present, your speed won't be moderated unless you're in the top 5% of downloaders. Our boffins recently ran a trial to see how much our service was being affected. They discovered that, in certain areas, customers were downloading such a large amount of content that it was affecting the service for other users in these areas.

And we're not talking about just a few video clips. In some cases the top 5% of users were downloading as much as 2GB, just during peak times. That's around 500 music tracks in the space of a few hours.

So, unless you're downloading an unusually large amount of information at peak times, we won't restrict your service and you can download to your heart's content.

Aren't you just trying to cut costs?
We've never believed in cutting costs for the sake of it. And we never will. We want to deliver the best possible value to all our customers – and that's exactly what we're doing. By reducing speeds for a small number of customers during our busiest periods, we improve the overall experience for the vast majority of our customers.

When will this new policy be launched?
We'll start moderating the heaviest users' service from mid-July.

What traffic management are you applying to the heaviest users?

Monitoring traffic:
Well each week we’ll monitor how much data our broadband customers download during peak times only. We measure this in kilobytes (KB). Peak times run from 4pm till midnight. We then add up the total amount of data downloaded over the week per customer. We then rank the list of customers, heaviest users first. From this list, we pick out the top 5% of heaviest users over the week. We reserve the right to traffic manage these customers during peak times. Traffic management lasts for just 1 week and is only applied during peak times (4pm till midnight).

Traffic Management:
For the small number of customers who are in the top 5% of heaviest users, our traffic management solution will temporarily set download speeds to no lower than 512Kbit/s. This limit is applied daily, 4pm until midnight, for 1 week.

During off-peak periods our traffic management solution will automatically reset download speeds back to their full speed.

Each week we review our top 5% heaviest peak-time users over the previous 7 days. We then update the refreshed customer list to our servers for traffic shaping.

Speed limit:
Even for the small number of customers whose service is traffic-managed there is a limited impact. At 512Kbit/s a customer can still download around 50 music tracks in an hour as well as watching the odd streamed video. And don’t forget, outside peak periods we reset the broadband service back to its original speed.

There are still no limits to how much customers can download. We believe in unlimited downloads and will not cap the amount of data you download over your broadband service.

How do we know this will work?
Well, we've carried out analysis on our broadband network which showed when the heaviest users were downloading the most information, and how that affected the service for everybody else.

We found that this small minority of customers were actually downloading enough information to significantly affect the service for other customers' broadband service. To put it another way, just 5% of customers were accounting for around 70% of data downloaded at peak times. This means that the other 95% of customers connecting during busy times are being impacted by a tiny minority of heavy users.

Will Traffic Management change?
We may from time to time need to review our traffic management and how this works across our network. This is so that we take into account any changes and the majority of our customers continue to receive the best possible performance and value for their broadband service. This may include limiting speeds and/or de-prioritising traffic transmitted via our broadband service.

Any changes to traffic management will be reflected in this document and will be published on our website. This is to keep pace with the changing usage of the internet and emerging technologies that drive this. As such, we may change this traffic management document at any time without prior notice. Any changes will take effect when posted on our website so please visit us at http://www.virgin.net/allyours/faqs/traffic_faqs.html.

How can I tell if I'm being ‘traffic-managed’?
The vast majority of users – around 95% - shouldn’t notice a change in their broadband service. For those that do get ‘traffic-managed’, you can check your speed using a trust worthy speed checker on the internet.

The speed restriction is a temporary measure and each week we review the accounts of those being ‘traffic-managed’. If you limit your peak time usage then you should drop out of the top 5% list, and, if this is the case, then we will restore your peak time speeds to their default the next time we refresh the list.

There are several tools that you can use to check how much you're downloading. One particularly useful tool you can download is called DU Meter. You can download it at http://www.hageltech.com/dumeter/

If you’d like to use a different tool, you might like to try www.tucows.com

This traffic management document forms part of our Acceptable Use Policy within our Terms and Conditions.

FAQs > Broadband > The basics > TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT